IN SANDYS

WAKE
Storm taking toll on residents
mental health Healthy Living, D1
Rise in depression screenings:
131% 66%
Monmouth County Ocean County
TODAY
COUNTY
BEACH
BADGE
NIXED
Objections scuttle
Senate bill that
Shore towns
oppose A4
Army veteran Agifa Constable at home after his treatment
for PTSD at the Veterans Affairs Hospital in Martinsburg,
West Virginia. BRIAN JOHNSTON/STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER
Last in a series. Tens of thousands of
service members have returned from
combat with physical and emotional
scars. The Asbury Park Press spent two
years reporting on one veterans story by
following Spc. Agifa Constable from his
descent into PTSD to his run-in with the law and his
treatment at a VA hospital.
More than a decade after his first firefight in Iraq,
former Army Spc. Agifa Constable arrives in West Vir-
ginia for treatment of post-traumatic stress disorder,
an event he views as a sort of homecoming.
Broken for much of the 2000s, he sounds both elated
and at ease in late November.
Everybody you look at nurses, civilians
theyre like, Welcome home. People even hugged me. I
dont get that a lot in New Jersey, Constable, of Sayre-
ville, says in an interview from the center. Im home,
so to speak.
But that sense of relief quickly gives way to the hard
work of emerging from the disorder.
And a week after arriving, Constable speaks vehe-
mently about his lost disability payments, saying he de-
serves to be classified as 100 percent disabled, not 10
percent. He continues to emphasize to staff that those
without combat experience simply do not understand
him. That sore point does little to ingratiate him with
RETURNING HOME: LIVING WITH PTSD
Therapy offers
hope, signs of
improvement
A veteran struggles to recover
By Ken Serrano @KenSerranoAPP
See PTSD, Page A7
CHAPTER 5
Visit veterans.app.comto read prior
chapters, other stories, view videos and
see an interactive graphic about PTSD.
TECH TUESDAY
COOL DEVICES FOR UNDER $50
The $49.99 Roku Streaming Stick, which plugs
into a TV to stream video and music from the
Web, is one of a number of useful add-ons that
wont break your budget. A8
NATAL, Brazil Clint Dempsey scored one of fastest goals in World
Cup history and John Brooks scored the game winner on a header in
the 86th minute of a 2-1U.S. victory over Ghana, which had knocked
the Americans out of the previous two World Cups. Full coverage in
SPORTS, C1
2014 WORLD CUP
Brazil
Dramatic goal
defeats Ghana
Forward Clint Dempsey is mobbed by teammates after scoring the first goal for the United States in its match
against Ghana at the Dunas Arena in Natal, Brazil, in the 2014 World Cup on Monday. AFP/GETTY IMAGES
MORE
PHOTOS
Scan the QR
code or visit
APP.com/
photos for a photo gallery
from the World Cup match.
U.S. beats its longtime nemesis by scoring early and late
Asbury Park Press APP.COM $1.00
),
/sbury Park Press daily

TUESDAY 06.17.14
VOLUME 135
NUMBER 144
SINCE 1879
ADVICE D6
BUSINESS A6
CLASSIFIED D7
COMICS D5
LOCAL A3
LOTTERIES A2
OBITUARIES A10
OPINION A13
SPORTS C1
WEATHER C8
TROOPS SECURE IRAQ EMBASSY PAGE 1B
Gov. Chris Christies decision to fire the contractor
presiding over the states most infamous superstorm
Sandy rebuilding program was bolstered by a federal
review that found several shortcomings in how the pro-
gram had been run.
The report also states New Jersey has made signifi-
cant progress in distributing more than $1billion in aid
in about one years time and it listed no violations,
though some concerns were noted a point the
Christie administration touted in its press release.
However, the state Department of Community Af-
fairs, which was the go-between agency for the $1.83
billion in Sandy aid approved last year, was not blame-
less in the problems observed in connecting people in
need with the aid available.
Staff from the U.S Department of Housing and Ur-
ban Development found the state Reconstruction, Re-
habilitation, Elevation and Mitigation program was
plagued with poor recordkeeping and wasnt success-
ful in engaging homeowners outside of Monmouth and
Significant progress
in providing Sandy aid
But federal report questions
New Jerseys rebuilding program
By Russ Zimmer @russzimmer
See REPORT, Page A9