Deadly Decade of PTSD Healing Prevention

Deadly Decade Followed Army PTSD Prevention
Wounded Times
Kathie Costos
March 12, 2016

It has been one deadly decade of service members and our veterans but this enemy was allowed to follow them home. For all the talk we keep hearing on raising awareness, far too many veterans are still not aware of the simple fact they survived combat multiple times but were not trained to survive being back home. 

They were left not understanding what PTSD is or why they have it anymore than they were made aware of the simple fact, the Army knew it all along.


Sergeant Cory Griffin summed up what has been going on in the Army.

"Cory was a leader with the U.S. Army. He served tours in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Qatar. He says many soldiers come back with PTSD because, 'Every other year we are deploying. There's not really ever a reset time. We train, shoot and deploy.'"

He is facing time in prison, much like far too many veterans left with the stigma of PTSD after a decade of Army prevention programs.  So stigmatized he knew he needed help but did not ask for it.

In 2006 the Army discovered that redeployments increased the risk of PTSD by 50%.

Repeat Iraq Tours Raise Risk of PTSD, Army Finds
Washington Post
By Ann Scott Tyson
Staff Writer
Wednesday, December 20, 2006

U.S. soldiers serving repeated Iraq deployments are 50 percent more likely than those with one tour to suffer from acute combat stress, raising their risk of post-traumatic stress disorder, according to the Army's first survey exploring how today's multiple war-zone rotations affect soldiers' mental health.

More than 650,000 soldiers have deployed to Iraq or Afghanistan since 2001 -- including more than 170,000 now in the Army who have served multiple tours -- so the survey's finding of increased risk from repeated exposure to combat has potentially widespread implications for the all-volunteer force. Earlier Army studies have shown that up to 30 percent of troops deployed to Iraq suffer from depression, anxiety or post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), with the latter accounting for about 10 percent.

The findings reflect the fact that some soldiers -- many of whom are now spending only about a year at home between deployments -- are returning to battle while still suffering from the psychological scars of earlier combat tours, the report said.

Within that same report was this

The report also found a doubling of suicides among soldiers serving in the Iraq war from 2004 to 2005, the latest period for which data are available. Twenty-two soldiers took their own lives in Iraq and Kuwait in 2005, compared with 11 in 2004 and 25 in 2003, Army officials said.

So the Army decided to start Battlemind to prevent PTSD.  Yep, they thought instead of actually stopping these redeployments, their best bet would be to just stop PTSD.  We saw how well that worked out when suicides went up.

By 2008 when the Army was facing an increase in suicides, they were also looked at the number of attempted suicides.

There were also 935 active-duty suicide attempts, which Col. Elspeth C. Richie, psychiatry consultant to the Army's surgeon general, said includes any self-inflicted injury that leads to hospitalization or evacuation. This number is less than half of the approximately 2,100 attempts reported in 2006.

This was followed by Comprehensive Soldier Fitness, which by 2009 was already sounding warning bells in the veterans community. Telling soldiers they could train their brains to be mentally tough was telling them they were weak and PTSD was their fault.

Years later, after all this training was pushed, soldiers like Griffin were still left not understanding what PTSD was, why they had it or how they could heal. How could he think anything differently when the Army told him they trained him to prevent it?

If you want to know why there is such an increase in PTSD and suicides, start with that then have a real conversation with these veterans that may actually do some good.

PTSD defense- a local soldier's story
KOAA News
By Brie Groves, Investigative Reporter
March 11, 2016

A local soldier is going to jail as part of a plea deal he made, after an evening with friends that turned violent.

Sergeant Cory Griffin says Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) is to blame for the night he shot another man. He wants to tell his story to shed light on a problem that may be affecting more people in our community.

In November of 2014 Cory and his wife, Jenarae had some friends over to their home. They had been drinking for hours. Jenarae tells us Cory left and didn't return for quite some time. When she found him, he was having a full-blown PTSD episode at the top of the stairs. Jenarae says their friend walked up to the stairs, startling Cory. That's when Cory shifted the gun and shot the victim in the hand.

However, a different story was told to police that night. According to the police report the couple and their friends were indulging in a heavy night of drinking, when Cory confronted his wife of infidelity. That's when he grabbed the handgun and pointed at her. His friend walked up on the situation and Cory shifted his focus. According to police records, that's when Cory shot the victim in the hand.

