Vets returning from Iraq turn to war protesters for help

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http://www.news-journalonline.com/NewsJournalOnline/News/Headlines/frtHEAD01EAST061608.htm

By AUDREY PARENTE
Staff writer

DAYTONA BEACH -- Three months after his advanced infantry training in the Army Reserves, Mike Gianfriddo was deployed to Iraq.

His military occupational specialty: administrative assistant. His job in Iraq: tower guard.

He served in Iraq from September 2005 for a year, then returned to his Minnesota home. He won't talk about what he saw, except to say that once home, he felt out of place and found ordinary life hard to handle emotionally.

Recently he found help in an unexpected place: the corner of International Speedway Boulevard and Nova Road during a peace demonstration where he met members of Central Florida Veterans for Peace and Military Families Speak Out. Those groups join CodePink of Central Florida, a women's peace movement that organizes daily demonstrations in Volusia and Flagler counties.