Nathan Keyes was arrested Aug. 13, 2008, and sentenced to three years in prison after pointing a pistol at a family and firing warning shots during a traffic altercation in Florida. Keyes spent eight years in the Army, including two combat tours in Iraq. He said he pulled his pistol — as he was conditioned to do in combat — because he felt threatened. “In the past couple years I’ve been in a similar situation where underestimation of threat was not an option,” Keyes said during his trial. Click here to watch a documentary film about Keyes’ arrest and struggles adjusting from war.
Veterans Behind Bars
More Iraq War veterans are landing in jail but most counties don’t track soldier inmates
by Stephen Stock, Liz Wagner, David Paredes, Felipe Escamilla and Jeremy Carroll
NBC Bay Area, Aug. 14, 2012
Suicides among soldiers and military veterans have reached epidemic proportions, with 154 suicides for active-duty troops in the first 155 days of 2012, according to the Pentagon.
The NBC Bay Area Investigative Unit has uncovered another growing problem among soldiers returning from war — the number of those returning soldiers ending up behind bars.
Watch interview with Judge Stephen Manley about the importance of the Veterans Treatment Court.
Experts say about one-third of returning military veterans battle mental illness and addiction. Many of them receive little help from the military, leaving them to fight their demons alone.
“I wanted to eat a bullet every single day,” said Marine infantryman and war veteran Anthony Hernandez of San Jose.
Every day since returning home from the Iraq War two years ago Hernandez fought the urge to kill himself. He says it was a battle more challenging than the two tours he spent dodging bullets in some of the hottest battlegrounds of Iraq.
Read the rest of this story, watch the video report, and learn more about resources available to veterans who commit crimes:
http://www.nbcbayarea.com/investigations/Veterans-Behind-Bars-166063656.html
Filed under: Resources Tagged: | Anthony Hernandez former Marine from San Jose, Duncan MacVicar, Judge Stephen Manley, Nathan Keyes, PTSD, Veterans Affairs, Veterans Incarceration, Veterans Suicide, Veterans Treatment Court
Reblogged this on Reclaim Our Republic and commented:
This is a serious problem that will not go away if it kept under the rug. We owe it to our Veterans to take care of them. They keep us free.
Thank you for posting this. This message needs to get out.
Exactly right, don’t ask and no one will discover how many of our injured warriors are serving time in jail, in mental hospitals, in isolation and in pain. It is essential that vet organizations and community coalitions address these issues. See my website that provides organization designs, programs and services for our returning warrriors and their families. They start with identifying them. http://jerryvestinjuredwarrior.com