There are days when former Marine Sergeant Andrew Litz can't bear the sounds of his two young children playing in their two-bedroom apartment in suburban Dallas, when his wife, Heather, reminds them that Daddy's head hurts.
But on this October afternoon, the sturdy, intense former soldier is imagining a new life: one of calm connection with his family.
Standing in the yard of the brand-new home in Gunter, Texas, that will soon be theirs, he smiles. "This," he says quietly, "is a place where I can heal."
More than just bricks and mortar, the house is a safe haven, with five bedrooms and four baths.
Since April 20, 2005, when an improvised explosive device in Ramadi, Iraq, killed two of his buddies and left him with a fractured back and neck, traumatic brain injury and post-traumatic stress disorder, Litz, 32, Heather, 29, and kids Zachary, 8, and Madison, 6, have struggled, often living in various rental properties.
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