PTSD on trial: When judges are aware and do the right thing

Treatment helps Ranger with PTSD rise above incident on plane enroute Great Falls
By ERIC NEWHOUSE
Tribune Projects Editor

Federal Magistrate Keith Strong's decision a year ago to offer help instead of punishment may have saved the life of Danny Ray Reed II, an ex-special forces soldier with post-traumatic stress disorder who hit rock bottom at about 20,000 feet in the air.

A former Army Ranger who'd been involved in the rescue of Pfc. Jessica Lynch from Iraqi insurgents, Reed struggled to adjust to civilian life after three years of combat.


"When you come back, you're either a workaholic or an alcoholic," he said. "If I wasn't working, I was drinking. It helps for the first couple of hours, but then it takes you back into that frame of mind you don't want to be in. I drank so bad I could be on a two-day blackout, and that's dangerous.

"Like that airplane incident, I can't remember a thing," Reed said. "I can't remember getting on that plane, and I can't remember getting off. I don't remember that day at all."
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