Chief of Chaplains Convicted of Murderer?

A veteran murdered his wife claiming PTSD made him do it. In prison, he had a "come to Jesus" moment and started to minister to other prisoners. After prison, he became a Chaplain with the Maine VA. Now he wants to be Chief of Chaplains?

Kneejerk reaction, "Oh hell no" but as I read the story, it isn't that easy to figure out.

Jackson VA eyes convicted killer for chaplain job
The Clarion-Ledger
Emily Le Coz
March 7, 2015

A top candidate for chief chaplain at the G.V. "Sonny" Montgomery Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Jackson is a felon who shot and killed his estranged wife in 1986.

James Luoma serves as chief chaplain at VA Maine Healthcare Systems-Togus, but is interviewing for an open position in Jackson, according to Marti Reynolds, who served as chaplain for the Jackson VA from 1990 until last May.

Jackson VA spokeswoman Susan Varcie would not confirm this, saying only that the hospital is interviewing for a new chief of chaplain but hasn't yet selected anyone to fill the spot, which pays between $82,642 and $107,434.

Reached by phone Thursday, Luoma also would not comment.

A former police officer and decorated Vietnam medic, Luoma was diagnosed with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder three years before fatally shooting his wife, Sherry, in his Englewood, Ohio, home on July 31, 1986, according to online court records and archives from the Dayton (Ohio) Daily News.

The couple had been separated, and Sherry had filed for divorce prior to the shooting, records show.

Luoma was charged with murder and pleaded not guilty and not guilty by reason of insanity.

"At trial, Luoma argued that the shooting was an accident — that he had been cleaning the gun and did not realize it was loaded when he pulled the trigger," court records stated. "Alternatively, Luoma argued that he was insane at the time of the shooting, as a result of PTSD."
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Start with the cons of this.

Veterans with PTSD are already stigmatized by new reports of a few veterans losing control and committing crimes. The fact is veterans are more likely to harm themselves than someone else. This could feed the notion of veterans are dangerous. After all, this is a position as Chief of Chaplains at the Jackson VA. It isn't as if he is just seeking a job in prison ministries.

The pro side of this is that no one is beyond redemption. He did his time in jail and paid the price. That can be very hopeful for other veterans.

I am torn on this one. As the article points out, St. Paul wasn't always a Christian. He spent many of his days tracking down Christians to turn them in so they would be killed. His "come to Jesus" moment came on a road to Damascus. After that, he reached out to the Gentiles and let them know what God was really all about and sent His Son to pay for their sins. That forgiveness and mercy were available to everyone who sought it.

Saul’s Conversion 9 Meanwhile, Saul was still breathing out murderous threats against the Lord’s disciples. He went to the high priest and asked him for letters to the synagogues in Damascus, so that if he found any there who belonged to the Way, whether men or women, he might take them as prisoners to Jerusalem.

As he neared Damascus on his journey, suddenly a light from heaven flashed around him.

He fell to the ground and heard a voice say to him, “Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?”

“Who are you, Lord?” Saul asked.

“I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting,” he replied.

“Now get up and go into the city, and you will be told what you must do.”

Vietnam veterans overdue welcome home

Lost Homecoming gives Vietnam veterans overdue welcome home
Sun Herald
BY PATRICK OCHS
September 27, 2014

AMANDA McCOY/SUN HERALD
Vietnam veteran Paul Norvel attends Pass Christian's Vietnam Veterans Homecoming and Appreciation event on Saturday at War Memorial Park. At left, veterans salute during the singing of the National Anthem. The event recognized Vietnam veterans around the Coast and paid tribute to their sacrifices and contributions while serving their country.

PASS CHRISTIAN -- Russell Nichols spent 11 months, 20 days and six hours in Vietnam with the U.S. Marine Corps. When he returned home, he was spat on, cussed at and called things like baby killer and murderer.

He wasn't alone. Many of his fellow soldiers were shown anything but respect.

