Victims' families grappling with 'nightmare'

"It's a nightmare," she said. "I wish it was a nightmare."

Natalia Valbuena, 15, little sister of Spc. Diego A. Valbuena, 23, one of the two Fort Drum soldiers found dead of stab wounds Tuesday in their Evans Mills apartment, spoke Thursday by phone from her home in Port St. Lucie, Fla. Her parents, Fernando and Guerty Valbuena, were too distraught to speak to the press about the loss of their son, the second of four children.

Family members of Spc. Valbuena and Spc. Waide T. James, 20, Port St. John, Fla., spoke Thursday about the young men: their commitment to the military, their friendship, their hopes for the future.

They also spoke of the little they knew of their relationship with Spc. Joshua S. Hunter, 20, Ona, W.Va., the fellow soldier now accused of their gruesome double murder.

All three men returned in the spring from a 15-month tour in Iraq with the 10th Mountain Division's Headquarters and Headquarters Battalion. Spc. Valbuena and Spc. James remained in that unit, where they were motor transport operators, according to Fort Drum spokesman Maj. Frederick C. Harrell. Spc. Hunter had since been assigned to the 3rd Brigade Combat Team's rear detachment, meaning he remained at Fort Drum while the brigade completed a yearlong deployment in Afghanistan.

The 3rd Brigade's approximately 3,500 soldiers are in the process of returning home from a deployment that left 24 dead and about 300 wounded from combat-related incidents. Fort Drum medical officials said this week that they had requested and will receive 15 new mental health care providers to add to an existing staff of 54 to help meet the needs of those veterans.

But Spc. Hunter's family members told the Associated Press on Thursday that it was the Iraq warthat had changed him.

"He saw his best friend get blown up to pieces and he tried to put him back together," said Emily Hunter, Spc. Hunter's wife, in a phone interview. "He was never right after that."

Speaking with a reporter at her home, Judy Hunter said her son, a military police officer, was not the same after returning from the war. He had trouble sleeping and would stay up for days on end. He sometimes suffered flashbacks. Though her son never talked to her about his experiences, he did confide in his father about "the trauma he went through," she said.

"In my heart of hearts, I think he snapped," Ms. Hunter said.

Spc. Hunter's MySpace page was disabled Thursday, but the Associated Press reported disturbing comments posted there while it was still up: "I am angry at the world and I will take it out on anyone," the soldier wrote.

Michael D. Mills, Spc. James's uncle, said by phone Thursday that he'd heard from other soldiers that Spc. Hunter had been staying at Spc. Valbuena and Spc. James's Evans Mills apartment because of problems in his marriage.

"Josh wasn't moved in or anything," Mr. Mills said. "I think what was happening was Josh was having issues with his wife and they were in the process of getting separated, and he was staying over there for a few nights."

Mr. Mills said soldiers who knew his nephew told him that Spc. Hunter had been on antidepressant medication and that his mental state had deteriorated noticeably over the past few weeks.

Mr. Mills spoke from the Port St. John home of Karen and Charles Mills, Spc. James's grandparents. Spc. James lived with the Millses for three years before he joined the Army, in March 2007. The soldier's uncle described him as an enthusiastic outdoorsman. Karen Mills said her grandson loved playing with his four young cousins, ages 6 through 11.

"They worship the ground that he walked on," she said. "Whenever he was here, he became one of them. If they were rolling around on the floor, they were all rolling around on the floor ... But he looked after them. He loved them, and they loved him terribly and that's one of the tough things we're dealing with now."

Sergio Valbuena, 31, described Spc. Valbuena, his younger brother, as "driven." Born in Colombia, he came to the United States in 2001 and joined the Army in August 2007 because "he felt it was his duty to give back. ... We are all proud of this country, of the opportunities we have received," he said.

"We were very proud of him, but we were trying to get him not to re-enlist," he said.

The family was worried for his safety.

Natalia Valbuena said her brother Diego had encouraged her to do well in school and in life, and that made her all the more determined to persevere through his death.

She said Diego was in the midst of a divorce from his wife, Catherine, also a soldier at Fort Drum. The two had joined up together, and remained close friends even though the marriage hadn't worked out.

Catherine Valbuena was planning to return to Florida today, Natalia said.

Spc. James's family said he would be buried in Florida National Cemetery in Bushnell, near Orlando. Neither family knew when the bodies of the soldiers were due home