AWOL soldier seeking treatment arrested »
Posted By Aidenag 1 year, 7 months ago in NewsA soldier who served two combat tours in Iraq was arrested Wednesday for leaving the Army without permission more than a year ago to seek treatment for post traumatic stress disorder. Sgt. Brad Gaskins said he left the base in August 2006 because the Army wasn't providing effective treatment after he was diagnosed with PTSD and severe depression.
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Aidenag
Photographer by day, news junkie by night. My main areas of interest are politics and the environment.
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cowboygrandpa1 year, 7 months ago
This is bad. We need to treat our returning soldiers for their disorders physical or mental. If we don't we will have problems like we did after Nam. You will have vets going off on people unexpectedly. Listen for crying out loud. Our government put them there. They should at least treat them when they come home. We have to speak out for these walking wounded or who will?
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gamahuche1 year, 7 months ago
I agree cbgp!
FTA:
At the time, the Fort Drum mental health facility had a staff of a dozen caring for approximately 17,000 troops, Ensign said.
Gaskins said that because he had been unable to get proper help, he requested a two-week leave and went home to New Jersey, where he has been living since.
The base has expanded its mental health facility staff to 31 in the past year, with plans to add another 17 staffers, Abel said. "Is there a need for more â;; yes," he said.
*******
It doesn't sound like they have enough people to write the prescriptions, let alone deliver them.
Does being locked up in an oubliette with 17,000 disturbed people sound like a route to regaining mental health and stability?
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injest1 year, 7 months ago
Any proof?
Any proof he was in Kosovo?
Any proof he was actually in Iraq for 2 tours?
Remember Josh Lansdale?
"I returned from Iraq with a busted ankle and post-traumatic stress. It was "six months" before I could see a doctor," Lansdale said
Fact: No record of Lansdale beind injured in Iraq, or being in combat.
Josh took the political world by storm with several ridiculous claims of the long wait he endured at a VA Hospital. When asked, however, to justify those claims with appointment records, Josh became indignant and disappeared.
Remember Sgt. Andrew Isbell was seemingly among the most heroic of the returning soldiers from the war in Iraq. When he appeared at his drug-possession trial in Rockport, Texas in August of 2004, neatly clad in his Army uniform, he told jurors that he had recently earned two Bronze Stars in Iraq, plus a Purple Heart for the bullet wound in his shoulder.
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jaern1 year, 7 months ago
Poor guy. I hope he gets the help he needs and I don't think the military idea of treatment should be hair-of-the-dog.
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injest1 year, 7 months ago
Troops don't have freedom when they serve. They do not have the protections of the US constitution while they serve, they are under the UCMJ while they serve. They pay the price of your "freedom" with their sacrifice of their "freedom". Freedom isn't free, it's paid for with their sacrifice.
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engineer1 year, 7 months ago
The administration will go to hell. They'll spend a lot more time there. Prolife - BS
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Ciera-Marie1 year, 7 months ago
This is a sad day in our country when a soldier has to go AWOL to get help.
Thanks Aidenag for finding this, and submitting it. This is a must read for anyone who supports the war, this administration and says they support the troops.
Thanks CowboyGrandpa for informing me about this article. If this administration really supported the troops you wouldn't have things like this happening.
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ProudBlueTexan1 year, 7 months ago
Forward the story to your nearest Congressional 'representative.' Make it clear you will vote them into oblivion if they support this sort of mistreatment.
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Patriot11 year, 7 months ago
O.K people, what part of A.W.O.L. do you not understand?
I accept the fact that this individual is having some problems, but you can't tell me this person took a whole year to get help! It sounds to me like he went AWOL, then started asking for help after he got caught!!! Shame on him for giving the vets that do things the right way a bad name.PTSD is a real and very serious problem, and we MUST supprot our military people, by making sure they get the help they need!!!
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Aidenag1 year, 7 months ago
A year is a very short period of time when talking about PTSD or other mental health issues such as depression... These are lifelong problems they are facing, not a broken leg, or something that goes away after xxx amount of time.
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RedstateLib1 year, 7 months ago
Well I guess that will have to do since you can't call him a "phony soldier". In the article the Army admits he did serve and that they do not have adequate staff to treat him. What the Army was doing was putting him on a shelf so they could give him a medical discharge and shuffle him into the overcrowded VA system. You say shame on him I say shame on you, for condoning the poor medical care being provided to our returning troops!
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AnteUp1 year, 7 months ago
Patriot1 ~
Those would be the "good" vets that wait.......and wait
..................and wait?
That might have something to do with the high suicide
rate from this war. You live with the thoughts in your
brain every single moment of the day.Unless they medicate
you past coherence,or you self-medicate - which has been a problem after every war - you do not have any way to
solve your own problems without medical attention. Depression, PTSD,"battle fatigue" - none of these mental health problems get better from WAITING.........they can get worse - much worse.
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Jaydee401 year, 7 months ago
The army has an obligation to look after their soldiers and when they fail that duty the soldier is morally released from any and all obligation to the army. Maybe those who have a problem with him going awol would have been happier if he had gone apeshit and killed a bunch of people instead.
