When Marine Cpl. Zach Skiles returned from Iraq, he couldn't sleep, hold down a job or pay rent. Earlier this year, he and his father sat down to talk for the first time about his life after the war.

This story originally aired on April 18, 2015, on Weekend Edition. Since then, life has gotten better for Zach Skiles. He has graduated from college — summa cum laude, his father points out — and he now helps other veterans with post-traumatic stress disorder at the Pathway Home, the same program that helped him recover. He will start a doctoral program in clinical psychology in California next fall.

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