Robert Barker/University Photography

Bryan Adams, an Iraq war veteran and Purple Heart recipient, speaks about the difficulties of adapting to civilian life, while on campus March 1.

After living in a war zone for three years, the daily concerns of college life can be hard to relate to, said Bryan Adams, an Iraq war veteran and Purple Heart recipient, speaking on campus March 1.

Adams described the contrast between constantly fearing for his life in Tikrit, Iraq, and worrying about his homework at Rutgers University, where he is now a student. Although returning home brings joy and safety, U.S. war veterans face new challenges as they try to reintegrate into society, he said at a Dining with Diverse Minds event hosted by Cornell Minds Matters before about 120 students, veterans and community members in Willard Straight Hall.

In October 2004, Adams was shot while serving as a sniper in Tikrit. Upon returning home, he struggled to adjust back into society. Eventually diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), Adams spoke about mental health rehabilitation.

"Nobody could understand what I had gone through," he said, citing the strains of deployment. At the moment he was shot in the hand and then leg, he said, "my entire view of life was shattered." Carrying out 250 combat missions in Iraq, Adams returned home feeling like "the whole deployment had been one long nightmare."

Military training prepared him to function in the unique war environment, he said, which enabled him to survive overseas but interfered with his adjustment to civilian life. He noted that one in five U.S. veterans have PTSD, and he emphasized the importance of how the veteran community can provide important understanding and empathy.

Adams described the anxiety he experienced while struggling to adapt to college life.

"People think you're dangerous, damaged and crazy -- they have all these assumptions," he said.

To eradicate negative stigmas, Adams said he hopes that mental health is increasingly incorporated into community conversation.

Abigail Warren '15 is a writer intern for the Cornell Chronicle.