PTSD Marine Kills Brother, Self

The Troubled Marine Had Met With President Bush Just Weeks Before Driving To The Grand Canyon To Commit Suicide

(AP)  Last month, Marine Staff Sgt. Travis N. "T-Bo" Twiggs went to the White House with a group of Iraq war veterans called the Wounded Warriors Regiment and met President George W. Bush.

Twiggs had been through four tours in Iraq, one in Afghanistan and months of therapy for post-traumatic stress disorder in which he said he was on up to 12 different medications.

"He said, `Sir, I've served over there many times, and I would serve for you any time,' and he grabbed the president and gave him a big hug," said Kellee Twiggs, his widow.

About two weeks later, Travis Twiggs went absent without leave from his job in Quantico, Virginia.

He and his brother drove to the Grand Canyon, where their car was found hanging in a tree in what appeared to be a failed attempt to drive into the chasm.

The brothers carjacked a vehicle at the park Monday. Two days later they were at a southwestern Arizona border checkpoint, and took off when they were asked to pull into a secondary inspection area, Border Patrol spokesman Michael Bernacke said.

Eighty miles (130 kilometers) later, the car was on the Tohono O'odham reservation, its tires wrecked by spike strips.

As tribal police and Border Patrol agents closed in, Twiggs, 36, apparently fatally shot his 38-year-old brother, Willard J. "Will" Twiggs, then killed himself.

Pinal County Sheriff's spokesman Mike Minter said no motive has been established. But Kellee Twiggs said the decorated Marine would still be alive if the military had given him enough help.

"All this violent behavior, him killing his brother, that was not my husband. If the PTSD would have been handled in a correct manner, none of this would have happened," she said in a telephone interview from Stafford, Virginia.

Travis Twiggs, who enlisted in the Marine Corps in 1993 and held the combat action ribbon, wrote about his efforts to deal with post-traumatic stress disorder in the January issue of the Marine Corps Gazette.

The symptoms would disappear when he began each tour, he said, but came back stronger than ever when he came home.

He wrote that his life began to "spiral downward" after the tour in which two Marines from his platoon died.

"I cannot describe what a leader feels when he does not bring everyone home," he wrote. "To make matters even worse, I arrived at the welcome home site only to find that those two Marines' families were waiting to greet me as well. I remember thinking, 'Why are they here?"'

Weeks later, Twiggs "saw a physician's assistant who said that was the severest case of PTSD she'd seen in her life," his widow said.

He began receiving treatment, but the Marine wrote that he mixed his medications with alcohol and that his symptoms did not go away until he started his final tour in Iraq.

When he came home, "All of my symptoms were back, and now I was in the process of destroying my family," he wrote. "My only regrets are how I let my command down after they had put so much trust in me and how I let my family down by pushing them away."

Kellee Twiggs said her husband was "very, very different, angry, agitated, isolated and so forth," upon his return. "He was just doing crazy things."

She said her husband was treated in the psychiatric ward of Bethesda Naval Medical Center and then sent to a Veterans Administration facility for four months.

Most recently, Travis Twiggs was assigned to the Marine Corps Warfighting Laboratory at Quantico, a job he said helped him "get my life back on track."

"Every day is a better day now," he wrote in the Marine Corps Gazette. "... Looking back, I don't believe anyone is to blame for my craziness, but I do think we can do better."

Twiggs urged others suffering from similar problems to seek help. "PTSD is not a weakness. It is a normal reaction to a very violent situation," he wrote.

Kellee Twiggs said she cannot understand why her husband was not sent to a specialized PTSD clinic in New Jersey.

"They let him out. He was OK for a while and then it all started over again," she said.

A spokesman at Quantico, 1st Lt. Brian Donnelly, said the Corps is committed to providing full medical, psychological and social support to anyone with a combat-related injury, including PTSD.

"Our leaders are trained to be alert for signs of PTSD in their Marines and to provide a supportive climate in which Marines can feel comfortable seeking help," Donnelly said.

One lingering mystery in Twiggs' case is his older brother. Kellee Twiggs said she thinks the Louisiana man joined her husband in driving west "because T-Bo was hurting so bad and for so long that Will's life was a little in chaos."

"For them to both drive off into the Grand Canyon, they both apparently wanted to end their lives," she said.

Kellee Twiggs said "something needs to be fixed" in treating soldiers coming home from combat with PTSD.

"These boys and girls coming back, they need help, things need to be changed, and they don't need to be made to feel weak for asking for help," she said.

