Wounded Warrior Battalions Not Stemming Flow Of Marines Facing Involuntary Discharge

Speaker 1: 00:00 More than a decade ago, the Marine Corps established wounded warrior battalions for Marines, with the worst mental and physical injuries. But those battalions aren't addressing one of those troops, most common issues that Marines who were suicidal or suffer PTSD are still being discharged for misconduct, KPBS, military reporters. Steve Walsh has the story. Speaker 2: 00:24 Staff Sergeant Romeo pack Torres Jr. Has multiple combat tours starting in Iraq in 2004 and later in Helmand province in Afghanistan, when his outpost was attacked from the nearby village, Speaker 3: 00:36 Getting a tagged and firefights. And so when I got back, I noticed that was not the same. Speaker 2: 00:43 A few years later, as an instructor, he remembers saving a Marine's life. He says a young Marine threw a live grenade and it bounced back landing in between them. The Marine froze and Peck Torres dove on top of him, Speaker 3: 00:57 Everything is slow motion. You know, by the time I grabbed that Marine, I really thought I was going to lose my leg. Speaker 2: 01:04 It's also where he received a traumatic brain injury. Speaker 3: 01:07 I started getting headaches really busy. Yeah. Speaker 2: 01:10 Taurus is 18 year career. As a Marine came to an abrupt end after a DUI in Okinawa hearing voices, he was hospitalized for suicidal thoughts and flown back to the Naval hospital in San Diego. He spoke from a wounded warrior battalion at camp Pendleton, as he was fighting to stop the Marine Corps from kicking him out of the service. Speaker 3: 01:31 I feel like, you know, they're just going to try to put me in the streets with no help. After all the years of service that I did, Speaker 2: 01:38 Two for Goldsmith says, it's a common story. It happened to him. Speaker 4: 01:42 I was kicked out of the army in 2007 after surviving a suicide attempt. Um, and this is the type of thing that is all too common. Speaker 2: 01:51 Goldsmith has gone on to form higher ground where he advocates for changing the law so that fewer troops get discharged for misconduct in the first place, which affects their veterans benefits. He says it's still happening as often as it does because it's too easy for commanders to separate service members. Speaker 4: 02:10 There's no accountability. Officers can, you know, discharge people and ruin their lives by stripping people who, uh, are suffering from PTSD, from access to healthcare. And that officer just gets to move on with their life. Uh, while someone, you know, may end up suicidal may end up dead a few years later Speaker 2: 02:32 At camp Pendleton's wounded warrior battalion, where pic Taurus was assigned the commander won't address, individuals cases, Lieutenant Colonel Bryan Heisman says most of the Marines who end up here are on their way out of the Corps. Many voluntarily. Speaker 3: 02:48 My focus is to ensure that their medical treatment is coordinated. And that's really where that begins in that ends. We are aware of legal issues, but really our focus is on the Speaker 1: 03:00 Medical side. Speaker 2: 03:01 Heisman is a former infantry officer without a medical background. Wounded warrior battalions are Marine units, not medical units. They coordinate treatment and connect with the VA benefits system. For those Marines being discharged because of illness or injury. It was [inaudible] commander back in Okinawa who wanted him to be involuntarily discharged for misconduct, even though he's undergoing treatment at the 11th hour, Peck Taurus hired a private attorney, Jay Sullivan to try to stop him from being discharged. Speaker 5: 03:33 If someone doesn't save him, I believe he will die. And he cannot do this alone. He needs help. He needs a lot of help cause the disorders that he has are permanent and he will be struggling for the rest of his life. Speaker 2: 03:45 Chorus says it's more than a potential loss of benefits. It's a sense of abandonment, Speaker 5: 03:50 My, uh, interview with, uh, SAR major and a Lieutenant Corona. You know, I was just, I couldn't control my emotions. Uh, so I just started breaking down and, you know, Speaker 2: 04:00 Days after this last interview, staff Sergeant Peck Torres texted that his involuntary discharge was final. He had to leave the wounded warrior battalion at camp Pendleton and head home to Texas, where he faces an uncertain future. Speaker 1: 04:15 Joining me as KPBS, military reporter, Steve Walsh, Steve, welcome. Hi Maureen. This is a really disturbing story. Is it the DUI that Peck Taurus got in Okinawa that is the basis for his discharge, Speaker 2: 04:31 Right? That, and there's another piece of misconduct that I won't even mention, but yeah, small things often the related to injuries that affect decision-making and impulse control like, like PTSD. So people get under stress, they relive past trauma and they start to self-medicate and that, you know, these are things that can go untreated for years, especially if you're a Marine and you don't want it to impact your career. Speaker 1: 04:59 Doesn't the service see a link between the traumatic injuries suffered during his time in service and the