AWOL Soldier Ordered Back to Afghanistan

CLARKSVILLE, Tenn. - A Kentucky soldier who went AWOL after he said the military wasn't treating his mental health issues has been ordered to deploy to finish his tour in Afghanistan.

Spc. Jeff Hanks, who turned himself in on Veterans Day, said his command has ordered him to return to Afghanistan immediately.

The Fort Campbell-based soldier told The Associated Press on Friday that he will not disobey the order, although he still feels like his issues have not been adequately treated.

The 30-year-old Army infantryman went AWOL during his mid-tour leave last year but turned himself in on Veterans Day.

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Since returning to the post on the Tennessee-Kentucky state line, he said he has been given medications to treat his headaches and nightmares and has been told to seek counseling in Afghanistan.

In November Hanks told CBS News chief investigative correspondent Armen Keteyian that he came back home from a deployment in Afghanistan angry and panicked, a stranger to his wife and two young girls.

Hanks got evaluations from three civilian therapists who all recommended he get tested for post-traumatic stress disorder, or PTSD, with one doctor stating his "current functioning is clearly severely impaired."

Hanks said he asked the military for help. Instead, he claims, a superior officer at Fort Campbell ordered him back to Afghanistan, just days before he was set to get a mental health exam.

So Hanks walked away - going away without official leave, or AWOL.

"I felt like I had no other choice," Hanks said.

[mnbrant]

Well the Army takes a dim view of AWOL. He should do what they tell him to do which is report back and go to counseling. He is of course free to tell them to stick it and get treatment back in the states if he wants. I doubt that the Army is going to drag him out of some psych ward and drop him back into his unit. There probably would be repercussions though. Sounds like he want to do the right thing and go back to his unit since he reported so this really is a non story.

[jsf14]

Wasn't there an article last week or the week before about a soldier with a similar history who came back and went on a rampage? This one seems to want treatment for his mental health problems, not return to his unit.

[mnbrant]

If he doesnt look like he can do missions they aren't going to send him on missions. The thing is he needs to be with his unit. They are making this guy look like he is some basket case in the national media which makes me feel bad for this guy. There are probably alot of people with problems having to fight in afganistan. I guess I would tell him to suck it up but get it all documented so he can get his service connected disability.

[kastner64]

This looks like pure chicanery. He should be allowed to get treatment. As a sergeant he is responsible for people under him, and for this responsibility he should be fully healthy.

[itsourmoney]

It would be safer for him and his unit to allow this soldier to get the treatment he needs. He can finish his obligations in the Army when he gets the health issues resolved...After all, it is costly to train soldiers and I'm sure that's a factor here. Besides, what unit or fellow soldier would want to put his life in the hands of someone mentally not there or who could have a melt down? When people are desparately not wanting to be in a what they preceive as an unacceptable situation they will do crazy stuff. Didn't we learn anything from the Ft Hood incident?

[cockroachcrusher]

They, the Army, is asking for trouble. We're not all the same. He should not be sent to be with other soldiers where he might be a danger to himself and others. I hope there's enough stink about this that he is not deployed. Man, the soldiers there have enough to worry about without one of their own not sure he can handle being there.

[cockroachcrusher]

Correction: The Army is asking for trouble.

[PR_in_Alabama]

Can someone tell me, how much this PTSD syndrome is going to cost US? we know by now the military sales (market) did no good to the economy and half of it can't be sold oversees and it just made a few rich guys richer.

[cloca718]

If he has PTSD, it shouldn't matter how much it cost. What matters is that he gets the proper help !

[samXXkiley]

coucou,

pauvre jeune homme,
d?serter de son poste est interdit, cela dit je comprend le jeune homme, qui voudrait vivre en enfer. rien qu'a voir son visage, il a l'air s?rieusement atteint et fatigu?.
*********

poor boy
deserting his post is prohibited, it said I understand the young man who wants to live in hell. Just seeing his face, he looks tired and seriously affected. au revoir

[liberalme]

Where does it say he wants to live in hell?

His need is to not have to go back to hell, a fruitless war where the US is supposed to "win" something.

[Tarzan98]

Just go on back to Afghanistan and get slaughtered in a worthless, war. Look at it on the bright side, we're supporting Karzai and his brothers' multi-million dollar heroin business. You war hogs are phogged up idiots. And yes I've already done my time over there.

[Calendular]

I certainly do not want to see wars occur, but history suggests that some wars are perhaps unavoidable. If the war is not fought overseas (and sometimes even when it is) the violence reaches the home country's shores. Consider that even now, a lot of saber rattling occurs every day in some countries (whose rhetoric is not being attacked in the media with much furor either). Since it takes at least two to fight it also requires at least two to make peace-- the sad history of the appeasement of Adolf Hitler by so many European nations still haunts us, but it did happen and World War II demonstrates the evils which human beings can perpetrate upon one another.

[Calendular]

AvignonMimi, I do not believe the USA exports "war". Afghanistan had a history of warfare for at least 15 years before the US responded following the attack launched against the innocents in the World Trade Center in New York, the Pentagon and on board several commercial flights. That violence and the terror training camps under Taliban auspices largely triggered the war in Afghanistan, not the US. Is it better for nations around the world to sit back and allow terrorists to train to attack their civilians unhindered?

[sensiblysane]

So he left all of those in his unit who are also traumatized by war to put their lives at risk while he ran like a coward and hid? You bet he should be sent back. When he joined, he knew he could be sent to war and that it is a terrible thing to deal with. He made a commitment and should be forced to honor it. Oh, but this coward has no honor. As far as women in war zones, I would have given my own life as a woman in the military 30 years ago if necessary and am angered they didn't let us make that choice.

[bigmalmd]

So,Mimi,when are you signing up?

[bigmalmd]

So,Mimi,when are you signing up?

[jsf14]

Uh, there have been women in the US infantry for some time. Perhaps you mean "in combat."