After the Shooting Has Stopped
"If they hadn't pulled you off her, you would have choked her to death," says Martin.
"I probably, most likely would have," says Walsh.
Psychiatrists insist heavy drinking is not technically a symptom of PTSD and neither is violence. But with PTSD, whatever problems you had before the traumatic event will still be there after. Whatever diagnosis you put on Walsh's violent outburst, it was a particularly bitter twist to one man's efforts to ease the recovery of wounded soldiers coming home from Iraq.
Hal Koster hosts wounded veterans and their families at his steakhouse in downtown Washington every Friday night. It was at one of these dinners that Walsh attacked Gail. Hal Koster is Gail's father.
"I don't like people beating up my daughter," says Hal Koster. "I know a lotta guys with PTSD and they don't beat up people. They don't beat up wives and spouses and girlfriends and stuff like that . . .. Jarob's the only person I know that's ever done that, and that's why I don't think that's totally PTSD."
Koster knows about the stress of combat. He served two tours as a crew chief on a helicopter gunship in Vietnam and came home with his own case of PTSD.
"Do you see yourself or some of your buddies from your war in these kids?" asks Martin.
"Things haven't really changed. You go to combat, you have these feelings and these emotions and, when you step back and you get a few years older, you think, 'Well, no matter what the Army taught us, that was still a human being that we killed,'" says Hal Koster. "And you gotta think about that, long and hard."
The problem is most soldiers are dealing with it on their own. A recent study in the New England Journal of Medicine found that one in six soldiers who have seen combat in Iraq is suffering from PTSD, and up to 80 percent of them are not getting the treatment they need.
"If you go to get psychological help, you get a check in your little book that says you had some problem," says Hal Koster. "So a lotta times what happens is the guys try to deal with it themselves and that's not a good thing."
Are they afraid of being labeled "a head case?"
"Oh yeah. Don't have any use for 'head cases,'" says Hal Koster. "You know, it's the guys that have had physical injuries, don't have any real respect for the guys that are just 'head cases.'"
"The guys that have physical injuries think the guys that had, that are 'head cases' just what, are sissies? Just can't deal with it?" asks Martin.
"Yeah. Yeah. It's the same thing that's been there for year and years and years. There's always been that, that stigma," says Hal Koster.
Walsh does have a physical injury, but to him being shot in the foot doesn't seem heroic. "Getting hurt in that attack, I mean, just my foot is the only thing that stopped me from going back. It's a shame. It's something I was ashamed of," he says. "It feels like I ran away. I mean, it feels like I got hurt and then that was my chance to get away and that's what I did. It's not what happened but that's what it feels like."
When you look at Walsh, with all his problems, and consider that he almost killed his girlfriend, Gail, you might have the same question that Martin asked: "How do you go back to a guy after something like that?"
"I kind of explained, I kind of said, 'You know, I don't want you drinking anymore. I do want you to get the help that you need to deal with your issues,'" says Gail Koster.
"So you think maybe that was a turning point for him in facing his PTSD?" asks Martin.
"To some extent," says Gail Koster. "He said to me that he didn't, he didn't want to lose me, so he was gonna do what it would take to, keep me, to make me happy."
Then, a week after she said that, there was another fight. "He came in. He was just completely upset, just angry beyond angry and just vented," says Gail Koster. "Yelled, screamed, threw things. Broke things. … Most things were thrown at me. I have bumps and bruises on my head. I can feel them every time I brush my hair – or my eye. My lip was busted up. My nose. Bruises. Just sore and bruises all over."
"This is one very personal story which you're sharing with us," says Martin. "Why are you sharing it with us? Most people would tell us to butt out."
"I don't know. Part of me wants to tell you guys to butt out," says Gail Koster. "Don't make him look bad. He's not bad. I guess I'm still trying to get him help."
"You think there are a lotta people out there going through some of the same things that you're going through with him?" asks Martin.
"Uh-huh," says Gail Koster. "Maybe not to an extreme of getting beaten up, but yeah."
Last month, Walsh turned himself in to police on charges of second-degree assault. His trial is scheduled for June.