Cory says, "I felt detached from myself. The anxiety poured in." Cory was a leader with the U.S. Army. He served tours in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Qatar. He says many soldiers come back with PTSD because, "Every other year we are deploying. There's not really ever a reset time. We train, shoot and deploy."
read more here

You can't dismiss the deadly outcome. After a decade of excuses as to why soldiers and veterans of these wars are committing suicide in higher numbers, the results cannot be dismissed nor needless suffering be diminished because in the veterans community, we see the numbers the DOD does not have to account for. All of them had the same prevention training. 

Here are the numbers from the Department of Defense.

2008 268 Service Member suicides 
2009 309 Service Members died by suicide
2010 295 Service Members died by suicide
2011 301 Service Members died by suicide
2012 319 suicides among Active componentService members and 203 among Reserve component Services members
2013 259 suicides among Active Component SMs and 220 among Reserve and National Guard
2014 269 Active Component deaths and 169 Reserve Component 

For 2015 they are reporting quartily numbers.

In the first quarter of 2015, 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.

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.

In the third quarter of 2015, the military Services reported that there were 72 Active Component suicides and 70 Reserve Component suicides with 38 suicides in the Reserves and 32 in the National Guard. Please refer to Figure One for a detailed breakdown of the number of suicides within each Service and component through the third quarter of 2015.

4th Quarter has not been released yet.

Vietnam Veteran's Daughter Fights For Justice

Daughter Believes Dad Was Wrongfully Convicted Of Murder 
FOX ILLINOIS 
BY LINDSEY HESS 
FEBRUARY 28TH 2016

"He's wrongfully convicted of first-degree murder. There was no intent here. He didn't wake up in the morning and say 'hey, I'm going to kill my brother today.' He simply tried to stop his violent brother," said Thompson.

The nation's top legal experts believe up to 100,000 U.S. prisoners are innocent.

The issue of wrongful convictions has been thrust into the spotlight recently after the wildly popular Netflix documentary 'Making a Murderer' took the nation by storm.

A Springfield woman claims her father was wrongfully convicted of first-degree murder, and now she's fighting for justice.

"Anyone that knows him knows he loved his brother. And there's no way he intended to do this. There's no way," said Kelly Thompson.

But that's not how the jury saw it.

"There was no forensic experts. No one testified about his post-traumatic stress disorder from being a Vietnam vet. No one testified about how drunk he was. No one testified about any of the forensics of where my uncle was on the couch compared to what the state was trying to say," said Thompson.
read more here

Judge Regrets Sending Veteran to Prison

With regret, judge gives veteran 6 years for home invasion
Pantagraph
Edith Brady-Lunny 1 hr ago

Saying he appreciated the state's willingness to support the minimum sentence of six years, Luckman said "I wish our legislature had shown the same thoughtfulness."

BLOOMINGTON — Thanking an Iraq War veteran for his service and bravery, a McLean County judge expressed regret that no sentencing option other than prison existed before giving him a six-year term for home invasion.

Lawyers for Sam Siatta spent Friday afternoon arguing the psychological aftermath of his service with the Marines in Afghanistan was behind his out-of- control conduct in April 2014. Siatta, 26, of Diamond, a small town near Joliet, was convicted in November of breaking into a man's home in Normal and hitting the man with a frying pan. Siatta was stabbed nine times by the victim during the altercation.

The situation Siatta and other veterans find themselves in was not contemplated by lawmakers when they approved a mandatory prison term of six to 30 years for home invasion, said defense lawyer Kerry Luckman.

"This is an issue we are going to be dealing with more with the veterans returning from Iraq and Afghanistan," said Luckman.

In his brief comments to Judge Scott Drazewski, Siatta apologized to the victim. He said he has no memory of the incident that occurred while he was a student at Illinois State University.

With day-for-day good time credit, Siatta will serve about three years of the sentence.
read more here

Purple Heart, TBI, PTSD Afghanistan Veteran on Trial?

Lawyer: Framingham man charged in assaults needs help, not jail
Metro West Daily News
By Norman Miller/Daily News Staff
Posted Dec. 18, 2015

FRAMINGHAM – The lawyer for a man accused of threatening to shoot police after a domestic dispute on Wednesday said a Framingham District Court judge’s decision on Thursday to hold him without bail is wrong.

