PTSD on Trial: Georgia

Former soldier uses PTSD defense in death penalty trial
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
By Rhonda Cook
February 10, 2017

Witnesses told police Mixon became even more belligerent as officer Jordan, a 43-year-old father of seven, walked her out. In the parking lot, Bowman allegedly shot Jordan five times in the back as he tried to arrest Mixon.

LaGrange, Ga.
A former sergeant in the Georgia National Guard said he does not remember shooting and killing an off-duty police officer outside a Griffin Waffle House almost three years ago, but he doesn’t doubt that he did it.

A portrait sits on the stage for the home going service for Griffin police officer Kevin “Shogun” Dorian Jordan, 43, who tragically died in the line of duty at the Oak Hill Baptist Church on Monday, June 9, 2014, in Williamson. CURTIS COMPTON

Michael Bowman — the first defense witness called in his death penalty trial — is claiming post traumatic stress disorder from three deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan caused him to react as if he were being attacked by the enemy when he allegedly shot and killed officer Kevin Jordan.
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Fort Benning Soldier Shot and Killed

Ft. Benning soldier shot and killed after breaking into apartment on Armour Rd.
WLOX News
Monday, February 6th 2017

COLUMBUS, GA (WTVM) - Columbus police have confirmed that 31-year-old Christopher Warden, a soldier stationed at Fort Benning was shot after he broke into an apartment on Armour Road.

On Sunday, Feb. 5, 2017, at approximately 7:19 AM, the 911 center received a call about someone trying to break into an apartment in the Armour Landing Apartments at 3929 Armour Avenue.

Warden beat and kicked the door and eventually broke out a front window and crawled into an apartment, which he thought was where his wife had gone to pick up her daughter.

He was warned by his friend that they were at the wrong apartment and a neighbor also told him that he was at the wrong apartment and that he would call 911 if he didn’t leave.
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Disabled Veteran Got Free Home--Then Fined For Not Taking Care of It?

At first I thought, he should have hired someone to do what he needed done, or asked for help. Considering he does have neighbors, plus all the veterans groups out there, he should have been able to find someone to help him. We did. When it got too much for us to take care of our property, we hired a crew. And then came the part that the veteran received the home free of charge. Now I'm sure the first thought I had, is the question that needed to be asked the most. Not jumping on the HOA on this one. Why didn't he ask for help to take care of the home he was given?


This was reported after he received the home.

Nina Rodriguez said the family is not alone in their happiness. As vice president with Bank of America's property donation program, she's assisted in the donation of 20 similar properties.

"It's basically a free home," Rodriguez said. "They're responsible only for property taxes and homeowner's insurance. It's something that Bank of America is committed to. We want to support our injured veterans."

Disabled, decorated Army veteran battles HOA
FOX 5 News
December 9, 2016

“I had lost so much blood. I had like 27 blood transfusions before I ever left Afghanistan,” said Lister.

GWINNETT COUNTY, Ga. - A wounded war veteran said he is facing serious fines from his Gwinnett County neighborhood’s home owner association.

Retired Army Staff Sgt. Daniel Lister did four tours of duty: first in Iraq, then Afghanistan, but he is now in a big fight with his homeowners association after they put a lien on his property. His days of fighting aren’t over yet. He said the HOA forced him to pay thousands of dollars for not keeping his house up to regulations.

The retired army sergeant wasn’t expected to survive when he stepped on an IED in Afghanistan 7 years ago. More than 30 surgeries later, the single father, amputee and PTSD survivor, who has been awarded a Purple Heart and dozens of other medals, is in another kind of battle.
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92-year-old World War II Navy Veteran Transportation Company

Blind veteran says he was left stranded by MARTA
FOX 26 
By: Portia Bruner 
POSTED:NOV 18 2016

“Patients were coming in after my appointment was over. Then they would be on their way out and ask why I was still there. I told them I was still waiting. They were supposed to pick me up at 2:30. They didn’t get there until 6:30. That was a long time," Litttle said.

