Officers speak about post-war experiences

Jennifer Heeke

On Thursday afternoon, Maj. Jeff Hall discusses his experience in Iraq and the effects of post-traumatic stress disorder on both wounded and unwounded soldiers.

Officers speak about post-war experiences
By Katie Reilley

junior staff writer

Published: Friday, October 15, 2010

One officer told the story of how he bled out, was dead for 15 minutes, but was resurrected through the efforts of Army medics. Another officer related how he stood in his backyard, contemplating suicide because he hated dealing with the constant pain of daily life, while his wife felt "like a failure" because her husband was not the same person he was before his combat experience.

These are the stories of nationally-recognized and decorated Fort Riley officers Capt. Joshua Mantz, Maj. Jeff Hall and Hall's wife, Sheri Hall, sophomore in social work. The three spoke at the College of Human Ecology lecture "Combat Stress: Redefining the ‘Wounded' Warrior and Family" yesterday afternoon in Hale Library's Hemisphere Room.

Mantz, Jeff and Sheri spoke on post-traumatic stress disorder, a condition that gained more recognition by the military after suicide rates increased from 89 deaths in 2008 to 110 in 2009, according to an Oct. 2, 2009, article on military.com.


The Institute for the Health and Security of Military Families lecture was originally intended only for the Trauma and Disorders class taught by Briana Nelson Goff, but was opened up to the public. Goff is the director of the institute and associate dean for academic affairs of the College of Human Ecology.
read more here
Officers speak about post-war experiences

'Burn pits' still in use in Iraq, Afghanistan

'Burn pits' still in use in Iraq, Afghanistan

Published: Oct. 15, 2010 at 4:39 PM
By ZAK KOESKE, MEDILL NEWS SERVICE

The number of troops suffering from Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease, which makes it difficult to breathe and is normally found in lifelong smokers, has more than doubled, Armed Forces Health Surveillance Center data indicate.

WASHINGTON, Oct. 15 (UPI) -- A U.S. government report released Friday finds that waste disposal methods at military bases in Iraq and Afghanistan continue to expose troops to potentially harmful emissions, despite recent legislation aimed at curbing hazardous disposal practices.

The Government Accountability Office investigated four bases in Iraq in the past year and found none were entirely in compliance with regulations.

The regulations, passed in 2009, prohibit the disposal of hazardous and bio-medical waste in open-air burn pits, except in circumstances where the U.S. secretary of Defense deems that no feasible alternative exists.

In spite of these regulations, the GAO found that all four bases routinely burned plastic, which releases dioxins, the family of chemicals found in the Vietnam War herbicide known as Agent Orange.
read more here

'Burn pits' still in use in Iraq, Afghanistan
UPI.com

Retired Army veteran ends run across country in Rockland

Retired Army veteran ends run across country in Rockland
Flags planted every mile to honor service members who died in Iraq

10/15/10
By Heather Steeves
BDN Staff

ROCKLAND, Maine — The wind thrashed frothy waves against the shore here Friday as Mike Ehredt ran to the ocean, completing his 4,424-mile journey to honor U.S. service members who have died in Iraq.

Despite a thunderstorm that pelted rain on Ehredt, 49, and his supporters, more 100 people showed up in yellow shirts embossed with an American flag and the words, “Thanks, Mike.”

“It’s not raining today,” said James Troutt of Sherman, the grandfather of Army Spc. Dustin Harris of Patten, who died in April 2006 while serving in the war in Iraq. “God is crying a lot today.”

In a ceremony Friday morning, local police and government officials, members of the families of fallen Maine soldiers and Rockland residents gathered to celebrate Ehredt’s run. After each mile Ehredt ran in the past 5½ months, he planted a flag bearing the name of a soldier killed in Iraq. The project began in Oregon on May 1.

The retired U.S. Army veteran from Hope, Idaho, said he placed flags in lots of small towns across the country, with the goal of having people stop to remember the soldiers.

