Iraq Veteran's Journey From Silver Star to Veterans Court to Healing

Iraq Vet From NC Gets A Fighting Chance
CBS News
WFMY 2 News
Mark Strassmann
May 24, 2015

A FIGHTING CHANCE to make things right is what many veterans in trouble with the law say they want most. And in some cases, they're finding that chance in a special kind of courtroom. Our Cover Story is reported now by Mark Strassmann:

Staff Sgt. Tommy Reiman in Iraq(Photo: CBS News)

"Everybody coming here for one specific reason, and that's to give a second chance for every veteran." Staff Sgt. Tommy Rieman is a certified American hero, a recipient of the Silver Star for valor in Iraq. But the bravest thing he ever did was fight to get his life back.

To appreciate the significance of the ceremony held in Harnett County in North Carolina, you first have to learn Rieman's story -- all of it, its remarkable highs and sorrowful lows.

"I think I came out the womb with a uniform on," Rieman laughed. "For me, there was nothing greatest than the honor to put on the uniform and represent this country."

In December of 2003, Rieman was on his first deployment in Iraq when his three-vehicle convoy drove into a death trap.

"We were ambushed by 35 guys. Got hit with three RPGs, three IEDs and a bunch a small gun fire," he said. "And I used my body as a shield to protect my gunner, and took a shot in the arm and the chest and shrapnel to my legs.

"All eight of us survived. And for that I received the Silver Star and a Purple Heart."
read more here

Orange County Veterans Court Judge One of Their Own

Orange County programs give veterans a second chance 
Programs designed to help vets who landed on wrong side of the law
WESH 2 News Orlando
By Michelle Meredith
UPDATED 6:21 PM EDT May 07, 2015

"This is as beneficial to me as it is to them because we all left the military with issues,” said Orange County Judge Jerry Brewer, who is a former U.S. Marine.

ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. —Florida has the second highest number of veterans in the United States, and when those service members return home, many find themselves fighting different battles, like homelessness, unemployment and post-traumatic stress disorder.

Orange County has created two specialized programs that are designed to address the needs of veterans within the criminal justice system.

Clyde Walker went from serving his country to serving time. He said he came home from Vietnam a changed man.

“Vietnam was hell,” Walker said. “Sometimes you see your brothers with an arm gone or a leg gone. Life is totally different … for a long, long time I didn't have control of me."

According to the Department of Veterans Affairs, up to 20 percent of veterans who recently returned home have PTSD.

The National Center for PTSD said 30 percent of Vietnam War veterans dealt with the disorder in their lifetime.

Whether they’re dealing with addiction or anger management, many veterans with PTSD act out in ways that land them behind bars.

“We all make mistakes. There is opportunity for recovery. I am a big believer in second chances, if you genuinely want a second chance,” Orange County Jail Chief Cornita A. Riley said.

The Orange County jail not provides dorms reserved exclusively for veterans.

The dorms house up to 30 inmates and run like the military.
read more here

Veterans Court May Provide Intervention in Florida

Veterans court would provide intervention for troubled vets in Manatee-Sarasota
Bradenton Herald
BY JAMES A. JONES JR.
March 22, 2015

MANATEE -- A delegation from Bradenton-Sarasota visiting veterans court Monday in Pinellas County can expect to see a court proceeding that is unique, emotional and even uplifting.

Those who have watched Judge Dee Anna Farnell preside at veterans court describe her as passionate in her desire to help troubled vets overwhelmed by psychological and physical wounds suffered while in service to their country.

"She is a very dynamic person. She comes off the bench and stands next to the veteran," said Patrick Diggs, who serves as a justice-outreach coordinator for Bay Pines Veterans Affairs Healthcare System.

"It takes a special type of judge to facilitate the delicate balance between compassion, helping the veteran and public safety," Diggs said.

State Attorney Ed Brodsky of the 12th Judicial Circuit wants to explore launching veterans court in Manatee, Sarasota and DeSoto counties as a way of helping vets who honorably served the United States, and may be suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder, traumatic brain injury, homelessness and unemployment. Veterans court would be keyed to nonviolent offenders who pose a threat to themselves but not society.
read more here

Florida Looking At 51,000 Veterans With PTSD

I go all over Central Florida for veterans events. There is always something going on for veterans in this state however, there is something going on that isn't good for veterans. Why weren't we ready for them?