With yellow ribbons wrapped tightly around the trees and a row of American flags flapping in the breeze, South Mississippi turned out Saturday at War Memorial Park to give Nichols and 70-plus other Vietnam veterans the proper homecoming they never received 40 years ago.

"Thank you, thank you, thank you," state Sen. Philip Moran told the assembled veterans, many proudly wearing clothing from their military branch.

"Because of the times, you did not come home and brag about your bravery. You did not brag about what you had done for us," former U.S. Rep. Gene Taylor said. "You kept it to yourself. I think ceremonies like this give us the opportunity to recognize your bravery, to thank you."
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Scenes from Lost Homecoming ceremony honoring Vietnam vets

Marine Reservists Capture Record 792 Pound Gator

Marine sergeant and friends bag record-setting alligator
Military Times
By Joshua Stewart
Staff writer
September 18, 2014

Sgt. Jesse Phillips, inset, a mortarman with 3rd Battalion, 23rd Marines, hunted a 792-pound alligator, with two of his friends. It measured more than 13-feet from the tip of the nose to the tail, and broke a Mississippi state record. (Courtesy of Jesse Phillips)

The next time Sgt. Jesse Phillips has to train in the swamp, he’ll be all too familiar with the type of beasts that might be slithering around his boots.

The mortarman with Lima Company, 3rd Battalion, 23rd Marines, an Alabama-based Reserve unit, made history on Sept. 2 when he and his friends caught a 792-pound alligator in Mississippi. The gator measured in at nearly 13 ½ feet from nose to tail, had a belly that was 69 ¼ inches in girth, and a tail that spanned 51 inches around.

It was the first time the sergeant went alligator hunting, and it paid off. According to the Mississippi Department of Wildlife, Fisheries and Parks, their alligator was the largest male ever caught in the state.

“During my swamp training I’m going to think about it a lot different now that I’ve snagged a 13-foot, five-inch gator,” Phillips told Marine Corps Times. “I don’t like snakes and I don’t like gators. But it ended up good — I faced my fears.”
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Marine Iraq Veteran Beaten Over Michael Brown?

Marine, war veteran beaten in possible hate crime
WMCAction
News5.com Staff
Posted: Aug 26, 2014

West Point, Miss.
(WMC) - A 32-year-old Marine and Iraq war veteran attacked and beaten in what might be a hate crime.

Investigators say several men jumped Ralph Weems in a parking lot in West Point, Mississippi.

One man is in custody, but West Point Police Chief Tim Brinkley says there were more attackers. His department is developing a list and trying to bring them in for questioning.

The Associated Press reports that Weems' friend and fellow veteran David Knighten says the beating was racially charged.

Knighten says someone outside a Waffle House told him politely that it was not a safe place for whites to be at the moment, because people inside were upset over the killing of 18-year-old Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri.
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Who Killed Cmdr. Alphonso Doss?

Family Haunted by Slaying of Navy Commander
The Florida Times-Union (Jacksonville, Fla.)
by Jim Schoettler
Apr 09, 2014

Alexis Doss turns 16 years old Wednesday without a father to celebrate with or answers about his killing.

Orange Park police haven't made an arrest in the Feb. 12 killing of decorated, yet troubled Cmdr. Alphonso Doss, 44. Doss was found in a room of the Astoria Hotel off U.S.17, where he'd been living after separating from his wife while struggling with alcohol and other problems.

Orange Park Police Chief Gary Goble continues to stand by his decision not to publicize Doss' death or that it was a murder for two weeks to protect the investigation.

Goble told the Times-Union Tuesday that investigators recently received some lab results from the crime scene and have at least two people of interest. Goble said he hopes to soon announce news in the 2-month-old case, but he wouldn't elaborate or discuss a motive.

Doss' family didn't learn that he was slain until after his Feb. 20 funeral in Jacksonville.