“We’re not alone. We are watched from above. I had guardian angels along the way,” Ehredt told the crowd at Friday’s ceremony, after the last flag was placed at Rockland Harbor. “They do know they are remembered. They are not forgotten.”The name on the final flag was that of Maj. Jay Thomas Aubin of Waterville, who was among the first casualties in the U.S.-led war in Iraq. Aubin, 36, was one of four U.S. Marines and eight British Marines killed on March 20, 2003, when a CH-46 Sea Knight helicopter crashed in Kuwait near the Iraq border.
read more here
Retired Army veteran ends run across country in Rockland - Bangor ...
By By Heather Steeves BDN Staff

Westboro group calls off one protest for airtime

Protest of Aiken soldier's funeral called off, still on in Lexington
By Logan Smith
AIKEN, SC (WIS) - A controversial church from Kansas has backed off its plans to protest during the funeral of a slain Aiken war veteran, accepting time on a local radio station as a tradeoff. However, the group still plans to picket the funeral of a Lexington soldier killed in the same attack.

Westboro Baptist Church member Shirley Phelps-Roper told the Augusta Chronicle they were offered an hour of unedited airtime on radio station WGAC-AM in exchange for staying away from Thursday's funeral for Staff Sgt. Willie J. Harley Jr. of Aiken.

But the anti-Semitic and anti-gay group still plans to picket outside the funeral of Specialist Luther Rabon of Lexington. Rabon and Harley of Aiken were killed in Afghanistan earlier this month when their vehicle was attacked by insurgents with an Improvised Explosive Device.
read more here
http://www.wistv.com/Global/story.asp?S=13318496

Congressman Roy Blunt for his vote against the 9/11 First Responders health bill

They can talk all they want about who they care about, who they claim to honor, but their votes are what proves how they really feel. What is happening in Washington DC is a political game and they think they can hide what they are doing to people instead of for them. Look at the bills they vote against and then ask yourself if any of the people who vote against the people of this nation really deserve to be there or not. Look at the GOP votes against veterans, against the unemployed, against small businesses, against the troops and against healthcare insurance they hide under "healthcare" as if it was to stop us from getting it instead of helping us to be able to go to a doctor without having to go deep in debt to stay alive. Look at the commercials playing across the country on how they claim the Democrats have cut Medicare. No one lost benefits. The cut was against waste and fraud, but the GOP run commercials as if they cut off someone's grandparent instead of making Medicare stronger. There used to be a time when people like this would be too ashamed of doing something like this against people who rushed into help after the Towers fell, but this man just doesn't care what the people of this country think. The election is coming soon and we need to know what the hell we're doing with our votes. They think we're stupid. We can either pay attention and prove them wrong or suffer for what we get when it's too late to fix anything.


Navy Veteran, 9/11 Responder, Expresses Disgust with Roy Blunt in Stunning
New Television Ad
By VoteVets.org | Press Release
PUBLISHED: October 14, 2010

NAVY VETERAN, 9/11 FIRST RESPONDER, EXPRESSES DISGUST WITH ROY BLUNT IN STUNNING NEW TELEVISION AD

ST LOUIS, MO - Daniel Arrigo, a U.S. Navy veteran who is also one of the now-seriously ill First Responders in Lower Manhattan following 9/11, expresses disgust with Roy Blunt for voting against the 9/11 First Responders bill in Congress, while voting himself a pay raise eight times, in a hard-hitting new television ad running in Missouri on broadcast and cable.
read more here
http://www.votevets.org/news/?id=0378

The family of Sgt. Amanda Sheldon hopes her death may spark change

WOODTV8 | October 14, 2010
The family of Sgt. Amanda Sheldon hopes her death may spark change. The 2004 Belding graduate's body will return to West Michigan on Thursday night, about one week after Sheldon took her own life while serving at a Fort Bragg, N.C., military base.

More wounded soldiers recount horrors of Ft. Hood rampage

Severely wounded soldier describes Ft Hood spree
ANGELA K. BROWN, Associated Press Writers, MICHAEL GRACZYK, Associated Press Writers
Published: 03:23 a.m., Friday, October 15, 2010

FORT HOOD, Texas (AP) — Everything had stopped.

Not a whisper, not a cough, not even the sound of someone shuffling in his seat could be heard as Staff Sgt. Patrick Zeigler, his cane gripped in his right hand and an extensive scar visible across his closely shaved head, carefully made his way to the witness stand.

Then, in a strong though sometimes halting voice, Zeigler described Thursday to a military investigating officer how four gunshots left him the most seriously injured among the survivors of last year's deadly shootings at Fort Hood.

Maj. Nidal Hasan, 40, an American-born Muslim, has been charged with 13 counts of premeditated murder and 32 counts of attempted premeditated murder. Zeigler testified at an Article 32 hearing, a proceeding unique to military justice that will determine if Hasan should stand trial. The hearing was to continue Friday.