Cape Coral veterans support group offered peer support but the VA wanted to break them up.

No doubt the 10 men who were booted out of the Veterans Administration Healthcare Center in Cape Coral were treated shabbily. These guys are combat veterans who fought in Korea, Vietnam, Iraq and Afghanistan. They all suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder or PTSD, a mental disorder that can develops following a terrifying events like those that happen in war.

Every Friday for the past 18 months the men have held their support group at the VA Clinic offices. And they wanted to continue those meetings there with their current group leaders.

The VA has a different idea. It wants one of two peer specialists, employees who are certified mental health professionals, to help run the group; something the members of this PTSD support group have refused to allow.

The current group leader is a trained volunteer, Luis Casilla. A 63-year-old Vietnam vet, Casilla is a trained peer specialist with more than a decade of experience.

According to the report there were 21 volunteer-led mental health groups in the Bay Pines alone. Nice work taking away something that was working for our veterans.

"Veterans commit suicide at double and sometimes triple the rates of civilian suicides, with the rates varying from state to state. The veteran suicide rate has grown annually at more than double the percentage of the civilian rate." Florida veteran suicides, as far as they know, are one out of four.

Last year WJCT News reported that Florida had 5,500 homeless veterans, again, that they know of.

The Miami Herald reported Florida is having another issue few journalists have been taking about.

“The Forgotten Soldier is just the beginning of the dementia avalanche that is coming our way,” the public defenders wrote. “The Florida mental health system is completely ill-equipped to handle this crisis.”

Miami-Dade County Circuit Judge Steve Leifman, chairman of the Florida Supreme Court Task Force on Substance Abuse and Mental Health Issues in the Court issued another warning along with

Florida having the fastest growing veterans population at 1.7 million.

“12 percent of everyone over 18 years of age in Florida is a veteran,” said Leifman. “And, because of these last two very difficult conflicts, we’re looking at possibly 51,000 veterans in Florida with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, or traumatic brain injury, which puts them at very high risk of criminal justice activity.”

While it is wonderful that motorcycle veterans groups always managed to support each other,it is all about brotherhood for them, the same cannot be said about other groups working on veterans issues. They end up being all about themselves instead of sharing their strengths and learning how to fix their weaknesses.

UPDATE

House Veterans’ Affairs Chairman Miller and Ranking Member Brown Comment on Jacksonville VA Clinic

(Washington, DC) With respect to the Jacksonville VA clinic, House Veterans’ Affairs Committee Chairman Jeff Miller and House Veterans’ Affairs Committee Ranking Member Corrine Brown issued the following statements:

Chairman Miller said: “After the House Committee on Veterans’ Affairs fought hard to uncover systemic problems with accessing care at VA facilities across the nation, Congress and President Obama moved quickly to provide the department with more than $15 billion in emergency funds to fix these issues. The Veterans Access, Choice and Accountability Act, which became law last August, gave VA $10 billion to pay for non-VA medical care for veterans facing long waits and $5 billion to increase access to VA care through the hiring of physicians and other medical staff and by improving the department’s physical infrastructure. Yet even as veterans confront treatment delays to this day, VA has left the vast majority of this money unspent. It’s well past time for the department to begin using this money the way Congress and the president intended: to get veterans the care they have earned in a timely fashion.”

Ranking Member Brown added: “When I first proposed the Jacksonville clinic to Under Secretary of Health, Dr. Jonathan Perlin, in 2006, he promised that a new clinic would be built in Jacksonville’s Northside. Prior to the opening of the clinic, Jacksonville area veterans had to travel to as many as a dozen separate locations to get treated for their service connected disabilities.

Yet by working with Shands-Jacksonville Hospital, the University of Florida, and the city of Jacksonville, the VA was able to build a facility that would bring all of these specialties together. The clinic broke ground in 2011 and opened to the public in April of 2013, and because of the large number of underserved veterans in the Jacksonville area, the clinic, ironically, has been a victim of its own success, and is now at full capacity.

