Lawmakers Try to Halt Bad Discharges

Legislation would halt bad military discharges due to PTSD, TBI 
Military Times 
Leo Shane III 
March 7, 2016

In the past, that decision covered only a select group of Vietnam veterans. The new memo would expand that to all veterans, and waive statutes of limitations for those appeals.

Lawmakers want to avoid having troops disgracefully forced from the ranks because of behavior related to post-traumatic stress or traumatic brain injuries, but Pentagon officials may already be on the way to fixing the problem.

Last week, a coalition of Republican and Democratic lawmakers who served in Iraq and Afghanistan introduced legislation to ensure that military discharge review boards must consider troops’ mental health issues, and must accept a PTSD or TBI diagnosis from a professional as an acceptable rebuttal to a dismissal.

The move could affect thousands of military discharges each year and open the door for a review of more. Army officials have confirmed that at least 22,000 combat veterans have received less-than-honorable discharges since 2009, many for minor offenses like alcohol use or lateness.

For some troops, those infractions are a sign of untreated issues like PTSD and TBI. A less-than-honorable discharge severely limits the care and support options for those veterans, leaving them with decreased medical support and an increased risk of suicide.

“Those discharges could be a death sentence for these veterans,” said Kris Goldsmith, an advocate behind the legislative push.
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Researchers Discover Link Between Concussions and Suicide

The terrifying link between concussions and suicide is the headline on the Washington Post and after reading it, it seems as if there is a lot that is contributing to suicides in our veterans. As someone with over 50 years walking around following a concussion and a fractured skull, it makes a lot of sense but it also causes concern that researchers are still learning how to crawl through researching what is happening instead of being able to run marathons on how to help healing.

The terrifying link between concussions and suicide
Washington Post
Erin Blakemore
Feburary 22, 2016

“The magnitude of the increased risk surprised me,” says Donald Redelmeier, a practicing physician and professor of medicine who led the study. “I always had my doubts about whether individuals fully recover from concussions, but I never thought I’d find a three-fold increase in risk.”

Suicide and brain injury have long been linked by scientists, but just how many people who have had a brain injury end up committing suicide? A new study has a grim answer: It found that the longterm risk of suicide increases three-fold among adults who have had concussions.

That’s the conclusion of a team of Canadian researchers who studied a health insurance database of more than 235,000 people. Their work was recently published in the Canadian Medical Association Journal. Rather than focus on athletes or people who were hospitalized for days or weeks after head injuries, they looked at ordinary people who had concussions but did not sustain severe brain injury.
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Hampton VA Nurse Convicted of Raping Veteran

Hampton VA nurse convicted of sexually assaulting patient previously raped 
The Virginian-Pilot 
By Scott Daugherty 
17 hrs ago

According to a news release drafted by the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Lopez was a nurse in the hospital’s emergency department on Sept. 20, 2014, when a woman sought treatment for a leg injury. The woman had post-traumatic stress disorder related to a prior rape and two traumatic brain injuries, the release said.

NEWPORT NEWS

Juan M. Lopez, 52, of Virginia Beach is set for sentencing May 19.
He faces the possibility of life in prison. Courtesy Photo

A former nurse at the Hampton VA Medical Center was convicted Friday on charges of aggravated sexual assault and making a false statement to a federal agent. 

Juan M. Lopez, 52, of Virginia Beach is set for sentencing May 19 in U.S. District Court in Newport News. He faces the possibility of life in prison. A federal jury returned the guilty verdicts Friday on the fourth day of trial. Stephen Plott, Lopez’s attorney, maintained his client’s innocence and said he was disappointed in the jury’s verdict. read more here

San Diego VA Failed Camp Pendleton Marine

Report: VA botched Marine vet’s care
San Diego Union Tribune
By Jeanette Steele
Jan. 10, 2016

Also, Sears told VA screeners about being near two roadside bombs when they detonated — and once losing consciousness — but physicians never gave him a follow-up plan for treatment of traumatic brain injury, or TBI.

Sgt. Jeremy P. Sears in a live-fire training exercise at Camp Pendleton. Courtesy U.S. Marine Corps, by Lance Cpl. Derrick K. Irions

An internal investigation by the U.S. Veterans Affairs department has found that the San Diego VA system botched its care of former Camp Pendleton Marine Jeremy Sears, who killed himself at an Oceanside gun range in October 2014.

