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Monday, November 19, 2007
What A Phony Soldier
A soldier facing his second tour of duty in Iraq said in a jailhouse interview Monday that he was at a hospital seeking mental help when he was arrested in the middle of the night for allegedly being absent without leave.
Spc. Justin Faulkner insists his superior officers at Fort Campbell knew about his mental problems but refused to provide adequate treatment.
On Thursday, Faulkner checked into a Lexington VA hospital, where doctors told him they wanted to keep him until Monday for observation. Police showed up at the hospital shortly after 2 a.m. Saturday to take him to jail.
"It's humiliating, degrading," Faulkner, 22, of Stanton, said in an interview with The Associated Press minutes before his release from the Fayette County Detention Center. "It's made me lose respect for the military. To come and arrest me at the VA, it wasn't like I was trying to hide, trying to run. I was getting help. I am being punished for getting help."
Faulkner, who concluded a one-year tour of duty in Iraq in February 2006, was due to head back there Monday to join the rest of his unit. He was released from jail on the condition he report back to Fort Campbell on Tuesday.
Faulkner said he would but insisted the Army would be "foolish" to send him to Iraq. He said he has been experiencing post-traumatic symptoms since realizing a few weeks ago that a return trip to Iraq was likely.
Hey, if we're sending back amputees, why the hell shouldn't we send back those with "mental problems"? Probably faking it, anywayz, and we only support REAL soldiers in America...
ntodd
November 19, 2007 | Permalink
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Comments
We don't support real soldiers, we support soldiers who look like Marlboro men before the cancer got them. For the myth the soldiers must be whole, unbroken and cheerful. Once that is no longer true, they should hide.
Posted by: Echidne | Nov 20, 2007 5:23:42 AM
I suppose they'll have some guy in a Gen. Patton constume come slap him; real me don't get shell-shocked . . .
Posted by: rea | Nov 20, 2007 8:36:36 AM
Let this be a lesson to our fighting forces -- open a big can of STFU and get on the transport. We support the troops! USA! USA! USA!
(Glad to find your blog -- I followed a link from Atrios' site. Not bad! And you're cute, too!)
Posted by: Virginia | Nov 20, 2007 8:42:21 AM
This makes me want to bang my head against the wall. I understand that we're desperate for soldiers when most of the country knows we're fighting a stupid, wasteful war.
I'm afraid it's going to take some serious event where a messed-up GI comes home and does some damage before anything will change. And even then...
Thanks, ntodd.
Posted by: Pope Ratzo | Nov 20, 2007 8:47:44 AM
I don't understand... isn't the VA system part of the military? and why was he arrested by regular police (not MPs)? And why 2AM? Was the war effort especially wanting at that time of the weekend.
In any case, you'd think that if a hospital wanted to observe somebody, they should stay in the hospital.
Posted by: skiddie | Nov 20, 2007 8:59:21 AM
What better way to treat mental illness than to lock the sufferer in Jail. I think we can call this the Republican cure as Saint Ronny Reagan proved that this made perfect sense when he shuttered the majority of our mental health hospitals in the 80's.
Of course with most things Republican it is bass-akwards. Those that truly need this treatment, Jail, are in control of the Whitehouse.
Posted by: Henk | Nov 20, 2007 9:15:34 AM
I think that Michelle Malkin someone should look into the story of the amputee sent back to Iraq. He said "fuck". How uncivil.
Posted by: g | Nov 20, 2007 9:24:42 AM
skiddie,
My Bro is a Nat Guard MP (likely to be deployed to Afghanistan soon) and one thing he told me was that MP's are no longer used like the old days. Now they are mechanized infantry, operate in fast moving, smaller than platoon size squads, and are trained to use every weapon issued because its likely they will being using them. Every (nearly, just be more perfectly accurate) MP gets deployed. No time to be hunting down AWOLs. (I read the AWOL rate was up nearly 10% somewhere. Too lazy to hunt the link and context right now :)
MP's, btw, are very specialized. They are trained to restrain without killing and receive legit law enforcement education. All other soldiers only know how to kill, which is right and necessary, but neatly underscores the inherent problem with long term occupation.
Posted by: wwz | Nov 20, 2007 9:27:57 AM
Oh, btw, it takes 30 days for AWOL regs to kick in.
Posted by: wwz | Nov 20, 2007 9:29:39 AM
Hey, am I getting billed for that ad?
Posted by: dave™© | Nov 20, 2007 10:39:06 AM
the npr story referenced, about the amputee who is going back to duty has an excerpt from his new book. publisher? Regnery.
Posted by: dfkj | Nov 20, 2007 10:47:21 AM
Nope--you're AWOL as soon as you fail to report. You're a _deserter_ after you've been AWOL 30 days.