The Jacksonville Out-Patient Clinic, in fact, is a state of the art health care center. Its roughly 300,000 square feet makes it one of the largest clinics in the country; and it brings under one roof many of the existing services that were previously spread out around the city. Moreover, it adds new services that were not previously available; including primary medical care and mental health care, audiology, optometry, orthopedics, cardiology, dental, dermatology, nutrition, physical therapy, podiatry, pharmacy, dialysis, pain management, otolaryngology, TBI Rehabilitation and 5 new outpatient surgical procedure rooms.

Last November, I met with the leadership of the Jacksonville Outpatient Clinic to learn about the details behind the recent reports regarding the wait times for new patients. And at the present time, the Jacksonville clinic is working to address the unexpected increase in VA patients by hiring more doctors, authorizing leases for additional space for the Jacksonville clinic, and expanding hours of operation. Along with my colleagues on the Committee on Veterans’ Affairs, I will remain vigilant to ensure that the Jacksonville VA clinic; as well as all VA health clinics across the nation, are receiving the necessary funding to fully serve our veterans and make sure that the Choice Program is operating effectively and efficiently.”

Yep, both are from Florida

Veterans' Court Saves Money and Helps Healing

Troubled Veterans Get Treatment, Not Jail
Hartford Courant
Peggy McCarthy
February 16, 2015

Mary Kate Mason, a spokesperson for the state mental health department, said, "The average cost of these services is about $420 per person per month" compared with the $2,895 monthly cost for incarceration.

Two programs that connect arrested veterans to treatment – rather than jail – report that many are getting their lives back on track.

Some 81 percent of veterans in the program run by the Veterans Health Administration have not been arrested again. And one run by the state Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services shows a 36 percent drop in illegal drug use among its veterans and a 44 percent decrease in symptoms of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD).

"So many people are getting what they really need, which is treatment and not incarceration," said Laurie Harkness, the VA program director. "It's making such a difference in so many veterans' lives."

The programs, designed to help veterans with mental health and substance abuse problems, operate in courts statewide, where social workers reach out to arrested veterans to let them know about treatment options for PTSD, anger management, and addictions, among other illnesses.

If a veteran agrees, the social worker will recommend treatment options to the court, and will guide veterans through the process. A judge decides whether to sentence the veteran to a treatment program instead of jail or other penalties, such as fines. The crimes committed range from motor vehicle violations to domestic violence charges to car thefts.
read more here

Look back at where Veterans Courts began

The Buffalo Veterans Treatment Court

The Veterans Treatment Court originated in Buffalo, NY in January of 2008 and is presided by Judge Robert Russell and the assistance of court coordinator Marine Vietnam Veteran Hank Pirowski. There are several veteran mentors with varying degrees of experience who play an integral role in the function of the court. By giving defendants the opportunity of being guided by someone with whom they can relate to, these veteran mentors provide an essential function to the treatment court

Veterans Court Resource Guide National Center for State Courts

Veterans Court Saving Lives One At A Time

Ex-Marine's path to sobriety began with Veterans Court
Green Bay Press Gazette
Paul Srubas, Press-Gazette Media
January 31, 2015

"Veterans Court attempts to use the power of the court to enforce treatment plans, training, sobriety and whatever else qualified participants need. It's like probation on steroids"

Jeff Vanstraten distinctly remembers the feel of the gun in his hands, the process of filling the clip, the sound of chambering a round, and looking at the police outside his home and thinking how easily he could pick one of them off.

It was about 9:30 p.m., Jan. 15, 2012. Vanstraten, then 40, had consumed his usual 30-pack of beer and was well into another. It must've reacted badly with the pain medication he had been taking for his bad back, because he can't remember many other details of what went on that day in his west-side Green Bay rental home.

He learned later that a buddy, concerned he was suicidal, called the police, who dispatched a SWAT team that surrounded his house. Vanstraten kept drinking and loaded his gun.

"I don't know if I wanted to die that day ...or what," he said. "When I picked up the gun, I don't know if I felt invincible or what, but I remember every detail of handling that gun. I don't know if that's a military thing or not."