After Sears’ suicide at age 35, his family, friends and some veterans advocates have questioned how the VA handled his case. The combat veteran waited 16 months to hear that he would receive no disability pay after serving multiple tours in Iraq and Afghanistan and being diagnosed with a brain injury.

Critics said the VA's medical and benefits divisions let Sears fall through the cracks and more could have been done to save his life.
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Unqualified VA Doctors Getting TBI Claims Wrong

KARE 11 investigation reveals Mpls VA misdiagnosed 50 brain injured veterans
KARE News
A.J. Lagoe and Steven Eckert
December 30, 2015

"I wrote a check for my life saying hey I'm here to serve my country now it's your turn to take care of me. Give me the medical attention I need." U.S. Navy veteran Anton Welke.

MINNEAPOLIS - The Veterans Administration has been using unqualified medical personnel to do examinations – and deny benefits - for traumatic brain injuries (TBI) at the Minneapolis VA Medical Center, according to records obtained during a KARE 11 News investigation.

VA data from a new Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) filed by KARE 11 revealed the number of veterans affected.

Instead of being examined by a traumatic brain injury (TBI) specialist, records reveal 321 cases in which a veteran was examined by a doctor VA policy shows was not qualified to diagnose traumatic brain injuries.

To date, the Minneapolis, VA has re-examined 181 of those veterans and determined the unqualified doctors made quite a few mistakes. In 50 cases, an exam by a TBI specialist revealed the veterans did in fact have brain injuries and should be getting treatment and benefits previously denied.

Welke is one of the Minnesota veterans now receiving the TBI treatment and benefits he was denied for three years after an unqualified doctor in the Minneapolis VA's Compensation and Pension unit misdiagnosed him.
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Troops: "tens of thousands of undiagnosed and untreated brain injuries"

Study: Combat vets wait for 'wake-up call' before seeking help for brain injuries
The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review (Tribune News Service)
By Carl Prine
Published: December 28, 2015

Veterans too often played down their wounds but became detached from friends and family. Many denied their downward spiral until a "wake-up call" forced them to seek help from Pentagon and Department of Veterans Affairs programs.

Johns Hopkins researchers conducted 38 in-depth interviews with Army combat veterans and their family members, and a model emerged: Veterans too often played down their wounds. Many denied their downward spiral until a "wake-up call" forced them to seek help from Pentagon and Department of Veterans Affairs programs. DOD

Tens of thousands of American combat veterans returning home from Iraq and Afghanistan with undiagnosed brain injuries often were "thrown into a canyon" — falling deeper into despair and sometimes flirting with suicide or addiction — before trying to get help, according to a Johns Hopkins University study.

Written by Rachel P. Chase, Shannon A. McMahon and Peter J. Winch, researchers at the Baltimore university's Department of International Health, the study published in the December issue of Social Science and Medicine builds on previous work at Johns Hopkins. That work uncovered tens of thousands of undiagnosed and untreated brain injuries stemming from improvised explosive devices, or IEDs, the signature wound of America's 21st-century wars.

Innovations in body and vehicular armor saved the lives of troops who likely would have died of blast injuries in past wars, but survivors often had higher risk of memory loss, cognitive struggles, mood disorders, migraine headaches, addiction, insomnia and suicide.
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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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This is Your Brain After TBI

If you want to see one of the wounds called "invisible" otherwise known as Traumatic Brain Injury, here it is.

Over half of troops who suffered blast concussions have brain scarring - study
RT News
Published: 16 Dec, 2015

"We were really surprised to see so much damage to the brain in the MTBI patients," Riedy said in a statement. "It's expected that people with MTBI should have normal MRI results, yet more than 50 percent had these abnormalities."

An MRI scan of a 28-year-old man with blast-related mild TBI shows a total of 76 lesions on all sections of his brain © rsna.org

Brain scarring appeared on more than half of active duty service members who suffered blast-related concussions, according to a new paper by the US military. It is the largest study using advanced brain imaging of active service members ever performed.

More than 300,000 US troops have been diagnosed with mild traumatic brain injuries (MTBI) between 2000 and 2015, according to the Armed Forces Health Surveillance Center. Researchers at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in Bethesda, Maryland used MRI scans to study 834 such military service members with MTBI ‒ commonly referred to as concussions ‒ that were related to blast injuries.

