PTSD On Trail:Sgt. Nicholas Horner and the wound he spread

by
Chaplain Kathie

It is very easy to think of only the obvious. A man killed an innocent person and wounded another. Of this, the family does not dispute the accusations. While it's easy to limit your thinking, it will not prevent another tragedy from happening. Can we prevent all that may come? No, not any more than we can prevent all of the suicides that may come, but when we try, when we try to look beyond the obvious, we save some. That's what Sgt. Horner's family is trying to do.

Sgt. Horner had already sought help for PTSD, but he was sent back into combat with prescriptions instead of being kept out of danger while he was treated for PTSD. His family says he tried to commit suicide three times, yet he was not sent to the hospital for an extended stay to treat him properly. This could have been predicted when the military decided they would send back PTSD wounded with prescription drugs and weapons.

These are just some of the stories I was posting on over the last few years. They are on my other blog, Screaming in an Empty Room, showing clearly the problem was already being report on in 2006, but the practice continued with deadly results.

American Chronicle: US troops in Iraq taking drugs to cope with ...Medications may temporarily help our troops cope enough to return to Iraq and continue combat operations. Drugs may put a chemical band-aid on our damaged ...
ASHP News: Army Pharmacists' Roles Increase with Mass Rotation ...The maneuver is the first "full change out" of troops in Iraq and the fifth ... Tripler pharmacists had to special order medications for some reserve and ...
SignOnSanDiego.com > News > Military -- Some troops headed ba...Some troops headed back to Iraq are mentally ill ... nationwide are heading back to Iraq with a cache of antidepressant and anti-anxiety medications.
The Iraq War--On Drugs -- In These TimesThe issues around mental health and medication are exacerbated for the more than 378000 troops who have served multiple tours to Iraq and Afghanistan. ...
Army sent mentally ill troops to IraqMore than two dozen suicides by US troops in Iraq, and hundreds of ... "Now we follow all the FDA guidelines for using this medication," Winkenwerder said. ...
Some troops headed back to Iraq are mentally ill - RINF ...... questions that would arise from sending draftees back to War on medications.” ... Now word comes that “mentally ill” troops are being sent back to Iraq.
Policies on mentally troubled troops questioned - baltimoresun.comThe number of troops taking psychiatric drugs remains a military mystery. ... only limited records on medications prescribed for service members in Iraq.
US soldiers: Iraq massacre not exceptionHowever, on May 20 US group Iraq Veterans Against the War (IVAW) issued a statement ... Then they throw medication at you. You can take Prozac, or Xanax . .
Ask Our DoctorsSince then, the total number of cases of skin leishmaniasis among American troops in Iraq and Afghanistan has risen to more than 500.
Injured US troops in Iraq treated with deadly narcotic...but, don ....Title: Injured US troops in Iraq treated with deadly narcotic...but, don't worry, ... The patient therefore never received the medication from the patch.
Political Affairs Magazine - Wounded Soldiers "Recycled" ...In the current wars in Iraq and Afghanistan multiple deployments are ... that has cost the lives of over 2500 US troops and over 75000 wounded – whose scars ...
Political Affairs Magazine - Wounded Soldiers "Recycled" ...The policy of both allowing mentally ill troops to fall through holes in the ... In the current wars in Iraq and Afghanistan multiple deployments are almost ...
Courant InvestigationShe went over there with a year's supply of the medication and made a suicide ... "Thank you Hartford Courant reporters for, again, bringing this to light,
Mentally Unfit, Forced to FightPotent Mixture: Zoloft & A Rifle The Hartford Courant, May 16, ... Kiley insisted that troops receiving medications are afforded a balance of care,
Daily Kos: UPDATED: DOD Served by Sen. Boxer, GAO, Hartford CourantAt the time, the San Diego Union-Tribune reported that the DOD was reinserting troops back into the battlefield while prescribed anti-anxiety medications.