ATLANTA - John Little is happy to boast that driving is the only thing he can’t do. Despite being legally blind, the 92-year-old World War II Navy Veteran takes a lot of pride in living own in Hapeville.

He doesn’t like to bother his loved ones for a ride, so he relies on MARTA Mobility to get back and forth to his doctor's office in Tucker. But Little told FOX's 5 Portia Bruner, MARTA left him stranded for four hours at the doctor's officer on Thursday.
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Family Asks For Prayers After Specialist Winston Hencely Wounded in Afghanistan

Georgia soldier critically injured in Afghanistan
FOX 5 News Atlanta
November 15, 2016

ATLANTA - The family of a U.S. Army soldier from Georgia, who was critically injured in Afghanistan, is asking for prayers.

Family members tell FOX 5 News Specialist Winston Hencely was injured by a suicide bomber in Afghanistan. He is on life support and listed in critical condition. His sister, Ivey, said he has shown some progress by moving his fingers and toes, but has extensive shrapnel damage to his head, chest and the left side of his body.

The 20-year-old was one of a few soldiers injured in the attack, which left many dead, the family said.

While his relatives are trying to have him moved back to Georgia, they’re asking the public for prayers.

In May 2014, Spec. Hencely graduated from Effingham County HS in Springfield, Georgia.
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Flesh Eating Bacteria Took Three Limbs But Not Marine's Spirit

Veteran who lost 3 limbs to flesh-eating bacteria trains to become Crossfit warrior
Associated Press
BY LISA MARIE PANE
October 19, 2016

“I’m here for my kids, my husband and I want them to see I can still do things with them.”

DACULA, GA. A year ago, Cindy Martinez was struggling to walk even just a few feet and lift just five pounds.

A flesh-eating bacteria had ravaged the 35-year-old Marine veteran’s body. She had a grim choice: Amputate both legs, an arm below the elbow, and parts of the fingers on her remaining arm – or face almost-certain death.

The amputations saved her life. And after months of hospitalizations and rehabilitation, she finally found herself back home but alone during the day while her young children were in school and her husband was off at work.

“It kind of takes a toll on you mentally, just sitting there after all that I had gone through,” she said.

In the stillness of her home, she fired off an email to a local gym and asked about joining. When they called back later that night, “I told the lady on the phone, ‘well, there’s a twist to my story.’ ”

She soon found herself sitting in a circle surrounded by trainers at Crossfit Goat – with the motto Be Your Greatest of All Time – in Dacula, about 45 miles northeast of Atlanta. She told them her story and began in February to embark on an unusual quest: becoming a Crossfit athlete. Crossfit gyms are known for high-intensity strength and cardio workout, and their members often consider their “box” to be like a family as they bond over workouts-of-the-day that test their strength and resolve.
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Marine Veteran Killed As Contractor, GoFundMe Account Used By Selfish "Friend"

After their dad died, a family friend set up a GoFundMe account to help. Then she raided it.
Washington Post
By Cleve R. Wootson Jr.
October 17, 2016

Holder pleaded guilty on Wednesday to felony theft by conversion. She will spend two years in prison and eight on probation.

This cached photo shows Barry Sutton’s daughters as they appeared on a GoFundMe site made by a woman who bilked a town out of nearly $5,000. (Via GoFundMe)

Barry Sutton was working as a civilian contractor when he was killed by a car bomb in Afghanistan last year, but he received a soldier’s homecoming.

Police escorted his casket from the airport to a funeral home in Rome, Ga. People stood on either side of the procession route, waving flags. An honor guard presented colors at his funeral — paying tribute to the former police officer and sheriff’s deputy.

Amid the fanfare, Brandy Holder, a family friend, told people that she wanted to organize something special.