>Posted by: wwz | Nov 20, 2007 9:27:57 AM
>
>Oh, btw, it takes 30 days for AWOL regs to kick >in.
Posted by: Slithy Tove | Nov 20, 2007 10:56:06 AM
I just found out last week that I guy who used to work here in my office, who was National Guard and got called away from his family to serve in Iraq in '04 or '05... killed himself last month. He came back totally messed in the head, paranoid that everyone was out to get him, that his wife was an Iraqi operative, etc.
This stupid war is destroying people and families here in the U.S. That is the bottom line for me.
http://www.wkbt.com/Global/story.asp?S=7363125&nav=menu239_2
Posted by: James | Nov 20, 2007 11:22:18 AM
"I'm in my car right now. I've just arrived at the VA hospital. Now I'm checked the trash cans in the room that defeatocrat Faulkner staid in. Now I'm using a black light on the sheets. Ah-ha! Just as I thought, there is a small stain in the middle of the bed".
That's all I got for now. Any of my Stalkin Malkin "citizen journalists" care to take over my "investigative reporting"? We need to know what kind of kitchen counters Faulkner has at his home.
Posted by: Stalkin Malkin | Nov 20, 2007 11:48:12 AM
Funny thing this "all volunteer" military we have...
Posted by: Parrotlover77 | Nov 20, 2007 12:11:23 PM
Someone mentioned Marlboro Man. Remember the Iraq MM, the blackened faced GI with the Cigarette that all of the war porn freaks went wild over. Recall that two years later he was diagnosed with PTS syndrome.
Posted by: syvanen | Nov 20, 2007 1:39:15 PM
This stuff has been going on for years. Husband had to check himself into Johns Hopkins to prevent the doctors at Walter Reed from doing some experimental surgery on him. Had to hire a lawyer to extract him from the military. He's lucky he's alive. The Walter Reed doctors wanted to get written up in JAMMA and could not wait to drain the blood out of him and then try to bring him back to life. They were going to keep him there until he consented.
Posted by: bmc90 | Nov 20, 2007 1:42:16 PM
It's been too long since I've been here, Ntodd, good to see you're keeping up the stellar work. BTW, my former stomping grounds Newsache (sitting in your blogroll) is no more unfortunately. I moved out of VT and down to NYC (I needed one more letter in my abbreviation). Feel free to add the new blog if you feel the desire, it's www.dailyrational.com and that one shouldn't be going anywhere anytime soon.
Regardless, this story is particularly tragic. Good job picking it up and giving it some exposure.
Posted by: mg | Nov 20, 2007 4:02:36 PM
This has been going on for years now:
For Army, it's Operation Stretch
As the military rushes to reorganize in a race against time,
the 3rd Infantry steels itself for a second deployment.
By Ann Scott Tyson Correspondent of The Christian Science Monitor
from the December 09, 2004 edition
Army leaders admit that at current levels they must rotate troops into war zones at a rate that is unsustainable in the long run. Warning of a force not yet "broken" but "bent," they are rushing to add 30,000 soldiers to the 482,000-strong active-duty force and increase the number of active brigades - from 33 when the Iraq war began to 43 by 2006, with another five possible by 2007. Only then might the Army hope to shorten tours to about six months every two years, which soldiers say is more bearable for them and their families.
Yet with more than 15 percent of soldiers in the Iraq war screening positive for traumatic stress, according to a December 2003 report chartered by the Army's surgeon general, it is not surprising that the looming deployment is highly troubling to some 3ID veterans.
Army psychologists aren't sure how those with combat fatigue will react to returning. "We're into really new territory," says division social worker Capt. Ronald Whalen. He says some soldiers are in aggressive treatment aimed at "finding out where [their] recovery has stalled out."
I also found this but the link to the original AP story is broken:
(I posted this on May 16, 2006)
"The Army's top mental health expert, Col. Elspeth Ritchie, acknowledged that some deployment practices, such as sending service members diagnosed with post-traumatic stress syndrome back into combat, have been driven in part by a troop shortage."
Posted by: Steve J. | Nov 20, 2007 9:05:58 PM
wwz: Your brother's take on things is a little colored. MPs get limited police training (they don't have POST certs. It helps whentrying to get into a police acadamy, but one can't walk out the gate and get hired onto the force).
Other MOSs get non-killing training.
AWOL kicks in the first minute one is in violation of pass procedures. What takes 30 days to happen is the switch from Absent Without Leave to become, presumptively, desertion.