Some of the best reporting came out of the Hartford Courant, and then there were the reports from the GAO

Mentally Unfit, Forced To Fight
By LISA CHEDEKEL And MATTHEW KAUFFMAN
The Hartford Courant
May 14, 2006

The U.S. military is sending troops with serious psychological problems into Iraq and is keeping soldiers in combat even after superiors have been alerted to suicide warnings and other signs of mental illness, a Courant investigation has found.Despite a congressional order that the military assess the mental health of all deploying troops, fewer than 1 in 300 service members see a mental health professional before shipping out.Once at war, some unstable troops are kept on the front lines while on potent antidepressants and anti-anxiety drugs, with little or no counseling or medical monitoring.
And some troops who developed post-traumatic stress disorder after serving in Iraq are being sent back to the war zone, increasing the risk to their mental health.These practices, which have received little public scrutiny and in some cases violate the military's own policies, have helped to fuel an increase in the suicide rate among troops serving in Iraq, which reached an all-time high in 2005 when 22 soldiers killed themselves - accounting for nearly one in five of all Army non-combat deaths.

The Courant's investigation found that at least 11 service members who committed suicide in Iraq in 2004 and 2005 were kept on duty despite exhibiting signs of significant psychological distress. In at least seven of the cases, superiors were aware of the problems, military investigative records and interviews with families indicate.http://www.courant.com/news/specials/hc-mental1a.artmay14,0,6150281.story

Mentally Unfit, Forced To Fight - Still Suffering, But Redeployed
by LISA CHEDEKEL, The Hartford Courant
May 17th, 2006

They have post-traumatic stress and other combat-related disorders. So what are they doing back in battle?Eight months ago, Staff Sgt. Bryce Syverson was damaged goods, so unsteady that doctors at Walter Reed Army Medical Center wouldn't let him wear socks or a belt.Syverson, 27, had landed in the psychiatric unit at Walter Reed after a breakdown that doctors traced to his 15-month tour in Iraq as a gunner on a Bradley tank. He was diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder and depression, and was put on a suicide watch and antidepressants, according to his family.Today, Syverson is back in the combat zone, part of a quick-reaction force in Kuwait that could be summoned to Iraq at any time.http://www.mfso.org/article.php?id=606

A look at claims blending with some of the other factors in the neglect.

From the GAO
May 28, 1996"Over 700,000 men and women served in Southwest Asia during the Persian Gulf War. Some of these veterans began experiencing symptoms--such as fatigue, weight loss, and skin conditions--that could not be diagnosed or associated with a specific illness or disease. In 1994. the Congress enacted legislation allowing the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) to pay compensation benefits to veterans for Persian Gulf related disabilities caused by undiagnosed illnesses. As of July 1995, VA had denied almost 95 percent of the 4,144 claims it had processed for Persian Gulf veterans claiming such disabilities."http://www.gao.gov/archive/1996/he96112.pdf

Date: Friday, January 24, 2003 9:21 PMWritten by: Terry Higgins
Now 700,000 vets are on appeal taking on average 6 to 10 years to process a claim. All the VA has to do is keep up the good work and you will have perpetual adjudication with no merits of a claim ruled on, just the incompetent by choice errors by the VA being recycled for the entire life of the veteran.According to the National Veterans Organization Inc. A VA study called Compensation and pension performance summary states "the average time to process an original claim for compensation is 139 days. If that claim is not adjudicated in the veterans favor and he appeals the decision to the board of Veteran Appeals, it takes an average of 533 days for the claim to be heard by the BVA. According to this report, an average of 38.4 % of all claims submitted to the BVA are remanded back to the regional office for further development or action. The same report reveals that it takes an average of 496 days for that same claim to be dealt with once it has been returned to the regional office. This means that on average it takes a total of 1,160 days for a veteran to receive a final decision before he can appeal his claim to the court of veterans appeals. If the veteran appeals the decision to the court. He can expect to wait another 3 to 5 years to get the final decision from the court".According to the 6th judicial conference held by the Court of Veterans claims. 99% of the CVC remands are for VA error.http://www.v-r-a.org/docs/VAfoe2.htm

