Eval sought four times before Marine killed Iraqi

[CommunityEditor]

Lance Cpl. Jonathan A. Phillips’ fellow Marines all knew one thing: He should not be in combat.

His reaction to the deaths of four friends in the span of two weeks gave Phillips’ commanders enough concern to send him to a mental health expert. Then again. Then two more times.

But whatever the battle-hardened Marine was dealing with inside, his outward demeanor was of a man ready for duty. At least that’s the impression he gave the doctors. And to the chagrin of his fellow Marines — including his platoon commander, who personally contacted a psychiatrist at Camp Fallujah — he was sent back in.

After Phillips killed an innocent Iraqi man, everyone else knew it.

Now, after pleading guilty to a crime that his friends and family believe could have been prevented, Phillips’ story stands as a cautionary tale for anyone who’s ever lied to get back into the fight, buried his feelings too deep or overlooked the pain of a co-worker in obvious need of help. Phillips pleaded guilty to voluntary manslaughter and solicitation in a small Camp Lejeune, N.C., courtroom Sept. 21. He was sentenced to two years in prison.

After the guilty plea, his friends and fellow Marines took turns at the stand, telling a military judge how the man standing trial that day was not the same jovial leatherneck who deployed to Iraq in the summer of 2006.

“This kid could not sit down to save his life, and just look at him now,” said a teary-eyed Sgt. Patrick Lajuect. “He was just as pure as life could be. He had so much potential.”

Phillips wanted to become a squad leader, intent on learning from other Marines in that position. The goal was something Reagan believed Phillips had the potential to achieve.

The once-outgoing Marine became withdrawn. He wouldn’t eat. He talked to his weapon. He talked in his sleep. He wasn’t calling home like he used to. He hung a poncho from the rack above his to obstruct the view from his bed, a room of empty racks where his friends, now dead, once slumbered.

Shortly after the Oct. 6 attack, Phillips was sent to Camp Fallujah for a psychiatric evaluation. Reagan said he was surprised when Phillips returned to his platoon, which was set up in a police station in Saqlawiyah.

Phillips was sent for psychiatric evaluations three more times before Jan. 20. He was evaluated in early December, shortly after witnessing another friend, his first squad leader, take a sniper’s bullet to the throat from the rooftop of the Iraqi police station. Each time, he was proclaimed fit for duty and returned to his unit.

Navy Lt. Douglas Pugliese was not one of the psychiatrists who assessed Phillips, but said he saw him in October and again in mid-December.

“He denied any ongoing symptoms of nightmares or other problems,” Pugliese said, adding that Phillips said he wanted to stay with his Marines.

Browne said he spoke to the battalion commanding officer, executive officer and company commander about Phillips. He said he directly contacted one of the psychiatrists Phillips had seen.

“No one expressed any interest, which really upset me,” he said. “We know from Day One, Oct. 6, that this Marine was a great Marine, but he was a casualty. We’re here because he was not taken care of at their level. We’re here because they dropped the ball.”

Then came Jan. 20. Phillips, after hearing small-arms fire, spotted an Iraqi policeman in a marked car and shot him in his chest. After the shooting, he asked a fellow Marine not to report him.

His death rattled the relationship between the U.S. military and Iraqi policemen in Saqlawiyah. The policemen asked 2nd Platoon to leave. They did.

When Phillips was diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder and major depression disorder after the shooting, it came as no surprise to those who knew and served alongside him.

“It was a bad case of ‘I told you so,’” Reagan said.

Charles Gittins, Phillips’ civilian attorney, said his client’s serious mental disease did not rise to a level of defense. But, Gittins said, doctors failed Phillips.

“We would not be sitting here but for that failure,” Gittins said.

At the end of his daylong court-martial, Phillips was sentenced by a military judge to three years’ confinement, reduction in rank to private, dishonorable discharge and total forfeiture of pay.



Article: http://www.militarytimes.com/news/20...ughter_071002/

[The Universal Curmudgeon_guest]

Originally Posted by CommunityEditor

At the end of his daylong court-martial, Phillips was sentenced by a military judge to three years’ confinement, reduction in rank to private, dishonorable discharge and total forfeiture of pay.

Way too stiff punishment for someone who is an innocent victim of the system.

We should all feel sorry for this poor victim of the system and the fact that he is going to have to spend (about) two years warm, dry, clothed, fed, and receiving top rate medical care.

As for the man he killed, well, what the heck he's dead - and, besides, he wasn't an American so who cares. And, besides that, the government of the United States of America will probably give his family US$5,000 and that will make everything OK.

