Pubdate: Thu, 02 Nov 2006
Source: USA Today (US)
Page: 1A
Copyright: 2006 USA TODAY, a division of Gannett Co. Inc
Contact:  http://www.usatoday.com/printedition/news/index.htm
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/466
Author: Gregg Zoroya, USA TODAY

TROUBLED TROOPS IN NO-WIN PLIGHT

Marines Kicked Out for Conduct Linked to Stress Disorder Are Often 
Denied Treatment by the VA

CAMP PENDLETON, Calif. -- Chris Packley returned from Fallujah in 
2004 a top marksman on a sniper team showcased in the Marine Corps 
Times for its 22 kills.

"I was exceptionally proud of that Marine," says Gunnery Sgt. Scott 
Guise, his former team leader.

He also came home with flashbacks -- memories of his friend, Lance 
Cpl. Michael Blake Wafford, 20, dying on the battlefield. Packley 
says he smoked marijuana to try to escape the images. He also left 
the base without permission. "I wanted out," Packley says.

Last year he got his wish and was expelled from the Marine Corps. As 
a consequence, he lost access to the free counseling and medication 
he needed to treat the mental wounds left from combat, according to 
Packley, his former defense lawyer and documents from the Department 
of Veterans Affairs.

Scores of combat veterans like Packley are being dismissed from the 
Marines without the medical benefits needed to treat combat stress, 
says Lt. Col. Colby Vokey, who supervises the legal defense of 
Marines in the western USA, including here at Camp Pendleton.

When classic symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) arise 
- -- including alcoholism and drug abuse -- the veterans are punished 
for the behavior, Vokey says. Their less-than-honorable discharges 
can lead to a denial of VA benefits. Vokey calls it a Catch-22, 
referring to the no-win situation showcased in Joseph Heller's 1961 
satirical war novel Catch-22.

"The Marine Corps has created these mental health issues" in combat 
veterans, Vokey says, "and then we just kind of kick them out into 
the streets."

Characters in Catch-22 were caught in a contradiction. They could be 
relieved of dangerous flying missions if crazy. But if they claimed 
to be crazy, they were deemed sane for trying to avoid danger and had 
to keep flying.

In Iraq, Marines who perform well in combat can be lauded for it. But 
if they develop PTSD, they can be punished for stress-related 
misconduct, kicked out of the military and denied treatment for their illness.

In recent months, the Marine Corps has begun investigating the 
matter, identifying 1,019 Marines who may fall into this group since 
the war in Iraq began. All served at least one year in the Marines 
and one tour overseas before being discharged for misconduct.

"We're digging down into the data sources we have to try and come up 
with answers," says Navy Capt. William Nash, who coordinates the 
Marine Corps' combat stress programs. "That it happens at all is 
obviously not ideal."

He says each case will be examined to learn whether the Marine 
suffered combat stress and whether that might have contributed to the 
misconduct.

The results could help the Marine Corps flag combat-stressed Marines 
and help them avoid getting into trouble, Nash says.

The military has moved more aggressively in this war to increase 
awareness and treatment of combat stress than in previous conflicts. 
Mental health teams have been sent to Iraq and Afghanistan. Soldiers 
and Marines are asked about their mental and physical health before 
and after their tours.

A 2004 Army study showed that about 17% of combat troops suffer PTSD, 
a rate comparable with Vietnam-era stress among such troops, says 
Joseph Boscarino, a senior investigator with the Geisinger Center for 
Health Research in Danville, Pa., who has conducted extensive PTSD 
research on Vietnam veterans.

Vokey and his lawyers say they are convinced, based on reviews of 
medical records, that combat stress was a major factor in the 
misconduct cases. They argue that either the Pentagon or VA should 
revise its policies so that these combat veterans are not stripped of 
the medical care they need to get better.

"People would be appalled if the guy came back and he had lost a leg, 
lost a limb, and then we say, 'Oh, you had a DUI (driving under the 
influence), so you're going to have to give your prosthetic back,' " 
says Marine Capt. James Weirick, a former member of Vokey's staff. 
"But to a great extent, we're doing that with these people."

Packley, 24, received an other-than-honorable discharge. According to 
a VA document Packley's mother, Patricia, shared with USA TODAY, the 
department acknowledges he has PTSD but denied him benefits in July.

"You go to war and they can't even help you with the problems you get 
from it," says Packley, who now does state highway construction in Joliet, Ill.

He says he has been off anti-anxiety, anti-depression and sleep 
medications for months because he cannot afford it. "I'm just so 
stressed," he says. "It doesn't take much to get me almost 
panic-stricken anymore."

Marine Capt. Mike Studenka, who supervises a law office located amid 
infantry battalions at Camp Pendleton, says he sees about 40 Marines 
each month who are in trouble. About a third fit the profile of 
combat veterans with impressive records who suddenly have drug or 
alcohol problems and face dismissal and loss of benefits.

"You have guys coming in this building who are, no question about it, 
heroes in everything that they have done in the past," Studenka says. 
"You have them saying, 'I just need to get out. I want out.' That 
breaks your heart."

The Marine Corps says post-traumatic stress disorder is no legal 
defense for misconduct and that discipline must be maintained.

"PTSD does not force anyone to do an illegal act," Nash says. "The 
consequences to the Marine Corps of not upholding those standards of 
behavior would be a much greater tragedy. It would dishonor all those 
Marines who have been injured by the stress of war but who have not 
broken the rules."

