Green Beret's widow on mission for truth

Widow fights Army ruling of Green Beret's death as overdose
Los Angeles Times (MCT)
By Tina Susman
Published: September 11, 2014

A U.S. Army carry team transfers the remains of Sgt. 1st Class Anthony Venetz Jr. of Prince William, Va., at Dover Air Force Base, Del., on Jan. 30, 2011.
JASON MINTO/U.S. AIR FORCE

Debbie Venetz heard the doorbell ring and saw those familiar Army boots as she peeked through the window onto her front steps.

Her husband, Sgt. 1st Class Anthony Venetz, was back from Afghanistan, in time for their daughter's seventh birthday party the next day.

That's what Venetz thought, until she opened the door and saw the chaplain.

It was Jan. 28, 2011, and Anthony Venetz, a 30-year-old Green Beret, had become the latest U.S. soldier to die in Afghanistan. Two weeks later, the recipient of two Purple Hearts and two Bronze Stars was buried at Arlington National Cemetery.

Years later, Debbie Venetz is still fighting to learn the circumstances of her husband's death and to claim benefits the Army has refused to pay after it ruled he died of an accidental drug overdose and, therefore, not in the line of duty.

"It's a daily thing. For over 3 1/2 years now, this is all I've been dealing with," she said, sitting at a table in her parents' home in this suburb of New York City. "But nobody has ever said to me, 'Just move on,' because they know something is not right."

Interviews conducted in 2011 as part of the first military investigation into his death paint Venetz as a steadfast serviceman whose only crutches were cigarettes and long Skype calls with his wife and their two young children.

"Exuded confidence." "Natural leader." "Straight up. … I'd follow him anywhere." "Everybody liked him." "He would always follow the rules."

When word filtered back to fellow soldiers that his death was the result of drugs, the reaction was disbelief.

"There was nothing but shock," one soldier who had been in Afghanistan with Venetz said in the investigative report, which had most names redacted. "It just dumbfounded me," another said. "It just seemed out of character … not the Tony I knew."

Nonetheless, the Army's Criminal Investigation Command, which investigates noncombat deaths, ruled that Venetz died as a result of his misconduct, based on autopsy findings. That meant his widow, now 33, would not receive benefits that included compensation of more than $1,200 a month and coverage of some school costs for her children, who were 6 and 3 when their father died.

At her urging, the 7th Special Forces Group, to which her husband belonged, conducted its own investigation the following year, and that convinced her she didn't have the whole story.
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