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veterans rights

Image by David Jay/ David Jay Photography.

Maj, Matt Smith at Walter Reed Medical Center in Bethesda, Maryland.


Photographer David Jay specializes in fashion and beauty, stuff that's "beautiful and sexy — and completely untrue," as he puts it. But that's not all he photographs.

Three years ago, Jay began to take pictures of young, severely wounded soldiers returning home from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Trigger warning: These portraits don't shy away from wounded bodies.

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"I'm not an activist, I'm a comedian."

Photo by Rick Kern/Getty Images.

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Chicago is a world-renowned city. But for too many kids, it's downright dangerous.

Despite the fact that Chicago is home to several museums, a giant lake, and a free zoo, between 2010 and 2014, 114 Chicago schoolchildrenwere murdered.

Some were just walking home from school.

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A soldier could face life in prison after being caught growing marijuana to treat his PTSD.

No one should face punishment for seeking the treatment they need.

Up to 20% of U.S. military veterans deployed to Iraq or Afghanistan will likely return home with symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder.

Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is, as the name implies, a condition that affects people who have undergone particularly traumatizing events in their lives. It could be caused by things like being shot at, being attacked, a sexual assault, surviving a car wreck, or enduring a natural disaster, among others.

The four types of PTSD symptoms include reliving the traumatizing event, feeling the need to avoid situations that remind you of the event, experiencing negative changes to beliefs and feelings, and feeling jittery/startled.

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