Women Serving in the Armed Forces

A wife and mother, Juanita says she focused more on her family's needs than her own after her injury. "I think the woman's nature is nurturing. So you come home and you make sure everybody else is happy, everybody else is content, and you don't have anyone to worry about what's really going on with you," she says.

Part of that, Juanita says, was putting on a brave face for everyone around her. "As soon as I came home, immediately it was, 'Don't worry about me.' Get to my role as a mother. I didn't want my kids to worry about me. [People would ask,] 'How are you today, Juanita?' [I'd say,] 'I'm wonderful.' And that's just how I go through the day."

But, in reality, Juanita says she is still haunted by her experience. "Four years later, [the explosion feels] just like yesterday. I have nightmares. I have flashbacks my truck's going to blow up," Juanita says.

"Almost everything seems like it's going to end in disaster. And anxiety, how I'm just going to lose it. My soul is going to be gone, it's going to be obliterated, it's going to blow up."