"You're in the Army 3½ years and in your mind, time stands still," said Tom Hinz, former Brown County Executive, who mentors in the Veterans Court. "You come back, find all your friends are married, have jobs, kids and mortgages. You're different, too, but sometimes you don't understand that. Or while you were away, your significant other learned to take care of everything, pay the bills, take the kids to school, and when you come back, where do you fit in?"
read more here

Justice not blind to service in Veterans Court

Veterans court ready to launch in northwest Ohio
By - Associated Press
Thursday, January 1, 2015

TOLEDO, Ohio (AP) - A court dedicated to dealing with veterans facing legal trouble is set to begin taking on cases in early January.

The court will operate in Toledo’s Municipal Court.

There are just four other veterans courts in Ohio. Those are in Mansfield and Youngstown along with Hamilton County and Stark County.

Their goal is to address underlying issues such as post-traumatic stress disorder for veterans who are charged with misdemeanors.

Those veterans going through Toledo’s new court must plead guilty or no contest before the court can try and help get treatment instead of jail time.

Judge William Connelly, who will preside over the court, has spent time trying to understand how the trauma of war can lead to trouble with the law at home. He watched a video of American servicemen driving a Humvee through Baghdad, stopping for nothing despite heavy traffic and obstacles to avoid potential danger. The video then showed a veteran at home speeding through a construction zone, growing tense in the restricted space.

“He felt trapped, paralyzed,” Connelly said. He called it “an eye-opening experience” to the triggers that can agitate veterans struggling to readjust.
read more here

Utah Candlelight Vigil Remembers 22 Veterans Gone Everyday

Vets who've taken their own lives honored at candlelight vigil
Herald Extra
Kurt Hanson
Daily Herald
December 20, 2014

“War is a terrible thing and it’s taken probably the best of every generation since this country’s been born,” said Gary Anderson, Utah County Commissioner.

Julie Hill of Park City looks downward during the moment of silence during the Winter Solstice Celebration of Life event at Elks Lodge Memorial Park in Provo on Saturday, Dec. 20, 2014. During the event, a bell was rang 22 times to honor the 22 veterans who commit suicide every day. SAMMY JO HESTER, Daily Herald

PROVO—Christmas, as joyous of a season as it is, can also be a time of depression or even loneliness for those going through post-traumatic stress disorder.

Unfortunately, veterans who may be suffering from PTSD end their lives all too frequently.

In fact, 22 veterans commit suicide every day within the United States, according to data from the Department of Veteran Affairs.

“This is a tragedy,” said Richard Thayer, vice president Utah County chapter of the National Alliance on Mental Illness.

A special event was held Saturday night to honor those men and women who take their own lives each day.

A candlelight vigil was held and a bell was rung 22 times, symbolic of each life lost by suicide each day, before the audience bowed their heads in a moment of silence.

“They come back maybe with no visible wound, but [the wounds] are deep,” he said. “We don’t treat those.”

Anderson said he wants to help veterans within Utah County as much as possible, whether or not they are experiencing PTSD. He announced, with the help of Judge Lynn Davis of the Fourth District Court, that there will be a Veteran’s Court in Utah County come next year.

“I’m not a politician,” Davis said. “But frankly, on a national level, I’ve been disturbed at the neglect and oversight of our veterans to say the least.”
read more here

Court Helps Veterans Take Leap of Faith

Veterans Trauma Court: From broken and battered to a leap of faith
The Gazette
Stephen Hobbs
November 23, 2014

"I was a battered, broken soldier that felt like I had no hope," said Kenneth Authier, an Army veteran. At the end of his speech, Authier's voice cracked with emotion as he advised program participants to "take that leap of faith" with the staff of the Veterans Trauma Court.

About 100 military veterans, community advocates and elected officials gathered for a milestone graduation ceremony recently for the Veterans Trauma Court program at the 4th Judicial District courthouse in Colorado Springs.

The program, which started at the courthouse in December 2009, works to give veterans a chance to receive rehabilitation and get treatment after entering the criminal justice system.

At the 45-minute ceremony this month, five of the eighteen graduates of the Veterans Trauma Court were given diplomas and a special coin and were congratulated by peer mentors, probation officers and attorneys connected with the program.

"You did what 99 percent of our fellow Americans chose not to do or couldn't do," said Lt. Col. Aaron M. Termain, battalion command of the Warrior Transition Battalion at Fort Carson, who gave the keynote address at the ceremony. "We're very lucky to have a community out there to support us."

The Nov. 13 event was the 10th graduation since the program began. As part of the ceremonies, three of the graduates read letters to those in attendance.
read more here

Veteran Facing Eviction Robbed Bank To Get Help

Homeless veteran accused of bank robbery wanted to go to jail; now getting help
WPTV
Brian Entin
Nov 20, 2014

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. - Steven Bynes says he finally has hope.

Walking out of the VA Hospital in West Palm Beach, he isn't worried about getting evicted, going hungry, and having no medicine.

One week ago, it was a very different story.

Bynes says he walked into the Bank United on Okeechobee Boulevard and gave an employee a note demanding money.

Then he sat down and waited to get arrested.

"I figured that it would be simple...give them the note and they would put me in the backseat and take me to jail," Bynes said.

He says that was his plan for weeks.

"It was mainly about my health. I am trying to stay alive. At least in jail, I would be alive. But on the streets...I wouldn't have made it six months," Bynes said.
read more here

Veterans Court Success, 83% Don't Reoffend

County veterans’ court unveiled: 2nd chance for heroes
Livingston Daily
Lisa Roose-Church
November 19, 2014

“In Michigan, 83 percent of the people who have gone through veterans’ court don’t reoffend; it works,” Reader said.

Carl Pardon salutes at the unveiling of the county’s new Veterans’ Treatment Court on Wednesday at the Livingston County Judicial Center in Howell.
(Photo: Lisa Roose-Church/Daily Press and Argus)

A veteran’s mindset is that two kinds of people exist in the world: Enemy combatants and comrades in arms, and if they don’t know whom to trust, they trust no one, a local veteran said.

Veterans are trained to be a “self-sustaining, force of one”, and then when they come home after combat, the military doesn’t tell them “we lied, you need help,” said Bryan Bradford, a disabled veteran of the U.S. Army military police, serving in the Pacific Rim.

“That’s what we’re here for,” said Bradford, who is one of the 10 veterans volunteering to mentor men and women who come through Livingston County’s new Veterans’ Treatment Court. “It’s a second chance.

“It’s an opportunity for them to have a mentor who is a veteran to help show them the ropes. These kids come home and they are top-field dragsters and they’re adrenaline junkies, and they just don’t know how to turn it off,” he added. “They need and deserve a little special treatment because they’ve done things most people can’t fathom.”

District Judge Carol Sue Reader, who will preside over the court, unveiled the new effort at a meet-and-greet presentation Wednesday at the Livingston County Judicial Center on Highlander Way in Howell.

The court is based on a team concept involving Reader, a probation officer, a defense advocate and representatives from the prosecutor’s office and treatment providers, including the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs and regional veterans’ centers. It also received support from Brighton-area attorney Neal Nielsen.

Reader told the audience that Veterans’ Treatment Court is a non-adversarial, post-sentencing program that works toward returning military veterans to a productive and law-abiding status in society.

“Those who serve us to preserve our freedom, they have a price they pay,” the judge said. “There’s no normal. We want to prevent that. We can’t do anything about what happened in the past, but we can start today to make it better in the future.”

Veterans, like Bradford, praised the court’s creation of the Veterans’ Treatment Court.

Bradford said 22 veterans a day commit suicide and their No. 1 question is: Why was I spared? He said the general public doesn’t seem to know that “post-traumatic stress disorder is contagious,” affecting the whole family. As an example, he shared the story of a couple he is helping. The wife commented that she was going to tell her husband that if he doesn’t straighten up, she would divorce him.
read more here

Veterans Court Where Justice Considers Service

For veterans in legal trouble, special courts can help
CBS News
By INES NOVACIC
November 10, 2014

Every Wednesday Patrick Dugan, a judge at the Philadelphia Municipal Court and a captain in the U.S. Army Reserves JAG Corps, presides over a special kind of courtroom.

"You are here because it's your choice," he told a roll call of defendants as he opened court on a recentWednesday morning, pointing to the front bench behind the lawyers: "All these folks are here to ensure you take advantage of the benefits you are owed."

The "folks" in question were representatives from various agencies linked to the Department of Veteran Affairs (VA), because all of the cases being heard in this court involved veterans of the U.S military. Almost everyone present served in combat, according to Dugan.

