Wounded Fort Drum Soldier Partly Blames Battalion for His Crimes

Wounded Fort Drum Soldier Partly Blames Battalion for His Crimes
Story Published: Feb 28, 2012

Last June, Sergeant Albert Languet III pleaded guilty in connection with two robberies at Kinney Drugs in the Seaway Plaza just outside of Watertown.

He was sentenced to five years probation.

Languet says his Fort Drum's Warrior Transition Battalion is partly to blame for his crimes.

"It was mayhem. My life was mayhem," he said.

A traumatic brain injury suffered during deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan landed Languet in the Warrior Transition Battalion.

Languet says he was with the unit for just a few months before he became addicted to pain killers.

"I couldn't go to the unit and say, 'I have an addiction problem. I need to go to rehab,'" he said.

Languet says he was afraid he would be kicked out of the Army if word got out that he was hooked.
read more here

also

Fort Drum Official Says 'Wounded Warrior' Problems Have Been Solved
Story Published: Feb 29, 2012

The officer in charge of Fort Drum's medical services says that when local military officials saw a report critical of the post's "wounded warrior" programs, it was like a punch in the gut.
Fort Drum MEDDAC Commander Col. Mark Thompson was live on 7 News This Morning Wednesday. Click on the picture to see the whole interview.

The good news, Thompson said, is that the problems pointed out in the report from the Department of Defense's Inspector General's (IG) office have now been corrected.

The report was critical of the way soldier's were treated in Fort Drum's Warrior Transition Battalion, which is supposed to rehabilitate wounded soldiers so they can return to their regular units.

The official report was released in September, but Fort Drum officials saw a draft in July and "it was a bit of a punch in the gut in terms of what we want to see our unit doing and how we're treating our soldiers," Thompson said.
read more here