[ringjamesa]

I feel bad for this guy and feel that he was put in an untenable situation but if his own defense team doesn't think his condition didn't rise to the level of being a valid defense, why should we? Stuff happens and life is hard but killing innnocent people who are actually trying to do good solves nothing. I hope this guy gets the help he needs but I hardly think he should get a free pass.

What a tragedy all the way around. It's impossible to sit in judgement from an outside vantage point. Howver, any human being who witnessed that level of human destruction and violence would be impacted to a point where his opinion that he should keep serving actively with his squad should have been tempered by the judgement of the mental health experts who assessed him. I have a son who is a Marine, and he is a brave, dedicated young man who is proud to be part of the Corps. However, if he were exposed to the horrible events that this young man was witness to, I would hope that those around him would intervene to protect him and those around him by mandating a systematic , automatic , (hopefully temporary,) change of duty status to allow him the time to get the help he needed. This could not be discretionary, or elective on his part, as I would think most Marines would not chose to "take some time" as this would be going against the very nature of their training and on the surface would seem to negate the whole mentality involved in putting aside their individuality in order to accomplish what needs to be accomplished. It should also be noted that by not staying with the squad the traumatized Marine could be forfeiting the cameraderie of those he needs the most. Therefore, they should not be placed in an "either-or" situation. I don't know what assessment tools the psychiatrists use in this situation. I think that if no other good comes from this, maybe those in a decisionmaking capacity need to review their processes. Maybe there is a way to mandate a "leave" of some kind for the traumatized Marine, while also enlisting the immediate and tangible support of those in their immediate surroundings. They should not in any way be allowed to feel inferior if they can't "tough it out" when the stakes are this high.

[The Universal Curmudgeon_guest]

Originally Posted by Unregistered

What a tragedy all the way around. It's impossible to sit in judgement from an outside vantage point. Howver, any human being who witnessed that level of human destruction and violence would be impacted to a point where his opinion that he should keep serving actively with his squad should have been tempered by the judgement of the mental health experts who assessed him. I have a son who is a Marine, and he is a brave, dedicated young man who is proud to be part of the Corps. However, if he were exposed to the horrible events that this young man was witness to, I would hope that those around him would intervene to protect him and those around him by mandating a systematic , automatic , (hopefully temporary,) change of duty status to allow him the time to get the help he needed. This could not be discretionary, or elective on his part, as I would think most Marines would not chose to "take some time" as this would be going against the very nature of their training and on the surface would seem to negate the whole mentality involved in putting aside their individuality in order to accomplish what needs to be accomplished. It should also be noted that by not staying with the squad the traumatized Marine could be forfeiting the cameraderie of those he needs the most. Therefore, they should not be placed in an "either-or" situation. I don't know what assessment tools the psychiatrists use in this situation. I think that if no other good comes from this, maybe those in a decisionmaking capacity need to review their processes. Maybe there is a way to mandate a "leave" of some kind for the traumatized Marine, while also enlisting the immediate and tangible support of those in their immediate surroundings. They should not in any way be allowed to feel inferior if they can't "tough it out" when the stakes are this high.

All good points, and with the average "fatal casualties per day in Iraq now running at 2.25 (that's right two and one quarter) one wonders how the US forces would be holding up if the casualty level were at the WWII level (approximately 225 per day [that's right 100 times as high)?

One of the strange corelations between "rogue troops" and "innocent civilians killed" is "level of support for the war in the national psyche". If the national psyche is highly in favour of the war, then the troops don't seem to be so affected by the "brutality of war" - if it is low, then they seem to be more affected by it.

I don't blame the troops - they go where they are told to go and do what they are told to do. I blame those who sent them without having a single (rationally) defensible (and/or substantiable) reason for doing so. Not only were the "reasons" for the war specious (at best) but the troops were sent to a place where they would have to deal with a people whose national identity, national psyche, and entire way of thinking they did not understand - and sent there by people with no idea that there was any difference between someone who lived in Baghdad, Iraq and on Baghdad Drive, in Zephyrhills, FL.

I happen to be good friends with JP, and I have served with him. The fact that the Navy doctors are some of the most underqualified in their field speaks volumes, and it's extremely evident that they did not treat him properly. Coming from someone who also suffers from PTSD, I can say first hand that the Navy just makes medical suggestions to the Marine Corps, and it is up to the Marine Corps to decide whether or not to adhear to a doctor's orders. JP is a damn good Marine and they make it sound as though it was cold blooded murder when it clearly was not. When a weapon is being oriented towards you by someone speaking a language you don't understand you have two decisions, either be carried by six or judged by twelve, and it is ALWAYS better to be judged by twelve. He made the right decision, and he still has all the potential in the world to be an excellent addition to society.