Clearing the Fog of War

Sniper's killing raises concerns: Local group works with troubled vets

The shooting deaths Saturday of decorated Navy SEAL Chris Kyle and a friend at a North Texas shooting range are certain to put a spotlight on post-traumatic stress disorder.

Those who work closely with troubled war veterans acknowledge potential perils, though they say serious, even deadly incidents, are by far the exception, not the rule.

A flurry of news reports said Kyle, 38, and Chad Littlefield were killed at a shooting range near Glen Rose by a mentally disturbed veteran of Iraq and Afghanistan. Police arrested Eddie Ray Routh, 25, but did not offer a motive, the New York Times reported.

Retired Air Force Chief Master Sgt. Bob Laymon said he routinely tells volunteers who converge every summer on Canyon Lake for Operation Float a Soldier to be alert to wounded war veterans on the edge.

“One of the things we tell them is about PTSD, that some of these guys will give you incorrect or even threatening answers to your questions,” Laymon, 62, of Universal City, said Sunday. “And son of a gun, here I am one of the people briefing that, and I had a guy threaten to tear my head off .... over a routine question.”

Kyle, who held two Silver Stars, was credited with killing around 160 enemy troops. His book, “American Sniper: The Autobiography of the Most Lethal Sniper in U.S. Military History,” brought him fame and a generous speaking fee. He agreed to waive the fee recently for St. Mary's University's Center for Terrorism Law's 10th anniversary gala next month in San Antonio.

“That was very gracious of him because he gets $15,000 a pop for speeches,” said retired Army Lt. Col. Jeffrey Addicott, the center's founder and director.

The story shocked many in the veterans' community, among them Laymon and Janis Roznowski, founder of Operation Comfort, a group that has helped troops recovering from their wounds at the San Antonio Military Medical Center.

Rosnowski, whose group provides financial support and a variety of sporting events that include a sled ice hockey team for amputees, said wounded GIs can face extreme stress.

Read more: http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/military/article/Sniper-s-killing-raises-concerns-4247925.php#ixzz2JysfQ8Nq

Most suicides ever for Army, military

The Army, by far the largest branch of the armed forces, set a record for suicides last year with 325, almost two-thirds of all military suicides.

It also was a record year throughout the military, with 516 suicides across all branches.

Suicides have bedeviled the military for years, with deaths rising after the U.S. went to war in Afghanistan and Iraq. But the Army, which has borne the brunt of fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan, has suffered the most.

Posts most involved in those wars reflect the problem, and none has more suicides than Fort Hood.

The Central Texas installation, which sent two divisions to Iraq three times, has had 129 suicides since 2003, including 19 last year.

The Army's Health Promotion, Risk Reduction and Suicide Prevention Office has found that suicides are driven by a complex set of factors ranging from deployment time and relationship problems to substance abuse and money woes.

The typical active-duty and reserve component soldier committing suicide last year was male, enlisted and had deployed at least once. A majority of them, 136, were married, with just 11 divorced.

The Army has initiated a flurry of programs over the years to counter suicides, as has Fort Hood, but deaths have remained high.

Army Col. Carl Castro, director of the Military Operational Medicine Research Program, said that while much is known about factors involved suicides, the Pentagon is playing catch-up.

Rigorous science is lacking, he said, explaining there are only 20 to 25 investigators in the world qualified to test and validate approaches to suicide prevention — far fewer than researchers in such areas as cancer intervention.

“And I think that's sort of where we're at and why this is such a difficult problem to get a hold of,” Castro said. “They're all fully engaged, so I think until we can sort of turn that corner and get that sort of maximum involvement, it's always just going to be a real tough nut to crack, but we are committed to solving this problem.”

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Military suicides set new records

The military's chronic problem with suicides set a sobering record last year, with at least 493 suicides across the services, a rate of one death every 18 hours.

And the record, more than double the number of suicides in the first year of the Iraq war, is sure to rise further when the Army provides its final statistics this month.

The wife of a Marine Corps aviator who killed himself after returning from Iraq said Monday that as hard as war has been, peace might be worse.

GIs long stressed by deployments are coming home to a shrinking military and a slow economy, and they might be wrestling with financial and relationship woes as well as wounds that include traumatic brain injuries and post-traumatic stress disorder.

“I think for a warrior ... who has been trained to fight a war and that's become their identity, that's become their sense of purpose, that's become their meaning in life and then that's taken away, it's hard to shift,” said Kim Ruocco, 49, of Newbury, Mass.

“It is really hard for them to shift back to their families, communities, regular jobs, regular relationships, and if they have an injury or illness that adds complexity to that.”

The figures for active-duty and reserve forces included final statistics provided Monday by the Marine Corps. They were released a day after the San Antonio Express-News reported that 2012 was the worst year in a decade of war for military suicides.

The statistics detailed a continuing increase in suicides in recent years. The Army's Health Promotion, Risk Reduction and Suicide Prevention Office has found that suicides are driven by a complex set of factors ranging from deployment time and relationship problems to substance abuse and troubled finances.