Daniel R. McNulty, 31, a Purple Heart recipient, suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder after receiving a traumatic brain injury while serving in the U.S. Army in Afghanistan, his lawyer Michael Brennan said. Instead of jail, McNulty needs treatment, he said.

“He clearly needs help and I feel the judge had it wrong,” Brennan said after McNulty’s dangerousness hearing. “When someone who served his country needs help, they should get that help.”

Brennan said McNulty served in the military from 2011-2013. He was injured when when a roadside bomb exploded.
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PTSD Question Leaves Brevard County Facing "National Embarrassment"

PTSD Afghanistan Veteran Fights to Keep Job As Brevard County Judge and I have to admit, I didn't think it could not be true. Yesterday a news report came out with more information on this. Other judges say that it was just an excuse. Now I am not so sure if he really has it or is just using it to cover up what he did.

Was he in denial? Wouldn't be the first time that happened. Was he misdiagnosed before? Again, wouldn't be the first time. This story leaves too many questions on what real justice would be.

Brevard judge accused of berating, threatening lawyer claims to have PTSD
WFTV News
November 6, 2015

BREVARD COUNTY, Fla. — Some of Florida's top judges are firing back against claims that post-traumatic stress disorder turned a Brevard County courtroom into a national embarrassment.

Last month, Judge John Murphy was suspended from the bench more than a year after being caught taking a public defender out in the hall for a fist fight.

The judges called the PTSD defense too little, too late.

Florida's joint qualifying commission is responding to what Murphy said.

At the time, he had a new diagnosis blaming PTSD.

But the state's top judges say it's an excuse that came out of left field and doesn't make sense.
read more here

PTSD On Trial: Montana Iraq Veteran

A Montana Iraq veteran says he has PTSD and a psychologist agreed but another did not. There are times when someone will use PTSD to get different "justice" from the system and then there are times when they are really suffering. The question is how do we know for sure? More and more times PTSD will be used during a trial but with all the years of research on PTSD, these trials show we are a long way from helping all of them come home from combat.

Little sentenced to 50 years deadly shooting
Bozeman Daily Chronicle
By Whitney Bermes Staff Writer
9 hrs ago

Little was convicted of shooting 24-year-old Larry “LJ” Clayton and James Armstrong with a shotgun during the early morning hours of Sept. 20, 2013. Clayton died the following day at a Seattle hospital. And Armstrong lost the lower part of his left leg due to injuries suffered in the shooting.

Little, who served in the U.S. Army for about two years, suffered from severe PTSD and he was acting under extreme stress when he shot the men, he defense argued when asking for a 10-year prison sentence to be followed by 15 years probation.

“PTSD in this case has been referred to by the state as an excuse,” defense attorney Diana Copeland said. “He has PTSD. He’s had it since Iraq.” And with the jury convicting Little of the lesser offense of mitigated deliberate homicide, they decided it was a “determining factor” in what happened that night.

Little needs specialized PTSD treatment. “He will not receive this treatment at the prison,” Copeland said.

But Gallatin County Attorney Marty Lambert said that Little did not actually suffer from PTSD, a determination an expert psychologist hired by the state determined after evaluating Little.

“The harm done by this defendant is great. The defendant was on Sept. 20, 2013, and still continues to be a threat to public safety, and the defendant must be held accountable,” said Lambert, who requested that Brown sentence Little the maximum of 80 years in prison. “That’s the price he ought to have to pay.”
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Oregon Iraq Veteran Combat Medic Faces Judge--May Get Justice

Former combat medic admits robbing credit union in Eugene
Former military medic Jace Heney is to be sentenced Jan. 20 after pleading guilty to robbing a credit union
The Register Guard
By Jack Moran
OCT. 15, 2015

A former military combat medic who pleaded guilty on Wednesday to robbing a credit union near downtown Eugene in November told a judge that he committed the crime during a period in which he used hard drugs to alleviate the symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder.

Heney admitted being the person who robbed an Oregon Community Credit Union branch at 488 E. 11th Ave. on Nov. 4. The robber handed a teller a demand note and later fled after taking $1,800, according to an investigator’s affidavit filed in court.

Authorities circulated surveillance photos of the robber and subsequently received several tips from members of the public who said they thought the man depicted in the images was Heney, according to the affidavit.