"It's kind of like a one-stop shop for veteran services," said Dugan. "We're streamlining, because on a county level, we now have the federal government in the courtroom to offer services."

Dugan added how the requirements demanded by veteran courts are much more stringent than a typical criminal defendant experiences: "What I want our veteran defendants to understand is, if you're coming into my courtroom, you need to be ready to go to treatment. You need to be ready to address the underlying issues that cause the criminal behavior."
read more here

Cops Caught Taking a Stand with PTSD Iraq Veteran

They not only stood by him, they helped him! They stood by him in court and then helped get community involved with helping him get on his feet again!

Allegheny County law enforcement officials honored at awards luncheon
Pittsburgh Post Gazette
Liz Navratil
October 25, 2014

That February morning began like many others for detectives in the non-support squad at the Allegheny County sheriff's office. They intended to arrest a man on a warrant for failing to pay his child support.

But when they stepped inside the suburban Allegheny County home, “Immediately, there were red flags,” said Detective James Klingensmith.

The man’s wife told them her husband sustained a traumatic brain injury while serving in Iraq. He didn’t understand what was going on, and he suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder, she told them.

“The officers were legally bound to bring the man to court, but they understood that he was a man in need,” Allegheny County Common Pleas Judge Kathleen Durkin said while presenting Detective Klingensmith and four of his colleagues Friday with an award for their service.

He, Sgt. Michael Scherbanic and Detectives Vincent Longo, Jay Stegena and Mark Zimmerman were among 14 officers recognized Friday at the annual Amen Corner Senator John Heinz Law Enforcement Awards Luncheon.

“It wasn’t expected,” Detective Klingensmith said of the award. When he and his colleagues learned that the man was having trouble paying his bills, they gave him money.

They appeared alongside him in court and explained his situation to the judge. In the months that followed, they persuaded local businesses to give gift cards to the family and to help with home repairs.
read more here

Veterans with PTSD still being locked up instead of helped out

Treatment Behind Bars: Jails Struggling With Flood of Mentally Ill

Revolving door complicates care, management and safety of inmates.

A U.S. veteran with post-traumatic stress disorder sits in a segregated holding pen at Chicago's Cook County Jail after he was arrested on a narcotics charge. The complex is one of the country's largest single-site jails.

Charles Rex Arbogast | THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

By ADAM GELLER
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

Published: Monday, July 14, 2014 at 10:05 p.m.

Last Modified: Monday, July 14, 2014 at 10:05 p.m.

CHICAGO | The numbers, posted daily on the Cook County sheriff's website, would be alarming at an urgent care clinic, let alone a jail: On a Wednesday, 36 percent of all new arrivals report having a mental illness. On a Friday, it's 54 percent.

But inside the razor wire framing the 96-acre compound, the faces and voices of the newly arrested confirm its accidental role as Chicago's treatment center of last resort for people with serious mental illnesses. It's a job thrust on many of the nation's 3,300 local jails, and like them, it is awash in a tide of bookings and releases that make it particularly unsuited for the task.

Peering through the chain link of an intake area holding pen, a 33-year-old man wrapped in a navy varsity jacket leans toward clinical social worker Elli Petacque Montgomery, his bulging eyes a clue that something's not right.

read more here

Judge Says Troubled Veteran "Created by Us"

Judge: Troubled vet ‘created by us’
Asbury Park Press
June 16, 2014

“They said I was never in combat, never saw combat action, that I spent 17 months in Kuwait,” Constable says in staccato bursts at his Sayreville home in 2013, shortly after his records were finally corrected to reflect his combat role in Iraq.

Home but not really home, shadowed by the phantoms of his war experiences, and racked with the trouble that comes with post-traumatic stress disorder, Agifa Constable drinks to sleep.

After more than 50 missions and 17 months in Iraq, combat still flares in his head when he returns home to Old Bridge in November 2004.

Shinbone fractures and a torn cornea that obscures vision in one eye weigh on him.

Shots of Jägermeister at the local Veterans of Foreign Wars hall, then a six pack of beer allow him to drop off for about four hours.