Read more: http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/military/article/Military-suicides-set-new-record-4193784.php#ixzz2IZFFK4Ml

A charmed life ends in a horrid death

GRAND PRAIRIE — The photo album, “The Journey of Becca & Ian — Our Story,” shows a happy couple after their engagement.

In a snapshot, she leans into the attack helicopter pilot, smiling broadly, her eyes closed as he kisses her. One word, written on the binder next to the picture, captures the mood: “Forever.”

Perhaps it was blind optimism, but Capt. Ian Morrison and his young wife, Rebecca, had reason to bet against the specter of death and disillusionment that has shadowed many American troops and their families after a decade of war.

A West Point graduate some friends jokingly called “Capt. Brad Pitt” because of his Hollywood A-list looks, Morrison flew AH-64D Apache Longbow gunships in Iraq.

Back home near his post at Fort Hood, his wife was the attractive girl next door working on a master's degree.

His yearlong tour in Iraq was smooth, but Ian began to lose control after his return a year ago.

He slept poorly, was anxious and, as time passed, aware of feeling depressed. While not uncommon issues for troops back from war, he mostly appeared to cope as GIs often do.

Then one evening last March, everything unraveled.

Sitting in the bedroom of his home in Copperas Cove just west of the post, Ian Morrison put a .38-caliber handgun to his throat. There was no note and no explanation, no alcohol or drugs in his blood.

He died instantly.

At 26, he was one of two Iraq veterans living in Copperas Cove to commit suicide during a 48-hour period that week.

“He was a highly successful, accomplished Apache pilot, and certainly not someone that you would think would be in the category of people who would commit an act like that,” said Copperas Cove Justice of the Peace John Guinn, who pronounced Morrison dead at the scene. “There were some stressors in his life, stressors that obviously we don't understand.”

Overall, 2012 will mark a new, bleak record for Army suicides, exceeding the 305 deaths recorded two years ago. And the toll throughout the rest of the military is grim.

Read more: http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/military/article/A-charmed-life-endsin-a-horrid-death-4189855.php#ixzz2HtBUpU00

Lackland trained jailed after release from mental health facility

A former basic training instructor who threatened to jump recently from a Loop 410 overpass was in jail Tuesday night after being released from a mental health treatment facility.

Staff Sgt. Craig LeBlanc remained in the Joint Base San Antonio-Lackland lockup after a hearing Tuesday afternoon in which the Air Force said he committed four new violations, one of them threatening to commit suicide at the overpass after he told an NCO he was going to the gym.

“The interesting thing about where he was going to jump was that it was actually on the way to the gym, and he was in his gym clothes,” said LeBlanc's defense attorney, Joseph Jordan. “He wasn't in violation at all. A suicidal, tortured mind is what he was, and he may well have been on his way to the gym but in the course of going there he decided he was going to stop and jump off the bridge.”

LeBlanc, 27, faces 53 years and seven months in prison on charges of misconduct with three trainees. He's one of 25 instructors at Joint Base San Antonio-Lackland who have been or are under investigation for improper relationships with 49 women in basic and technical training.

LeBlanc threatened suicide two days after Thanksgiving. He left his car on a ramp linking the eastbound lanes of Loop 410 to U.S. 281, a height of 85 feet at its tallest point, and was taken into custody after 45 minutes. It was his third suicide attempt of the month.

The Lackland hearing Tuesday was an administrative proceeding led by a military officer who is not a lawyer, said Lt. Col. Mark Hoover, an attorney with the Air Force's training command. Pre-trial confinement, he said, is ordered if a military defendant is a flight risk, continues to commit serious crimes or is a threat to public safety.

A pre-trial confinement review officer heard evidence in LeBlanc's case and will decide if he'll continue to stay in the jail, where he is separated from convicted airmen.

Read more: http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/military/article/Lackland-trainer-jailed-after-release-4091259.php#ixzz2E9tquXTi

Lackland instructor's legal woes cited in apparent suicide tries

A former Air Force instructor facing 53 years in prison on charges of misconduct with three trainees threatened to jump from a local overpass last weekend after becoming overwhelmed by his legal problems and travel restrictions.

Staff Sgt. Craig LeBlanc left his car on a ramp linking the eastbound lanes of Loop 410 to U.S. 281 on Saturday, backing up traffic and prompting a negotiation with police, who talked him down after about 45 minutes.

His attorney, Joseph Jordan, said the incident was LeBlanc's third apparent suicide attempt this month and is part of a pattern of “self-destructive behavior” he's exhibited since being charged with having improper personal relationships with the trainees.

Now in Laurel Ridge Treatment Center, a local mental health facility, LeBlanc was denied a pass to see his 5-month-old daughter, Ellie, last weekend in Dallas.

Commanders have limited him to going to work, the grocery store, gas station and Laurel Ridge for outpatient care.

“I think it's that and I also just think he recognizes that while he stands a really good chance of winning the most significant charges on the charge sheet, he knows that he's probably going to be found guilty of some of the other charges, which is going to require him to spend some time in jail,” Jordan said Tuesday.