According to his obituary, Barry Dean Sutton had served in the Marines Corps and worked in law enforcement, first with Georgia’s Floyd County Police Department, then with the Floyd County Sheriff’s Office. He was also a school resource officer at Armuchee High School, his alma mater. He was working for DynCorp when he was killed in Kabul at the age of 46, the obituary said.
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Female Pilot Flying Again After Losing Leg

Female Air Force pilot amputee returns to the skies
Air Force Times
Oriana Pawlyk
July 23, 2016

Capt. Christy Wise frantically waved her headlamp flashlight to alert a boat jetting toward her to turn away. But Wise, a HC-130J rescue squadron pilot, quickly realizing it was too late, dove as far down to save herself. When she surfaced, she knew the boat’s propeller had severed her right leg.

Capt. Christy Wise, 71st Rescue Squadron. (Photo: Courtesy photo)

Almost a year later, Wise — who thought it would be the end of her pilot career — is back in the cockpit, and flew her first mission Friday at Moody Air Force Base, Georgia, where she is stationed. She is the first female Air Force amputee to return to flight, the service said.

“I have been blown away with the amount of support I’ve had to ... achieve my goals,” Wise told Air Force Times on July 21.

On April 11, 2015, she and her boyfriend were paddleboarding in a cove near Shalimar, Florida. “When I surfaced I immediately thought, ‘Dang it, I should have had a brighter flashlight’,” Wise said. But she later learned it was a hit-and-run accident as the boat did not stop or slow down.
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Orphan of Vietnam War Meets Widow of Veteran

Man who was orphaned during Vietnam War meets widow of Vietnam veteran
North West Florida Daily News
By KELLY HUMPHREY
Jul 2, 2016

“I try to express my gratitude to Vietnam vets whenever I have an opportunity. But a lot of people forget about the spouses and everything you went through. I wanted to thank you, too.”
Jason Robertson

Michael Snyder Daily News

Jason Robertson, who was orphaned during the Vietnam War and later adopted by an American family, is seen with veterans rights advocate Karen Biddle in Niceville. At the rear is Robertson's family; wife Debbie, daughter Melanie, son Nathan and daughters Meredith and Naomi.

NICEVILLE — In a fast food restaurant in a town nearly 10,000 miles from where he was born, Jason Robertson sat across the table from a woman he’d never met before.

The Georgia resident was in the area to celebrate the Fourth of July with his in-laws. A few weeks earlier, he and his wife and four children had been in town for Father’s Day. During that visit, Robertson saw something in the Daily News that touched him deeply.

“As I was getting ready to go home, I happened to see the Sunday paper,” Robertson said. “There was a story that had a word that always catches my attention: Vietnam.

The article told the story of Karen Biddle, a Crestview woman whose husband was a Vietnam veteran. After years of struggling with post-traumatic stress disorder, William “Grunt” Biddle committed suicide.

“When I picked up the paper and read the whole article, I was just like, ‘Wow.’ ” Robertson said.

“It really touched me because I’m an orphan from the war. I wanted to contact Karen and thank her for her husband’s service. It was men like him who fought for my freedom. I owe them so much.”
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Georgia Aims Paint Brush After Two Tours in Iraq

How art therapy helps a Georgia veteran with PTSD
Atlanta Magazine
Frank Reddy
April 20, 2016

“[My art] gives me somewhere to put energy

that I have no other way to get rid of.”

Jason Smith works in his home studio.

PHOTOGRAPH BY STEVEN KARL METZER

Everywhere Jason Smith turned, it seemed death surrounded him. As a medic in the smoldering battlegrounds of Iraq, he performed CPR on fatally wounded Marines. Back home he was involved in a car wreck that left him with a traumatic brain injury and killed a friend.

Before long he began hallucinating. There were daytime visions of dying men at his feet. In the grocery store, Smith saw the smiling ghosts of uniformed Marines waving. He was diagnosed in May 2005 with post-traumatic stress disorder.

The following year Smith, 33, was discharged after two tours in Iraq. Back in civilian life, he held and lost eight different jobs, largely due to symptoms relating to his PTSD. After a period of hardship and heavy drinking, Smith finally found comfort doing something he’d never done before: picking up a paintbrush.