Prosecutors have not said whether they'll seek the death penalty if the case goes to trial.

Zeigler had just returned from his second deployment in Iraq and was at a Fort Hood center to get routine medical tests on Nov. 5, preparing to go to the Army's Officer Candidate School at Fort Benning, Ga. Then he heard someone shout "Allahu Akbar!" — "God is Great!" in Arabic, Zeigler testified.
read more here
Severely wounded soldier describes Ft Hood spree



More wounded soldiers recount horrors of Ft. Hood rampageArmy Staff Sgt. Paul Martin, one of 11 witnesses testifying at a preliminary hearing, identifies Army Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan as the shooter. 'It was like a cannon going off inside the building,' he says.

By David Zucchino, Los Angeles Times
October 15, 2010
Reporting from Ft. Hood, Texas — Stiff with pain from lingering bullet wounds in his leg and back, Army Staff Sgt. Paul Martin rose slowly to his feet on the witness stand Thursday and pointed across the military courtroom.

"Yes, sir, that's him," Martin said, nodding toward Army Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan, huddled in a wheelchair beneath a blanket and watch cap.

Martin said it was Hasan, firing methodically from two handguns, who shot him twice Nov. 5. And it was Hasan, an Army psychiatrist, who fired again and again at soldiers inside a medical processing building as they tried to flee, Martin testified.
read more here
More wounded soldiers recount horrors of Ft. Hood rampage

Great story and will make you stop to think of what you can do too!

Med student, mom spark shoe drive for homeless vets

By Luis Zaragoza, Orlando Sentinel

6:36 p.m. EDT, October 13, 2010

Moments after meeting a homeless veteran in desperate need of shoes, UCF medical student Reid Green knew what he had to do.

The 22-year-old Venice, Fl., native yanked the Nikes off his feet and handed them over to the stunned ex-military man.

"Are you sure? Are you sure?" the man kept saying.

Green had no doubts.

"He wanted shoes but there were none for him," said Green, who was volunteering at a recent Veterans Affairs-sponsored food and clothing giveaway in Orlando when he noticed the man's plight.

Green's motivation: "He needed them more."

It wasn't a big deal to him, Green said, but he was touched by the man's gratitude.

For the next several hours, Green padded around in his socks, never mind the damp ground.

Green later phoned his mother, Randi, to tell her about his encounter with the veteran.

"Mom, something almost broke my heart today," he told her.
click link above to read more

Naked jogger to cops: 'Why would you tase me?'

By Anika Myers Palm, Orlando Sentinel
1:41 a.m. EDT, October 14, 2010

Police in West Melbourne used a Taser to stop an 18-year-old man after they found him jogging nude.

Zak Anthony King, 18, of Palm Bay, faces charges of resisting arrest without violence and indecent exposure.

A police officer in the south Brevard County city responded to the area of Hollywood Boulevard and Stratford Pointe Drive about 7 a.m. Monday in response to a report of a man running nude.

The officer saw the King running north on Hollywood, clad only in swimming goggles. The officer drove beside King and told him several times to stop, but King did not comply, according to the arrest report.

The officer told King that he would be tased if he failed to stop.
click link for more

Vet charged with theft for removing tattered American flag

Winter Park vet charged with theft for removing tattered American flag he found offensive

By Anthony Colarossi, Orlando Sentinel
7:01 p.m. EDT, October 13, 2010

Karl Edward Baldner didn't like what he saw, a tattered and torn American flag flying from a small business across from the Goldenrod Post Office just east of Winter Park.

The U.S. Army veteran strongly believes the flag should be displayed properly and in the summer of 2009, took it upon himself to let the business owner know the beat-up old flag ought to be taken down. When it was not, Baldner decided to remove it himself.

Baldner said he intended to replace the flag with another one that had been draped over a fallen soldier.

