PTSD Veterans, one worked to heal others, shot by another

We all try to make sense out of something like this. How can we help it? Stephen Thurston had PTSD and then spent the rest of his life trying to make the lives of others better. Standing as an example of what can be accomplished with treatment, he proved he already walked in their shoes. Jarrod Pardun however, also suffering from PTSD, decided to go a different way. According to reports, he had a habit of driving too fast down a residential street. Then after Thurston yelled at him to slow down, Pardun reportedly pulled out a gun and shot Thurston in front of his wife and daughter standing in their own yard.

All PTSD veterans need to be held accountable for what they do. We tend to forget that they are just like everyone else, capable of committing crimes and taking out their own issues on others. While there are unique circumstances when it comes to veterans and PTSD may be behind most of what they do, they still have to have that character to commit the crime in the first place.

Some drive drunk while trying to kill off what they don't want to feel and don't want to remember. They endanger the lives of others doing it. They need to be held accountable for what they decide to do. PTSD does not make them suddenly imbeciles unable to have rational thoughts. Yet when PTSD is behind it they need to be able to have PTSD taken into consideration during the law's deliberations deciding their fate. Will treatment protect the public and serve the veteran at the same time? Does the crime demand prison time? Each case must be treated differently.

If a veteran has a history of being violent before deploying, then this matters. It means that PTSD would have caused an increase in what was already there. They need to be held accountable and treated for PTSD at the same time. If a veteran has no history of behavioral problems before deploying, then treatment would be the honorable choice instead of incarceration.
Did Pardun have a history of disregarding the lives of others before combat? Was he receiving treatment? On medication? Was the treatment any good? So many questions need to be answered.

The fact remains that a man dedicated to helping other veterans with PTSD ended up shot dead in his front yard while trying to take into consideration the lives of his neighbors.

Victim counseled sufferers of PTSD
By Greg Bolt

The Register-Guard

Thursday, Jul 23, 2009

Stephen Thurston spent most of a career helping fellow veterans struggling to cope with the memories of war, only to lose his life to a gunshot allegedly fired by a man facing the same struggle.

Joanne Bayer, Thurston’s sister-in-law, said Wednesday that Thurston had retired from a career with the Veterans Administration, where he worked with former soldiers dealing with post-traumatic stress disorder, or PTSD. He had worked at the Eugene Veterans Clinic on River Road before retiring several years ago, she said, and he, too, suffered from the syndrome.

Relatives of the man accused of killing Thurston said he also suffers from PTSD related to his military service. Jarrod Pardun, 28, is being held on a murder charge after allegedly shooting Thurston at his home Saturday morning.

Neighbors have said Pardun, 28, regularly sped and drove recklessly through the quiet, residential neighborhood, where he lived with a sister a few blocks from the Thurstons’ home.

Thurston had yelled at Pardun several times trying to get him to slow down, and did so again Saturday morning.

The sheriff’s office said Pardun drove past Thurston then made a U-turn and came back. Neighbors reported hearing a gunshot and then seeing Thurston fall over backward.

Bayer said both Thurston’s wife and their young daughter were in the yard when he was shot.

The little girl “was right next to him,” Bayer said.
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Victim counseled sufferers of PTSD