(see UCMJ Articles 85, and 86)
To quote the Manual for Courts Martial on Art 86
Absent without leave: “Any member of the armed forces who, without authority—
(1) fails to go to his appointed place of duty at the time prescribed;
(2) goes from that place; or
(3) absents himself or remains absent from his unit, organization, or place of duty at which he is required to be at the time prescribed; shall be punished as a court-martial may direct.”
Elements.
(1) Failure to go to appointed place of duty.
(a) That a certain authority appointed a certain time and place of duty for the accused;
(b) That the accused knew of that time and place; and
(c) That the accused, without authority, failed to go to the appointed place of duty at the time prescribed.
(2) Going from appointed place of duty.
(a) That a certain authority appointed a certain time and place of duty for the accused;
(b) That the accused knew of that time and place; and
(c) That the accused, without authority, went from the appointed place of duty after having reported at such place.
(3) Absence from unit, organization, or place of duty.
(a) That the accused absented himself or her-self from his or her unit, organization, or place of duty at which he or she was required to be;
(b) That the absence was without authority from anyone competent to give him or her leave; and
(c) That the absence was for a certain period of time. Note: if the absence was terminated by apprehension, add the following element
(d) That the absence was terminated by apprehension.
(4) Abandoning watch or guard.
(a) That the accused was a member of a guard, watch, or duty;
(b) That the accused absented himself or her-self from his or her guard, watch, or duty section;
(c) That absence of the accused was without authority; and Note: If the absence was with intent to abandon the accused’s guard, watch, or duty section, add the following element
(d) That the accused intended to abandon his or her guard, watch, or duty section.
(5) Absence from unit, organization, or place of duty with intent to avoid maneuvers or field exercises.
(a) That the accused absented himself or herself from his or her unit, organization, or place of duty at which he or she was required to be;
(b) That the absence of the accused was with-out authority;
(c) That the absence was for a certain period of time;
(d) That the accused knew that the absence would occur during a part of a period of maneuvers or field exercises; and
(e) That the accused intended to avoid all or part of a period of maneuvers or field exercises.
Explanation.
(1) In general. This article is designed to cover every case not elsewhere provided for in which any member of the armed forces is through the member’s own fault not at the place where the member is required to be at a prescribed time. It is not necessary that the person be absent entirely from military jurisdiction and control. The first part of this article—relating to the appointed place of duty—applies whether the place is appointed as a rendezvous for several or for one only.
(2) Actual knowledge. The offenses of failure to go to and going from appointed place of duty require proof that the accused actually knew of the appointed time and place of duty. The offense of absence from unit, organization, or place of duty with intent to avoid maneuvers or field exercises requires proof that the accused actually knew that the absence would occur during a part of a period of maneuvers or field exercises. Actual knowledge may be proved by circumstantial evidence.
(3) Intent. Specific intent is not an element of unauthorized absence. Specific intent is an element for certain aggravated unauthorized absences.
The VA, to answer a different question, is NOT part of the Army, or the Department of Defense. It is a stand alone entity.
That said, the arrest was, IMO, bullshit.
Terry Karney
SSG CA-ARNG
Posted by: Terry Karney | Nov 20, 2007 9:06:02 PM
NTODD -
I used Lexis-Nexis to find more quotes from Col. Elspeth:
http://radamisto.blogspot.com/2007/11/sending-soldiers-with-ptsd-back-to-iraq.html
Posted by: Steve J. | Nov 20, 2007 9:21:46 PM
Not the same Elspeth as self...just in case anyone was wondering... How bizarre.
And now they are charging wounded soldiers to return their signing bonuses for not fulfilling their contract!?!?! WTF???!?!!!?!
I would imagine something like this:
"Yeah, um, sorry about having my legs blown off and my face being mostly burned off in that IED explosion...since I got back and lost my job, and I scared my spouse off and the home got repo'd - I am just rolling in dough to hand back to ya's...NOT!!! I was fighting YOUR stupid vanity war not goofing off trying to scam a dollar from the Treasury!!!"
I think all of the folks that want this 'war' need to be the ones to fund it. Leave us the hell out of it. Preznit GimmeTurkee needs to have a freakin' bake sale and fund this bullshit and leave our tax dollars here to work FOR our country instead of against the world.
I am so mad I could spit cotton!
Peace,
Elspeth
Posted by: Elspeth R | Nov 20, 2007 9:57:04 PM
Oh, and Virginia, yes, NTodd is indeed 'teh cute'! Good thing I am down here in TX!!! :) LOL!
Elspeth
Peace is sexy!
Posted by: Elspeth R | Nov 20, 2007 9:59:33 PM
Simply abominable.
Posted by: Lisa | Nov 20, 2007 11:07:17 PM
Military police have no authority off post, that is why the city cops arrested him.
Posted by: Ron | May 2, 2008 11:56:35 AM
Buy me stuff off my 