Doss' father, Tom Allen, said Tuesday that Doss' wife, Denise, called Allen's Mississippi home a few days after he attended the funeral to say she learned his son had been slain. He said she had found the body after not hearing from him for a day or two. Allen, 67, said he can't understand why police won't at least tell him the cause of death, although he said he supports how they have otherwise handled the case.
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Soldiers Respond to Dangerous Truck Accident

Soldiers Respond to Dangerous Truck Accident
Blackanthem Military News
By Capt. Jimmy Kow, 3rd Battalion, 348th Regiment, 158th Infantry Brigade
Mar 27, 2014

CAMP SHELBY, Miss. – Three Soldiers from the 3rd Battalion, 348th Regiment were among the first to respond to an overturned 18-wheeled tractor-trailer carrying flammable material on Interstate-59 in Hattiesburg, Miss. March 11.

The truck, carrying liquid acrylonitrile, an explosive compound, skidded off the road and crashed into the embankment.

“I was just doing my job as a Soldier,” said Sgt. 1st Class Jeremiah Christy, a combat medic was the first Soldier to arrive at the scene.

Christy explained he parked his vehicle in the distance and ran up to the truck within a minute after the crash. When he arrived, a civilian was trying to kick in the windshield to free the driver. Christy said he immediately took control of the situation and directed the driver to free himself and climb out from the door.

As the driver was climbing out of the vehicle Capt. Amanda McDonald, a chemical officer and a nurse by trade, arrived to provide assistance.

The truck was leaking diesel and hazardous fumes from its cargo. McDonald and Christy escorted the driver away from the fumes before McDonald further evaluated the driver.
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Veteran pleads guilty of VA travel fraud

Tuscaloosa man pleads guilty to defrauding Veterans Affairs of nearly $43,000 over 5 years

AL.com

Kelsey Stein

February 19, 2014

BIRMINGHAM, Alabama - A Tuscaloosa man pleaded guilty Tuesday to fraudulently receiving nearly $43,000 from the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs over five years.Timothy Lee Hornsby, 55, faces a federal charge of theft of government property. He entered a guilty plea Tuesday during a hearing  before U.S. District Judge Karon O. Bowdre.

Hornsby claimed to be traveling from an address in Lourin, Mississippi, to the Tuscaloosa VA Medical Center. An investigation revealed that Hornsby actually was living in Tuscaloosa at the time.

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Therapeutic garden unearths soldier’s will

Therapeutic garden unearths soldier’s will
Beauregard Daily News
By Kathy Ports
Posted Dec. 13, 2013

Working in a therapeutic garden she helped develop has given Staff Sgt. Carolyn Darnell, a demobilized National Guard soldier in the Warrior Transition Unit, the strength to emerge from her room and the motivation to begin working her way out of her depression.

“Working in the garden allows you to let your mind go,” she said. “I gently planted those plants, nurtured them, watched them grow and it gave me the strength to come out of the dark cave I was in."

Darnell deployed to Iraq twice –– 2004 to 2006 and 2007 to 2009. From 2009 to July 2012, she was mobilized at Camp Shelby, Miss. Each deployment took its toll.

“My first deployment was tough," she said. We sustained a lot of mortar attacks. One time, I was on the phone with my mother and the shelling started. I really thought that I was going to die that night and I didn’t want my mother to be on the other end of the telephone if the end came."

The first deployment had more tough lessons in store for Darnell.
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WWII Veteran killed in brutal attack, 4 barbaric teens charged

Lawrence E. ‘Shine' Thornton Killed: 4 Teens Arrested In WWII Vet's Death
Huffington Post
Posted: 10/27/2013

Four teens have been charged with capital murder after an 87-year-old WWII veteran died from injuries sustained during a brutal mugging.

The Delta Democrat Times reports that Lawrence E. Shine Thornton of Greenville, Miss., died two days after the October 18th mugging, allegedly at the hands of Terrance Morgan, 19; Edward Johnson,19; Leslie Litt, 18; and Geblonski Murray, 18.