After removing the flag, Baldner left a note behind, stating, "Please have respect for the American flag and don't display our flag in such a condition. It disgraces our nation." Baldner left his name and number with the note.
click link for more

David H. McNerney, 79, Received Medal of Honor for Vietnam Actions

David McNerney Medal of Honor Ceremony

David McNerney, Medal of Honor Winner for Bravery in Vietnam, Dies at 79
Oct 13, 2010 10:35 PM ET

Obituary: David H. McNerney, 79, Received Medal of Honor for
Vietnam Actions

By T. Rees Shapiro
Oct. 13 (Washington Post) -- David H. McNerney, a retired
Army first sergeant who was awarded the Medal of Honor for
leading soldiers out of a Viet Cong ambush in 1967, died of lung
cancer on Oct. 10 at a veterans hospital in Houston. He was 79.
Sgt. McNerney was not supposed to be in Vietnam on March 22,
1967. At 35, he'd already served two tours in those jungles and
had spent most of the previous year training young troops to go
to war.
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2010-10-14/david-mcnerney-medal-of-honor-winner-for-bravery-in-vietnam-dies-at-79.html

Thousands of Veterans Denied Crucial Care

Broken Promises: Thousands of Veterans Denied Crucial Care

Friday 08 October 2010

by: Mike Ludwig, t r u t h o u t | Report

(Image: Lance Page / t r u t h o u t; Adapted:Andrew Spratley, Conrad Kuiper, Nathan Barry)

The Army tacked a five-month extension on Sgt. Ryan Christian Major's term of military service in 2006, and that November, just five days after his original discharge date, Ryan was critically injured when an underground bomb exploded during a foot patrol in Ramadi, Iraq.

Ryan was evacuated from Iraq and brought to a hospital in Germany, where he underwent extensive surgery. His pelvis had been broken, and doctors amputated both of his legs above the knees. He suffered from traumatic brain injury (TBI) and would go on to develop post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). For two months after the explosion, Ryan's family was unsure of he would survive. He did.

For many Americans, the cost of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan is startling: more than $1 trillion has been spent on the conflicts. At least 5,670 service members have been killed, and 91,384 have been wounded in conflict or evacuated from the war zone for treatment of wounds or illnesses.
read more here
Thousands of Veterans Denied Crucial Care

Vet with PTSD charged after making threats

Vet with PTSD charged after making threats
Jordan Independent

Submitted by Mathias Baden on October 10, 2010 - 10:10am.
» Read similar stories filed under: 

• Courts
 
• Next Door
 
• Police

Shawn Hogendorf of the Prior Lake American reports:

A 31-year-old Iraq War veteran who has been diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) was arrested last month after he allegedly threatened to kill his wife during an argument, according to charges filed in Scott County District Court.

Austin Paul Long of Prior Lake was charged Sept. 27 by the Scott County Attorney’s Office with making terroristic threats, a felony, and gross-misdemeanor charges of interfering with a 911 call and domestic assault.

According to the criminal complaint:

Police were called at about 3 a.m. Sept. 24 to Long’s home in the 16700 block of Blind Lake Trail. His wife reported that the couple was going through a divorce, and she said Long had left the home earlier in the day after police responded to a civil situation regarding a child-custody issue and returned intoxicated.

Long’s wife told police that he forced his way into their bedroom, pushed her up against a wall, placed his hands under her jaw and threatened her.The woman, who called 911, told police she feared for her life.When Long heard his wife calling police, he allegedly took her cell phone. The woman told police she then grabbed a butcher knife she had hidden under the mattress and Long left the home.Police were unable to locate Long, so the woman and her children left the home for safety reasons, the complaint states.

The next morning, police learned that Long was an Iraq War veteran who suffered from PTSD.
click link for more

Family, Friends React After Triple-Fatal Interstate Crash

Forgiveness can happen when people stop being angry or hurt long enough to take a look at the whole subject.  A young man is accused of getting behind the wheel and driving drunk.  Families are now trying to cope with the loss and the anger caused by this crash. 

It is normal and expected to react the way they are but this damages them, robs them of grieving worthy of the lives gone.  While they could be sharing memories and beginning their healing, they are trapped spending their energy hanging onto the anger.  We can all understand how they feel the way they do but few of us have ever had to feel it for ourselves.

Losing someone you love is hard enough under natural circumstances.  When another human is the cause, it is almost unbearable.  Yet in this case, this driver was not just some drunk behind the wheel.  He is unique among the population.  He has PTSD which is caused only one way.  It took a traumatic event in his own life to cause it.  He was not thinking right by reports and used alcohol to help him cope with the symptoms.  There has to be justice because everyone with PTSD does not decide to drive drunk, so this was something he decided to do.  Justice requires all the facts to be considered but for the families, knowing all the facts may help them begin to heal.

