Ghost Whisperer- Haunted Hero

"The first casualty of war, is the truth" - 1918 US Senator Hiram Warren Johnson

With the return of so many, in slow bursts, from Iraq, this episode touched more than a few cords with me. As Melinda accompanies her husband in welcoming home a friend, Matt, and veteran, she's instantly treated to the sight of the ghosts of his friends who didn't make it home in one piece. More than one returning vet from various wars have spoken about seeing their friends, family members, or colleagues following them home from the grave. Many live through haunting's of their own, be it spiritual ones, or their own memories refusing to grant them peace. Haunted Hero offers a new spin on the trauma many returning vets live through.

The haunting continues in the form of, at first, small things. Jumping at sounds. An ice-cream 'bleeding'. Bad dreams where he's shouting at someone to 'let me go'. All of which could be counted as part of post traumatic stress disorder, and perhaps some of it is. But the ghost is real as Melinda can see it. So just how much of what he is going through comes from the ghost, the haunting. As Matt stands outside to tell Jim what happened Melinda starts to hear the gun fire from the description of the events. The ghost making its presence felt. She see's it. The fire fight. The chaos. The fear involved in the situation - she lives through it all, watching it happen again and again in her basement.

And for the first time the ghosts can't see her. They ignore her. Trapped in the replaying of the past they are either unable, or unwilling to acknowledge her.

When it turns out there is an investigation into just what happened out in Iraq, an investigation pushed into life by a family member of one of the dead soldiers. Between the anger, and the ghosts, along with the investigation, Melinda begins to wonder if the official story of what happened out there is the full truth of the situation. When the father of one of the dead men shows Melinda a link with a video of the deaths, the answers start to collapse in on Melinda. Matt, according to the video, isn't a hero. He ran from his men, escaped. Left them behind and because of that his men died. Or that's what the video shows.

But the problem is, Matt doesn't remember what happened.

And Jim walks in on Matt in a terrified, frantic state, with him prepping a hand gun. A panic attack that Jim tries to talk him through and calm him down. The words spill out, the fact he doesn't feel like he ever left Iraq. That he can't come home because he's still there, still fighting the war.

Unless Matt can remember everything that happened out there, unless he can face it, the men who are haunting him won't be able to see Melinda. Without that they will not be able to cross over. They will not be able to move on. Even seeing the video doesn't help him remember. All he now knows is why he was calling out for someone to 'let him go'. For a brief moment Melinda manages to get through to one of the ghosts, but it's not enough, and they're pulled back again into the replaying of the events in Iraq.

Then the ghost pulls free again for a moment, he re-appears in his home, close to his daughter. Something's there. Something that Hector was given by Matt, but they have to find it. The answer might be within the letter. A letter Hector never had the chance to open and read. When Hector's father finally opens the box of his son's remains the answer of what was in the letter is revealed.

But will it be enough to prevent Matt from taking his own life?

The item in the letter was a woven ring of reeds for his girlfriend. He hadn't tried to run away. He was going on a suicide mission to save his men. They weren't haunting him because of cowardice, but because they don't leave a man behind. The run for the humvee wasn't to save his life, but to save them and it backfired. He drove the vehicle straight into enemy fire. His team came after him. They died trying to save him after he had saved them. They were coming to rescue him when the explosion hit. They were haunting him because they hadn't completed their mission. They hadn't saved him.

With the story told. With Matt saved from himself. They can finally go home. They can finally move on. Hector gives the final clue, the final piece of the puzzle so Hector's father can come to terms with what happened.

Many men and women have returned from the war carrying pieces of the war with them. Their own personal ghosts. They don't always find an answer. They don't always find a way of coping with the pain and loss. Some take their own lives, others live with those ghosts and memories for the rest of their lives.

The way Ghost Whisperer handled this episode, the grief, anger and confusion involved, is a credit to the show.