Just over 84 percent of the patients involved in the study reported one or more blast-related incidents, and 63 percent reported loss of consciousness at the time of injury.

The MRI scans revealed the presence of white matter T2 hyperintensities, or brain scars, in 52 percent of the MTBI patients, the study’s authors, led by Dr. Gerard Riedy, found.
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Montana Veteran Told TBI "Vanished" by VA Psychologist?

Why is a psychologist diagnosing TBI? PTSD and TBI are two different things!

Veterans denied benefits due to improper medical testing
EXPERTS SAY VETERANS UNFAIRLY DENIED BRAIN INJURY BENEFITS
KARE
A.J. Lagoe and Steve Eckert
Investigative Producer

"Obviously that's 9,000 opportunities for something to go wrong with a process that has some flaws in it," said Dr. Hall.

MISSOULA, Mont. - A ruling by a state medical board suggests that veterans nationwide may have been denied brain injury treatments and disability benefits because the Department of Veterans Affairs is using an improper test, according to a new investigation by KARE 11 News.

Traumatic Brain Injuries – known as TBI's – are often invisible, but they are considered the signature wound of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars.

The findings by the Montana Board of Psychology in the case of Army Captain Charles Gatlin indicate that a test commonly used by the VA to diagnose TBI's is missing too many brain injuries.

Unexplained improvement
Records show that Dr. Robert Bateen, a VA staff psychologist, apparently ignored the Army's more thorough tests and used a brief screening tool called an RBANS to evaluate Captain Gatlin.

"I saw this man for 20 minutes," Gatlin recalls. "And a decision was made."

Based on that short RBANS test, Dr. Bateen concluded that Gatlin's so-called "permanent" condition had seemingly vanished. He wrote, "If Mr. Gatlin had a cognitive impairment in the past, it is likely that this has resolved."

As a result, the Department of Veterans Affairs dropped Captain Gatlin's TBI disability rating dramatically: from 70 percent down to just 10 percent.

The Gatlin's appealed the ruling, but the VA defended Dr. Bateen's diagnosis and claimed the psychologist observed the proper procedures.
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Earlier this year, KARE 11 exposed how the Minneapolis VA had used unqualified doctors to perform initial TBI exams, denying veterans a fair shot at benefits. According to Department of Veterans Affairs rules, only four types of specialists – including neurosurgeons and neurologists – are allowed to make that diagnosis. But KARE 11 documented cases in which veterans were examined by a nurse practitioner instead.

Combat Air Evacuations May Make TBI Worse?

New study: Air evacuation may do further harm in patients with brain injury 
Findings could have major implications for treatment of military injuries
UNIVERSITY OF MARYLAND SCHOOL OF MEDICINE
November 30, 2015

About a quarter of all injured soldiers evacuated from Afghanistan and Iraq have suffered head injuries.

Baltimore, MD, November 30, 2015--Over the past 15 years, more than 330,000 U.S. soldiers have suffered a traumatic brain injury (TBI). It is one of the leading causes of death and disability connected to the country's recent conflicts in Afghanistan and Iraq. Many of these patients were evacuated by air from these countries to Europe and the U.S. for further treatment. In general, these patients were flown quickly to hospitals outside the battle zone, where more extensive treatment was available.

But now a new study by researchers at the University of Maryland School of Medicine has found evidence that such air evacuations may pose a significant added risk, potentially causing more damage to already injured brains. The study is the first to suggest that air evacuation may be hazardous for TBI patients. The study was published today in the Journal of Neurotrauma.

"This research shows that exposure to reduced barometric pressure, as occurs on military planes used for evacuation, substantially worsens neurological function and increases brain cell loss after experimental TBI - even when oxygen levels are kept in the normal range. It suggests that we need to carefully re-evaluate the cost-benefit of air transport in the first days after injury," said lead researcher Alan Faden, MD, the David S. Brown Professor in Trauma in the Departments of Anesthesiology, Anatomy and Neurobiology, Neurology, and Neurosurgery, and director, Shock, Trauma and Anesthesiology Research Center (STAR) as well as the National Study Center for Trauma and Emergency Medical Services.