drinking that caused the DUI. Speaker 2: 05:09 Well, they're supposed to there's even a 2016, uh, secretary of the Navy policy that is supposed to require extra consideration when a sailor or Marine is being discharged. Once they've been diagnosed with these types of injuries or mental health issues, advocates say that the services have actually found ways around that though. They determined that the PTSD didn't contribute to the conduct in [inaudible] case, his attorney says they administer what was really designed as a test to show whether someone is competent to stand trial though, eat also been diagnosed with a serious, uh, service related disorders, including traumatic brain injury and PTSD. Speaker 1: 05:50 Now, when a Marine is in voluntarily discharged, how does it affect their veterans benefits in all of ways, Speaker 2: 05:58 You know, and in voluntarily discharged, typically it typically comes with some sort of downgrade, a Peck Taurus, I believe is going to be a general under honorable condition. Now that highest is a, is an honorable discharge. So it does impact benefits. I'm also told that, you know, if you have a really good advocate, they can get around some of those restrictions. You know, if they really know the law, but it takes time and it's real expertise, especially in the area of VA benefits. So for someone who is struggling with mental health issues, they may not have all of those resources available to them. And it definitely impacts the employment. Like a future employer will see this discharge and the last questions it could affect whether or not you receive a security clearance going forward. So yeah, there are serious long-term consequences. Speaker 1: 06:46 Now it sounds as if there's not much recourse a service member has, if their commanding officer wants them discharged for misconduct, no appeals, right? Speaker 2: 06:56 Well, this is mostly a paperwork shuffle, so you're not going to have this, this large in-person hearing people think of you like a few good men and there's a big trial going on. That's typically not the way this happens with a discharge. You can appeal up the chain all the way up until the secretary of the Navy. Um, but it's complex. And it usually takes somebody who really knows the system to do that. And I'm told that it's, it's often not very, and especially in this case, it wasn't very effective. Speaker 1: 07:26 What are the Marines wounded warrior battalions for? Are they for injured Marines who are about to leave the service Speaker 2: 07:34 In part? Now, think back when these were formed back in 2006, what was going on? You had thousands of Marines filtering back from, from Iraq and Afghanistan was serious injuries. And each one of the services has some sort of analogous to a wounded warrior battalions. This is because people were, were falling through the cracks. Back in those days, they were being sent home to their home units where they really weren't getting proper treatment. Some were discharged shortly after their tours with little preparations, people fell through the crack. There were a number of suicides. It was a real mess. But so these battalions were, are set up to kind of coordinate somebody's medical treatment. They start the VA benefits process for people who are going to be separated out of the service. They can also provide guidance to commanders at other units on how to handle these cases. It's a place where people can go to rehab or at least have the rehab coordinated. So some people will stay in the service, even if they've gotten to a wounded warrior battalion, but though most of these people are on the way out. Speaker 1: 08:38 Steve, I don't want to let you go. Before I ask you about this forum, you have coming up on violent extremism among us military veterans. Tell us about it. Speaker 2: 08:48 This is kind of a followup to the two, um, zoom events that we did last year. Looking at extremism in the military. This is kind of a followup looking at the role veterans groups play in this. We know that we're seeing extremist activity in the military itself, and that at recently in a change to the Biden administration, we're seeing the military taking more serious action against that. The veterans groups are kind of in the same boat though. There we're finding out there are very few resources set aside for veterans, you know, to help maybe pull them out of some of these groups. And we're seeing even fewer resources from the VA though. I'm thinking that that's going to be changing over the next year or so. So we're going to talk to advocates that, uh, looking at, um, uh, how to maybe talk to your relative. If they've been kind of pulled into one of these groups, we're going to talk to veterans village of San Diego on some practical advice on working with people in this area, as well as just kind of get a sense of just things like Q Anon and oath keepers, you know, just to give people a sense of just what's out there. And quite frankly, it's a little bit frightening. Speaker 1: 09:54 Okay. I've been speaking with KPBS, military reporter, Steve Walsh. Steve. Thank you. Thanks Maureen. The virtual forum on violent extremism among us veterans takes place tomorrow night at six.