“I wasn’t happy — I was glad to be home, but I kind of wanted to stay in the Army. I had some unfinished business,” he later says. “It was like walking away from a fight.”

In an interview nine years after his return home, Constable detailed the mental illness, the outbursts and the other effects of PTSD on his life.

Constable’s service ended abruptly and against his will. After getting caught up on a drug charge in Germany, he was given a general discharge under honorable circumstances, between an honorable and a dishonorable discharge.

His war records then reflected the general discharge, but did not show his combat service, preventing him from receiving disability money and complicating his treatment for PTSD. Omissions with service records were not uncommon for junior enlisted soldiers in Iraq, Constable’s former commanding officer, Lt. Col. Phillip D. Sounia, wrote to an Army board in 2011.
read more here

Veterans Courts help PTSD Veterans in Texas

Court offers new interface in prosecuting offenses by vets with PTSD
The Brownsville Herald
By MARK REAGAN
January 19, 2014

Nearly 2,000 veterans in Cameron County are caught up in the legal system facing charges ranging from substance abuse to assault.

And the Cameron County Commissioner’s Court last Wednesday approved the collection of fees for participation and implementation of a Veterans Court to take a new approach for how the District Attorney’s Office will handle the prosecution of veterans who suffer from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.

“We have 19,544 veterans in Cameron County and surrounding areas. And of that, approximately 10 percent get involved in the legal system, the criminal justice system,“ said Yasisca Pujols, veterans justice outreach coordinator and clinical psychologist.

The new Veterans Court will be in 444th state District Court, with Judge David A. Sanchez presiding.

Assistant District Attorney Evan Robbins, who is a veteran of the U.S. Air Force, was appointed as the special prosecutor for the court and will handle all of the cases.

“I basically have two roles. Right now, I am the intake supervisor for felony cases that come in. So in addition to screening the cases to see if we’re going to prosecute them or not, I’ll also screen them to see if they are eligible for Veterans Court,“ Robbins said.

However, for a veteran to be eligible for the court Robbins must determine a connection between the criminal activity and PTSD.
read more here

Veterans Court choice to "free of the demons that haunted them"

Fayette court program allows veterans to get physical, psychological help instead of jail time
Kentucky.com
BY JIM WARREN
January 1, 2014

Lexington veterans who run afoul of the law as a result of post-traumatic stress disorder, drug abuse or other issues stemming from their military service are getting a new chance under a recently launched court program.

The Fayette Veterans Treatment Court, which opened in early October, helps veterans get support and treatment for their physical and psychological problems as an alternative to simply sending them to jail.

Veterans who elect to go through the court — and can qualify — may have their sentences deferred while they enter an 18-month, court-supervised program of treatment and counseling.

The hope is that those who stick it out through the 11/2-year regimen will "graduate," ready to resume normal lives, free of the demons that haunted them.
read more here

Veterans can get help instead of jail time but not in all states

Why should it matter where a veteran lives? They serve this one nation side by side. They come home to different states in this one nation. So why are veterans courts not in all states? There are 104 veterans courts. California has the most veterans and they have 11. Texas has the next highest veterans population. They also have 11. Florida has the third highest. We only have 3.

Veterans can get help instead of jail time
MSNBC
By Erin Delmore
12/28/13

No one said coming home would be easy.

Nick Stefanovic, a Marine combat veteran of Iraq and Afghanistan, had been warned by a Vietnam War veteran who let him know about the combat wounds that never heal.

“You made a sacrifice,” Stefanovic recalls being told. “This is something you have to live with.”

For Nick, that meant living out of his car, homeless and alienated, with a crippling addiction to the painkillers he popped to keep the demons away.

“I’m just going to take these pills until I die,” he remembers thinking.

Out of cash and pills, the former sergeant E-5 walked into a bank in 2009 with a stolen checkbook. He flashed his own ID and signed his name on the check at the counter.

Nick was busted. It saved his life, he says. “Being arrested is the first way of getting help.”

Rather than serve time jail, Stefanovic, along with the thousands of other veterans suffering from addiction and mental health problems, was offered a lifeline. Like the civilian drug and mental health courts that pull offenders with documented medical issues out of the traditional criminal court dockets, veterans treatment courts apply the same principles to former service members. Judges across the country are allowing the growing number of ex-military men and women to choose a treatment program instead of serving time.