The research was funded by the U.S. Air Force.
"This research has the potential to connect bench to bedside in an important, potentially lifesaving way," said Dean E. Albert Reece, MD, PhD, MBA, who is also Vice President of Medical Affairs, the University of Maryland and the John Z. and Akiko Bowers Distinguished Professor. "Dr. Faden is part of an impressive group of scientists at the School who are helping to unlock the mysteries of the brain."
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Restore Your Honorable Service Get Your Discharge Reclassified

If you have PTSD or TBI and didn't get a discharge worthy of your service, then fight! Fight back to get the justice you were denied.

Veterans Are Not Applying For Discharge Status Upgrades, Pentagon Blamed 
Hartford Courant
Peggy McCarthy
Conn. Health I-Team Writer
November 2, 2015

"Without significant reform within these boards, veterans with TBIs and psychological disorders will be unsuccessful in acquiring discharge upgrades and the attending benefits they deserve,"

Very few veterans take advantage of a Pentagon policy designed to make it easier for veterans with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) to upgrade their discharge status and become eligible to apply for veterans' benefits, according to a Yale Law Clinic report.

At a news conference Monday, U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., veterans, and Yale law students, blamed the Department of Defense for not adequately publicizing the policy to veterans with less than honorable discharges. Since new guidelines were announced last year, just 201 of tens of thousands of eligible veterans applied for a PTSD-related service upgrade, according to the report. Blumenthal called the statistic "a staggering, outrageous fact."

"Veterans on the streets of New Haven or Connecticut or the rest of the country have no idea about this," Blumenthal said.

"It takes a vigorous and rigorous effort, which the DOD committed to and they have failed," he added.

Sundiata Sidibe, a student in the law school's Veterans Legal Services Clinic, called the number of applicants "miniscule." In previous years, an average of 39 veterans applied annually for status upgrades in connection with PTSD, the report states.

Blumenthal, a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, had asked the Pentagon to give the committee a progress report by August 2015 on its efforts to inform veterans about the policy. A report was never submitted, he said.
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VETERANS JOURNEY HOME: FAITH, HOPE and WAR

CBS to Air Interfaith Special VETERANS JOURNEY HOME: FAITH, HOPE and WAR, 10/4
Broadway World
September 17, 2015

VETERANS JOURNEY HOME: FAITH, HOPE and WAR, a CBS Interfaith Special, looks at the issues veterans face as they transition to civilian life. This special broadcast will be on the CBS Television Network Sunday, Oct. 4, 2015 (check local listings).

According to the Department of Veterans Affairs, there are 22 million veterans in the U.S. This program highlights the stories of some of these men and women who have volunteered to serve their country.

Traumatic brain injury and post-traumatic stress (PTS) are often referred to as the unseen wounds of war. It's estimated that 500,000 veterans have returned from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan with symptoms of PTS.

Less than half seek help for their condition, and many self-medicate with drugs and alcohol.

Among the areas impacted is the criminal justice system in Denton County, Texas, where a Veterans Treatment Court Program is offered as an option to serving time in jail.

Interviews include Judge David D. Garcia, and Virginia "Ginger" Simonson, Veteran Court Mentor Coordinator. read more here

Combat Related TBI Numbers Questioned

Report Obscures Extent of Combat-Related Traumatic Brain Injuries
Military.com
by Bryant Jordan
Aug 12, 2015

A Congressional Research Service report on casualties of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars notes how many died, were wounded, suffered major amputations or were diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder.

But the document is unable to say how many of the roughly 305,000 people who incurred a traumatic brain injury over the last 14 years suffered the damage in the combat theater.

"Unlike PTSD numbers, which are segmented by those deployed and those not previously deployed, TBI numbers represent medical diagnoses of TBI that occurred anywhere U.S. forces are located, including the continental United States," it states.

The report is more specific in other casualty areas, stating that 6,855 Americans -- military and civilian -- died and 52,351 were wounded in the Iraq and Afghanistan wars through July 28.

What's more, 1,645 personnel suffered at least one major limb amputation from the start of the wars through June 1, 2015, including 833 in Afghanistan and 812 in Iraq.

From the start of the wars until the first part of 2015, some 138,000 deployed personnel were diagnosed with PTSD, a figure three times the roughly 39,000 non-deployed troops diagnosed with it in the same period.

