One month after being feted at the White House as a member of a group of veterans dubbed the "Wounded Warriors," Travis Twiggs took his brother on a wild ride in Arizona reminiscent of the tragic tale depicted in the classic 1991 movie.
The first indication of serious trouble surfaced when Travis, a Marine Staff Sgt. went AWOL from his duties at Quantico, Virginia. It is now known that he and his brother, "Will," drove to Arizona, where Travis, known as "T-Bo," evidently attempted to drive over the edge of the Grand Canyon, only to have his car get itself suspended in a tree.
Next, T-Bo and Will hijacked a car in the park and headed south towards the Mexican border. When directed to pull over at a checkpoint, however, they sped away, triggering an 80-mile chase that ended when spike strips shredded their tires in what is known as the Tohono O'odham Indian reservation.
As the police closed in around their vehicle, T-Bo fatally shot his brother and then killed himself, ending another sad chapter in the story of veterans afflicted with post traumatic stress disorder.
His widow, Kellee, was quoted in press reports as saying that her husband and his brother would still be alive if the military had only provided sufficient treatment for his condition.
In a telephone interview reported by the Associated Press, she said: "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."
T-Bo had served one tour in Afghanistan and four tours in Iraq.
Writing in the January edition of the Marine Corps Gazette, he said that his symptoms had gotten progressively worse after each tour. He was particularly troubled, he said, by the deaths of two Marines in his platoon and after that, his life began to "spiral downward."
T-Bo's widow feels her husband should have been treated at a specialized PTSD clinic in New Jersey. According to the AP, however, a Marine spokesman said: "the Corps is committed to providing full medical, psychological and social support to anyone with a combat-related injury, including PTSD."
One wonders if President Bush, traveling across the Middle East, is aware of the tragedy that unfolded in the life of this young man who had given him a bear hug, last month, and said, according to his widow, as printed by the AP: " Sir, I've served over there many times, and I would serve for you any time."
Meanwhile, since the truce was hammered out with the Sadrists, the climate seems to have turned somewhat safer for our troops in Iraq.
The Department of Defense, last week, released the obituaries of four military personnel killed in that country, ranging in age from 21 to 33. Two were killed by roadside bombs, including one female, Jessica Ellis, a 24-year-old Army corporal from Bend, Oregon.
According to the web site www.icasualties.org, U.S. deaths in Iraq now stand at 4,078.
The Department of Defense also released the obituaries of two soldiers killed in Afghanistan, ages 18 and 20.
Total U.S. deaths in Afghanistan were 432 as of May 10, according to the Pentagon.
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Sunday, May 18, 2008; B05
Last January, this feature carried an excerpt from an article in the Marine Corps Gazette by Marine Staff Sgt. Travis N. Twiggs, detailing his struggle with the post-traumatic stress disorder that resulted from one tour of duty in Afghanistan and three in Iraq. Twiggs pulled no punches about his "psychosis," writing that he acted out combat episodes in the halls of the Bethesda National Naval Medical Center. But it concluded on what I thought was a generous, upbeat note: "[T]he PTSD is not completely gone. There can be a helicopter passing by or a loud noise or even certain words and it will remind me of the past. It's just that now I know how to deal with it. . . . If you have any of these symptoms and you can't get help, you can always contact me, regardless of your rank. . . . My e-mail is travis.twiggs@usmc.mil, and I will help anyone in need."
We are a stong beautiful nation and the blood of that liberty tree planted in Boston centuries ago still needs to be watered, sometimes with our blood and tears.
Sad yes, but can we afford to stand around at the gravesite and wring our hands? Lets stand up and elect someone who has a prayer of changing at least our path. Turn this ship of state around, people. Now!!
Impeach Bush and Cheney for war crimes against our own troops, against military families (4 terms in 5 years is a crime, no treatment is a crime)
Get involved in the daily deliberations and oversight of our Senators and Representatives in their oversight of this administration NOW. Do not allow them to start another war or escalate either of these for the rest of their term.
Be informed by the voting records of the three candidates and choose wisely and then VOTE in November.
Stay informed and let those you elect know what you want them to do.
If Iraq had not been entered into on false pretenses, you would be correct, but make no mistake about it, it was entered into for money and oil and a fatally flawed neocon plan for Mideast domination, not terrorism. There were no Iraqis on those hijacked planes, and there was no Iraqi involvement, or WMDs, and they knew it ahead of time, as we know from the Downing Street memos, various other facts that have come to light since, and the PNAC statements, that was a sham, and yes, it lays firmly at the Shrub's feet. May Bush rest in hell when it's his turn, for all the misery he has wrought upon our country, Cheney too.
Dave, I do not mean to underplay the stresses of battle, I could
not if I tried. But I wonder what would happen if we could know
the fate of all people who thought about, or applied for the military
and joined and then compared them OR we could go into the
past of some of these people and get a glimpse of who they were.
