Cpl. Chad Oligschlaeger's death still under investigation a year later?

How long will the military be allowed to leave this family suffering, wondering and in pain over the death of their son?

A year after corporal's death, family still awaits answers
North Austin family mourns death of Marine who suffered from PTSD.
By Joshunda Sanders

AMERICAN-STATESMAN STAFF


Monday, June 01, 2009

A year after Cpl. Chad Oligschlaeger, 21, was found dead in his room at the Twentynine Palms Marine base in California on May 20, 2008, his family is still searching for answers from officials about how his life might have been saved.

Friends and relatives of the Marine commemorated Memorial Day without him or any details of how he died because Oligschlaeger's autopsy results and the events leading up to his death are still under investigation, his father said. His parents have said that they think his death may have been related to post-traumatic stress disorder, with which he had been diagnosed.

"We've tried a couple of times to get his personal effects," said Eric Oligschlaeger, who lives in North Austin with his wife. "But here we are a year later, and the Marines won't release anything until the investigation is completely finalized. To say it's frustrating would be an understatement."

Capt. Lawton King, a Marine Corps spokesman, confirmed that no information about Chad Oligschlaeger's death is being released because of the ongoing investigation.

Friends and relatives of Oligschlaeger's have started a foundation named for him to raise awareness about post-traumatic stress disorder.

Last month, Eric Oligschlaeger and some of Chad's friends gathered at Rattan Creek Park in North Austin near a bench that honors the Marine. A plaque on the bench reads, "If love could have saved you, you would have lived forever."

Chad Oligschlaeger had returned from Iraq in early 2006, unsettled by flashbacks and nightmares. His family said he was taking medication for PTSD after his diagnosis.
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http://www.statesman.com/news/content/news/stories/local/06/01/0601chado.html

PTSD: Cpl. Chad Oligschlaeger didn't get proper care

Before one of his two deployments to Iraq, Cpl. Chad Oligschlaeger showed the sly, mischievous smile he was known for.

Dead Marine's family says he didn't get proper care
Austin American-Statesman - Austin,TX,USA
Chad Oligschlaeger was struggling with post-traumatic stress disorder when he was found in barracks, parents say.
By Marty Toohey

AMERICAN-STATESMAN STAFF


Sunday, June 15, 2008

Cpl. Chad Oligschlaeger returned from Iraq in early 2006 haunted by the memory of a fellow Marine he thought he should have saved.

He began drinking himself to sleep to dull the flashbacks and the nightmares, friends and family say. He told them he was accused by a superior of faking to avoid his next deployment.

After a second tour in Iraq, Oligschlaeger came home to Round Rock on leave and slept for days, a shell of the McNeil High School student who had pushed his friends into every kind of mischief imaginable, giggling all the way. He told his family the dead Marine was talking to him.

In the spring, two years after the nightmares began, he told his family that doctors had diagnosed him with post-traumatic stress disorder and put him on at least six types of medication. The Marines sent him to alcohol rehab and were arranging treatment at a mental health clinic.

But weeks before his death, Oligschlaeger declined to re-enlist, and his unit left him with no supervision and nothing to do for days on end, according to family and friends, who say he called them at all hours, slurring his speech, unable to recall what medications he had taken.

He was found dead in his room at the Twentynine Palms Marine base in California on May 20. He was 21.
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http://www.statesman.com/news/content/news/stories/local/06/15/0615marine.html