Thornton was attacked in his own driveway, according to CNS News. The teens allegedly pushed him down on the ground and stole his wallet.
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Non-veteran arrested for brining loaded gun into VA hospital

Man charged with taking pistol into Veterans Affairs office in Miss.; mental exam ordered
Associated Press
By HOLBROOK MOHR
October 04, 2013

JACKSON, Mississippi — A man has been ordered to undergo a psychiatric evaluation after being arrested while acting erratically and walking into a U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs office in Jackson with a pistol holstered on his side.

A criminal complaint says Joseph Namihira was told to leave the VA Regional Office on Wednesday morning, but returned later with a .45-caliber pistol. Court records said Namihira was charged with domestic violence in Warren County, Mississippi, last year after physically attacking his mother and firing about 25 shots at his father.

Authorities say Namihira is not a veteran and that his intentions at the VA were not clear.

The regional office processes benefits and is located near the G.V. (Sonny) Montgomery VA Medical Center.

Namihira appeared in U.S. District Court in Jackson on Thursday and was ordered held without bond pending action by the grand jury and a psychiatric evaluation.

His lawyer, Penny Beckwith Lawson, did not immediately respond to a phone call Friday.

Jim Theres, a VA spokesman, said it's not clear what Namihira intended to do, but he praised VA police for acting quickly to defuse the situation, especially in light of recent events like the Washington Navy Yard shooting.
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Sgt. James Shearer should still be alive

Sgt. James Shearer should still be alive
Wounded Times
Kathie Costos
September 14, 2013

Veterans seeking death over life is at least 55 a day and James Shearer was one of them on September 9, 2013. The latest report says that 22 veterans a day are ending their own lives but when you factor in the latest report on attempted suicides, that means 55 a day no longer want to live. Suicides are always more tragic than losing someone to an illness, accident or crime but when it is a veteran, police officer or firefighter the anguish runs deeper. Why? Because they proved their cared about the lives of other people, risked their lives to keep them alive but ended up taking their own.

Family and friends left behind are faced with the loss of someone they cared about but grieving for them is different. It comes with a lot of questions. What did they miss? What didn't they hear? What didn't they say? What could they have done differently? They blame themselves.

I could sit here 24-7 and tell them it was not their fault but the truth is, it was not the veteran's fault either. Until we wake up to the fact that most of what is being done has not worked, we will see more and more deaths that didn't need to happen.

Young vet had served in Iraq
Friends, family mourn loss; suicide scenario all too familiar, experts say
Clarion Ledger
Dustin Barnes
Sep. 12, 2013

Jackson State University students are mourning the death of one of their own, a young veteran known for his smile and friendship just as much as he was for his rapping, which earned him the nickname “Skittles.”

Sgt. James Shearer served in Iraq in 2009-10, returning to marry his sweetheart, Heather, and become the proud father of his 1-year-old son, Brian. The 23-year-old Mississippi National Guardsman was in his senior year at JSU where he was majoring in political science.

The news of his death Sunday rippled through Facebook, shocking many of his friends from high school, the military and college.

"The Jackson native died by suicide, confirmed Hinds County Coroner Sharon Grisham-Stewart.

Dr. Jefferson Parker, chief of mental health at Jackson’s G.V. “Sonny” Montgomery Veterans Affairs Medical Center, said many veterans are exposed to extremely difficult circumstances.

“They are obligated to do things that are outside what we commonly experience in society,” Parker said. “Once those things are part of your life, they don’t go away.”

The specter of overseas doesn’t stop haunting veterans once they return to their old lives back home, he said."
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How do I know what they are going through? I am one of them. My husband wanted to die in the early 90's but he is alive and doing better. His nephew is not. He committed suicide. While I know I did more than most to try to help him because of all I knew, it wasn't enough. Every time I read another story on another life gone, there is a knot in my stomach. Right now I am wondering what I missed. What didn't I say to him? What didn't he say to me? Why didn't he call me before he checked himself into a motel room where he knew he wouldn't be walking out the door? These questions have haunted me for 13 years because he was a veteran of Vietnam.

