Wounded Warriors

Written By Justin Merriman
At Fort Riley in Kansas, home to the First Infantry Division, two out of every three soldiers in the Warrior Transition barracks have been diagnosed with mental or substance abuse ailments, often after the soldiers underwent repeated combat deployments. Lt. Col Andrew Price, the commander of the Fort Riley unit, (center) calls to attention his wounded warriors.

Soldiers in the Fort Riley, Kansas, Wounded Warrior unit line up in formation.

Patti Gallion Katter, looks over a mountain of paperwork compiled in her efforts to help her husband, Ken, heal from his wounds.

Lt. Col Andrew Price, commander of the Fort Riley unit, (right) talks with Capt. Kathleen Ryan, 36, of Murrysville, PA (left) before the wounded warriors are called into formation.

Ken Katter, a former sergeant who was wounded leading Army scouts in Iraq, recovers at his home in Saginaw, Mich. He called his previous stay in a Warrior Transition unit a "nightmare."

U.S. Army Lt. Col Andrew Price (left) talks to Maj. Robert Stinson, a soldier with the Kansas Army National Guard's transition office.

With little electricity in her dilapidated home, Sgt. 1st Class Diana Clark cooks dinner by window light and a piano lamp.

Justin Merriman

Justin Merriman, a freelance photojournalist based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, has traveled the world to cover politics, wars, natural disasters, civil unrest as well as covering assignment throughout the United States. His work has appeared in leading national publications and he has received multiple top journalism awards.   

After covering the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks – including the crash of United Flight 93 in Shanksville, Pennsylvania – Merriman committed to chronicling the U.S. military and its war on terror.  He has followed this story across the United States and into the conflict zones of Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Iraq. He also has covered life in Fidel Castro’s Cuba in 2002, India’s efforts to eradicate polio from its population, the aftermath of the 2010 earthquake in Haiti, Pope Benedict XVI’s visit to Cuba in 2012, the 2013 conclave and election of Pope Francis in Rome, the second anniversary of Egypt’s revolution and subsequent unrest, Russia’s invasion of Crimea and the international political crisis that unfolded in Ukraine in 2014, a look inside of the Guantanamo Bay detention camp in 2015 and its uncertain future, and most recently, traveled the entire U.S. border with Mexico documenting issues on immigration. 

Merriman’s work has appeared in The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal, the Atlantic, Time, USA Today, Sports Illustrated and other publications across the globe. 

He has been recognized with numerous regional, national and international awards from organizations including Pictures of the Year International, Society of Professional Journalists, the National Press Photographers Association, the Society for News Design, the Atlanta Photojournalism Seminar, the Northern Short Course, the Southern Short Course, the American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene, the Military Reporters and Editors Association, and the Western Pennsylvania Press Club. He was awarded Photographer of the Year by the News Photographer Association of Greater Pittsburgh four times and most recently was honored with the Keystone Press Award’s 2016 Distinguished Visual Award from the Pennsylvania Newspaper Association.

Born in Greensburg, Pennsylvania, Merriman graduated from the University of Pittsburgh at Greensburg in 2000 with a Bachelor of Arts degree in English Writing. In 2009, the university awarded him its prestigious Alumnus of Distinction award. 

Currently Merriman lives in Oakmont with his fiancé, Stephanie Strasburg, a photojournalist with PublicSource. 

http://www.justinmerriman.com
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