These days the walls of the Gainesville, Georgia, home he shares with his wife, Pamela, are decorated with paintings and mixed-media artwork incorporating found items like feathers, vinyl records, and gnarly chunks of driftwood. Pop culture is a dominant theme—think ThunderCats cartoons, Iron Maiden album covers, and Duke’s Mayonnaise jars—but it’s not all lighthearted. One painting features a man dangling from a cliff; a group of soldiers grasp at him from below, trying to pull him down. “The chasm represents PTSD and memories and intrusive thoughts,” says the burley, bearded Smith, who swears by the healing power of the creative process.
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Georgia Iraq Veteran Getting Surgery 10 Years After Being Wounded

This article leaves many questions. Why has it taken so long for this? Plus there is a section talking about the cost being covered by a charity and the veteran will only have to pay for his hospital stay after the surgery. So why would he have to pay anything? Why wouldn't the VA cover it? This veteran should not have to pay a single dime!

Georgia veteran to undergo surgery decade after being shot in face
FoxNews.com
Published April 18, 2016

Nearly 10 years after being shot in the face by a sniper, a Georgia Navy veteran will undergo surgery Monday to repair his badly damaged mouth and jaw.

Dusty Kirby, 32, of Canton, Georgia, was shot in the face while on guard duty with a U.S. Marines unit in Iraq on Christmas Day in 2006.

"I was hit with a high-powered sniper rifle,” Kirby told Fox5 Atlanta, pointing at his chin. "It impacted right here, and made contact [on] the middle of my tongue, and then blew my jaw out here.”

Military trauma surgeons saved Kirby’s life, and he’s since undergone over 30 operations. The father of four recently received a letter confirming that a team of New York City surgeons will repair his mouth and jaw. The surgeons are part of Marine Assist, which provides free plastic surgery and dental services to Marine veterans of the Afghanistan and Iraq wars. Kirby will only have to pay for his hospital stay after the operations.
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Marine To Donate Kidney to National Guardsman "Brother"

He's my brother: Marine donates kidney to Nat'l Guardsman
WXIA
Kaitlyn Ross
March 25, 2016

National Guardsman Dustin Brown stands with his wife and young son holding a sign that demonstrates his plight - he needs a kidney.

ATLANTA - In less than 24 hours, a local patriot will undergo life-saving surgery.

Time was rapidly running out for a National Guardsman to receive a kidney transplant before his military contract expired.

Dustin Brown was in Stage 5 kidney failure and about to lose his insurance when another service member stepped up to help.

"We're all on the same team," Marine Corps Veteran Temple Jeffords said. "He's my brother just as much as any other person out there wearing the uniform."

Temple didn't hesitate when he saw Brown was in need.

"One of the things the Marine Corps teaches you is you're all brothers and sisters," Temple said. "That you're all part of the same family."

Dustin was about to deploy as a medic last fall when he found out his kidneys were failing.

He couldn't complete his mission to help people.
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Fifteen Hour Standoff With Veteran--He Lived--Faces Charges?

Armed standoff suspect formally charged
Augusta Chronicle
By Abby Lennon
Staff Writer
March 18, 2016

Seaton "told deputies he had become extremely upset after finding out about the death of his best friend."

The man involved earlier this month in a 15-hour police standoff near Harlem High School, was booked into the Columbia County Detention Center Wednesday night.

Randall Edward Seaton, 27, a military veteran said to suffer post traumatic stress disorder, had been under medical evaluation for more than a week at the Dwight D. Eisenhower Army Medical Center at Fort Gordon. He has been charged with four counts of aggravated assault, criminal damage to property in the second degree and reckless conduct.

Seaton surrendered to deputies after he held officers at bay for more than 15 hours during the standoff that began March 6 and lasted until the early morning hours of March 7.
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Army Veteran Horrified By Media Account of Dark Day

Army vet seeks to regain what was lost at Waffle House counter
Online Athens
By JOE JOHNSON
Sunday, March 13, 2016

Worthington was stung by the media’s descriptions of his appearance. “That bothers me because I’m not a man in a clown suit or a man dressed as a clown. Damn it, I am a clown,” he said. “I’d like it if people didn’t take that away from me.”

In his 25 years, Jacob Worthington has already seen and done plenty in his life.

He’s a U.S. Army combat veteran who has traveled the world working to help others. He’s a magician, who has an affinity for juggling and card tricks, seeking to entertain the crowd. He’s a classically-trained chef.

But earlier this month Worthington, whose struggle with post-traumatic stress disorder is only being compounded by drug and alcohol abuse, became fodder for the Internet.

“I am a proud man who has lived an amazing life that could fill several books and I’m only 25,” Worthington said. “To be reduced to a meth clown in a single day when I don’t even know what meth looks like is horrific.”

Worthington was arrested the morning of March 1 after a Waffle House waitress claimed she saw him smoking methamphetamine at the restaurant’s counter before locking himself in the bathroom. Earlier that night Worthington was entertaining people in downtown Athens in his clown persona and was still in costume when he walked into the restaurant on West Clayton Street.

During his deployment to Afghanistan, Worthington said he was assigned to a forward operating base as a member of a tactical psychological operations team accompanying special operations and conventional forces on missions.

“After a year of seeing things that no one should ever see I returned home the one needing help,” he said.
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Restaurant Manager Thought Only Blind People Had Service Dogs?

Local restaurant denies service to man with service dog
WRCB NBC News
Dan Kennedy
March 8, 2016

FORT OGLETHORPE, GA (WRCB)

One man’s experience at a Fort Oglethorpe restaurant has left a bad taste in his mouth after they refused him service because of his service dog. But the restaurant's manager told Channel 3 it was a misunderstanding and that they want to make things right.

Roger Corley, who suffers from PTSD after serving in the military, and his dog Missy were denied service Friday from El Matador Restaurant in Fort Oglethorpe.

“I walked in and the lady said ‘you can’t have an animal in here,’” Corley said. “I explained it’s not just an animal, it’s not a pet, it’s a service animal. I showed her the identification for my dog. She told me it didn’t matter and that I wasn’t allowed to come in with her.”

The restaurant manager who turned the man away told Channel 3 she didn’t know about PTSD service dogs or the Georgia law that allows Corley to take Missy anywhere.

“It’s my mistake,” said Maria D. Martinez De Arellano. “I’m thinking it’s a regular dog because I don’t see him blind, I think only the blind people need the dog.”
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THE BIGGEST MISTAKE WAS NOT KNOWING THE LAW!

Medical Marijuana ID Not Good In All States

If you have the right to use medical marijuana in your state, that's great but check the other state before you enter it. Just like gun laws change from state to state, so does this.

Veteran plans to sue Villa Rica police over arrest
WSB-12 News
February 26, 2016

CARROLL COUNTY, Ga. — A veteran told Channel 2 Action News he's planning to sue local law enforcement for what he's calling a "traumatic arrest." The man has a medical marijuana card from Colorado, but he had marijuana with him in Georgia.

"It was probably one of the most horrific things I've ever been through and I've been through a lot," veteran Bill Clanton said.

On Feb. 9, Villa Rica police spotted Clanton exiting I-20 eastbound onto Highway 61. Police say Clanton was pulled over, because the officer couldn't clearly see his license plate.

The officer smelled marijuana in Clanton's car and took him to jail.

Clanton says he's still shaken by his recent arrest in Carroll County. The Colorado resident served in the Persian Gulf War and suffers from post traumatic stress disorder.
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Georgia Police Officer Faces Trial Killing Naked Air Force Veteran

Georgia Police Officer Indicted for Murder of Unarmed Black Man
New York Times
By ALAN BLINDER
JAN. 21, 2016

Anthony Hill, a 27-year-old Air Force veteran, was in the midst of what his family described in a lawsuit as “a nonviolent mental episode.”

DECATUR, Ga. — A white police officer was indicted here Thursday on six counts, including felony murder, in the fatal shooting last year of an unarmed black man who was naked and described as acting in an erratic manner.

The indictment of Officer Robert Olsen of the DeKalb County Police Department came about two weeks after the district attorney said he would ask a grand jury to pursue criminal charges in the death of Anthony Hill, a 27-year-old Air Force veteran.

