PTSD: Four letters the Brownwood Bulletin fails to grasp !
Note from Steve, I believe the Brownwood Bulletin and staff have been AWOL on this story from the very beginning. They were approached for help and refused to report the story. Fortunately, the Ft Worth Star Telegram and the Abilene Reporter News found the story of PTSD important enough to cover. Guess it's "Ironic" that the first story coming from the AWOL Brownwood Bulletin on Jacob would focus on his being AWOL and not a mention of his diagnosis of PTSD.
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Soldier who went AWOL surrenders
By CHRIS VAUGHN
STAR-TELEGRAM STAFF WRITER
Jacob Hounshell called Thursday afternoon on a cellphone, the sound of the road in the background.
"I'm heading down to Fort Hood," he said.
Nine months after going absent without leave following a yearlong deployment to Iraq, Hounshell, a private first class, was returning to his unit in the 1st Cavalry Division.
His mother, Bobbie, dropped him off at the gate Thursday evening, and military police officers picked him up and took him to his command, said division spokesman Lt. Col. Scott Bleichwehl.
"It's time to go before I get arrested with a warrant," Hounshell said in the phone conversation to the Star-Telegram. "It's better to turn myself in and get it over with."
Hounshell, 20, had been living and working in Brownwood since May when he went on leave and never returned.
In a profile last June in the Star-Telegram, Hounshell said he was suicidal, having anxiety attacks and nightmares, and exploding in rage at the slightest provocation because of what he experienced on the combat deployment in Iraq.
He served with a scout unit in Baghdad, honorably and with commendations, according to his records and a fellow soldier quoted in the story.
Hounshell went AWOL, he said, because he believed that his unit's leaders were indifferent to his adjustment problems. Bleichwehl said then that Hounshell's leaders were doing everything they could to get him help before he went AWOL.
Hounshell said Thursday that he learned that a federal warrant was about to be issued, prompting him to return to Fort Hood. He said he has been doing much better with his problems in recent months, but he still hopes to be discharged from the Army.
"It was definitely the right thing to do," Bleichwehl said of Hounshell's return to the installation. "He had to have this resolved."
Somewhat bizarrely, Hounshell was working for a manufacturing plant in Brownwood that makes uniforms for the Army.
Hounshell reported to his command at 4th Battalion, 9th Cavalry and was assigned a noncommissioned officer to help him with his needs, Bleichwehl said. He will live in the barracks, Bleichwehl said.
He will have the opportunity next week to seek mental health counseling and to ask for a lawyer if he wishes, Bleichwehl said.
"What happens next is not known," he said. "The commander has different options," including administrative punishment, criminal charges and discharge from the service.
Chris Vaughn, (817) 390-7547 cvaughn@star-telegram.com
source: http://www.dfw.com/mld/dfw/news/state/13848513.htm?template=contentModules/printstory.jsp
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Soldier who went AWOL surrenders at Ft. Hood
Brownwood's Hounshell turned himself in before federal warrant could be issued
By Celinda Emison
February 12, 2006
The fate of an AWOL soldier from Brownwood who has been dealing with mental health issues is in the hands of his superiors after the private turned himself in.
Pfc. Jake Hounshell, 20, returned Thursday to his unit in the 1st Cavalry Division at Fort Hood because he had learned a federal warrant was about to be issued for him, his family said.
Hounshell's grandmother, Shirley Fletcher of Brownwood, said her grandson told her by phone Saturday that he was not under arrest and was in his barracks.
Hounshell's mother, Bobbie Hounshell of Brownwood, took her son to Fort Hood Thursday evening but was not allowed to go on base, Fletcher said.
The family is praying that the military will give Hounshell a medical discharge so he can retain his medical benefits and get treatment.
''No matter what they do, he has got to have medical help,'' Fletcher said. ''He will need help for the rest of his life.''
The Fort Worth Star-Telegram reported that Lt. Col. Scott Bleichwehl, a division spokesman at Fort Hood, said Hounshell's unit commander will decide whether Hounshell will receive administrative punishment, face charges or be discharged.