Friends: Fatal Crash Suspect Treated For PTSD

Family, Friends React After Triple-Fatal Interstate Crash

Updated: 8:47 am CDT October 9, 2010

• See Images Fatal Interstate Crash

Text Size

AAA

MADISON, Wis. -- While more is being learned about the man behind the wheel in a triple fatality early Thursday morning, the mother of one of the victims is speaking out.
http://www.channel3000.com/news/25332673/detail.html

Previous Story:

• October 8, 2010: Officials: 3 Killed In Alcohol-Related Crash Near Madison
• October 8, 2010: Authorities Identify Victims In Fatal Interstate Crash

Solider died in Iraq awaiting medical care and after multiple doctor visit

Catonsville soldier died of pulmonary embolism
Family says the death could have been prevented

By Liz F. Kay, The Baltimore Sun
11:59 p.m. EDT, October 12, 2010


An Army sergeant and Catonsville native died of a treatable ailment in Iraq last month while awaiting medical care and after multiple doctor visits, his family said.

Sgt. John F. Burner III, 32, died Sept. 16 in Iskandariya, Iraq, of a pulmonary embolism, his father said Tuesday.

A pulmonary embolism occurs when a blood vessel in the lungs is blocked, usually by a clot. Patients are often given blood thinners, but if the clots are very large, they receive clot-busting drugs or undergo surgery.

read more here

Catonsville soldier died of treatable illness, family says
Baltimore Sun

At Arlington graves, a pain beyond words

At Arlington graves, a pain beyond words

By Christian Davenport Washington Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, October 12, 2010
Along the meticulously spaced rows of graves at Arlington National Cemetery, the names of the nation's wars are clearly etched into the headstones: World War I, World War II, Vietnam, Korea, the Persian Gulf.

Soon, a new inscription for troops killed in Iraq could appear: "Operation New Dawn."

Unlike in past conflicts, the overwhelming majority of headstones for veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan at the nation's most hallowed military burial ground use the military's official names for those conflicts: Operation Enduring Freedom for Afghanistan, Operation Iraqi Freedom for Iraq. As of Sept. 1, Operation Iraqi Freedom has been rebranded Operation New Dawn.

Some families and veterans groups say those slogans are little more than propaganda tactics, ways for politicians and the Pentagon to sanitize the wars and drum up public support. The phrases are also confusing, the veterans groups say, because many people have no idea that Operation Enduring Freedom refers to Afghanistan. Using the words "new dawn" to mark a person's final resting place is inappropriate, even insulting, some family members say.

"It's not a new dawn; we lost a son," said Oscar Aviles, whose son Andrew Aviles, a Marine Corps lance corporal, was killed in Iraq in 2003. "It's just a lot of pain and anguish."
read more here
At Arlington graves, a pain beyond words

Army didn't warn of slain soldier's intent

Report: Army didn't warn of slain soldier's intent
Seattle Times
Army officials knew about a distraught and AWOL soldier recently back from Afghanistan was headed to Utah with ammunition, weapons and a grudge but didn't warn local authorities, a newspaper reported.

The Associated Press
SALT LAKE CITY —
Army officials knew about a distraught and AWOL soldier recently back from Afghanistan was headed to Utah with ammunition, weapons and a grudge but didn't warn local authorities, a newspaper reported.

The Salt Lake Tribune reported Tuesday that Army Spc. Brandon Barrett sent text messages to fellow soldiers warning that he was preparing for death in Utah with "one hell of an argument and about 1,000 rounds to prove my point." The newspaper reported that military records show Army investigators were worried that Barrett might commit a mass shooting.

Barrett was classified as a deserter from Joint Base Lewis-McChord in Tacoma, Wash., when he dressed in full combat gear and engaged in a gunfight with a Salt Lake City police officer in late August. He was shot and killed by the officer, whom he wounded.

Salt Lake City Police Chief Chris Burbank told The Associated Press that detectives never determined why Barrett chose Utah for a fatal encounter with police or how long he had been in town.

Burbank told reporters Tuesday that his department wasn't notified by Army officials of Barrett's intentions, but said the military's failure to notify authorities was understandable.

Barrett's random threats didn't convey a specific plan and it wasn't clear if the threats were credible, he said.
click link for more

Judge orders military to stop discharging gays

Judge orders military to stop discharging gays
Landmark ruling says government's 'don't ask, don't tell' policy must end
NBC News and news services
updated 3 minutes ago
Share Print Font:
BREAKING NEWS
RIVERSIDE, Calif. — A federal judge Tuesday ordered the government to immediately stop discharges of gay service members under the military's "don't ask, don't tell" policy.

