Iraq war veteran gets probation, treatment
By Kathleen Kreller - kkreller@idahostatesman.com
Published: 04/05/10
If veteran George Nickel complies with strict requirements and supervision from Fourth District Judge Deborah Bail, he's spent his last night in jail.
Nickel, 38, will on Tuesday enter weeks of residential treatment for alcohol abuse and post traumatic stress disorder at the Veteran's Administration hospital in Boise.
Nickel has been in the Ada County Jail since a July incident when he pointed a gun at police after firing shots into neighbors' apartments.
Nickel has been diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder and traumatic brain injury. Nickel was of 100 Idaho Army Reservists with the 321st Engineer Battalion who spent a year in Iraq hunting and disarming roadside bombs. He was the only man in a group of four to survive the explosion of a roadside bomb.
Police say Nickel was looking for his dog in his apartment building July 28 when he used an AR-15 rifle to try to shoot the locks off two different doors.
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Tuesday, April 6, 2010
Iraq war veteran gets probation, treatment
This is what can happen when justice is not blind. This is what happens when the courts understand that you cannot suddenly become someone willing to die for the sake of this nation into a regular "criminal" without cause. It is not a "get out of jail free card" but considers that there could be a chance to help a veteran recover from what happened to them. It's a chance.
There is a lot that can work to help them heal. First, they need to know what PTSD is, then get past the stigma of it, then find support from family and friends. They need that support to help them fight to heal as much as they counted on their "brothers" when in battle. This battle is for their lives and no one should have to feel they are fighting it alone.
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