Aiken thanked Heney for his military service and asked that he and Weintraub, as well as the federal prosecutor handling the case, contact officials with a federal Veterans’ Court program in Virginia to get an idea of how cases similar to Heney’s are handled there.
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PTSD On Trial: Tampa Marine After 3 Deployments

Matthew Buendia accepts plea deal in deputy shooting
FOX 13 News
Evan Axelbank
October 9, 2015

TAMPA (FOX 13) - The Marine who shot a Hillsborough County Sheriff's Deputy accepted a plea deal at the last second on Friday night, just as it appeared the jury would be hung and a new trial ordered.

"He felt he had enough," said defense attorney Mark O'Brien.

Matthew Buendia shot Deputy Lyonelle Deveaux during a domestic incident at his home in 2011.

Buendia argued he was suffering from PTSD and should not be held legally responsible for what he did.

"We are hoping that he will have a long life and be able to deal with the issues that he has," said defense attorney Mark O'Brien.

"I'm sorry," he said, unable to choke back tears.

"I forgave you a long time ago," said Deveaux.
read more here

Jury considers fate of former marine
FOX 13 Tampa
Gloria Gomez
October 9, 2015

Moments later, his dad made a frantic 911 call saying his son had shot an officer. “He is 25”, Richard Buendia told the operator. “He’s a former Marine. He suffers from Post-traumatic stress syndrome”.

TAMPA (FOX 13) - “Matthew Buendia was a U.S. Marine who came back from 3 deployments a different man, a broken man”, his defense attorney told the jury Friday morning during closing arguments at his trial for shooting a Hillsborough County Deputy.

Prosecutors painted a different picture saying “Buendia knew exactly what he was doing” when he shot at Deputy Lyonelle De Veaux nine times the night of September 30, 2011.

Deputy De Veaux was hit by three of those bullets, in the arm, leg and shoulder.

She was called to Buendia’s Carrollwood area apartment to investigate a 911 call about domestic violence. When she got there, “Buendia tried to kill Deputy De Veaux” the prosecutor said Friday. She survived but scars are permanent, he told the jury.

When the defense got their turn, the focus turned to the mental scars of war. They told jurors that three tours in Iraq and Afghanistan left Buendia traumatized. They asked the jury to find him not guilty by reason of insanity, saying he had no idea who he was or what he was doing that night.
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Fate of Fort Bragg Soldier with PTSD in Hands of Army Board

UPDATE
Fort Bragg soldier guilty of misconduct; separation will allow health care
Fay Observer
By Greg Barnes Staff writer
October 9, 2015

A three-member board recommended Friday that Fort Bragg Staff Sgt. Joshua Eisenhauer be separated from the Army on a general discharge under honorable conditions.

The board agreed that Eisenhauer was guilty of misconduct but bucked Fort Bragg's desire that he be separated from service under an other-than-honorable discharge.

The recommendation means that Eisenhauer, who doctors say suffers from severe post-traumatic stress disorder, will one day become eligible for health care through the Department of Veterans Affairs.

"This has made me proud of the Army today," Eisenhauer's father, Mark, said moments after the board announced its recommendation. "They got the truth out. This was what was important to us."
read more here

Army board deliberating over fate of Fort Bragg soldier, Joshua Eisenhauer 
FayObserver
By Greg Barnes Staff writer
Posted: Thursday, October 8, 2015

Conormon, along with lawyer Mark Waple, is fighting for the Army to provide Eisenhauer medical care for the rest of his life. They contend that Eisenhauer was so wracked by PTSD that he suffered a flashback and thought he was shooting at Afghan insurgents - not at police and firefighters - from his Austin Creek apartment in west Fayetteville.

Undated photo of Joshua Eisenhauer

A three-member board began the process Thursday of deciding whether to separate Fort Bragg Staff Sgt. Joshua Eisenhauer from the Army.

Eisenhauer was sentenced Aug. 6 in Cumberland County Superior Court to between 10 and 18 years in prison for shooting at Fayetteville police and firefighters from his apartment on Jan. 12, 2012.

Now the separation board is tasked with deciding whether Eisenhauer is guilty of misconduct, whether he should be separated from the Army, and, if so, under what grade of service.

The panel is expected to reach those findings today and then make a recommendation to the commanding general of the 18th Airborne Corps and Fort Bragg.

Eisenhauer, who enlisted in 2005 after a conviction for resisting arrest near his home in Fort Worth, Texas, twice deployed to Afghanistan - in 2007-08 and 2009-10.

Soldiers who were with Eisenhauer on his first deployment said they experienced hundreds of firefights, sometimes as many as two or three a day.

