Charles Sheehan-Miles

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Army court-martialing yet another soldier for seeking help

Back in the fall of 2003 Georges Andre Pogany, who has since become a tireless advocate for vets, was brought up on charges of cowardice in Iraq. I got a call from CNN and was asked to come in for an interview about the case. Now they're doing it again.

My quote in the interview with Paula Zahn:

But I'm very concerned that, in a time when the Army is going out there and saying, we're trying to make sure that we provide good counseling for the troops, that, when someone has asked for help, they're potentially facing a court-martial. We're talking about a situation where people see hideous, horrible things. And the natural reaction to seeing those kinds of things is panic and fear and rage. And those troops need assistance. They need help. And they need counseling when they return back from the battlefield.

And when somebody went through the chain of command, clearly requesting that help, and now they're facing a court-martial, the Army's got a real problem.

A year later, I learned about the case of Julian Philip Goodrum, a national guard lieutenant who sought medical care for post-traumatic stress at Fort Knox, Kentucky. He was turned down, and ended up going off-post to a hospital, where he was checked in as an inpatient because he was suicidal. Goodrum was subsequently brought up on charges of being absent without leave. I attended and wrote about his Article 32 hearing in October 2004, and was very disturbed that they went forward with the case.

In the wake of the news that as many as 30% of Iraq war veterans will have PTSD, you'd think the Army might have learned something. It was over a year ago that COL Charles Hoge's study came out on this (find out more on this recording of the Diane Rehm show from 2006, I was interviewed along with COL Hoge).

Unfortunately, the Army is now proceeding with yet another judicial case against a soldier who repeatedly asked for mental health care treatment following his tour in Iraq. He finally went AWOL and went to to seek medical care. On his return to Fort Drum, New York, he was informed that he would be facing a court-martial.

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