LeBlanc is one of 25 instructors at Joint Base San Antonio-Lackland who have been or are under investigation for improper relationships with 49 women in basic and technical training.

Read more: http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/military/article/Legal-woes-cited-in-instructor-s-apparent-suicide-4071281.php#ixzz2E7Htgdvq

3 years after Fort Hood massacre, wounds linger

KILLEEN — Chief Warrant Officer 3 Christopher Royal keeps up a punishing pace for a man who bears the scars of two gunshot wounds, running 26, 22 and 15 miles over successive days last week.

There are more miles to go, and Royal, if determined to finish the run, also is in pain. He walked with a pronounced limp Saturday and talks of wrestling with post-traumatic stress disorder, but his struggle goes beyond five tours of Iraq and Afghanistan.

Three years ago today, Royal locked eyes with a gunman who shot 45 GIs and civilians on Fort Hood. He fled as the shooter reloaded but later went back, hoping to stop the melee. His assailant, who carried a pair of handguns fed by extended-round clips, wasn't surprised.

“He's a soldier as well, he has training,” said Royal, 40, of Harker Heights. “But he comes around and I didn't quite get to the corner of the building the way that I was trying to, so he saw me for the second time, and that's when he chased me down.”

Shot twice in the back, Royal is one of 32 survivors of “5/11,” as many in this military community call the shooting. He is thankful to be alive and with his family, and yet overwhelmed with guilt.

Read more: http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/military/article/After-3-years-wounds-linger-4008016.php#ixzz2BMsfXTBD

Army suicides hit a record high in July

The Army said Thursday that 38 soldiers committed suicide in July, the highest monthly mark since it began keeping records.

"Suicide is the toughest enemy I have faced in my 37 years in the Army," the Army's vice chief of staff, Gen. Lloyd J. Austin III, said in a prepared statement.

Suicides have plagued the armed forces for years. They began to rise amid repeated tours to Iraq and Afghanistan, with about two-thirds of all deaths occurring among those who have been deployed at least once.

Army Sgt. Sean Greany served in Afghanistan during President Barack Obama's surge, returning home in late 2010. Struggling to sleep and often having nightmares, he was put on trazodone.

The drug is an antidepressant used to treat sleep disorders, but it also can cause anxiety, panic attacks and depression. Greany, 28, of La Plata, Md., fatally poisoned himself on April 11, 2011.

"In the end he was just like very terrified, he got more aggressive, agitated and all he got was trazodone," his mother, Petra Patterson of Hughesville, Md., said, adding that he was never monitored while on the medication.

120 confirmed this year

The highest number of suicides has occurred over the years at the nation's largest and busiest posts, and the July figures reflect the trend. Fort Bragg, home of the 82nd Airborne, leads the Army this year with 13 deaths.

Fort Hood had 12, and set a record for Army suicides just two years ago, with 22. It leads all posts with 122 GIs taking their lives since 2003.

So far this year, the Army has recorded 187 possible suicides in the active-duty and reserve component, with 120 of those confirmed. Most of the cases have occurred among active-duty soldiers, with 116 dying.

The deaths have come despite Army leaders instituting a variety of programs, some intended to strengthen the resiliency of stressed-out soldiers and families.

Read more: http://www.chron.com/news/nation-world/article/Army-suicides-hit-a-record-high-in-July-3794577.php

 

Mental problems top illness for GIs

More active-duty troops were hospitalized for mental illnesses last year than any other major malady, a new military report says.

The Armed Forces Health Surveillance Center said 21,735 troops from the services were admitted to hospitals because of mental problems, up dramatically from previous years.

Most were men, with mental disorders the leading cause of hospitalizations for soldiers and Marines — the services that have carried the greatest burden in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Hospitalization rates for all causes among active-duty troops were up during the past decade, with one in every 15 troops treated, but mental-illness admissions grew 50 percent over the past five years.

“It is not surprising to see the increase in hospitalizations for mental-health disorders among service members,” Army Col. Robert Lipnick, a spokesman for the Silver Spring, Md.-based center, said Friday, noting that the Pentagon has encouraged GIs to seek help.

“In addition, there has been increased screening for and emphasis placed on detection of mental-health disorders,” he added. “Also, the effects of repeated deployments and prolonged exposures can't be overemphasized.”

Mental disorders long have been a byproduct of war, as have injuries and back, shoulder and knee problems. But the center reported a steep rise in the number of days soldiers, sailors, airmen, Marines and Coast Guardsmen have been hospitalized because of mental disorders since 2005.

That coincides with the explosion of an insurgency in Iraq that claimed the lives of 3,422 U.S. troops from 2004-2007, the majority of those who died during the war. The report, which did not include reservists who've played major combat roles, also hinted at the toll mental illness has taken on the military and its hospitals.

Read more: http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/military/article/Mental-problems-top-illness-for-GIs-3570289.php#ixzz1ylZmeP2f