Kieran Moore has a great eye. To look at his photos, you see details that many would overlook: a snapshot of a loved one in a helmet, or the crispness of the stars and stripes during a memorial for a lost soldier.
It's what those eyes saw during his time as a combat photographer in Iraq—unspeakable scenes—that frequently lead him to re-live some of the moments that he would prefer to forget. "The images still haunt me," Moore says. "Every time an IED went off and soldiers died, I'd have to go document it, film it from every angle."
Moore, who suffers from post traumatic stress disorder, needed a place to turn to get his life in order. He found The New England Center for Homeless Veterans in Boston. The Center and its training school gives veterans important job training, whether it be in culinary arts in the center's kitchen, or on a donated city bus, where vets work toward obtaining commercial driver licenses. The center also provides career counseling and job training assistance, many times playing to the strengths of their military training. In addition, instructors teach life skills training, including how to manage money.
For Moore, the Center was precisely what he needed. He says he needed the camaraderie of being around veterans and someone to put him on the right path. And today, he is well on his way: He's in school, heading towards a career as a veterinarian and hoping to soon leave the shelter and return to his family.
"The shelter's given me the ability to restart my life, 100 percent," he says. "It's given me the ability to start over."