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abntv1 year, 7 months ago
Technically and legally you are correct. I will wait for more information to be released before I go much farther. I will say this about that...By all appearances the U.S. Army handles AWOL and desertion differently than the Marine Corps. desertion can be very hard to prove..you have to be able to prove the man/woman had no intention of ever returning, along with other specifics
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injest1 year, 7 months ago
Kinda like a guy breaking into a house to call 911 and report a life threating accident. A window is broken and a life is saved and the world still turns.
Or an addiction to twinkies in a murder case?
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RedstateLib1 year, 7 months ago
That doesn't count he's "special". Special rules for "special" people.
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Codi69341 year, 7 months ago
People said nothing about a draft dodger that occupied the White House in '92. At least GW was a pilot in the Guard.
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pongping1 year, 7 months ago
I guess you can call this anecdotal. I know a guy who has been been treating returning vets some of whom have served multiple tours in the Middle East. According to him, there is more than a small percentage of them who really have problems and are unfit for duty in a combat zone. Despite this, they are being ordered back because it's a numbers game, not enough bodies.
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Grrr1 year, 7 months ago
Happens every war. If they let them have the out, too many would try and take it, so they have to leave them in until they really crack.
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AnteUp1 year, 7 months ago
pongping ~
It may have been a Propeller story or an article in The Nation
but I just read that soldiers with MULTIPLE tours of duty
are coming home to find that the military will not approve
benefits for mental health issues. Many have been told
that it isn't war related - they are being denied because
it was a PRE-EXISTING CONDITION!
Wait - I know it was The Nation - I'll find the article
and post the link in a minute.
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AnteUp1 year, 7 months ago
Tessylo ~
It's good you wouldn't be surprised.
Three shots to the forehead at close range and the
military medical examiner requested an investigation
for suspected homicide - but was denied. They burned
Tillman's clothes and his DIARY.......maybe one of
these days we'll hear the truth.
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crghss1 year, 7 months ago
"What if he voiced dissent and Blackwater thugs killed him?"
It just gets better and better out here in nutscape. Just make the crap up as you type along.
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AnteUp1 year, 7 months ago
Got it. October 15th, The Nation article entitled,
"Specialist Town Takes His Case To Washington"
http://www.thenation.com/doc/20071015/kors
No need for me to say more - you wouldn't believe it
anyway. You must read it to understand just a tiny
bit of what our soldiers are suffering.
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AnteUp1 year, 7 months ago
rightfromwrong ~
I do know AIPAC has undue influence.
I also get the distinct impression that legislators
care more for AIPAC's approval, than my vote!
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baddad59Comment removed: User banned.
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jovial1 year, 7 months ago
Excellent story, Cowboy. This is way under reported. When I served in the Navy. There was one drug given for almost everything that ailed you, from back pain to fever and the common cold, Motrin. There was medical treatment in some cases, but you had to know that if your superiors felt you would be off duty for too long, you could be accused of malingering. A UCMJ offense that could bring fines, restriction, and loss of promotion. So you can get sick, but you damn well better be able to prove that you really are sick. PTSD must be very hard to prove. Thanks, Aidenag.
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jovial1 year, 7 months ago
A CBS investigation was done very recently on suicides committed by soldiers. This is a must read for people that are interested in this story.
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2007/11/13/cbsne...
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AnteUp1 year, 7 months ago
Anyone ~
I caught an interview regarding veterans on CSPAN last
Thursday - Nov. 8th with Rep.John Carter (R) Texas
He is a member of the Veterans Affairs Appropriations
Sub-committee. Video is available at CSPAN's page for
Washington Jornal for that date - crank the video forward
to one minute 24 seconds (1:24:20) when the host
announces a call from St.Petersburg, FLA - on their
Independent line.
This caller - a woman - says she was a Reservist who
had been mobilized for 4-1/2 years. She states that she
is a Lt. Colonel and has two masters.
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AnteUp1 year, 7 months ago
Cont.
June 2006 she was released from active duty and she was
HOMELESS. There had been an administrative error and she
had been overpaid - so they garnished her wages 100%
Regular active duty can only have 25% garnished but
the same rules DO NOT apply to single Reservists.
She referenced Title 37? And BAH entitlements?
Noting that she left for the Middle East - quitting
her job - putting her belongings into storage and
then worked for 3 months with NO PAY upon her return
because of the garnishment. Also no BAH entitlement for single Reservists if you didn't have a home address.
It was riveting - better to hear it yourself than my
faulty recitation - BTW, what's BAH?
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RedstateLib1 year, 7 months ago
Basic Allowance for Housing. aka BAQ Basic Allowance for Quarters,
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willottica1 year, 7 months ago
I think one of the biggest contributors to PTSD has got to be justification. You didn't hear so much about PTSD resulting from WWI and WWII, and I think that that's largely because the horrors they witnessed and the horrors they went through had a direct resolution. They fought back a tangible enemy, had a tangible victory, and know they fought for the greater good.