U.S. District Judge Virginia Phillips found the policy unconstitutional in September. On Tuesday, she rejected an Obama administration request to delay an injunction and ordered enforcement of the policy permanently stopped.
read more here
Judge orders military to stop discharging gays

Female Fort Bragg soldier's funeral services

Police, family say Belding area soldier took her own life
MLive.com


The Grand Rapids Press staff
NORTH CAROLINA -- Services are pending for Army Sgt. Amanda Sheldon of the Belding area, who police and family members confirm took her own life in her off-campus home near Fort Bragg.
click link for more

Alleged Ft. Hood attacker to face survivors at hearing

Hasan managed to do a lot more damage to the soldiers at Fort Hood than bullets from guns ever could.  He is still called “accused” because he has not had a trial yet, but the facts of what happened at Fort Hood show that he was the one pulling the trigger. 

Hasan was not a known enemy to the soldiers at Fort Hood but it was clear that others knew all about what he thought and how he felt.  This man was still allowed to be in a position of authority as a Major and psychologist.  All that was known about Hasan by his superiors came out and provided the soldiers with a sense of deadly betrayal. How could someone like him be allowed to not only serve with them but be in any kind of position dealing with their mental health?

PTSD is caused by traumatic events, yet with the increase risk of repeated deployments, the strain on families and increase in drug, alcohol and even medication abuse, the chain of command put someone like Hasan involved in mental healthcare.  This did more damage to the emotions of the soldiers and their families than the enemy ever could.  Fort Hood was their home and was invaded by an enemy who looked just like them, lived with them and worked with them.  This was supposed to be their safe zone, where their families were supposed to be safe back home while they were deployed.  This was where they were supposed to be able to stand down without weapons and without threat.  Hasan took all of that away but the people over him, promoting him instead of giving him a dishonorable discharge were also responsible for what happened at Fort Hood and what has come since then.

Military suicides continue to climb but at Fort Hood, it’s only gotten worse no matter what they try to do and if anyone thinks this horrific event last year did not contribute to it, they know very little about human nature.

Alleged Ft. Hood attacker to face survivors at hearing
Maj. Nidal Hasan is accused of killing 13 in worst mass shooting at an American military base



FORT HOOD, Texas — Witnesses to a gunman's rampage at Fort Hood will begin describing the attack for a military officer Tuesday, providing new details about the scene that unfolded nearly a year ago in a processing center where soldiers were making final preparations to deploy.
The Article 32 hearing involving Maj. Nidal Hasan is expected to last at least three weeks and will determine whether there is enough evidence to put the Army psychiatrist on trial. Such hearings are unique to military court, where prosecutors and the defense can call witnesses, and both sides are able to question them and present other evidence.
Hasan, 40, is charged with premeditated murder and attempted premeditated murder in the Nov. 5 attack, which killed 13 people and wounded 32 others. It was the worst mass shooting at an American military base.
read more here
Alleged Ft. Hood attacker to face survivors at hearing

Despite Army efforts, soldier suicides continue

James C McKinley Jr, New York Times, Updated: October 11, 2010 19:30 IST

Fort Hood (Texas):  At 3:30 a.m. on a Saturday in August, Specialist Armando G. Aguilar Jr. found himself at the end of his short life. He was standing, drunk and weepy, in the parking lot of a Valero station outside Waco, Tex. He had jumped out of his moving pickup. There was a police officer talking to him in frantic tones. Specialist Aguilar held a pistol pointed at his head.

This moment had been a long time coming, his family said. He had twice tried to commit suicide with pills since returning from a tough tour in Iraq a year earlier, where his job was to drive an armored vehicle to search for bombs.

Army doctors had put him on medications for depression, insomnia, nightmares and panic attacks. Specialist Aguilar was seeing an Army therapist every week. But he had been getting worse in the days before his death, his parents said, seeing shadowy figures that were not there, hallucinating that he heard loud noises outside his trailer home.

"He wanted help -- he was out there asking for help," said his father, Armando Aguilar Sr. "He just snapped. He couldn't control what he was doing no more."

Specialist Aguilar was one of 20 soldiers connected to Fort Hood who are believed to have committed suicide this year. The Army has confirmed 14 of those, and is completing the official investigations of six other soldiers who appear to have taken their own lives -- four of them in one week in September. The deaths have made this the worst year at the sprawling fort since the military began keeping track in 2003.

Read more at: Despite Army efforts, soldier suicides continue