The report doesn't explain why the TBI numbers are lumped together. Military.com was unable to reach a spokesman for the Maryland-based Defense and Veterans Brain Injury Center, which tracks the data, for comment.
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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."
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Decorate Disabled Veteran Settles Assault Lawsuit Against Police

Veteran settles police assault suit for $50,000
The Courier Journal
Matthew Glowicki
July 17, 2015

A retired Kentucky National Guard lieutenant colonel who sued a half dozen Louisville Metro Police officers alleging assault and wrongful detention has settled with the city for $50,000.

Donald Blake Settle, a Purple Heart and multiple Bronze Star recipient who served for 29 years and was deployed six times to the Middle East, first filed the suit against the officers in January 2013 in Jefferson Circuit Court.

He claimed that officers stopped him, pulled out a stun gun and eventually forced him face-down into the concrete and handcuffed him as he tried to leave Mid City Mall on Jan. 29, 2012.

Police said at the time they thought Settle was a homeless panhandler because of his dusty clothes and impaired speaking and memory, The Courier-Journal previously reported. They claimed Settle was acting aggressively during the incident and they perceived an imminent assault.

Settle told The Courier-Journal in 2012 that he has memory loss and problems speaking after suffering traumatic brain injuries while in Afghanistan.
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Disabled Iraq Veteran Being Evicted For Service Dog?

IRAQ VETERAN CLAIMS EVICTION IS DUE TO SERVICE DOG 
ABC 7 News
By Karen Jordan
Tuesday, July 14, 2015

The couple already owned Alli when they moved into Manchester Court Apartments in Oak Forest four years ago. They say everything was fine until management changed in January, bringing in what they say is disapproval of their dog.

OAK FOREST, Ill. (WLS) -- A suburban Iraq War veteran says he is being evicted from his Oak Forest home because of a dispute over his service dog.

Jon Jans says his landlord is unfairly kicking both him and his service dog out when his lease is up. But the conflict may be about more than just man's best friend.

Jans never owned a dog until Alli. Now he relies on the pug-beagle mix to keep him calm while dealing with the lasting effects of injuries sustained when an explosive device detonated near his Humvee during his tour of duty in Iraq.

"I look and talk fine but it's my brain, that you can't see, that was injured," Jans says.

Jans was diagnosed with a traumatic brain injury and post-traumatic stress disorder. He has seizures and blackouts.

"For a couple years, I never left the house," he says.

Then his wife Jillian found Alli, who at the time was a 1-year old rescue dog, And brought her home. Jans got her trained and certified as a service dog.

"She also helps him in crowds with PTSD," Jillian says. "If it wasn't for her, he wouldn't go outside nearly as much as he does."
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Brain Scans Prove Difference Between PTSD and TBI

This may come as a shocker to UCLA and other researchers but

Although PTSD and TBI can have similar symptoms, in a brain scan, they look nothing alike, the researchers found.

In 2012 UCLA researchers thought they were right after studying rats.

The motivation behind the study, which was conducted in rats, was the observed correlation of traumatic brain injury, or TBI, and PTSD, particularly in military veterans returning from service overseas, said Michael Fanselow, a UCLA professor of psychology and the senior author of the study.

Just pointing that out and now here is more of the article


Brain Scan Can Tell PTSD Apart from Traumatic Brain Injury 
Healthline
Written by R. Sam Barclay
Published on July 11, 2015

When it comes to treating TBI and PTSD, it’s important to be able to tell the two apart. The treatments for one can be harmful for people with the other.

In 2008, Capt. Patrick Caffrey of the 2nd Battalion, 7th Marines’ Combat Engineer Platoon was deployed in Afghanistan.

The combat engineer’s goal was to detect and remove mines, improvised explosive devices (IEDs), and other hazards from roads, clearing the way for troops and supplies to move through.

By the time Caffrey left Afghanistan, he had survived three explosive blasts that caused concussions.

These weren’t the first concussions in his life. He’d already had five or six such head injuries from playing sports and from other incidents.

Still, when he first got home, he felt fine. Not just fine, but fortunate that he’d survived Afghanistan unscathed.

Or so he thought.

Over the weeks and months following his return, Caffrey began to deteriorate. He began experiencing headaches and difficulty sleeping, as well as problems concentrating, focusing, and remembering. He had frequent angry outbursts, which he’d never experienced before.

“I was rude and nasty to people, and the worst part was that I didn't really know just how much I had changed,” said Caffrey.