From the GAO
June 9, 2005
A 2004 thesis prepared by the director of a state department of veteran's affairs evaluated state-by-state variances in the percentage of veterans receiving disability benefits and the percentage of veterans rated at different degrees of service-connected disability. The thesis noted that in 2001 the nationwide percentage of total veterans receiving disability compensation was 10.2 percent, with a low of 6.3 for Illinois and a high of 15.9 for Alaska.https://www.1888932-2946.ws/vetscommission/e-documentmanager/gallery/Documents/June_2005/OIGStatement_Staley_6-9-05.pdf

What you may think as obvious depends entirely what it is you actually know. I've been tracking everything about PTSD since 1982. In 2005 I started posting on it on Blog Spot, after years of posting on AOL. Obvious to me is that they knew what was coming but just didn't care. If anyone is responsible for the outcome of sending these men and women back into combat already wounded by PTSD, it's the military commanders deciding to do it.

Was Sgt. Horner responsible for the shootings? In a way no. There have been many trials and the outcome has been they were not responsible at the time they occurred. If they put him on trail without informing the jury about the wound he carried back home and rest of the facts regarding this dangerous practice the military was willing to do, then justice will never be served. It won't be served for the families or the victims. What is more maddening is that it won't be served unless there is such a public outcry to take care of these men and women, veterans of combat so scared, it is predictable they will continue to commit crimes, commit suicide and end up suffering needlessly.

PTSD is not a criminal predictor but it is a predictor of suffering. Some suffer from mild PTSD and others suffer so severely they lose themselves in the pain they carry. Face it. They were taught to kill and risk their lives. Conditioned to fight. They were also told that if they conditioned their mind to be "tough" and ended up with PTSD, it was their fault. Take a look at the program called Battlemind and see how it begins. This is the message they were given. Then there was the attitude of the commanders attacking those who dared step forward asking for help.

There really appalling aspect in all of this is we knew what we needed to know by 1978. There were 70 veterans centers already open and 500,000 already diagnosed with PTSD. None of this should come as a surprise to anyone. It is all the untold price paid by those who serve but a price paid just the same. They paid when they suffered, when they ended up losing their jobs, their families and their families paid. They paid when they ended up reaching for alcohol and drugs to kill the pain they carried and victims of crimes in order to obtain them. They paid when they drove drunk and so did their victims. They paid when they committed suicide and so did their families. They paid when they ended up homeless on the very streets they risked their lives for right back home in American cities and towns.

No they are not all criminals, druggies or alcoholics any more than they are all cut from the same cloth. The only things they have in common is the wound they carry and the way they are betrayed by the rest of us when we judge them instead of helping them. When we read about stories like Sgt. Horner and his victims without ever once stopping to think about what we did to him.

Accused killer’s family hopes tragedy draws attention to PTSD

By JIM PENNA
For The Tribune-Democrat

They know most people see a monster, not a son – a beast, not a brother.

But when Karen Horner and her family think of accused murderer Nicholas Horner, they remember the man they love.

Horner, 28, is in prison, charged with killing two people and wounding a third during the robbery of an Altoona sandwich shop on April 6.

His mother understands better than most what the families of 19-year-old Scott Garlick and 64-year-old Raymond Williams are going through, as well as the anguish of Michelle Petty, who was critically injured.

Karen Horner has family ties to a state trooper who was slain in the line of duty in 2002. She recalls weeping and wondering: “What kind of animal could have done this?”

Now, as her own son faces prosecution on double murder charges, Karen and her family have come forward. They say they are not making excuses for the accused, but believe the tragedy should spotlight Nick Horner’s military service and his diagnosis of post-traumatic stress disorder, PTSD.

“They gave (Nick) a box full of pills, seven or eight bottles of different drugs so he could cope,” Dan Horner, father of the accused, said. “The military doctor wanted to keep him in the states for at least a month. They sent him back (to Iraq) right away anyhow, and when he got there he was reprimanded for having the drugs.

Family members said Nick Horner tried to kill himself three times prior to the Altoona shootings. They said he had become moody and short-tempered, living in a daze.

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Accused killers family hopes tragedy draws attention to PTSD