Their job as a theater task force in Helmand province and other areas of Afghanistan was to move toward "the sounds of the guns," Staff Sgt. John Drollinger said.

Drollinger said the task force rooted out enemy insurgents, often by knocking down doors and killing them. At times, he and other soldiers said, their unit was forced to fight without sleep in stretches that lasted for days.

Drollinger and other soldiers who testified all used similar words to describe Eisenhauer: loyal, trustworthy, unwavering, honorable and dedicated.
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PTSD On Trial: Colonel Apologizes For Not Doing Enough For Soldier

Fort Bragg soldier sentenced to more than year of jail time 
WRAL News

(Orendorff) apologized to Fayetteville police officers and fire fighters who were in the courtroom. He said that the Army failed Sgt. Eisenhauer by not providing him the proper treatment to battle his PTSD.

FAYETTEVILLE, N.C. — More than three years after a Fort Bragg solider fired at police and firefighters, the convicted Fayetteville man was sentenced to more than a year of jail time Thursday afternoon.

Staff Sgt. Joshua Eisenhauer was sentenced to 10 to 18 years of active jail time, and 36 months of probation following the active sentencing by Superior Court Judge, Jim Ammons.

Prior to the sentencing, retired Colonel John Orendorff suggested that Eisenhauer be given probation and parole, including time at either the Warrior Transition Unit at Fort Bragg, or Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in Washington, D.C.

Orendorff is responsible for writing policies and procedures for all soldiers that return from Iraq and Afghanistan, making sure they get proper treatment for post-traumatic stress disorder.
read more here

PTSD On Trial: Tim Rojas on Texas Death Row

Ex-Marine on death row says jurors should have been told more about PTSD
Dallas News
By BRANDI GRISSOM
Austin Bureau
Published: 02 August 2015

In Texas, 10 of the 261 death row inmates reported some military service, according to the Department of Criminal Justice.

To Tim Rojas, it feels like just yesterday that he and his Marine buddy John Thuesen were on the battlefield together, looking death in the face and trying to make sure they both got home to their families.

In reality, it’s been more than a decade since they left Iraq. Rojas works at a high-powered Houston investment firm. Thuesen, though, is in a 6-by-10 solitary cell, hoping that Texas’ highest criminal court will spare him from the death penalty.

“Hope is everything,” Rojas said.

Thuesen, 31, has been on death row since he was convicted in 2010 of fatally shooting his girlfriend Rachel Joiner and her brother Travis Joiner in their College Station home.

In July, Brazos County District Judge Travis Bryan III agreed with Thuesen’s appellate lawyers that the attorneys who defended Thuesen at trial didn’t adequately inform jurors about their client’s post-traumatic stress disorder after his return from combat. With more information about PTSD and its effects, Bryan said in court documents, the jurors who sentenced Thuesen to death may have decided differently. Bryan’s ruling is now under review by the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals, which will ultimately decide whether Thuesen should get a new trial and a chance at a lesser sentence.
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Specialist Discusses Effects of PTSD

Here is someone talking about PTSD the way it needs to be talked about. The fact that there is hope to heal needs to be followed by what works toward healing. That begins with understanding what it is. If you are a veteran with PTSD, go to the article and watch the video. Listen to what she is saying because it is the same thing experts I've read over the last 30 years discovered.

PTSD sets of a chain of change including chemicals in the brain. Researchers have shown what PTSD does to the brain by taking scans proving once and for all that PTSD is real.
Another reality is that PTSD does not have to take control over your life. There are things you can do to defeat it by treating everything you are, mind, body and spirit.

Get mental health help. Do things for your body so that your system learns how to calm down again. Yoga and martial arts like Tai Chi, will help get things back to natural balance. Then you need to take care of your spirit/soul. With combat there is a lot of help to find peace.

Remember PTSD cannot be cured unless they invent a magic wand to undo what happened, but you can undo most of the damage.

Specialist discusses effects of post-traumatic stress disorder
GALLATIN COUNTY
NBC Montana
By Jacqueline Gedeon, KTVM Reporter
June 19, 2015

BOZEMAN, Mont. - Post-traumatic stress disorder is an issue that professionals and counselors see in law enforcement officials and first responders.

We spoke with one professional about what PTSD is, where it comes from, and whether symptoms of violence usually come with it.