Copyright 2009 CBS. All rights reserved. "I probably, most likely would have," says Walsh.
Psychiatrists insist heavy drinking is not technically a symptom of PTSD and neither is violence. But with PTSD, whatever problems you had before the traumatic event will still be there after. Whatever diagnosis you put on Walsh's violent outburst, it was a particularly bitter twist to one man's efforts to ease the recovery of wounded soldiers coming home from Iraq.
Hal Koster hosts wounded veterans and their families at his steakhouse in downtown Washington every Friday night. It was at one of these dinners that Walsh attacked Gail. Hal Koster is Gail's father.
"I don't like people beating up my daughter," says Hal Koster. "I know a lotta guys with PTSD and they don't beat up people. They don't beat up wives and spouses and girlfriends and stuff like that . . .. Jarob's the only person I know that's ever done that, and that's why I don't think that's totally PTSD."
Koster knows about the stress of combat. He served two tours as a crew chief on a helicopter gunship in Vietnam and came home with his own case of PTSD.
"Do you see yourself or some of your buddies from your war in these kids?" asks Martin.
"Things haven't really changed. You go to combat, you have these feelings and these emotions and, when you step back and you get a few years older, you think, 'Well, no matter what the Army taught us, that was still a human being that we killed,'" says Hal Koster. "And you gotta think about that, long and hard."
The problem is most soldiers are dealing with it on their own. A recent study in the New England Journal of Medicine found that one in six soldiers who have seen combat in Iraq is suffering from PTSD, and up to 80 percent of them are not getting the treatment they need.
"If you go to get psychological help, you get a check in your little book that says you had some problem," says Hal Koster. "So a lotta times what happens is the guys try to deal with it themselves and that's not a good thing."
Are they afraid of being labeled "a head case?"
"Oh yeah. Don't have any use for 'head cases,'" says Hal Koster. "You know, it's the guys that have had physical injuries, don't have any real respect for the guys that are just 'head cases.'"
"The guys that have physical injuries think the guys that had, that are 'head cases' just what, are sissies? Just can't deal with it?" asks Martin.
"Yeah. Yeah. It's the same thing that's been there for year and years and years. There's always been that, that stigma," says Hal Koster.
Walsh does have a physical injury, but to him being shot in the foot doesn't seem heroic. "Getting hurt in that attack, I mean, just my foot is the only thing that stopped me from going back. It's a shame. It's something I was ashamed of," he says. "It feels like I ran away. I mean, it feels like I got hurt and then that was my chance to get away and that's what I did. It's not what happened but that's what it feels like."
When you look at Walsh, with all his problems, and consider that he almost killed his girlfriend, Gail, you might have the same question that Martin asked: "How do you go back to a guy after something like that?"
"I kind of explained, I kind of said, 'You know, I don't want you drinking anymore. I do want you to get the help that you need to deal with your issues,'" says Gail Koster.
"So you think maybe that was a turning point for him in facing his PTSD?" asks Martin.
"To some extent," says Gail Koster. "He said to me that he didn't, he didn't want to lose me, so he was gonna do what it would take to, keep me, to make me happy."
Then, a week after she said that, there was another fight. "He came in. He was just completely upset, just angry beyond angry and just vented," says Gail Koster. "Yelled, screamed, threw things. Broke things. … Most things were thrown at me. I have bumps and bruises on my head. I can feel them every time I brush my hair – or my eye. My lip was busted up. My nose. Bruises. Just sore and bruises all over."
"This is one very personal story which you're sharing with us," says Martin. "Why are you sharing it with us? Most people would tell us to butt out."
"I don't know. Part of me wants to tell you guys to butt out," says Gail Koster. "Don't make him look bad. He's not bad. I guess I'm still trying to get him help."
"You think there are a lotta people out there going through some of the same things that you're going through with him?" asks Martin.
"Uh-huh," says Gail Koster. "Maybe not to an extreme of getting beaten up, but yeah."
Last month, Walsh turned himself in to police on charges of second-degree assault. His trial is scheduled for June.
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