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A chance to heal

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. — Pfc. David Anderson, 25, deployed to Taji, Iraq, in 2007, serving as a gunner in an infantry unit even though he’d been trained in communications.

He took and returned fire.

He watched a friend’s arm spurt blood after mortar rounds fell into their housing unit.

And he helped with cleanup after co-workers ran over a buried roadside bomb.

“We pulled up to the scene and everyone was gone,” he said. “We were pulling charred bodies out of the vehicle. Certain images like that … never leave your head.”

Still, he re-enlisted while still in Iraq, saying he enjoyed the brotherhood in the Army and appreciated the maturing he had done.

But when he returned home to Fort Lewis, Wash., he tried ecstasy with friends during a celebratory night out, and came up hot on a urinalysis. Then, after months of military doctors saying they could do nothing for his back pain, he came up hot again for opiates in the Tylenol 3 that a friend had given him.

His battalion processed Anderson out with a less-than-honorable administrative discharge, leaving him with no GI Bill education benefits, a $14,000 bill for his re-enlistment bonus and a heavy sense of shame and confusion for suddenly losing his status as a good soldier.

He also received a diagnosis of post-traumatic stress disorder connected to his tour in Iraq. Substance abuse often goes hand-in-hand with a PTSD diagnosis, as troops try to numb their emotions and forget what they’ve experienced.

“If they paid more attention to some of the symptoms of PTSD, they would maybe not be so hard on you,” Anderson said. “Maybe [they would] try to get you the help that you need.”

Anderson said that when his unit returned from Iraq, 30 to 35 people were similarly pushed out for substance-abuse issues — with no treatment for combat-related mental health problems.

Change on the way

A single paragraph in the 2010 Defense Authorization Act could help Anderson — and the dozens, if not hundreds, of other combat veterans like him — regain some of their honor by requiring that all service members returning from Iraq or Afghanistan receive a medical exam to look for PTSD or traumatic brain injuries before they can be administratively separated with an other-than-honorable discharge.

The change was made to ensure that a service member’s PTSD or TBI — both of which are known to cause anger issues, as well as problems with distraction, depression and substance abuse — is not causing the behavior behind the discharge.

It also requires that combat vets with other-than-honorable discharges be given priority if they request a change in their discharge status, and that the records review board include a physician, clinical psychologist or psychiatrist.

The rule does not apply to courts-martial proceedings.

Veterans advocates say the changes are positive, but they have concerns: What happens next? Do troops go through a medical evaluation board? Do they receive treatment? Do they still receive an administrative separation, albeit honorable, if they are found to have PTSD?

And does the court-martial aspect of the legislation provide a loophole through which service members actually may end up worse off than with an other-than-honorable discharge?

A wary eye on loopholes

Retired Army Lt. Col. Michael Parker, who has worked for several years as an advocate for service members seeking disability ratings, called the change a “step in the right direction,” but worries that it’s not enough.

“If a person has PTSD or TBI so bad that the military needs to get rid of them, then why not a medical discharge with disability benefits?” he said. “I worry that those with PTSD, TBI and other conditions will continue to get nonmedical discharges so that [the military] can avoid paying disability payments.”

A service member processed out with a medical discharge for PTSD automatically receives a 50 percent rating and goes on the military’s temporary disability retirement list. That means the military loses a service member for six months while still paying a portion of his salary — but it also means he could recover sufficiently to return to duty.

“I smell a loophole that [the Defense Department] could exploit to continue to a desired end: avoidance of medical discharges,” Parker said.

Getting help

Anderson’s dad, Mike, described his son as a kid who “got good grades without even trying” — but returned from Iraq changed. He didn’t realize how much until, a year after his return, David said he was being forced out of the military. His dad sent him a plane ticket to come home to Colorado.

“He was staying in the basement,” Mike Anderson said. “I’d hear him at night — he’d wake up and he’d be screaming. He’d have the sweats. His temper was out of control. He’d stay down there for days and days.”

The father began researching PTSD online and found his concerns mounting.

“A troop comes back who’s been a good troop for 3½, going on four years, and they’ve got a Good Conduct Medal, commendation award, Combat Action Badge, and then three months after they get back they start getting in trouble?” Mike Anderson said, raising his hands palms-up. “I wonder about the ones who come back and don’t have a family. Are they the ones you see homeless out in the street?”

Defense Department data show that 7,739 active-duty service members were separated in fiscal 2008 for alcoholism, drugs, various types of misconduct or a “pattern of minor disciplinary infractions.” The data do not reflect how many of those troops had deployed or been diagnosed with mental health issues.

David Anderson still struggles to find proper counseling; he averages a 15-minute session with VA every month or so. He has earned disability payments from VA, but it isn’t enough to cover his monthly bonus repayments to the Army. He hopes to attend college, but he struggles with motivation.

His back still bothers him — he was diagnosed with degenerative disc disease — but he no longer takes painkillers because he says he fears addiction. Worse, he doesn’t like to explain to every boss, friend and family member why he received a less-than-honorable discharge.

He is leery of saying that his service in Iraq led to his drug use, “because that’s kind of a cop-out … it was my mistake that I shouldn’t have made.”

Still, he said, Iraq was “probably part of the [reason] why I did what I did.”

ORIGINS OF THE LEGISLATION

Rep. Walter Jones, R-N.C., sponsored an amendment to the 2010 Defense Authorization Act after working with a Marine named Jeremy Smerub at Camp Lejeune, N.C., who had been diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder but faced separation for behavioral issues.

After Jones’ intervention, Smerub was allowed to stay in. But Jones then read about the case of Army Sgt. Adam Boyle in Military Times. After Boyle’s second tour in Iraq, a medical evaluation board physician at Fort Bragg, N.C., where he was stationed with the 3rd Psychological Operations Battalion, recommended he go through the military disability retirement process for PTSD. The doctor also said Boyle’s alcohol-abuse problems and missed formations could be tied directly to his service in Iraq.

Instead, Lt. Gen. John Mulholland, chief of Army Special Operations Command, signed an order forcing Boyle out for a “pattern of misconduct” and ordering him to repay his re-enlistment bonus. Jones could not help with that case, but he wanted to help other service members with his amendment.

See more of our special report:

Living with PTSD