“When you come home, what helped you survive on the battlefield doesn’t turn off immediately,” said Col. David Sutherland, co-founder of the Dixon Center and a former special assistant to the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Post-traumatic stress and traumatic brain injury are “the signature wounds of these wars,” Sutherland told msnbc. Nearly a third of Iraq and Afghanistan veterans treated at V.A. hospitals have been diagnosed with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, and one in six suffers from a substance abuse disorder.
read more here

The History Justice for Vets

The first Veterans Treatment Court was founded by the Honorable Robert Russell in Buffalo, New York in January, 2008, after he noticed an increase in the number of veterans appearing on his Drug Court and Mental Health Court dockets. Judge Russell saw firsthand the transformative power of military camaraderie when veterans on his staff assisted a veteran in one of his treatment courts, but also recognized that more could be done to ensure veterans were connected to benefits and treatment earned through military service. In response, Judge Russell asked his local U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Center and volunteer veterans in the community to join in creating a new court docket that would focus exclusively on justice-involved veterans. 

As of June 30, 2012 there are  104 Veterans Treatment Courts in our country with hundreds more in the planning stages. They involve cooperation and collaboration with traditional partners found in Drug Courts and Mental Health Courts, such as the

Judge Russell ensures veterans in court receive the treatment and services they have earned

prosecutor, defense counsel, treatment provider, probation, and law enforcement. Added to this interdisciplinary team are representatives of the Veterans Health Administration and the Veterans Benefit Administration– as well as State Departments of Veterans Affairs, Vet Centers, Veterans Service Organizations, Department of Labor, volunteerVeteran Mentors, and other veterans support groups. Veterans Treatment Courts admit only those veterans with a clinical diagnosis of a substance abuse and/or mental health disorder.

Fayette Court program supports troubled veterans with PTSD

Judge John Schrader: Fayette Court program supports troubled veterans
Kentucky.com
BY JOHN P. SCHRADER
December 13, 2013

Over 20,000 veterans currently live in Lexington and substantial growth in this population is anticipated over the next 18 months as troops are withdrawn from Afghanistan.

At least 20 percent of those who served in Iraq and Afghanistan are known to suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder and over 80 percent of the veterans injured have sustained traumatic brain injuries not detectable by casual observation.

The impact of these conditions may be debilitating with long-term complications including depression, anger, anxiety, memory loss, flashbacks and sleep disturbance. The emotional and psychological damage sustained by these veterans is fully understandable given their experiences: engaging in personal hand-to-hand combat, killing aggressors or innocent non-combatants, being injured by a sniper or an IED, seeing friends injured or killed in battle and enduring the wear and tear which results from carrying 75 pounds of gear several hours per day.

Back home, veterans are challenged to find an outlet for the hyper-vigilance to which they became accustomed while in combat. Many unfortunately resort to self-medication of their emotional and physical injuries by excessive drinking and abuse of illegal drugs. With diminished impulse control and substance abuse concerns, routine incidents such as road rage, being startled by fireworks or even a child's playful squeal can lead a veteran suffering from PTSD to criminal conduct which results in an arrest.

While these veterans must be held accountable for their behavior, we know that, without appropriate treatment, the problems which caused the criminal activity will continue to haunt them and their families long after they are released from jail or prison.
read more here

How the Government Is Handling 700,000 Jailed Veterans

How the Government Is Handling 700,000 Jailed Veterans
Nextgov
Bob Brewin
December 3, 2013

The 700,000 veterans consigned to the dustbins of society -- prisons and jails -- won some top level attention this week at the first national Vet Court Conference in Washington, which brings together 1,000 judges, mental health and substance abuse professionals and the leadership of the Veterans Affairs and Defense Departments.

The conference, sponsored by the Justice for Vets division of the National Association of Drug Court Professionals, focuses on veterans involved in the criminal justice system as a result of substance abuse and mental health problems. There are some grim statistics behind this issue: One in six returning veterans from Iraq and Afghanistan suffers from a substance abuse disorder; since 2004, the number of veterans treated for mental illness and substance abuse has increased 38 percent, and 81 percent of arrested veterans had a substance abuse problem.

read more here