Hounshell's grandmother said the family is hoping for the best.
''We're hoping they will not press any hard charges against him,'' Fletcher said.
Fletcher urged Hounshell late last year to turn himself in for being absent without leave.
''Jake felt that if he turned himself in, he was turning his back on all the young men and women of the military who are facing these problems,'' Fletcher said. ''He was doing this for everyone.''
In June of 2004, Hounshell began a 14-month tour of duty with the Army, first to Kuwait and then to Baghdad, Iraq.
Hounshell served as a driver and a scout in the first platoon of the 9th Cavalry Division of the First Cavalry. He earned a commendation for finding makeshift bombs in a vehicle and arresting two insurgents during a routine checkpoint stop. His story was in the military's newspaper, Stars and Stripes.
But when Hounshell got home, it was different. He threatened to drive his truck into an 18-wheeler. His mother and dad stayed up with him on stormy nights because he believed he was being shot at. His parents sought help for their son but to no avail.
''He has never been treated medically,'' Fletcher, his grandmother, said.
For several months, Hounshell suffered continually with bouts of depression and what the Army diagnosed as post traumatic stress disorder. His grandmother said he had been getting better after finally getting a job, ironically at a Brownwood business that manufactures uniforms for the military.
Fletcher said no matter what, the family is proud of him for his courage to stand up for what he believes is a problem that many returning soldiers face.
''We want him to know that whatever he does and whatever happens, he will always have us,'' Fletcher said. ''We love him no matter what.''
Contact Brownwood staff writer Celinda Emison at (325) 641-8804 or emisonc@reporternews.com.
Keeping Track: Jake Hounshell
Background: Pfc. Hounshell, after a 14-month tour of duty, went AWOL while dealing with mental health issues.
What's new: Hounshell turned himself in Thursday at Fort Hood.
What's next: He could face administrative punishment, charges or be discharged.
source: http://www.reporter-news.com/abil/nw_local/article/0,1874,ABIL_7959_4460880,00.html
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's website !
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and then Bulletin "Reporter" Steve Nash writes this story ....
Tuesday February 14, 2006
News
Glitch in paperwork stopped police from arresting AWOL soldier
By Steve Nash — Brownwood Bulletin
Brownwood police nearly arrested AWOL Army soldier Jacob Hounshell last Thursday when he went to the police department to make a complaint about his ex-girlfriend.
Police Lt. John Harper said police didn’t arrest Hounshell, a private first class, because of a glitch in Army paperwork that would’ve directed civil authorities to arrest him. Harper said he advised Hounshell to turn himself in to the Army, and Hounshell’s mother drove him to Fort Hood later that day.
Harper said police placed Hounshell in handcuffs after running his name and learning he was listed as “AWOL/deserter” from the military.
Hounshell, who was accompanied by his father, Larry, was detained in handcuffs for about 10 minutes after the two arrived at the police department at 11 a.m., Harper said. The Fort Hood official told police to release Hounshell because of incomplete paperwork on the Army’s part, he said.
“I suggested to him strongly that he turn himself in,” Harper said. “I told him ‘it’s time to take care of business.’ His daddy said he would take him” to Fort Hood.
Hounshell, a 20-year-old May High School graduate, served in Iraq and was later assigned to Fort Hood with the 1st Cavalry Division. Hounshell went AWOL in May.
The Fort Worth Star-Telegram reported in June that Hounshell said he was suicidal and having other problems because of his combat experiences. He went AWOL because he believed he was not getting help from the Army, the newspaper reported.
After Hounshell made the complaint against his ex-girlfriend, police issued a criminal trespass warning against her for the Hounshell home in Brownwood, where Jacob Hounshell had been living, Hounshell said.
Harper described Hounshell as “just a young kid” with a small goatee. “I wouldn’t have known he was in the military if he hadn’t told me,” Harper said.
He said Hounshell was “amiable” and told him “he was having trouble dealing with what he had faced while he was over there.”
