Treatment, Not Jail, for Vets?

[unhappycamper]

Treatment, Not Jail, for Vets?
February 21, 2009
McClatchy-Tribune Information Services

An Air Force interrogator watched his marriage go sour after returning to Colorado Springs from the prison at the Guantanamo Bay Naval Base in Cuba.

He pleaded guilty to domestic violence charges for slapping his wife, which cost him his security clearance. The airman, who has no memory of the incident and has been diagnosed with mental problems stemming from his Gitmo assignment, soon will be discharged from the service.

An Army combat medic at Fort Carson later diagnosed with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder got drunk and decided to commit suicide. The Iraq vet choked his wife as they struggled over a shotgun. He now faces an attempted murder charge.

Those are two of hundreds of cases that cross the desk of Robert Alvarez, a contractor working with the Army's Wounded Warrior program at Fort Carson, which has seen a growing number of soldiers arrested for crimes from drunk driving to murder.

Alvarez said the airman and medic cases might have turned out differently if they'd been afforded treatment rather than being charged with crimes.


Rest of article at: http://www.military.com/news/article/treatment-not-jail-for-vets.html?col=1186032310810