Marines, sailors, soldiers and airmen who get in trouble can receive 
one of four discharges. The lightest is a general discharge, often 
described as "under honorable conditions," in which recipients remain 
eligible for most VA benefits.

More serious misconduct can lead to an other-than-honorable discharge 
or, worse, a bad conduct discharge. A serious felony results in a 
dishonorable discharge.

The law prohibits a veteran from receiving the full spectrum of VA 
benefits -- such things as health care, insurance and home loans -- 
in certain cases, such as those involving deserters, conscientious 
objectors or those who receive dishonorable discharges.

But the VA has discretion to grant full benefits in 
other-than-honorable or bad conduct discharge cases. It can still 
deny them if the agency decides the underlying misconduct was 
"willful and persistent," a largely subjective decision, VA official 
Jack McCoy says.

Statistics from 1990 through September show that about eight out of 
10 veterans who received bad-conduct discharges were turned down when 
they sought benefits, McCoy says.

Even if the full package of benefits is denied, the VA can still 
grant health care for specific war-related injuries such as PTSD. 
Gary Baker, director of the VA's health eligibility center, says that 
in his 20 years of experience he has seen this exception granted 
fewer than six times.

The VA offers temporary counseling, but no medication, for veterans 
who are appealing their discharges. Counseling ends if the appeal 
fails. Vokey argues that the VA could relax its practices and treat 
veterans who are discharged for PTSD-related misconduct.

Mental health experts say this problem almost certainly occurred in 
prior wars. But combat-induced mental disorders and how they may 
contribute to bad behavior were not as well understood.

The issue exists today in the Army but to a lesser degree, says Army 
Lt. Col. John Wells, a former supervising defense lawyer. 
Combat-stress cases involving misconduct are handled in informal ways 
that often do not lead to a loss of benefits, Wells says.

The Marine Corps, by comparison, prides itself on its strict standards.

"We take discipline infraction very seriously," says Lt. Col. Scott 
Fazekas, a Marine Corps spokesman. It prosecutes about the same 
number of troops as the Army each year for misconduct, though it is 
only one-third the Army's size.

The Marine Corps also does a disproportionate share of fighting and 
dying in Iraq, making up 20% of U.S. ground forces while suffering 
30% of the casualties. More than 10% of American troops who died in 
Iraq were Marines from Camp Pendleton, which has lost almost 300, 
more than any other military base.

Marine Corps statistics, though incomplete, show PTSD cases doubled 
from about 250 in 2003 to 596 in 2004, and then doubled again to 1,229 in 2005.

Although Marine Corps officials say the service has come a long way 
in recognizing and treating PTSD, they acknowledge that it still 
struggles to provide treatment resources and to overcome the stigma 
against those who suffer mental health problems.

"There might be some commanders out there who aren't really willing 
to accept that there is such a thing as post-traumatic stress 
syndrome," says Marine Col. Hank Donegan, a military intelligence 
officer at Pendleton.

Vokey and his staff agree that many troubled Marines should leave the 
Marine Corps, for their sake and that of the Corps. To strip them of 
benefits is wrong, they say. "It seems to me our country has bought 
that problem and we ought to fix it as best we can," says Melissa 
Epstein, a Los Angeles lawyer and former Marine captain on Vokey's staff.

One of those PTSD cases involved Ryan Birrell, 24, who served as a 
sergeant with the 1st Battalion, 7th Marine Regiment. After his 
second tour, in 2004-05, he received the Bronze Star with a "V" for 
combat heroism.

The citation described five separate episodes of valor, including one 
morning in February 2005 when Birrell organized the defense of a 
fog-shrouded observation post in Husaybah that came under multiple 
attacks by insurgents and suicide car-bombers. A wounded Birrell 
rallied his troops, tended to casualties and directed fire, often 
while exposed to enemy gunfire.

"Sgt. Birrell reflected great credit upon himself and upheld the 
highest tradition of the Marine Corps," his citation reads.

After coming home, Birrell took an assignment earlier this year as a 
drill instructor at the Marine Corps Recruit Depot in San Diego, and 
his life began to fall apart.

Diagnosed with PTSD, he suddenly demanded a divorce from his wife, 
abused alcohol and methamphetamine and left his base without 
permission, say Birrell and Weirick, then his lawyer.

Kicked out of the Marine Corps with an other-than-honorable 
discharge, he lived in Tijuana, Mexico, for months, often homeless.

"What brought me down there was how the streets were kind of like 
being in Iraq -- that kind of turmoil-type stuff," Birrell says now.

Birrell says that in Tijuana, he could fill his head with thoughts of 
where to find food or shelter.

Growing tired of that life, he finally called his parents and they 
brought him to their home in Las Vegas last month. "Life is great," 
says his mother, Kim Lukas, who says she's ecstatic to have him home again.

For Birrell, who now lives in Torrance, Calif., insomnia is back. 
"When I do sleep," he says, "I'm constantly waking up from dreams, 
constantly tired throughout the day." His nightmares are of war. He 
visited VA offices Tuesday asking for benefits despite his 
other-than-honorable discharge. Birrell says he needs treatment for 
his PTSD. Weirick fears they will turn him down regardless of his 
battlefield heroism.

Lukas says that makes her angry. "He's done two tours over there, and 
God knows how many lives he's saved," she says. "He's going to need the care."
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