Jeff Hanks, an Army Spc from Fort Campbell, Ky., about whom I wrote on this blog earlier this month, went Absent Without Leave (AWOL) last month during his mid-tour leave from Afghanistan in an attempt to get help for the post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) he's had since his 2008 deployment to Iraq.
Hanks, who has seen combat in both Iraq and Afghanistan with the 101st Airborne Division, made national news when on Veterans Day he turned himself in and told the nation and the military why he left: because he was not getting the mental health care he says he needs.
James Gilbert, an old friend of Hanks' and a blogger for the Yuma Sun, writes:
