Fort Carson Soldiers Treated Other Than Honorable

Fort Carson soldiers facing other than honorable discharges struggling
The Associated Press
October 25, 2015

Jerrald Jensen breaks down in the garage of his Central City, Colo., home on Sept. 1 while talking about his struggles since he was discharged from the Army two years ago. He is still toothless from a roadside bomb that blew off parts of his face in 2007.
(Photo: Christian Murdock/The Gazette via AP)

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. — Two of three Fort Carson soldiers who faced other-than-honorable discharges over the past few years say they still struggle, despite getting federal benefits to help cover medical costs, because the discharge also affects pensions and other benefits earned for service.

Joe Moore, a Maryland lawyer who argues veterans claims cases, said the agency can't change a soldier's military discharge status, but it can go ahead and award benefits.

"(The) VA doesn't like to re-characterize discharges," he said.

Jerrald Jensen and Kash Alvaro said they still struggle despite getting federal benefits to help cover medical costs. Sgt. Paul Sasse, whose case was also reviewed, moved to Washington state and declined to talk.

U.S. Rep. Mike Coffman, R-Aurora, says he is concerned that the Army improperly punished troops suffering from war wounds and is considering legislation that would force the Army to review past discharges for misconduct to determine if the behavior was triggered by their wounds.

"No doubt, there is a disconnect about the nature of the discharge and the ramifications relative to veterans benefits..." Coffman told the Colorado Springs Gazette.
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Army Abandoned 24,611 Soldiers for Discipline Issues in 2012 and 2013

Blame the Soldiers For What Is Done to Them? 
Wounded Times
Kathie Costos
October 25, 2015

Bad leadership or bad recruits? Your guess must be the same as mine or you wouldn't be reading Wounded Times. My guess is they are doing what they always did. Blame the soldiers for what is done to them instead of admitting what they are not doing for them. Simple as that? Hardly. It is even worse.

Associate Press reporter Lolita Baldor did fabulous work on what was being done to our troops back in 2014.

Misconduct forcing more soldiers out of Army

Yet Congress has not fixed any of this. "Ex-troops with highest suicide risk often don't qualify for mental care" LA Times reporter Alan Zarembo wrote on April 1, 2015 showing that Congress already knew what was going on.

Those with dishonorable discharges are not eligible unless they can prove they were insane at the time of their crimes. Former troops with other types of less-than-honorable discharges must apply for veteran status, but fewer than 10% do.

Of those, fewer than a quarter succeed, according to a 2007 study by a congressional commission.

More than 140,000 troops have left the military since 2000 with less-than-honorable discharges, according to the Pentagon.

Of those suicides, 403 were among ex-service members whose discharges were "not honorable" — for a wide range of misconduct, from repeatedly disrespecting officers to felony convictions. An additional 380 occurred among veterans with "uncharacterized" discharges, the designation used for troops who leave in fewer than 180 days for a variety of nondisciplinary reasons.

And now the latest reports paints an even more frightening situation.

"The Army parted with 24,611 soldiers for discipline issues in 2012 and 2013."

Army cleaning up its ranks: Service backs dismissals based on misconduct, but critics remain
The Gazette
By: Tom Roeder
Updated: October 25, 2015

The Army has cracked down on misconduct in recent years, sending the number of troops dismissed for misdeeds skyward while piling up punishment paperwork at a rate not seen since the 1990s - the last time the Army saw deep cuts in its ranks.

Army insiders say the service is cleaning up its act after years of lax discipline in wartime. Critics say the service has found a convenient tool to deal with Pentagon belt-tightening by using peacetime to cut soldiers who were good enough for war.

Retired Army Capt. Donald Hamilton found himself on both sides of that equation when he was a personnel officer in Fort Carson's 10th Special Forces Group.

He recalled an October 2012 meeting when personnel officers from across the post were told discipline would be the top tool for shedding soldiers.

The Army shed 57,835 soldiers from 2010 to 2014. Over that time, 57,060 soldiers were kicked out for discipline issues. The Army says the similarity of the numbers is a coincidence.
read more here

So when you read about the number of suicides within the Army itself, factor those numbers in because while suicides went up the number of soldier serving went down.

First Quarter of 2015

Today, the Department of Defense released the Quarterly Suicide Report (QSR) for the first quarter of calendar year 2015.

The report summarizes confirmed suicide counts for all services and components during the months of January there were 57 suicides among service members in the active component, 15 suicides among service members in the reserve component and 27 suicides among service members in the National Guard.

A closer review of the data for Q1 2014 and Q1 2015 reveals that while there were decreases in the number of suicides in the Marine Corps, the Navy, and the Air Force, there was an increase in the number of suicides in the Army.

Second Quarter of 2015

Today, the Department of Defense released the Quarterly Suicide Report (QSR) for the second quarter of calendar year 2015.

The report summarizes confirmed suicide counts for all services and components during the months of April through July of 2015, and also includes total suicide counts for 2014, 2013 and 2012.

In the second quarter of 2015, there were 71 suicides among service members in the active component, 20 suicides among service members in the reserve component and 27 suicides among service members in the National Guard.

Veteran Suicide: Brain Scan Showed the Scars, Bars Showed Scorn

Another soldier spurned by Army dies of apparent suicide
USA TODAY
Gregg Zoroya
August 4, 2015

Since non-medical management took over, 90 soldiers have committed suicide within three months of receiving substance abuse treatment.

This is Georgia National Guard Spc. Stephen Akins. On July 2, six months after he was expelled, Chrystal Akins found her son in the basement bedroom of her home in Austell, just west of Atlanta, dead of an apparent suicide by overdose, according to police. Michael A. Schwarz, USA TODAY

For a U.S. Army where failures to treat soldiers with substance abuse problems have been linked to suicides, Georgia National Guard Spc. Stephen Akins was another tragedy waiting to happen.

Scans of his brain showed scars, and he had a history of seizures, combat blast exposure and suicide attempts. All were indisputable evidence that the soldier needed a medical retirement — despite erratic behavior that led to punishable infractions, his lawyer and psychiatrist argued. Such a move would offer a smooth transition from the Army to the care of the VA.

But the Army didn't see it that way. A two-star general with no medical background concluded that the 31-year-old soldier's behavior — drunken driving, speeding, missed appointments and urinalysis cheating — had nothing to do with traumatic brain injury or emotional problems and kicked him out of the Army.

On July 2, six months after he was expelled, Chrystal Akins found her son dead in the basement bedroom of her home in Austell, Ga., just west of Atlanta, victim of an apparent suicide by overdose, according to police. "It totally blew me away," she said about prying open his bedroom door and finding his body on his bed. "I'll live with this the rest of my life."
read more here

Bad Discharges Not Honorable To Far Too Many

Ex-troops with highest suicide risk often don't qualify for mental care 
LA Times
By ALAN ZAREMBO
April 1, 2015

Many vets with 'bad' discharges are cast off to local mental health services, charities despite suicide risk

Of those suicides, 403 were among ex-service members whose discharges were "not honorable" — for a wide range of misconduct, from repeatedly disrespecting officers to felony convictions. An additional 380 occurred among veterans with "uncharacterized" discharges, the designation used for troops who leave in fewer than 180 days for a variety of nondisciplinary reasons.

The largest study to date of recent military and veteran suicides has identified two high-risk groups of former troops who are generally ineligible for the psychiatric care afforded to all others who served: those forced out of the military for misconduct and those who enlisted but were quickly discharged for other problems.

In each of those groups, an average of 46 of every 100,000 former service members committed suicide each year — more than double the rate for veterans with honorable discharges.

The findings are likely to spur debate over whether efforts to stem veteran suicides are targeting the right people and to strengthen calls to expand access to benefits and care — especially for those who blame post-traumatic stress disorder or other war-related problems for their misconduct and subsequent dismissals from the military.

"The problem is much bigger than the veterans we choose to help," said Phillip Carter, a senior fellow at the nonpartisan Center for a New American Security who has followed the issue.

Since World War II, the VA has been responsible for determining who is eligible for healthcare and benefits. Ex-service members who were enlisted for less than two years qualify only if they have disabilities related to their service.

Those with dishonorable discharges are not eligible unless they can prove they were insane at the time of their crimes. Former troops with other types of less-than-honorable discharges must apply for veteran status, but fewer than 10% do.

Of those, fewer than a quarter succeed, according to a 2007 study by a congressional commission.

More than 140,000 troops have left the military since 2000 with less-than-honorable discharges, according to the Pentagon.
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Fake Wounded Warrior Pulled off Fraud in Florida

Hope Fund was sent a fake from Wounded Warrior Project who needed a place to stay. Isn't that what they are supposed to be doing? Aren't they supposed to know who is really wounded, with a Purple Heart or diagnosed with PTSD or TBI?

The article goes on to stay that WWP has been sending veterans to them for a while. Now Hope Fund's reputation has been tarnished because they believed this veteran sent to them was telling the truth.

Hope Fund fraud uncovered as Army veteran's story falls flat 
Jacksonville.com
By Clifford Davis
Tue, Jan 6, 2015

"Bartlett-King was kicked out of the Army with an other-than-honorable discharge due to drug abuse, according to a copy of his records obtained by the Times-Union.

His official discharge papers, or DD214, also show that he never served in Afghanistan, like he told Brangenberg for the original story."

Will.Dickey Jacksonville.com
Leroy Bartlett-King, 26, was kicked out of the Army with
an other-than-honorable discharge
a copy of his records confirmed.

Leroy Bartlett-King told quite the tale to a University of North Florida senior writing a story for a local project known as the Hope Fund that is published in the Times-Union.

The 26-year-old veteran gave a spine-tingling account of stepping on a landmine in Iraq — pausing long enough on the mine’s pressure plate to allow his fellow squad members to get clear of the blast. He continues to stand behind most of his original story today.

“I completely felt like he was being trustworthy,” said the story’s author, Joshua Brangenberg. “Even when we got into specific details about the event, he seemed like he was getting emotional about potential deaths that may have happened.

“I didn’t feel like I had anything to question because not only was his story being corroborated by the social worker, he was also getting emotional.”

The social worker, Suzie Loving, said Bartlett-King arrived at the door of Five Star Veterans Center hunched over in a wheelchair.
“I had a call come in from the veterans service officer from Wounded Warrior [Project],” Loving said. “We’d been making great strides working with them and they would send people to us who needed a place to stay.

“He said they’d met a young veteran in Tampa at one of the PTSD (post traumatic stress disorder) clinics who would be released soon and needed a place to stay.

“My concern is to preserve the integrity of the Hope Fund, which has been around for 20 years,” said Judy Smith, HandsOn’s CEO. “What I want readers to come away with is that, while we try to screen in every way, shape and form, sometimes someone like this will slip through the cracks for a period of time – and his period of time is up.”
read more here

Army kicking out soldiers and silencing advocates

Is the Army silencing those who intervene in questionable discharges?
Aljazeera America
by Dave Philipps
January 29, 2014

A downsizing Army is discharging more soldiers for misconduct — and, some say, retaliating against those who cry foul

John Bettencourt the day he was discharged from the Army for misconduct. The discharge on such grounds meant Bettencourt, who was injured in Afghanistan, was ineligible for medical benefits.
Dave Philipps

FORT CARSON, Colo. — John Bettencourt, an infantry soldier who served two tours in Afghanistan, tested positive for marijuana at the military base here in 2012. Drug use is against Army rules, and though the soldier went to drug treatment programs and never had another positive test, he was told he’d be kicked out for misconduct.

But Bettencourt had suffered head injuries in a truck bombing in Afghanistan that, he said, had left him sleepless, depressed and suffering from debilitating headaches. He appealed for medical help and for further evaluation that would have made him eligible for medical care and possibly disability benefit checks. He enlisted the help of two soldier advocates to make his case, went to a brain-injury doctor who told commanders the soldier needed medical attention, and contacted an Army hospital ombudsman who tried to stop the discharge.

The Army kicked him out anyway. And then local commanders fired the doctor, banned the advocates from the military base and opened two investigations into the hospital ombudsman. (The Army said that it followed procedures and that soldiers need to be held responsible for their actions.)

Bettencourt, who was decorated for valor in combat, left Fort Carson with no medical benefits and a lifetime ban on access to health care through the Veterans Administration. He even owed the Army $120 because he was kicked out before his enlistment was up. At last contact, five months ago, he was living in an abandoned trailer in Arizona with no water or electricity.

“This is how they treat us, even after we risk our lives,” he said. “And the only people that tried to help, the Army went after them.”

“This is how they treat us, even after we risk our lives,” he said. “And the only people that tried to help, the Army went after them.”

The Army is kicking out more soldiers for misconduct than ever before. Congress has ordered the military to cut 80,000 troops now that a decade of war is winding down; in the four years since 2009, the number of misconduct discharges rose annually by more than 25 percent Army-wide. At the eight Army posts that house most of the service's combat units, which include Fort Carson near Colorado Springs, misconduct discharges have surged 67 percent since 2009. All told, more than 76,000 soldiers have been forced out of the Army this way since 2006.
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"Bad Paper" discharges left 100,000 veterans on their own

What did they expect? Did they really expect the military was serious about addressing PTSD and suicides? Seriously? Did they expect their service to be honored and their wounds taken care of? After all, kicked out of the military means the DOD no longer has to count them on anything and the VA doesn't have to count them so they can just slip away and suffer for as long as they live.

Remember these veterans the next time you hear military brass talk about the drop in suicides.

Other-Than-Honorable Discharge Burdens Like A Scarlet Letter
NPR
Quil Lawrence
December 9, 2013

Credit Marisa Penaloza / NPR
Brandon Bailey worked as a flight nurse evacuating wounded troops from Iraq and Afghanistan. After a blow to the head and being diagnosed with a TBI and PTSD, he was court-martialed for theft and drug use, sentenced to three months in prison and dismissed from the Air Force.

Eric Highfill spent five years in the Navy, fixing airplanes for special operations forces. His discharge papers show an Iraq campaign medal and an Afghanistan campaign medal, a good-conduct medal, and that he's a marksman with a pistol and sharpshooter with a rifle.

None of that matters, because at the bottom of the page it reads "Discharged: under other than honorable conditions."

Highfill, a 27-year-old Michigan native, says he got addicted to the painkillers he was taking for a knee injury. In the Navy's eyes, Highfill screwed up. He got a DUI, among other things, and so it kicked him out. And that means when he went to a Department of Veterans Affairs medical center, it did the same.

"I went down to the Battle Creek [Mich.] VA and I spoke with the receptionist. She looked at my discharge and said, 'Well, you have a bad discharge. ... Congress does not recognize you as a veteran.' And they turned me away," Highfill says.

Highfill and more than 100,000 other troops left the armed services with "bad paper" over the past decade of war.

Many went to war, saw combat, even earned medals before they broke the rules of military discipline or in some cases committed serious crimes. The bad discharge means no VA assistance, no disability compensation, no GI Bill, and it's a red flag on any job application. Most veterans service organizations don't welcome bad paper vets, and even many private sector jobs programs for vets accept honorable discharge only.

"They want nothing to do with you," Highfill says. "They won't give you a job, they won't take care of you, they don't want to help you out. The jobs I get are usually hard, hard-labor jobs."

The VA confirmed Highfill's visit and said he was offered information on how to appeal his status. The VA can do its own independent evaluation of a veteran's character of service before rejecting or accepting a vet with a bad discharge. Highfill's story is consistent with dozens of other veterans who spoke to NPR.
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A need to study link between service injuries, behavior

"U.S. Representative Mike Coffman is a Marine Corps combat veteran with a combined 21 years of military service." He wrote a piece on The Gazette about the discharges going on when the servicemen and women need help instead of being kicked out. It is a great article however it appears he only knew about this problem reading it in a newspaper. Don't they get reports from the military? Aren't they supposed to know about what is going on? Do you think all this misery inflicted on our troops could have been avoided if THEY PAID ATTENTION ALL ALONG?

A need to study link between service injuries, behavior
The Gazette
Mike Coffman
Published: July 21, 2013

Recently, as the House Armed Services Committee was writing the initial draft of the Fiscal Year 2014 National Defense Authorization Act - the annual defense bill - I came across a highly informative piece of investigative journalism in The Gazette entitled "Other Than Honorable" which effectively captured what is unfortunately an all too familiar occurrence in the military,

The report describes how the number of soldiers discharged from the Army for misconduct has risen to its highest rate in recent years and provides several examples of wounded combat troops who have lost their medical care and other veterans benefits because of other-than-honorable discharges. Those who lose such benefits have a difficult time getting treatment for their grievous bodily injuries and/or service-connected mental disorders. Without such benefits these veterans can find themselves destitute, with nowhere to turn.

The investigative report is based on Army data which found that annual misconduct discharges have increased more than twenty-five percent in since 2009, mirroring the rise in wounded. It studied soldiers who have served multiple tours and have been diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and traumatic brain injuries (TBI). Some soldiers were cut loose for minor offenses the Army acknowledges can be symptoms of PTSD and TBI.
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Finally Congress does something helpful for PTSD troops

This is one of the times when reporters caused change. All the media hype on what has been going on for years in the IRS and over National Security, as if these things just happened, ignoring something that they could have done something about for the sake of the troops has me sick to my stomach. With the 24-7 news cycle now, you'd think they would have some time to cover our troops and veterans but they just ignored what they were going through.

If you have been reading Wounded Times, you've read all the articles The Gazette did on what is really going on in the military. Congressman Mike Coffman, an Iraq veteran, paid attention and decided to do something about it.

Congress eyes changes to military discipline
The Gazette
By Dave Philipps
June 7, 2013

Congress moved Wednesday to review and possibly overhaul the military discipline system to keep wounded combat troops from being discharged for bad behavior related to post-traumatic stress disorder, traumatic brain injuries and other war wounds.

Rep. Mike Coffman, a Denver-area Republican who is on the House Armed Services Committee, introduced an amendment to the 2014 Defense Authorization Act that would create a 10-member Commission on Military Behavioral Health and Disciplinary Issues.

The commission would study whether the military discipline system needs to change in light of emerging research on the connection between PTSD and TBI and behavioral problems that can get troops in trouble.

The House Armed Services Committee also voted late Wednesday to change current military regulations to require all service members facing court-martial to first have a medical evaluation for PTSD and TBI.

"The Gazette's investigation brought the issues to my attention," said Coffman, an Iraq War veteran who represents the suburbs east of Denver. "There is a problem. We need to analyze the problem and take action."
read more here

The congressional commission
- Ten experts will be appointed within a month of passage of the bill. Two will be appointed by the president. Two will be appointed by the Republican chair of the House Armed Services Committee. Two will be appointed by the ranking Democrat of the House Armed Services Committee. Two will be appointed by the Democrat chair of the Senate Armed Services Committee. And two will be appointed by the ranking Republican of the Senate Armed Services Committee.
-They will consider whether the military discipline system needs reforms to address the impact of service-connected injuries such as PTSD and TBI.
- They may hold hearings and collect information from the Department of Defense.
- They are to report their findings to Congress and the President by June 30, 2014.

This is Coffman on Military Sexual Assaults

Disposable Soldiers

Disposable Soldiers
Huffington Post
May 29, 2013


As PTSD cases in the military are skyrocketing, so too are discharges for misconduct, where a small infraction could lead to a lifetime loss of much needed benefits. We need to re-evaluate the military discharge system to match current challenges.

Army leaders less than honorable way to treat soldiers

Army sidesteps questions about discharged soldiers
The Gazette
By Dave Philipps
Published: May 24, 2013

The Army sidestepped questions on Friday about whether a marked increase in the number of soldiers discharged for breaking Army rules is connected to their invisible injuries and systemic problems in the service.

The Gazette investigative series "Other Than Honorable," published this week, used Army data to show how the number of soldiers getting discharged for misconduct has surged to its highest levels in recent times.

Those discharged include wounded soldiers, some of whom have served in multiple deployments during a decade of war, who are more likely to break Army rules and then be denied benefits.

The report suggested that a number of factors are at play in the discharges, including a mandatory troop reduction, an estimated 500,000 troops with post-traumatic stress disorder or traumatic brain injuries, an overwhelmed medical discharge process and decades-old Army policies that don't always accommodate or account for behavior resulting from injuries suffered by today's soldier.
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Locked Away Army struggles with wounded soldiers

Locked Away Army struggles with wounded soldiers
By Dave Philipps
The Gazette

Sgt. Paul Sasse arrived at Fort Carson in February in a uniform glistening with decorations from three combat tours: five medals for heroism, four for excellence, three for good conduct and one for nearly getting killed in Iraq. The 32-year-old Special Forces soldier also wore shackles. He was facing court-martial for assaulting his wife and two military police officers. Sasse had been sitting in solitary confinement at the El Paso County jail for months without military charge and had been brought to the Colorado Springs Army post to be arraigned. "I just need someone to help me," he said, reaching with bound hands to show a Gazette reporter his medical files.

Sasse was hit by a roadside bomb in 2007 in Iraq and diagnosed with a traumatic brain injury. He kept soldiering through another tour even though he struggled with shattered memory and concentration, depression, nightmares and rage.

In 2012, the Army diagnosed him with post-traumatic stress disorder. Doctors gave him a mix of contraindicated drugs that made him manic. A few weeks later, he slammed his wife's head against their Jeep until she was covered in blood then turned on the military police who tried to stop him. He had been scheduled to go into a special unit for wounded soldiers. Instead, the Army put him in jail.

In the El Paso County jail, Sasse picked up three more assault charges for assaulting guards. He ended up in solitary. He sat there for almost nine months, growing a long, bushy beard and developing, an Army doctor wrote in January, "severe psychiatric disease."

"Given his condition, his confinement is tantamount to cruel and unusual punishment," Fort Carson's top defense attorney said in a letter to Fort Carson's commander in September, asking the general to send Sasse to a psychiatric hospital.

Still, the Army left him in solitary.

His family pleaded to the commander and their hometown senator to intervene to no avail.

If convicted and thrown out of the Army, Sasse had a plan: go to the Capitol in Washington, D.C., lay his thick stack of medical records on the steps then set himself on fire.

"It's the only way I can get anyone to listen," he said as deputies took him away.
read more here
Also
Left Behind No break for the wounded

Other than honorable way to treat combat wounded, Army kicks them out

Fort Carson Wounded Transitioned to Betrayed

Left Behind No break for the wounded
The Gazette
By Dave Philipps
May 13, 2013

Jerrald Jensen holds a rocket-propelled grenade launcher at his outpost in Afghanistan in 2009. He deployed to Afghanistan after being Injured in Iraq.

A roadside bomb hit Sgt. Jerrald Jensen's Humvee in Iraq, punching through heavy armor and shooting a chunk of hot metal into his head at several times the speed of sound, shattering his face and putting him in a coma. "I wasn't supposed to live," the veteran lisped with half a tongue through numb lips.

"No one knows why I did. It's shocking." Even more shocking is what Jensen did next. After 16 surgeries, the sergeant volunteered to go back to combat in one of the most savage corners of Afghanistan, where he was injured again. Perhaps most shocking, though, is what happened when he got home.

Jensen returned to recover in a battalion at Fort Carson designed to care for wounded soldiers called the Warrior Transition Unit. In the WTU, the soldier with a heroic record said he encountered a hostile environment where commanders, some of whom had never deployed, harassed and punished the wounded for the slightest misstep while making them wait many weeks for critical medical care and sometimes canceling care altogether.

In 2011, a year after joining the WTU, just days after coming out of a surgery, Jensen tested positive for the drug amphetamine. The then-41-year-old asked to be retested, suggesting his many Army prescriptions might be to blame. His commander refused and instead gave Jensen the maximum punishment, cutting his rank to private, docking his pay and canceling surgery to fix his face so he could spend weeks mopping floors, picking weeds and scrubbing toilets.

Then, Jensen said, WTU leaders said he should be discharged for misconduct — the equivalent of getting fired — with an other-than-honorable rating that could bar him from medical benefits for life.

"To call guys who sacrificed so much dishonorable and kick them out with nothing?" said Jensen, who is now out of the Army, living in a small apartment with blankets covering the windows because his injuries make him sensitive to light. "Christ sake, man, it is a disgrace." read more here
Also
Other than honorable way to treat combat wounded, Army kicks them out

A Soldier's Battle Lost After Returning Home

A Soldier's Battle Lost After Returning Home
by NPR STAFF
January 12, 2013

Spc. Lance Pilgrim was among the first Army troops to enter Iraq in March 2003.

Eventually, he was diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder and died from an accidental overdose in 2007 at the age of 26.

His father, Randy Pilgrim, says he first realized something was wrong when his son broke down at the sight of an animal that had been run over. The image had triggered the memory of a traumatic time overseas.

"We tried once to go around bodies in Iraq, but we were ambushed. So we were told from then on, don't let anything slow you down," Lance Pilgrim told his father. "I had to run over people. ... I don't think I'll ever get that out of my mind."

That same summer, he started managing his panic attacks with pain medication. His mother, Judy Pilgrim, says he became dependent on it.

Then he started leaving the base without permission, showing up at home in the middle of the week. He finally got an Other Than Honorable Discharge, which meant his service in Iraq no longer qualified him for veterans benefits — or military funeral honors when he died.
read more here

Vietnam veteran earned Bronze Star V, but wrongly discharged

Why is it so hard to believe that everything we're seeing with PTSD today was happening to Vietnam veterans first? It happened even before Vietnam but no one knew about it. Is it so hard to believe this country had this long to get this all right and still hasn't?

If Vietnam Vets Had PTSD, They Deserve Benefits
Veterans lawsuit seeks redress on discharges
Hartford Courant
December 11, 2012


John Shepherd Jr. enlisted in the Army and earned a Bronze Star for valor fighting with the Ninth Infantry Division in the Mekong Delta in 1969. But after his platoon leader was killed while trying to help him out of a canal, Mr. Shepherd appeared to come undone, eventually refusing to go out on patrol.

He was court-martialed and given an other-than-honorable discharge, making him ineligible for most veterans' benefits. He believes his behavior was the result of post-traumatic stress disorder, or PTSD. His immediate problem: PTSD wasn't recognized as a medical condition until 1980.
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Vietnam veterans still have to fight for justice on PTSD

Honor restored for PTSD veteran with "other than honorable" discharge

Good news for veteran discharged without benefits
More than 20,000 men and women have left the Army and Marines in the last four years with other-than-honorable discharges, jeopardizing their benefits and leaving some of them struggling to find treatment for health problems.
By Hal Bernton
Seattle Times staff reporter
September 8, 2012

STEVE RINGMAN / THE SEATTLE TIMES
Jarrid Starks was honored with the Bronze Star for Valor but received an other-than-honorable discharge after more than seven years in the military.

Jarrid Starks, a troubled Army veteran who received the Bronze Star for Valor but was dismissed from service with an other-than-honorable discharge, has been granted health-care benefits by the Department of Veterans Affairs.

Starks was featured in an Aug. 12 Seattle Times story that examined the plight of veterans whose other-than-honorable discharges have put their veteran's benefits at risk.

Starks had been told that it might take a year or more for the VA to undertake a review to see if he is eligible for benefits.

However, Starks, who requested the review in late May, received the VA decision on Aug. 31.

"I was really happy to get the news," said Starks, who was stationed at Joint Base Lewis-McChord and now lives in Salem, Ore. "They are already calling me and getting me set up with health-care appointments."

Starks, who served tours in Iraq and Afghanistan, was diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), a twisted vertebra and a possible traumatic brain injury before leaving the service.
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Other than honorable discharged veteran wins rare VA appeal

Connecticut Veteran Wins Rare VA Appeal
By PEGGY McCARTHY
Connecticut Health I-Team Writer
The Hartford Courant
July 15, 2012

At 55, Stephen Norko says he was at "the lowest point'' of his life. Homeless, unemployed, and feeling sick, the 17-year Navy veteran couldn't get medical care at a VA hospital because he had an "other than honorable'' discharge.

"They wanted nothing to do with me,'' Norko said.

A VA health care worker, who met Norko at a homeless shelter, encouraged him to do what few veterans have done—fight the decision that denied him VA medical care. He became one of a handful of veterans nationwide to appeal a health eligibility decision in the last two years.

This year—with significant legal and political support – he won.

Advocates for veterans say they hope the case will prompt other veterans with "other than honorable" (OTH) discharges to seek VA benefits, which many assume are out-of-reach.

"It's a big myth out there that an OTH is automatically ineligible," said Michael Taub, who works with veterans in the Homeless Advocacy Project in Philadelphia and has been spreading the word that vets with other than dishonorable discharges may often be eligible for VA medical care.

Statistics show that appeals such as Norko's are rare. Official figures from the Veterans Health Administration's Health Eligibility Center in Atlanta show only six appeals were filed nationally through the central office in the last two years, including one in New England. Of the six, two were successful, three are still pending, and one was withdrawn by the veteran, according to the Eligibility Center. Norko's appeal, which did not go through the central office, is not included in those numbers.
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Marine Who Criticized Obama On Facebook, Other-Than-Honorable Discharge

Gary Stein, Marine Who Criticized Obama On Facebook, Will Receive Other-Than-Honorable Discharge
By ELLIOT SPAGAT
04/25/12

SAN DIEGO — A sergeant will be discharged for criticizing President Barack Obama on Facebook in a case that called into question the Pentagon's policies about social media and its limits on the speech of active duty military personnel, the Marine Corps said Wednesday.

Sgt. Gary Stein will get an other-than-honorable discharge and lose most of his benefits for violating the policies, the Corps said.

The San Diego-area Marine who has served nearly 10 years in the Corps said he was disappointed by the decision. He has argued that he was exercising his free-speech rights.
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Adjustment Disorder, the kick out the door for troops

Pentagon Betrays Troops Again: ‘Adjustment Disorder’ Discharges Soar: No Benefits, no respect
August 10, 2010 posted by Michael Leon


Military boots PTSD troops with no benefits. Pentagon has moved away from personality disorders, but adjustment disorder diagnosis is another piece of the same problem, a “cost effective” way for veterans to receive no benefits and no treatment. … ‘I was told I had PTSD, and then I was told I didn’t.‘ No word from the Commander-in-Chief yet. -

By Kelly Kennedy in the Army Times

Two years ago, Congress enacted rules to curb the military’s practice of separating troops with combat stress for pre-existing personality disorders – an administrative discharge that left those veterans without medical care or other benefits.

Now, veterans advocates say, the military is using a new means to the same end: giving stressed troops administrative discharges for “adjustment disorders,” which
also carry no benefits.

And just as before, Congress appears poised to wade in.

Sen. Christopher “Kit” Bond, R-Mo., plans to ask President Obama to have the Pentagon provide details on discharges for adjustment disorder in recent years.
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Pentagon Betrays Troops Again

Another PTSD soldier with "less than honorable" discharge

Ex-soldier fights for normal life
The Post-Standard - Syracuse.com - Syracuse,NY,USA
Sunday, August 31, 2008
DICK CASE
POST-STANDARD COLUMNIST

David Marr is coming out of a closet filled with demons.

He's talking about being messed up on drugs, being homeless, being divorced from his wife and losing custody of his children. He's also talking about his 20 years of experience in the military and how he turned his life around, finally.

David credits the Rescue Mission and the Department of Veterans Affairs with giving him the help he needed.

"My heart went out to him." Randy Crichlow explains. Randy manages the Mission's independent living program. "We watched him stay with us and stabilize. I'd say he had plenty of issues and a low level of trust when he came to us in November 2007. Now we're fast friends."

David and Randy have an ongoing pingpong tournament at the Mission, even though he checked out in May. David's ahead, 20 to 16 games.

David says he came to the Rescue Mission a broken man, unable to admit it. He'd been kicked out of the Army, after 20 years, because of a cocaine habit. His wife of 17 years, Laura, divorced him. She has custody of their three children - David III, 17, Valerie, 13, and Lauren, 10.

Now he's off drugs, although still taking medication, after a successful rehabilitation program at Canandaigua Veterans Hospital. He's got a place to live, with his girlfriend in Mattydale. His ex lives on the same street and he sees the kids often. His son, David, just started as a freshman at State University College at Oneonta.

And David's a college student himself, about to start the third semester of a program in emergency management at Onondaga Community Collge. He talks about working for the Federal Emergency Management Agency and running for office.

We sat under a tree in the front yard of the home where he lives on a quiet street off Malden Road. The tranquility is interrupted occasionally by a speeding car and the roar of a plane out of Hancock Field nearby.

I ask David if the aircraft noise brings back memories of his service in civil affairs (in the 403rd Civil Affairs unit) in Bosnia, North Africa, Iraq and Afghanistan.
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