Every family I work with now goes through the same things and most take on the fight to keep others alive. The pain doesn't really ever go way just because they did.

Officials: Arrest made in ricin scare

Officials: Arrest made in ricin scare
By Matt Smith and Carol Cratty
CNN
updated 8:00 PM EDT, Wed April 17, 2013

STORY HIGHLIGHTS
Arrest came in Tupelo, Mississippi area
Sources say the FBI expects to receive test results on letters Thursday
Envelopes were addressed to Obama and Sen. Roger Wicker, R-Mississippi
Initial tests on those envelopes detected the deadly poison ricin; additional tests under way
(CNN) -- An arrest has been made in connection with letters sent to President Barack Obama and Sen. Roger Wicker that authorities are testing to determine if they contain ricin, two federal law enforcement officials said Wednesday.

The person was arrested in the Tupelo, Mississippi, area, one of the officials said.

Discovered Tuesday, the letters were addressed to Wicker, a Mississippi Republican, and to Obama.

The letters were stopped at a government mail-screening facility after initial tests indicated the presence of ricin.

Because initial tests can be "inconsistent," the envelopes have been sent off for additional tests, an FBI statement said. The FBI does not expect to receive results from the tests until Thursday, federal law enforcement sources told CNN.

The letters read: "To see a wrong and not expose it, is to become a silent partner to its continuance."
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Mississippi Police officer and suspect killed at Jackson Police Station

UPDATE
AP source: Video shows Miss. suspect shoot detective, self
By Holbrook Mohr
Associated Press
Authorities have a video from a police interrogation room that shows a murder suspect shooting a detective to death before killing himself with the officer's gun, a person with knowledge of the investigation said Saturday.

Officer, suspect killed during police station interview
By Hasani Gittens and Ian Johnston
NBC News
April 5, 2013

A police officer and a murder suspect were shot dead as the accused man was being questioned in the police headquarters in Jackson, Miss., on Thursday.

The incident began when cops brought the suspect to the headquarters building downtown Thursday afternoon, Jackson Police Chief Rebecca Coleman said.

“He was being interviewed on the third floor of the police department,” Coleman said.

“Later we heard that … shots had been fired and upon our arrival we found the suspect is deceased and we have a police officer that’s deceased."

NBC station WLBT reported said the officer who was killed was identified by police as Eric Smith, a homicide detective who was married to a fellow Jackson Police Department officer.

They have two children.
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VA’s appalling failures not recent

VA’s appalling failures not recent
By Sid Salter/Syndicated columnist
The Picayune Item
March 27, 2013
STARKVILLE, Miss. — While recent national press attention to ongoing problems at Mississippi’s G.V. (Sonny) Montgomery Veterans Administration Medical Center in Jackson is welcome and needed, the failures of the overall VA service apparatus in Mississippi are not recent problems.

In short, former U.S. Rep. Sonny Montgomery — Mississippi’s “Mr. Veteran” and author of the modern G.I. Bill that bears his name — must be spinning in his grave. There have been significant failures and poor service to veterans documented by state and local media since 2008.

This month, the New York Times focused a national spotlight on complaints from five federal whistleblowers who accused the Jackson VA of missed diagnoses of fatal illnesses, improper sterilization of medical instruments and, in some cases, criminal conduct.

The newspaper article documented alleged abuses going back to 2009 and VA investigations and reports based on those allegations. In addition, the federal Office of the Special Counsel documented allegations that VA managers instructed public affairs employees to tell the press that “no violations were found to have occurred.”

On June 2, 2008, I wrote a lengthy news story for the Clarion-Ledger outlining the claims of a Mississippi whistleblower that brought to light improper benefit denials and poor service to veterans at the VA’s Jackson Regional Office.

In that report, I uncovered documents that showed that that claims for Mississippi’s then-233,888 military veterans — including Iraq and Afghanistan combat veterans — weren’t being processed in a timely manner. Those claims led to a VA and congressional investigation.

