HELICOPTER PILOT: War hero faces new adversary

HELICOPTER PILOT: War hero faces new adversary
Las Vegas Review - Journal - Las Vegas,NV,USA

Post-traumatic stress takes toll

By KEITH ROGERS
LAS VEGAS REVIEW-JOURNAL

With a Silver Star medal clipped to his Air Force jacket, 1st Lt. Thomas Cahill spoke humbly about his efforts to pilot a rescue helicopter through enemy fire while flying low over eastern Afghanistan's snow-capped mountains.

His "uncanny skills," his citation read, for keeping the Pave Hawk airborne in thin air at low rotor speed with mortar rounds whizzing by, resulted in saving three men during that mission on March 3, 2002.


"As dark as it was, impacting the terrain was my first enemy," he said five years ago after his award ceremony at Nellis Air Force Base. "I would say it was probably luck."

In the years since Operation Anaconda, Cahill's enemy changed. So did his luck.

His enemy became post-traumatic stress disorder, or PTSD, an anxiety condition that stirs nightmarish memories of terrifying ordeals from the battlefield. It can cause sleep loss and erratic, impulsive behavior and make a person short-tempered.

As for his fortunes, he became a court-martialed captain this year. He was confined in the brig at Nellis until his release a month early in September for good behavior.

Cahill's attorneys argued that his PTSD caused him to lose focus in his job with the 561st Joint Tactics Squadron and do things out of character.

"It was one of those cases where the hero has feet of clay," one of his attorneys, Craig Mueller, said days after Cahill's case concluded.

"Who rescues the rescuer?" Mueller asked. "The Air Force admitted they didn't recognize his PTSD and change of behavior until the end of his tour. There are eight or nine people today who wouldn't be alive if it wasn't for him."

In the general courts-martial, Cahill pleaded guilty May 27 to charges related to off-base thefts after his arrest by Las Vegas police in 2006 for stealing a car-haul trailer in the southern Las Vegas Valley.

He also was charged with stealing an all-terrain vehicle, a race boat, making a false official statement, conspiracy to commit larceny, conduct unbecoming an officer, receiving stolen property and obstructing justice. The race boat and all-terrain vehicle theft charges were dropped from his guilty plea, but the other charges stood.

Cahill was sentenced to five months' confinement. In lieu of a $10,000 fine, he paid $8,000 in restitution to cover the thefts, a Nellis spokeswoman said Friday.

Part of his sentence entailed counseling for post-traumatic stress disorder. It's called "cognitive behavioral therapy," or changing thoughts to change behavior.
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