A Bozeman man is on trial for shooting and killing one man and injuring another. Cody Little's attorney says Little's actions came from being unstable with post-traumatic stress disorder after spending four years in the military.

Carol Staben-Burroughs works with people with a variety of mental health disorders.

"I work with a lot of post-traumatic stress disorder, specifically with law enforcement and other emergency services people," said Staben-Burroughs.

She's a licensed clinical professional counselor. She said people develop PTSD after they experience traumatic incidents like a car wreck, rape or combat.
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Chaos Followed Call to Help Suicidal Veteran

Dashcam video shows Marine veteran pulled from car window after police chase
MLIVE.com
Molly Young
June 5, 2015

SHIAWASSEE COUNTY, MI -- A man facing charges stemming from a carjacking and attempted abduction in March is a Marine veteran who suffered from post traumatic stress disorder, his attorney says.

A video The Flint Journal obtained from Michigan State Police through the Freedom of Information Act shows the police chase that ensued, and the man's arrest after police dragged him out of a car window.

Events began to unfold when a woman called 911 saying her son was suicidal, highly intoxicated and suffering from PTSD, according to Michigan State Police Lt. David Kaiser.

The call put local police on the lookout for Michael Siminski, a 30-year-old Marine veteran from Owosso driving a white Chevrolet pickup truck.
read more here

Judge Shows Displeasure With Prosecutor After Veteran Charged Instead of Helped

UPDATE
Army veteran given probation for communicating threats against Fayetteville VA Hospital

Army vet who made threatening call will learn his fate Thursday
News Observer
BY MANDY LOCKE AND MARTHA QUILLIN
June 3, 2014

RALEIGH
Ryan Broderick, an Army war veteran, on Thursday will seek mercy from a federal judge who has the power to set him free.

Broderick, 31 of Fayetteville, has been in jail since January after making a threatening call to the VA for help managing his persistent Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. Sleep-deprived and frustrated with the lack of care the VA had offered, Broderick threatened to shoot doctors and nurses at the VA medical center in Fayetteville if he didn’t get help.

“I was just trying to get help,” Broderick said in an interview last month. “I had no intentions of hurting anyone.”

Broderick was prepared to take his case to a jury this week. Instead, the U.S. Attorney’s office invited him to plead guilty to a misdemeanor assault charge. The deal spared Broderick the uncertainty of a possible felony conviction that would have jeopardized his service in the Army Reserves and marred his military record.
read more here

Experts Say Majority of PTSD Veterans Not Dangerous

Experts say most PTSD patients are not violent
The Post and Courier
Lauren Sausser
Apr 6 2015

Experts believe nearly 10 percent of adults in the United States — many of them rape victims and combat veterans — cope with post-traumatic stress disorder at some point in their lives.

Millions suffer silently and never receive professional help for their mental disorder, but very few ever resort to violence.

“The vast majority of people with PTSD, whether it’s combat-related or not, are not violent,” said Dean Kilpatrick, director of the National Crime Victims Research and Treatment Center at the Medical University of South Carolina.

“Just like the vast majority of people with mental illness are not violent. Now, there are a subset of people who are.”

It is not clear if PTSD played any part in the tragedy that claimed Lynn Michelle Harrison’s life last week.

Witnesses say the 57-year-old was shot and killed at a Summerville intersection on Thursday by Jimi Redman Jr. He was dressed in military camouflage at the time of the attack.

Redman’s brother said last week that he served in Iraq and Afghanistan with the 82nd Airborne Division and that he has tried to seek treatment through the Department of Veterans Affairs for seven years but has been unable to access services.
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Woman Killed in South Carolina Random Shooting

South Carolina woman killed in random shooting by former Soldier who claims PTSD
Examiner.com
Susy Raybon
April 4, 2-15

At 1:30 p.m. Thursday afternoon, Lynn Michelle Harrison was randomly gunned down on her way to have lunch with her son. In what appears to be a random act of violence, Harrison, 57, was shot in the neck while at a traffic light in Summerville, South Carolina. She died at the scene.

Adding to the tragedy, yesterday the shooter, Jimi Redman, Jr.,32, a felon from Fort Worth, Texas, said he is a former Army Soldier who is suffering from PTSD, post-traumatic stress disorder. When he appeared in bond court, his body language, on video released yesterday, (broadcast locally) seemed unapologetic for the senseless killing.
read more here

When Will There Be Justice For Matthew Ladd?

