PTSD:Mom of Iraq vet in jail needs help in Florida

This Mom reached out and wanted her son's story told. He is like so many clearly coming home with PTSD but not being treated as wounded. How many tragic stories have you read here when it was too late to save their lives. Well folks, here's your chance to make a difference. Read her story and then think of what you can do to make a difference for one of our warriors. He was there when we needed him now let's be there now that he needs us.

My son is an Iraq war vet and has been in treatment at the VA for severe PTSD for almost two years now. He was in the Army for 8 years, two of which were served in Iraq. After his discharge he went through a divorce and found out that one of his sons is autistic.(All within a month after returning from Iraq and getting out of the Army!) He had Iraq nightmares, withdrew from family, drank, was jumpy, hyper-vigilant, and more. He seemed to have every single symptom of PTSD. He tried to commit suicide last year and was in the VA hospital for a while.

In July he went off of the deep end and rammed his arms through a glass window and cut his arms to shreds in a fit of rage. He had experienced a real series of “stressors, because his grandmother, who he loved dearly, died, and a week before that he found some guy behind an abandoned building that had been assaulted and he watched him bleed to death. (He told me that this disturbed him a lot and brought back Iraq memories) The police had to come and take him to the hospital, but they never reported this incident to the V.A. I told the V.A. before this, that he was a not well, and they wouldn’t take me seriously.

I wrote my congressmen and V.A. about the substandard care he was getting from his therapist and begged for help. An investigation was done by the V.A. and all I got was a call from his social worker who was obviously agitated, telling me that she was aware I had alerted the V.A. about my sons care, and that she was required to call and tell me she was trying to help him. The day that he rammed his arms through the glass, I left his therapist three messages telling her my son had done this, and that she needed to call me because I had some things to tell her. Things that my son had said and done, that I am sure she was unaware of. (Like building bunkers in the yard, running to the door with a gun whenever anyone came up the driveway, setting his bedroom up exactly like the little room he slept in while in Iraq, and many more) She never returned my calls.

He was in her office the day after he cut his arms, and she didn’t see that he was on the verge of a meltdown. After his arrest she finally spoke with me briefly and said she thought he seemed fine that day. What did she need to see other than the bandages on his arms? A bullet hole in his head? A dead body somewhere? About two weeks later my son was coming home from eating out with his girlfriend, and they had stopped to let some tourists cross the road. Some idiot in the car behind then started honking his horn and yelling at them. He followed them to the next intersection and continued to harass.

My son freaked out and showed the guy his gun when he pulled up beside him. At one point my son and girlfriend got out of the car and asked the man to leave them alone. That made the man in the other car even more mad, and he continued to stalk them for several blocks more. My son did what he was programmed to do and snapped into his survival mode. He shot his gun out of the window, in the air, to ward the guy off. Someone called the police who chased my son to his house, and arrested him.

He now sits in the jail awaiting a trial for two counts of aggravated assault and one of firing a gun from a vehicle. In the state that he is in that carried mandatory minimum sentences of more than 20 years in prison.

He has a 250,000 dollar bond, so he can’t get out and continue to get help.(it was originally set at one million) I called his VA caseworker and she finally decided to talk to me (after it was too late) She said that she didn’t return my calls in the past because of privacy laws. I had already discussed "privacy laws" with her before and she knew that I already understood that she could not discuss my son’s case with me, but she could listen to what I had to say. (A good caseworker would have been truly interested in hearing input from close family members) I told her that my son was in jail and she said she was sorry! I told her that if she had returned my calls I would have told her that my son was about to snap and she would have learned of things that my son had said and done that he had told only me. I asked her why they could not have put him back in the hospital after the last rage incident, and she said she though that he was fine, and even if she thought he needed to be there, she could not force him to go unless she thought that he was going to harm himself or someone else.

I think that putting your arms through glass constitutes an effort of harming ones self doesn’t it? She also told me that she would no longer be able to see my son nor anyone at the VA because he was now incarcerated. So they ignored my obvious cries for help and kicked my son to the curb when he finally went off of the deep end. My son was failed by the government and the V.A. It wasn’t like he was out there not getting help. He went to the V.A. every week. He was taking care of his 85 year old grandpa, and taking college classes. Now he is looking at spending the best years of his life in jail.

This is how we treat our vets.

I have cried every day until I cannot cry anymore. His and my life will never be the same. I have done all I could do to help him and cried out for help so many times and I was ignored. This is so unfair. I feel so sorry for his two little boys who will miss him. He has been in jail for four months now, and the jail has not provided him with any mental health counseling. They won’t even give him the meds that the VA was prescribing before his incarceration. He has told me once that he was ready to hang himself. His pre trial hearing doesn’t come up until January.

He needs to be in treatment, not jail.

My son was a totally different person before PTSD, and I know he could be that person if he could get some decent treatment. If he stays I jail for much longer, he may get beyond the point of return.

The state of Florida and our Veterans administration just seem to want to sweep my son under the rug, I just don’t know what else to do but write my congressmen and pray. Currently under the state of Florida’s 10-10-20 laws, my son can be incarcerated for up to 40 years. Is this the way to treat a veteran who just returned from war and eight years of serving his country?

I am now researching how many of our soldiers are returning from war and getting into the same situation as my son’s. The numbers are incredible, and this country needs to be made aware of what is going on. I am currently working on getting this issue out in the open so positive change can be made on behalf of our warriors that we owe so much to. I am looking for as much support as we can get so this never has to happen again. Please join me in my fight to pay our soldiers and veterans back for the selfless service and freedoms that they gave us. We need to rally our congressmen for better treatment at the VA and jail diversion programs for our returning wounded warriors.


Jamie Keyes

Jamie set up a bank account to try to get her son out of jail. If you email me, I'll give you the account number. There is something I would like all of you to do that would mean a lot more to this veteran. Call your congressman right now. One more thing, for my readers associated with Veterans' courts, put your thinking cap on and see if you can think of a judge down here in Florida that would be willing to help this veteran out. It took a long time for Jamie to seek help for her son and she can't move mountains on her own. This is not justice for a wounded veteran.

If you know a veteran going thru the same then leave a comment on my blog and I'll email her. She's getting ready to go to Washington look for help. Not just for her son but for all the sons and daughters out there needing help.