Topic: Broken Warrior: One Soldier's Struggle

Withrow and his lawyer contend that if he had gotten the right help at the appropriate time, his situation never would have escalated.
Withrow says he wanted to stay in the Army. In the midst of all his turmoil, he pleaded to be reassigned to his original battalion in the 3rd Brigade, 2d Infantry Division, which he knew would be going to Iraq again. (It deployed last July.)
"They said they would welcome me back, even knowing everything that was going on," said Withrow.
Now he wants a discharge on the best terms possible for himself and his family. Instead, he is facing a court-martial.
Born on the Fourth of July
Withrow, 27, was born in Gettysburg, Pa., on the Fourth of July. He enlisted in the Army and headed to boot camp 20 days after graduating high school in June 1997. A field artillery sergeant, he planned to make the military his life's work.
In November 2003, he went to Iraq with the 1st Battalion, 35th Field Artillery Regiment. When he returned a year later, he received an Army Commendation Medal for "Exceptionally meritorious service as an air guard during operation Iraqi Freedom."
Prior to returning from Iraq, he had no disciplinary record and consistently received good-conduct medals, his attorney confirmed. A memorandum from his first sergeant with his old brigade noted, "I would gladly serve with SPC Withrow in combat again because I believe him to be a true Warrior."
Tall and lean with trimmed dark hair, Withrow is personable and straightforward while relaying his story, but bluish circles under his brown eyes betray fatigue. In addition to his legal and health problems, he is facing bankruptcy and loss of his base housing. He worries frequently out loud about what will become of his wife and three children if he goes back to Iraq. "I don't want them to wind up on the street," he said.
"When he got back, I could tell he was just different," said Jenny Withrow, his wife of six years.
Like many of his comrades, he said he had images from Iraq burned into his brain -- a mass grave with still decomposing men's bodies layered over women's and children's, fresh bullet holes in his Humvee.
"I would lay in bed at night and wonder if this is the night I get blown up," he said.
Adjusting to life back home wasn't what he expected. He had left when his baby girl was 4 months old.
"When I got back, my daughter -- it's like she didn't know me," he said.
Other guys gravitated to alcohol, he said. "I gravitated to opioids. All I wanted to do is be numb."
In May 2005, short on non-commissioned officers, the Army transferred Withrow to a different unit. But he didn't click with his new command and missed the soldiers he had deployed with. "We were like family," he said. His depression worsened and he started having difficulty waking. He began showing up at the ER with problems breathing from panic attacks. In August 2005, he was diagnosed with PTSD as well as depression and anxiety.
He was also late reporting to work on a number of occasions.
Instead of recommending him for mental health treatment, however, he was threatened with an Article 15 -- a demotion. "They said fix your issues, or we'll take your stripes," Withrow said.
At his request, the Army did switch him to a different battery for a fresh start in September 2005. But the second day with that unit, he woke late again. He said that the night before, he laid in bed and contemplated killing himself.
Distraught, he first tried to cut his wrists. He then tried to drive straight into a tree at full speed with his seat belt off. He swerved at the last possible moment, he said.
"I drove myself straight to the ER instead," he said.
He was admitted to the psychiatric ward and stayed four days before being discharged to full duty, with the understanding he would go through a two-week outpatient behavioral health program.
His commander picked him up from the hospital and offered him a chapter discharge "nice and quiet," but Withrow, who had put in nearly nine years, wasn't ready to give up the Army.
The scope of the problem
Estimates of the number of soldiers who suffer from PTSD and mental problems vary, but most experts agree that the nature of the fighting in Iraq sets up soldiers for psychological trauma.
According to Ritchie of the Surgeon General's Office, an estimated 15 to 17 percent of deployed soldiers experience PTSD and 23 percent experience other behavioral health problems. Others put the numbers higher.
According to a study published last month in the Archives of Internal Medicine, nearly one-third (31 percent) of 103,788 veterans who had served in Iraq and Afghanistan were diagnosed with mental health or psychosocial problems upon their return.
The Surgeon General's Office indicated about 11 percent of soldiers who have returned receive mental health diagnoses.
For Withrow, as his mental anguish grew, his problems with his commanders intensified.
"If I were his commander, I'd be frustrated with him as well," said Deweese, who has also worked as a prosecutor.
At the end of March, Withrow was informed he would deploy this week with the 4th Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division back to Iraq.
As part of predeployment screening, an Army psychiatrist specified his "symptoms are not stable" and indicated he should have "no access to weapons or ammunition, no exposure to combat situations, no exposure to casualties, and was not recommended for deployment."
The issue of whether to send him to Iraq for a court-martial is still pending.