How many years will Matthew Ladd wait for justice? Matthew Ladd left a message on Facebook to update what has been happening to him since a jury tried to provide him with the justice he should have received years ago.

West Palm claims ex-cop lied in court about PTSD
Palm Beach Post
March 11, 2015

WEST PALM BEACH — In what labor lawyer Sid Garcia calls the most vicious act he’s ever seen by an employer, the city of West Palm Beach is suing a former city police officer, claiming the Iraqi vet lied to convince a jury to award him $880,000 in a discrimination case.

The complex, multi-pronged litigation involves Matthew Ladd, who was fired by West Palm Beach in 2010 while he was still on probation. His termination came days after a psychiatrist hired by the city rejected police claims that Ladd, who served two years in Iraq and Afghanistan, suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder. Dr. Norman Silversmith found that Ladd was fit to return to duty.
read more here

Matthew Ladd won lawsuit for PTSD still waiting for justice
Wounded Times
Kathie Costos
January 6, 2014

Matthew Ladd has still not received a dime of the money the jury awarded him in August. He has not been given his job back and has not been able to find another one working as a police officer. Why? For heaven's sake this man risked his life in combat then was ready to continue risking his life in West Palm Beach. What he was not willing to do was give up. He still isn't even though he lost everything he owned.

Can you imagine what it has been like for him? I only know because he contacted me to update me on what is going on and with his permission I have posted this update because no matter what he's been thru, he isn't ready to give up on justice.

He still believes there is right and wrong in this world. That belief compelled him to enter into military service and what has compelled him to want to do whatever it takes to protect citizens. He still believes that he can be of service no matter how many have betrayed him in the past. Why? Because he has seen the worst people can do to each other along with the magnificence of what they can do for each other. His life has always been about doing for so he doesn't want revenge, he wants what the court said was justice for what was done to him.

If you want to contact Matthew, here is his email address matthewladd85@gmail.com. He needs our prayers and he needs support but right now he needs to be able to get past this darkness hanging over his head so that he can do what he was created to do, serve others.

Some want to think that PTSD is some kind of thing to be ashamed of but they ignore the fact that many police officers are also veterans and many have PTSD. That police work is dangerous enough to cause PTSD even without military service. They want to ignore that the vast majority of these men and women have earned awards for their service but then again, they seem all too willing to ignore the fact that many of the Medal of Honor Heroes have not only been heroes, they did with with PTSD.
read more here

On January 16, 2014 Judge refused to give Matthew Ladd back his job

You may remember Matthew Ladd providing an update to what has been happening after he won the lawsuit for being fired. Ten days later he sent me this from the Palm Beach Post. the judge refused to force the police to give him back his job and he still doesn't have the money the jury awarded him. None of this is fair. He served his country in the military and then began to pay the price with grace but what makes him even more remarkable is the fact he still wants to serve the people as a police officer.

Is this how Florida treats Police Officers after service in combat?
The story of Matthew Ladd didn't start when he was fired from the West Palm Beach Police Department. It started the day he joined the Army Reserves. We just didn't know what was happening to him until New Year's Eve 2011.
Ex-West Palm cop fights firing over PTSD allegations

Texas Jury Finds Routh Guilty

Man convicted in deaths of 'American Sniper' author, friend 
Feb 24th 2015

A forensic psychologist testified for prosecutors that Routh was not legally insane and suggested he may have gotten some of his ideas from television.

STEPHENVILLE, Texas (AP) -- A former Marine was convicted Tuesday in the deaths of the "American Sniper" author and another man at a shooting range two years ago, as jurors rejected defense arguments that he was insane and suffered from psychosis.

The trial of Eddie Ray Routh has drawn intense interest, in part because of the blockbuster film based on former Navy SEAL Chris Kyle's memoir about his four tours in Iraq.

Since prosecutors didn't seek the death penalty in the capital murder case, the 27-year-old receives an automatic life sentence without parole in the deaths of Kyle and Kyle's friend, Chad Littlefield.

The prosecution painted Routh as a troubled drug user who knew right from wrong, despite any mental illnesses.

While trial testimony and evidence often included Routh making odd statements and referring to insanity, he also confessed several times, apologized for the crimes and tried to evade police. read more here

Routh Told Deputy He Shot Kyle and Littlefield for Not Talking to Him?

PTSD comes with a lot of things but Routh must not understand using it while using it as a reason to murder 2 people.