The information documented that in April 2008, claims at the U.S. Veterans Affairs’ Jackson Regional Office were processed 53 percent slower than the national and regional average. That included claims from combat veterans seeking help for combat-related post-traumatic stress disorder.

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Sid Salter is right. It is not new and last night I was watching the Daily Show as Jon Stewart got angry about all of this but I left this comment about what had been happening.

VA assistant secretary blames others

I track all these reports and last night I was glad it was covered but wow are you wrong. The number of VA Service Reps was 1,516 in January of 2003 but in 2007 there were only 1,392. In 2000 the VA had 578,000 claims but went to 838,000 in 2008. That same year the VA was trying to do online claims. It was also later in the year of 879,291 in backlog including 148,000 Vietnam veterans who finally filed claims in 2007. That same year, the a defense contractor was given a contract for $2.7 million to make 555,000 phone calls to veterans to find out why they had not gone to the VA. Obama changed the rules for PTSD claims and Agent Orange Claims but with the mess that was there before, Congress didn't increase funding enough or hire enough staff to even catch up. Suicides are up and there are 900 DOD suicide prevention programs congress finds the money for but they are not working. RAND took a look among other researchers and found why they failed but DOD won't listen.

Mississippi State Rep. Jessica Upshaw found dead

Jessica Upshaw Dead: Mississippi State Representative's Death Under Investigation
Huffington Post
Posted: 03/24/2013

Mississippi State Rep. Jessica Upshaw (R-Diamondhead) was found dead on Sunday, the Clarion-Ledger reports.

Simpson County Sheriff Kenneth Lewis said Upshaw, who was 53 years old, died from a gunshot wound to the head.
v “It appeared to be self-inflicted,” Lewis told WLBT-TV. According to the Clarion-Ledger, the investigation of Upshaw's death is in early stages and no details have been released by the coroner.
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Whistle-blowers allege ‘serious wrongdoing’ at Mississippi VA

Whistle-blowers allege ‘serious wrongdoing’ at VA center in Mississippi
By Associated Press

WASHINGTON — Employees at a Veterans Administration hospital in Mississippi have reported a range of “serious wrongdoing,” including improperly sterilized instruments and missed diagnoses of fatal illnesses, an independent federal investigative agency said in a letter to the White House.

The agency said the allegations raise doubt about the facility’s ability to care for veterans.

In the letter sent Monday to the White House and Congress, the Office of Special Counsel said an initial 2009 report by a whistle-blower employee at the G.V. (Sonny) Montgomery VA Medical Center in Jackson, Miss., alleged that the staff routinely failed to properly clean and sterilize reusable medical equipment such as scalpels and bone cutters.

In all, five whistle-blowers representing what the Office of Special Counsel called “a diverse group” of employees at the Jackson hospital made a variety of allegations over several years that imply improper care of patients. One doctor at the facility alleged in January 2013 that thousands of radiology images were unread or improperly read, resulting in missed diagnoses of “serious and, in some cases, fatal illnesses,” the special counsel said.
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Mississippi Middle Schoolers send WWII veteran back to battleground

Hulan Roberts, WWII Veteran, Has Wish To Return To Battleground Granted By Mississippi Middle Schoolers (PHOTOS)
By Sarah Medina
Posted: 12/25/2012

A World War II veteran's dream of returning to the land he fought in is finally being granted, thanks to the generosity of middle school students in Mississippi.

According to the DeSoto Times-Tribune, Hulan Roberts, who was aboard a B-17 bomber during the Battle of the Bulge in 1944, wished to return to the Belgian countryside. He wanted to see the towns and villages from the ground rather than the air.

"I'm as interested as anyone to go back and see it," Roberts said in a ceremony at DeSoto Central Middle School. Now, he will get his wish.
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Death at Keesler campground a suicide

Death at Keesler campground a suicide
Published: November 19, 2012 Updated 40 minutes ago
Sun Herald
By ROBIN FITZGERALD

BILOXI -- A woman's death Sunday in a shooting at a campground for military families has been ruled a suicide.

