“The VA is totally unequipped to handle all the soldiers who are coming back from Iraq and Afghanistan and need help,” the veteran said. “This has been devastating to me and my family. . . . I’m sick of America right now.’ ”
Oh but we get to say we "support the troops" and we are a "grateful nation" without every once noticing that to be either one, you can't get there from here repeating the same mistakes, coming up with more excuses and letting any of this happen.
Arrest raises questions on care at VA
Inadequate counseling blamed for assaults
By Dan Herbeck
NEWS STAFF REPORTER
Britten M. Walker was a deeply troubled man when he returned home last year after surviving three combat tours—two in Afghanistan and one in Iraq, his family says.
Stewing in anxiety and frustration, he spent time in Alaska and San Diego before returning in August to his roots and moving into an apartment in Eden. He enrolled at Erie County Community College in hopes of someday becoming an architect.
But in late January, the anger inside Walker boiled out of control.
Federal police officers arrested him after he made a series of bizarre threats and assaulted a doctor and a police officer at the Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Buffalo.
Walker, 32, faces federal charges of assault, threatening to kill a VA worker and threatening to bomb a Buffalo television station and cars on the Thruway. He has been jailed since his arrest.
His family says Walker doesn’t intend to seriously hurt anyone. But they said he is angry and frustrated because he cannot find an effective counseling program.
“I think his actions are a cry for help and a cry of frustration,” said Walker’s twin brother, Andrew, of Eden. “He suffers from [post-traumat-ic stress disorder], and he needs help. For some reason, he hasn’t been able to make a connection with the counselors at the VA in Buffalo.”
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