The indictment, which District Attorney Robert D. James Jr. of DeKalb County announced at a Thursday night news conference, with Mr. Hill’s family members seated in the first row, was an emotional and surprising development. It played out in this city just east of Atlanta where, it seemed, few people had expected that Officer Olsen would be charged with murder. Mr. James said a judge had issued an arrest warrant and that Officer Olsen would soon be arrested.

After the arrival of Officer Olsen, who had a Taser device and had received training about how to deal with people suffering from mental illness, witnesses said that Mr. Hill did not comply with the officer’s directions to stop his advance. Mr. Hill’s hands, they said, were raised or at his sides before Officer Olsen opened fire. Mr. Hill, his family said in a court document last year, “was unarmed, unclothed and displaying no signs of aggression at the time of the shooting, and he presented no threat to Officer Olsen or anyone else.”
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U-S Army W-T-F Moments Mold At Fort Gordon Barracks

Soldier claims mold infestation at Fort Gordon barracks
WAGT 26 News
By Uyen Le
Published: January 7, 2016

The Facebook post reads, ‘Every 3 to 4 days I have to bleach my room to get rid of mold because it keeps coming back. My command said the issues has been elevated to garrison by nothing has been done except small fixes that don’t work.’

AUGUSTA, Ga. – A local soldier taking to social media, posting pictures of what he says is mold growing on his chair, pillow, and ceiling. The unnamed soldier claims his barracks at Fort Gordon has a mold infestation.

A former staff sergeant reached out NBC 26 when he was made aware of this situation. He says he’s appalled that higher command isn’t acting fast enough to address this problem.

These pictures submitted to U-S Army W-T-F Moments reads, ‘This is the fort Gordon mos-t/reclass barracks…I got my room it was covered in mold.’

“I’m appalled as a leader and I’m appalled as soldier, knowing that leaders are aware and they are not taking care of this guy,” says Aaron.
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Staff Sgt. Chester McBride Killed in Afghanistan, Honored in Georgia

Statesboro parade honors Chester McBride, Air Force Staff Sgt. killed in Afghanistan
WJCL News
By Tori Simkovic
Published 01/01/2016

"We take our kids to see heroes on television like Captain America or Iron Man or the Incredible Hulk, but today we have the opportunity to show them what a real American hero is." Angela Barnes

STATESBORO, Ga. (WJCL)- A parade was held in Statesboro on Friday to honor Air Force Staff Sgt. Chester McBride. McBride was among six Americans killed in a suicide bombing last week in Afghanistan.

People lined the streets for miles to welcome home the Statesboro native.

"Somebody who's willing to do what our military does, we have to support them in any way we possibly can," said Veteran Jeff Tysinger.

As the procession drove through, peopel waved flags and wiped away tears to honor McBride.

"We just feel it's very important for us to come together and show our respect and support for the family," said Statesboro resident Angela Barnes.
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Homeless Veteran Going Home to Family After Someone Cared About Him

Good Samaritan helps homeless veteran find family
Wiley Wright expected to head home after 30 years
KSAT News
By Pilar Arias - Reporter
Posted: 5:27 PM, December 28, 2015

A homeless man living under a bridge on the city’s northwest side is about to see his family for the first time in more than 30 years.

“I’ve been homeless ever since my grandfather died in (19)75,” Wiley James Wright Jr. said.

Wright has gone without talking to his family for nearly half his life. Thanks to a good Samaritan who only wants to be known as Amanda, that’s about to change.

“We’re our brother’s keeper. Like, this is what we’re supposed to do,” Amanda said. “I just thought if he would let me help him, I should try.”

Amanda gave Wiley money the first time she noticed him panhandling at a gas station off Culebra Road and Westwood Loop but she couldn’t get him off her mind.

When she returned to meet him, she learned he was living under a bridge at a nearby park. After learning the 61-year-old Army veteran’s story, she decided to help him reconnect with loved ones.

Wright’s now waiting for his younger sister to pick him up. She’s driving to San Antonio from Moultrie, Georgia.
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