PHOTO OR ILLUSTRATION CREDIT TK
Young hangs a United States Marine Corps flag over the garage door at her home in Haverhill, Mass.
“He’s persistent, I’ll say that
for him,” she says. And Natasha’s
mom has fought off her addictions and accepted her son back
into her legal custody.
The trauma still lurks, however,
and Young, like so many veterans, keeps on the path with a frenetic work schedule: her full-time
classes, her work at the veterans
center, and caring for her son, who
is now six. “I don’t know how to
relax any more,’’ she admits.
Yet Young has no regrets about
the trajectory of her life.
“Knowing my mistakes … I
wouldn’t change anything,” she
says. “My deployments, my failures, I wouldn’t change any of it.”
When a visitor remarks that
her future looks pretty good, she
pauses to reflect.