Soldiers fighting in Iraq risk their lives everyday and many times they come home to a family that is not how they left it. That's happened to a Chicopee solider. He returned to find his wife had been unfaithful and his two sons needing him even more.

Mark McAuliffe says, "I was trying to be Mr. Mom and Mr. Dad and I'm not the most emotional guy but for the kids you have to bite the bullet."

Mark McAuliffe was one of the first soldiers to fight in Iraq. He left in January 2003 to train and drove into Iraq in March of that year right after Shock and Awe.

McAuliffe says, "I remember staring off in the desert. It's just desert as far as you can see and you can't even get a phone call."

After 11 months of being away from home and living in conditions like these, he did get a phone call. His wife's grandmother passed away and he got emergency leave. He returned to Western Mass and found the unexpected.

McAuliffe says, "{I found} birth control pills, pictures, a lot of unpaid bills...it was a pretty messy situation."

He quickly discovered while he was fighting in Iraq his wife was cheating on him.

McAuliffe says, "She actually had him living in my house with my kids along with another girl." He continues, "You know you just spent all this time at war you come home and got all the plans you know to see your kids and be happy and do family stuff and get back everything you lost for that year and it's taken away again."

Not only could never get back that year but once McAuliffe returned here to Western Mass and found out his marriage of 8 years was falling apart, he faced challenges he says he never imagined. Dealing with the effects of war and trying to be a good dad two his two sons ages 11 and 8.

McAuliffe says, "I left. I did what I thought was the right thing."

But that right thing turned into the wrong situation.

McAuliffe says, "My kids called me and said Dad, Mom's not home...I said pack your bags I'm coming to get you."

Mark ended up getting full custody of his kids.

McAuliffe says, "You go from fighting a war to grocery shopping."

Dr. Scott Cornelius, a psychologist at the Northampton VA Medical Center, says that's a sentiment many soldiers feel when they return home.

He says, "I often hear they just don't feel the way they used to feel when they're with the kids."

Dr. Cornelius says for most vets family is very important but they struggle to find their place again.

He says, "After a year in a combat environment doing something like playing ball it's not the most important thing. It's staying safe."

But for McAuliffe he had to play ball. He had to be Mr. Mom and Mr. Dad. He was a single parent bringing up 2 boys.

McAuliffe says, "I didn't get that reconnect when I got home. That's it I lost it forever now."

We tried to contact his ex-wife but she did not return our calls.

The Northampton VA Medical Center offers programs to help veterans. Dr. Cornelius runs a walk-in clinic at night one day a week. For more information call the Medical Center at 413-584-4040 or log on to their website at: www.northampton.va.gov