Badly Discharged PTSD Veterans Shouldn't Have to Wait for Crisis For Help

One Veteran Fights For Others To Keep Their VA Health Care
CBS Boston
July 6, 2017

“It doesn’t make any sense to wait for a veteran to reach a state of emergency to start providing care.” Kristopher Goldsmith

ASHBURNHAM (CBS) — One American veteran says he remembers the emotional trauma of seeing the Trade Towers fall on 9/11.

“I was close enough to the towers when they fell on September 11th to see the smoke from my hometown,” said Kristofer Goldsmith.

Now set against the backdrop of a peaceful lake in Ashburnham, Goldsmith told us about one of the most tumultuous times in his life. He was deployed to Iraq at the age of 19 where he photographed atrocities.

“Sometimes it meant that I would be taking pictures of bodies, victims of torture. Iraqi on Iraqi violence,” Goldsmith said.

He had to battle post traumatic stress disorder and even a suicide attempt.

“I took a fist full of Percocet and a bottle of vodka,” he said.

He said he woke up handcuffed to a hospital bed and unable to make it to the flight for his second deployment. He received a general discharge from the army.

“I went from being one of the top soldiers in my battalion to being treated like a criminal,” he said.
read more here