On Monday, the ex-Army Ranger felt the even greater horror of burying his only son Brandon, 20, killed on Aug. 17 by an explosion while patrolling a Baghdad slum.
Brandon's enlistment two years ago upset his father, who exchanged sharp words with both his son and the army recruiter. Amid his grief, the father has now turned against the war.
"I shouldn't be burying him, he should be burying me," he said in a sometimes tearful interview. "The war is not worth it now. We need to get the hell out of there."