Hounshell’s grandmother, Shirley Fletcher, said on Monday that the family is awaiting word on what the Army will do in her grandson’s case. She said options include charging him or giving him a medical or dishonorable discharge.
“Right now it’s in their ball court,” Fletcher said. “He’s just in, what you would call, a waiting period, so to speak.”
She said Hounshell’s mother, Bobbie, returned to Fort Hood Saturday and was allowed to spend the day with him.
“He’s hanging in there,” Fletcher said.
Lt. Col. Scott Bleichwehl of the 1st Division said Hounshell is “returned to duty. There’s a process that has to be gone through... In the course of the very near future, his disposition will be determined.”
When asked to comment on Hounshell’s activities since returning to Fort Hood, Bleichwehl said he is not giving “an hour-by-hour, day-by-day accounting” of how the soldier spends his days.
Bleichwehl said Hounshell will receive counseling as to his legal options and is eligible for medical services.
“He’s still an American citizen. He’s still got all those rights,” Bleichwehl said.
source: http://www.brownwoodbulletin.com/articles/2006/02/14/news/news03.txt
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Note from Steve, What's the policy of the Brownwood Police Department of handcuffing citizens who have no warrants against them ? What's the policy of the Brownwood Bulletin of printing citizens names who have not been arrested on charges ? Does anyone else see a pattern or spin with the Bulletin Reports of avoiding the term PTSD and slanting the stories to the AWOL angle ?
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Here's a letter to the editor that appeared in the Brownwood Bulletin
Op Ed: Letters To The Editor
Stories ignore post-traumatic stress disorder
To the
editor:
Last Sunday’s front page story, “Family praying a lot as AWOL soldier returns to Fort Hood,” was apparently meant as a narrowly focused local human interest story. While obviously well-intentioned, it did not put the story in its broader context, or help readers understand a growing problem we are facing as a society — veterans with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).
Inexplicably, the article failed to even mention PTSD, though PFC Hounshell’s suicidal impulses, anxiety attacks and explosive rage are obvious symptoms of the disorder. Instead, the article gave me the impression that Hounshell’s was a sad, but isolated case of merely having difficulty “coping with what he saw in Iraq.” The military, on the other hand, is acutely aware of the scale of this problem. The Veterans Administration (VA) cites research (based on surveys of returning veterans) that estimates the risk for PTSD from service in Iraq at 18 percent, and from service in Afghanistan at 11 percent (Hoge et al., 2004).
It has long been known that participation in combat can lead to chronic mental health problems. The VA created the National Center for PTSD in 1989, “to advance the clinical care and social welfare of America’s veterans through research, education, and training in the science, diagnosis, and treatment of PTSD and stress-related disorders.”
Recognizing the importance of early intervention, the military has sent “combat stress” teams to the front lines in Iraq to identify and treat soldiers’ symptoms immediately, and to try to keep them fighting. Still, only half of the soldiers reporting symptoms say they will seek help, and of those who would seek help, even fewer actually receive it. The stigma against warriors having or showing bad feelings about warfare is still a powerful deterrent.
And are returning vets like Hounshell getting the help they need? Sunday’s article does not indicate that the military had any awareness of, let alone response to, Hounshell’s PTSD, which was the underlying cause of his going AWOL in the first place. Adding insult to injury, legislation supporting the VA’s entry-point for vets with PTSD, the Vet Centers, faces an uphill battle in congress. Senate Bill 716, the Vet Center Enhancement Act of 2005, passed the Senate last December, but is now stalled in the House, with passage appearing unlikely.
We now know that we were misled regarding the premises, duration and costs of the current war. Omitting this important background and context from your article further perpetuates a misleading underestimation of the full costs of war, and with no end in sight, we can expect to hear many more stories like Hounshell’s.
Tuesday’s follow-up article was no better than Sunday’s emphasizing Hounshell’s AWOL status without even mentioning PTSD.
Daniel Graham
Brownwood
source: http://www.brownwoodbulletin.com/articles/2006/02/16/op_ed/letters%20to%20the%20editor/letter01.txt
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