But when Caffrey sought medical help, his diagnosis was unclear. A history of surviving explosive attacks, coupled with his symptoms, pointed to two different possible conditions: traumatic brain injury (TBI) and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).
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Vietnam Veteran Searching For Nurse From Casper Wyoming

Vietnam Veteran Searching for Nurse Who Helped Save His Life 50 Years Ago 
KULR 8 News
Penny Preston
Posted: Jun 26, 2015

A Vietnam Veteran is trying to find and thank the woman who helped save his life almost fifty years ago

CODY, WYOMING
A Vietnam veteran is trying to find and thank the woman who helped save his life almost fifty years ago. The problem is, he can't remember her face, or her name. He's hoping to get help from someone who may know her.

As he walks in front of the Vietnam Memorial in Cody, Wyoming, Larry Baker is looking for names of people he knew when he served in Vietnam in 1968. He recognizes a couple of names of Wyomingite's who died there, but he's also looking for someone else from the Cowboy State who survived the war – someone who helped save his life after he was injured by a bomb blast. He suffered numerous injuries, including a broken back and burned eyes. He was not expected to live.

"And they didn't know if I would be able to see or not and they wanted to prepare me for that." And so a nurse started taking the bandages off of my eyes, and she asked me where I was from and she said, 'Where are you from soldier?', and I said, 'Cody, Wyoming.' She said, 'Oh really. I'm from Casper, Wyoming.'"

Baker said he saw the nurse, but can't remember what she looked like. He can't remember anything about his service in Vietnam, because the blast also injured his brain.
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Iraq Veteran With PTSD and TBI Granted Bond to Get Treatment

Nearly a year after shooting Athens cop, Iraq War combat vet granted bond to receive PTSD treatment
OnlineAthens
By JOE JOHNSON
Tuesday, June 16, 2015

A decorated Iraq War combat vet who shot and wounded an Athens-Clarke County police officer nearly a year ago was recently granted bond so he could obtain treatment for post-traumatic stress disorder.

James Michael Marcantonio, 29, shot the officer last August when grabbing the officer’s gun during a struggle. The gun went off while still in the holster, wounding the officer in the area of the hip and thigh.

Marcantonio’s attorney claimed his client’s actions may have been influenced by PTSD. Marcantonio, an ex-Marine lance corporal, was involved in numerous firefights during his deployment in Iraq. He suffered a severe brain injury when an armored vehicle he was in was struck by an artillery shell, defense attorney Edward Tolley stated in court documents.
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Greater Injuries Than Realized on Battlefield

Navy Chief With Brain Injury Fights Back After Losing Promotion
The Virginian-Pilot
by Dianna Cahn
Jun 15, 2015

Fleming received the diagnosis like a revelation. His struggles came from war wounds, not malaise. Like many combat veterans, he had apparently suffered greater injuries than he'd realized on the battlefield.

NORFOLK -- Chief Petty Officer John Fleming had the kind of career you can bank on: Fast-track promotion, stellar evaluations through repeated combat deployments, a stack of medals and commendations including a Bronze Star with valor. "The cornerstone of the department," one commander wrote.

As an explosives ordnance disposal tech, he unearthed and destroyed countless improvised bombs aimed at killing U.S. forces or their allies. In 2004, he was grazed by a bullet, thrown from a heavy-duty truck during a firefight and returned to combat even after being shipped home for his injuries.

Then, years later, Fleming started forgetting things. He had trouble organizing ideas. Tasks he'd been doing routinely were suddenly confounding, and pressure from his commanders at his new unit at Joint Expeditionary Base Little Creek exacerbated his confusion.

In the span of four months at Explosive Ordnance Disposal Mobile Unit 2 in 2013, Fleming's 13-year career unraveled. He received bad evaluations for failing to complete tasks -- the final one stated his performance "demonstrated a lack of loyalty to the mission" -- and had a pending promotion stopped. He was removed from two jobs.

In the coming months, Fleming was diagnosed with mild traumatic brain injury and later, with post-traumatic stress disorder. The TBI apparently stemmed from the truck rollover in Iraq nine years earlier. His medical records, which he shared with The Virginian-Pilot, state that the 2004 injury was compounded by repeated blasts over the years. The findings would be confirmed by other TBI and mental health experts.
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