With VietNam and Iraq, you have an enemy that is hard to identify and victory conditions that are undefined. When you get home after the war and have all these memories of horrors, where do you turn for consolation? Was it worth it? Did you actually stop any terrorist attacks? Would communism have spread without your intervention?
You might be able to rationalize the death of your fellow soldiers and the lives you had to take, if you KNOW that you did it because it was necessary.
The 'liberals/democrats' did not invent the questions that will be playing endlessly in veterans' minds, they just voiced them.
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pongping1 year, 7 months ago
Perhaps, you never saw the movie, "Best Years of our Lives". Good take on what vets might have experienced at the end of WWII.
Also, remember reading a London Times story about he 70th anniversary of the Battle of the Somme in WWI. The British vets they interviewed almost to a man said they had nightmares and lots of trouble stemming from their service. I showed that article to a Vietnam vet friend and he cried.
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hyperbola1 year, 7 months ago
120 US war veteran suicides a week
News â;; The US military is experiencing a "suicide epidemic" with veterans killing themselves at the rate of 120 a week.
http://news.propeller.com/story/2007/11/14/120-...
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DarkWizard1 year, 7 months ago
Thank you for posting this and inviting me cowboygrandpa.
This is pretty screwed up. We have soldiers that have served multiple tours, been exposed to atrocities, and now have been diagnosed with PTSD or severe depression (somewhere in the 100,000 troops range now). Statistics show that 6,000 have committed suicide and projections are for another 5,000 to do so this coming year.
We have 170,000 mercenaries that have a small percentage who seem to have no problem with killing or committing atrocities and there are no reported mental illnesses (other than their pre-existing conditions) or suicides.
I was brought up military and always believed that there was no excuse for going AWOL. But, I grew up and found out that life isn't black and white. And, since this administration has taken over...boy is it not black and white! The only thing black and white is the crimes this administration has committed. Not taking care of our troops, when they need it most, is the worst crime of all!
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hyperbola1 year, 7 months ago
Our soldiers are fighting back against this - now we need to support them.
Iraq war is a betrayal of American democracy
Do No Evil â;; In 2003 I illegally invaded the sovereign nation of Iraq with 1st Tank battalion 1st Marine Division. My commander in chief unleashed the world's fiercest fighting force upon the country and people of Iraq, and now those of us used and betrayed by him are demanding justice.
http://donoevil.propeller.com/story/2007/11/15/...
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cowboygrandpa1 year, 7 months ago
DW: Aidenag posted the story. His is the good work. I just happened to read it and was thankful he posted it. Thought it important enough to invite some friends. Thank you for your comments. We never want anyone to go AWOL. Yet when it involves medical care you don't receive. Well who can say what state the young man was in. I just hope this will spur the politicians into action before we have a nation of "sick" vets with no where to turn for help.
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crespi1 year, 7 months ago
Where's bubba2? He's kind of our resident expert on these matters...
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joeblowe1 year, 7 months ago
I'm with DarkWizard on this. It's really shameful. And the true hell of it is, Congress could doubtless pass a bill allocating ANY amount of money they decided to pick out of a hat for the care and treatment of injured military, and they would never hear a word against it from their constituents. It pretty much amounts to criminal negligence, and our elected representatives are the ones that should be held to account. Funding for our government comes from the House of Representatives. Perhaps they should issue a separate funding bill for this so that the grubbers in the Pentagon don't grab the money that was originally in the budget for this to buy some more bombs or something.
My judgment on this PARTICULAR guy: If he was REALLY suffering from PTSD, and there doesn't seem to be any indication he wasn't, he should NOT have been in the active military anyway - he'd be a danger to himself and others around him. Medical discharge, please.
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PilotSmall1 year, 7 months ago
This is not new folks! I am dying of a lung condition from being in a buring aircraft in VN;breathing burning wire, insullation, hydrolic fuild, etc., which I have to pay for myself because it was a classified mission and there is no recorded proof available to the VA! The military is just as slippery today as it was in VN.
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ecotourusa1 year, 7 months ago
PilotSmall-
thanks for serving for our countryand sharing your story. I am very sorry about your condition. please do not say you are dying, though.
I don't even know you and I have tears in my eyes.
I lost a very good friend who was sprayed with agent organge. he was a photographer, my mentor. I was just thinking about him today. and now again.
I also have a lung condition from mold when I worked at a resort in mexico.
this is what I do:
i am not sure you can do this, but, I jump on a mini trampoline daily. it really helps to clean out the lungs.
have you ever tried something like this. I'm not talking about jumping high. just jog in place for as long as you feel comfortable. try for at least 10 minutes.
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cushi1 year, 7 months ago
Oh my God!! That is APPALLING!! I'm sooooo sooooooo sorry and I wish I could offer you more than just words...is anyone working on your behalf in this? There HAS to be a way; please don't give up. I love you for going into harms way to protect me and the rest of your countrymen, but what can we do to help you now? I'm very serious about this.
God bless you forever and ever.
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