The woman's name is not being released because of the nature of her death, Harrison County Coroner Gary Hargrove said Monday.

Hargrove said she was 57 years old and had a Louisiana driver's license, but it appeared she may have had a house in Ocean Springs.

Her estranged husband, a 66-year-old retired Army major, was wounded and required hospital treatment, but his injuries were not believed to be life-threatening.

"It is my understanding she did fire shots at her husband and took her own life," Hargrove said.
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Thousands told to evacuate after Isaac damages dam

New mandatory evacuations as Isaac claims first fatality
By Josh Levs
CNN
updated 2:23 PM EDT, Thu August 30, 2012

STORY HIGHLIGHTS
NEW: Mississippi is cutting a hole in the dam at Lake Tangipahoa
NEW: Isaac is expected to become a tropical depression by Thursday evening
NEW: More than 915,000 customers are without power in Arkansas, Alabama, Louisiana, and Mississippi
A falling tree killed a man in Mississippi, authorities say

(CNN) -- Isaac slashed its way further inland Thursday, claiming its first fatality and stranding residents in flood-prone areas even as it threatened to wreak more havoc in the days to come.

Although the tropical storm weakened and is forecast to become a tropical depression by Thursday evening, the pounding rains are still drenching a large swath of the Gulf Coast.

Mississippi and Louisiana announced mandatory evacuations for all low-lying areas along the Tangipahoa River.

A dam at 700-acre Lake Tangipahoa has not breached, "but has been badly damaged by heavy rains," the Pike County Emergency Management Agency said.
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PTSD veterans still "faking" after all these years?

This article is about a lot of things veterans face including being given dangerous drugs to "battle" PTSD. From getting "help" in the form of drugs to being told by a commander that he is "faking" it. We've been sold a bunch of lies that add up to dangerous conditions for our veterans trying to heal from where we sent them.

How is it that one soldier will get all the help and support they need to not only heal but return to the duty they love when others are accused of lying and drugged up to numb their pain instead of being helped to heal as well?

One woman's crusade on the dangers of PTSD treatment
Jul 10, 2012
By AJ Giardina
BILOXI, MS (WLOX)

According to military statistics, as many as 30 percent of Iraq and Afghanistan war veterans are suffering from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. Up until a few weeks ago, the military was treating the men and women with multiple drugs. It's a treatment that was deadly for one coast military man.

Alicia McElroy says her husband died from multiple drug toxicity as a result of medications to treat Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. Staff Sergeant James McElroy returned from his second tour in Afghanistan in 2010.

McElroy, a native of Vancleave, met her husband Mac on Valentine's Day 2005 in Mobile.

"We ended up getting married in 2007 and he was still in the military working at Camp Shelby. We bought a house in 2007. I just finished grad school and started my job. Everything was great. We had a baby that year. It was the perfect year."

McElroy said her husband served in the Marines from 1998 through 2002 and did one tour of duty in Afghanistan. He decided to move to Mississippi after he got out of the Marines and joined the Army National Guard in 2004.

McElroy said she, her husband, and their son, Dane, were so happy. That is until Mac was sent to Afghanistan in May of 2010. He returned to Hattiesburg on leave in October of that year.

"He was starting to adjust to living together and Dane was getting used to Daddy being home. Mac took a turn for the worse."

She said Mac was always depressed, agitated and wasn't sleeping.

"I went into the room to check on him, like I always did throughout the day. He was just balled up in the sheets crying. Like, okay, it's alright. What's wrong? He wouldn't talk, and I really couldn't comfort him. I sat there held his hand and rubbed his back and he looked up at me and said, 'I need help. Help me, please.'"

She said she took her husband to the emergency room at Keesler Medical Center and later checked in at the VA. McElroy said a doctor told her Mac needed to be treated for Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.

She said things were going well with his treatment until he was released from the military, because his commanders thought he was faking his illness.
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