[lumtur]

another failed cry baby blue eyed group hug therapy experiment at Quantico''s Marine Corps Warfighting Laboratory. send the tribal police and Border Patrol agents and other social workers to iraq for three tours of duty.

vive le republique et terror and effectively export democracy.

www.mentaldisorder.com

[ranger1948]

nancy_naive
You are a very callous person. This man served his country honorably and obviously he had emotional problems from it.You should respect the fact this man served his country. You wouldn'' be here posting if not fo men like him.

[michael0004]

It is a stain on this nation''''''''s honor that the Department of Veterans Affairs has become a deadlier and more difficult adversary to the American veteran than any they have ever faced on a battlefield." --VNVets http://www.vnvets.blogspot.com/

[chanelle051]

These people watch their friends and family die! I couldn''t imagine. My uncles best friend died right next to him when he was in Vietnam. In one of his short stories he talked about his friend and hearing his last breath over the blood gurgle and he couldn''t do anything about it! This is hell on earth for some of the men and women over there! PLEASE BRING THEM HOME!

[chanelle051]

I hope that the care for our soldiers over there and back here is taken up a few notches. These people deserve the upmost respect and care from everyone walking on this earth, but instead when they get home they get nothing! My uncle was in vietnam and when my military dad asked him about it my uncle wouldn''t say a word because it was so traumatic. When he died my cousin found a journal of poems he wrote and describing his treatment when he got back was amazing. There were times he was mugged and beaten in NYC and slept in subway stations and on park benches. I was absolutely amazed! My best friend is in Bragg right now doing more training getting ready for his 3rd. tour and he''s only 20, matter of fact he celebrated his 20th birthday over there!!! He has definitely changed and not in a very good way! These people see and go through what we can''t even imagine!! The war changes everyone, especially the ones that are over there! I pray that these soldiers come back and hopefully can get there lives back!!! I hope this doesn''t happen anymore but knowing Bush and his you do for me but I don''t do for you attitude, there will be no better treatment for these men and women affected until Bush is out and hopefully our next president cares about our troops!!!

[ranger1948]

JohnCarl54
I am sorry to hear your story but would like to offer some advice. The VA is famous for denying disabilities. I went thru my DAV office. They are a fine organization and helped me to get my rating . When i was denied they called me and told me not to worry they were already writing the appeal. They got it for me.

[andrew_693]

the best way to thank a soldier for his/her service is not to say "thank you for your service" but instead get them out of this ridiculous unnecessary war. Nothing says "I don''t care about you" more than saying to their faces "thank you for your service" and than voting for the one that will send the poor soul back to the war. Now if you think the war is necessary than you should donate half your salary to pay for the ptsd treatment and volunteer everyday in the hospital so you understand what you voted for.

[johncarl54]

i was a fire team leader with the 101st airborne div
in vietnam. i have had two expert diagnosis that said i have ptsd. when i was 62 i finally filed a claim at veterans outpatient clinic at austin texas. their ptsd "specialist" named dr. denny denied that i had ptsd. he was never a member of any service. and he was rude and dominating. it was rumored that vietnam was not even on the back burner as far as the va was concerned. the system is now overwhelmed with the veterans from desert storm, afganistan and iraq. the scandels the in treatment of veterans is now appearant.

[lwc777]

This is a sad story in deed. The truth of the matter is that there are so many soldiers suffering from pstd that there are not enough counselors to handle them all effectively. While we can put the blame many places, it does not help anyone to do so. We must find comfort in knowing that the Bible states that God sets up one (promotion comes from God) King and puts down another; it is his decision who is in office and he knows far ahead of time what they will do. These are all signs of the times, and we are nearing the end. Just because life ends here, does not mean that a brand new chapter of the hereafter does not start. We must think about this, and be prepared to meet our maker at any given time. Consider all those in China a Myanmar that unexpected (at young ages) ended so abruptly. While many are not seeing any good come out of Iraq, our soldiers are not fighting in vain. They have democracy now, and their are hundreds and hundreds of thousands that now have freedom of religion and are becoming Christians. They have never had this opportunity of freedom before. While this may not matter to many, it matters to God, and his ways and thought are exceedingly higher than ours. There are thousands of Bibles being handed out as this article is being written. God bless our troops as they risk and (some) give their lives for a cause that is very important to God. - lwc777

[luvny-2009]

He began receiving treatment, but the Marine wrote that he mixed his medications with alcohol and that his symptoms did not go away until he started his final tour in Iraq.


Am I missing something here? Why did they send this poor guy BACK!