Former Erath County sheriff’s deputy Gene Cole testified Friday that after Routh was jailed, he heard him say: “I shot them because they wouldn’t talk to me.” He said Routh said he had been riding in the back seat on the way to the shooting range. Cole, who is now a police officer elsewhere, said Routh also said, “I feel bad about it, but they wouldn’t talk to me. I’m sure they’ve forgiven me.”

Routh’s mother had asked Kyle, a former Navy SEAL whose wartime exploits were depicted in his 2012 memoir, to help her son overcome troubles that had at least twice led him to be admitted to a psychiatric hospital. Routh had been a small arms technician who served in Iraq and was deployed to earthquake-ravaged Haiti before leaving the Marines in 2010.

That is from AP reporting on Competence at center of ‘American Sniper’ murder trial February 14, 2015. Having hurt feelings because they wouldn't talk to him is not the same as feeling his life was threatened.

Deputy: Routh said he killed ‘American Sniper’ Chris Kyle, friend because ‘they wouldn’t talk to me’
Dallas News
Dianna Hunt
Staff Writer
13 February 2015

STEPHENVILLE — Eddie Ray Routh felt snubbed.

He’d climbed into the truck with acclaimed former Navy SEAL Chris Kyle and a buddy for an afternoon at a shooting range, and nobody had a thing to say. So he shot them.

That’s the explanation he gave for the slayings while sitting in the Erath County Jail awaiting trial on capital murder charges, according to a former sheriff’s deputy who overheard the confession.

“I heard Mr. Routh say, ‘I shot them because they wouldn’t talk to me,’” former Deputy Gene Cole, now a Belton police officer, told jurors late Friday during Routh’s capital murder trial. “‘I was just riding in the back seat of the truck and nobody would talk to me. They were just taking me to the range, so I shot them. I feel bad about it, but they wouldn’t talk to me. I’m sure they’ve forgiven me.’”

The exchange on June 22, 2013, is the first glimpse from prosecutors at a possible motive for the killings.

Kyle, 38, whose bestselling book American Sniper was recently made into a blockbuster movie, and his close friend Chad Littlefield, 35, were fatally wounded at a shooting range that Kyle had designed at the upscale Rough Creek Lodge and Resort near Glen Rose, southwest of Fort Worth.
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But KVUE ABC News shows how even the PTSD is been doubted. It appears that Routh lied making a claim to the VA for PTSD compensation.

Since he was arrested for the February 2013 murders of Kyle and his friend Chad Littlefield, much has been made of Routh's alleged PTSD from his time as a Marine.

But prosecutors now cast doubt on it all.

In a brief filed with the court on Tuesday that detailed other offenses, prosecutors said Routh "lied about shooting a child in Iraq, pulling dead bodies out of the water, or piled up dead bodies in Haiti or [having] seen multiple dead babies."

The filing goes on to claim that Routh told a friend "he was making false claims to [the VA] to get benefits."

On multiple occasions, prosecutors outlined that Routh smoked marijuana and used methamphetamine for at least a decade beginning in 2003 — before his military service.

The state even said Routh was high in 2013 when he is suspected of murdering Kyle and Littlefield.

"Even if he had the condition, and it was merely exacerbated by voluntary intoxication, I think the defense may have an uphill battle," said Ward.

Eddie Ray Routh PTSD Claims Unravel

Prosecutors cast doubt on Routh's PTSD claim
WFAA 8 News
Jason Whitely
February 10, 2015

DALLAS — On the eve of opening statements, Erath County prosecutors revealed part of their strategy to debunk the defense's claim that Eddie Ray Routh murdered two men — including famed Navy SEAL sniper Chris Kyle — because he suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder.

"I think the state has a very strong case," said Demarcus Ward, an attorney and former Dallas County prosecutor who examined documents for News 8.

The prosecution's case appears to be stronger based on more than a dozen documents released by the district clerk late Tuesday.

In a brief filed with the court on Tuesday that detailed other offenses, prosecutors said Routh "lied about shooting a child in Iraq, pulling dead bodies out of the water, or piled up dead bodies in Haiti or [having] seen multiple dead babies."

The filing goes on to claim that Routh told a friend "he was making false claims to [the VA] to get benefits."

On multiple occasions, prosecutors outlined that Routh smoked marijuana and used methamphetamine for at least a decade beginning in 2003 — before his military service.
read more here