National Guard Soldier's PTSD diagnosis gets him bumped from Iraq tour

Soldier's PTSD diagnosis gets him bumped from Iraq tour
Barbara Barrett - McClatchy Newspapers

WASHINGTON — As 4,000 North Carolina National Guard soldiers bid farewell Tuesday for their second tour in Iraq, they head out without one of the brigade’s most honored platoon sergeants.

Army Sgt. 1st Class Chad Stephens, who earned a Silver Star for valor during a Baqubah firefight in 2004, isn’t going back this time.

Instead, he will remain in North Carolina, living with his wife and son in the small town of Ahoskie, continuing his work at the Guard’s armory in Williamston.


He was sent home in January from training at Camp Shelby, Miss., after coming forward with civilian medical records that showed Stephens, 41, continues to suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder related to his first tour in Iraq.

During a daylong battle in Baqubah in June 2004, Stephens ran through heavy gunfire to pull a young gunner from a Bradley fighting vehicle. The gunner, Spc. Daniel A. Desens Jr., died from his wounds. Stephens remains close to Desens’ parents.

His story was told in The News & Observer in November 2007 in a series called “The Promise.” In it, he described the difficulties he faced getting help for combat-related stress.

Stephens also wasn’t sure whether he should return to Iraq.

Last fall, he was cleared by an Army medical doctor for the brigade’s second tour.

But he also carried paperwork from two psychiatrists — a civilian doctor and a Veterans Affairs doctor — that recommended he not return to a war zone.

Stephens said he brought up the paperwork during a meeting in January with a counselor at Camp Shelby, where the Guard was training for its deployment, because he didn’t want to withhold information.

“It screwed me,” Stephens said. “They sent me home the next day.”
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