We hear stories like this was so untypical of this person, but
the worst time to get or make an assessment of a person is
a time like that.
No one deserves this, the fact that we need a military is shame,
but it does not change the fact that we do, and I do agree that
we should provide more treatment ... the problem is that with the
human mind there is not a real treatment, they just try to help
people. Who knows if they can change anything that the person
cannot change on their own, but at least they are trying.
I suspect there are many unstable people in the military and
without that problems and I see Gather is crawling with articles
that focus in on some tragedy and try to make some overarching
point or just generate and big argument .. and this is not way
to discuss an issue fairly or productively.
The fact that you seem to harp on these stories to no conclusion
or resolution seems to me that you are exploiting these people.
You are just as much guilty of info-tainment as the news media.
It seems like if you have a point, make it in an article. If you have
more to say or you learn something new, write another article,
but the constant drone of the same old stuff that never goes anywhere
or does not seem to have a purpose does take a Toll after a while.
We get innured to it.
Anyway, I like your articles and do not mean to be negative, but it
is little wonder nothing ever changes when no real effort is made
to discuss everything focuses on controvery, and everyone just
talks over each other or slaps each other on the back.
Bruce, If the American people want to do somthing to stop Bush & Co. and to make our Congress stop to think they had their chance. They don't want it to change they just want to gripe.
If they wanted change, real change, they would have voted for DR. RON PAUL the only one who suggested change and said what would be changed.
My thoughts and prayers are with their family.
For those who live to tell their story, maybe some will say, "what was I thinking?" While others still believe it was for truth and justice and in defense of America and we ask ourselves, where is the truth? Unfortunetly at this point it is really hard to tell, what is the truth of this war.
My dad suffered from PTSD fromWWII until he died in 2005, and it wasn't until about 2 years before he died that we all realized that his "restless leg syndrome" was not that but the reliving of his war nightmare night after night after night.
To bruce, if you have a better idea, present it, so far you are just criticising ... when you are not promoting military action against Arabs everywhere.
Then when lied to all of their lives, our young boys are thrust into such realities of the brutality of war, their sense of self, the aspect beyond ego, that of their very Soul, intuitively objects and rejects ... but of course none have been told that that can even happen, it is just a "weakness", a sissified emotion that must be put down, be a "man" they are told, and "suck it up" ... "only the weak have mental problems" ... peer pressure clamps down the lid ... and that caries right over to civilian life ... but eventually, in too many cases, the emotional pressures of guilt and shame, just build up and explode ... as this article has pointed out.
This entire world NEEDs to take another look at itself and how it thinks and why ... it is way past time for us to transcend the old ego way of seeing everything in duality, of me against them, as "you are either with us or against us" (GWB) ...
There really is a generic God that offers us a third aspect, The SPIRIT of (=), to place into our current duality of (+/-) giving us the TRUE meaning of TRINITY (+=-) where the Spirit heals all divisions that the ego now insists upon ... (+=-)>(+/-).
The simple understanding of that, a paradox actually, will solve most all such problems in this world ... because it is the at the base of all human thought and subsequent actions ... Peace, j.
He suffered from PTSD all his life. For many years he had to spend one day each year locked up in the stockade or in jail as a reminder not to use reflexively his killing martial arts skills. Right up until he died 60 years later, he would get fits of trembling if he was near any fireworks on the 4th of July.
These veterans from Iraq will probably need help all their lives and we owe it to them to be sure that they get it.
This guy did three tours in Afghanistan and one in Iraq. NO WONDER HE'S KILLING HIS FAMILY, HIS FRIENDS AND HIMSELF!
The treatment~ or lack thereof ~ that was (or wasn't) being provided at Walter Reid is a humiliation to our veterans and an horrible disservice to the US citizens. Bush said he didn't know. Why the hell not! He's the g--damned President of the United States!
I'm a "Boomer" and since my birth, this is the second (or is it the third?) non-war WAR that the US has been involved in of which I have personal memories. I'd like to forget them. And how many thousands of our veterans on the streets would like to forget them, too?
"We are a stong beautiful nation and the blood of that liberty tree planted in Boston centuries ago still needs to be watered, sometimes with our blood and tears."
Mary Ann S., May 18, 2008, 3:58pm EDT
I disagree with you, Mary Ann, since 9/11/01 this "strong and beautiful nation" has sunken to an all-time low for respect by our world neighbors and (according to polls) by our own neighborhoods. George W. Bush and his band of idiots are the most hated men in America. If that "Liberty Tree" in Boston can only be kept in bloom by pouring the blood of our dead and wounded men and women, it's time to cut down the tree.
P.S. to Dave McGill ~ sorry, Dave, this just pisses me off.
Wait! I have an idea for a new story line, Dave. Why don't you present some data from an independent source that proves that veterans have a higher rate of mental illness that the general population. That would be real journalism, instead of your use of anecdotal information for propaganda purposes.
So far, you have only proved that you hate Bush and the military.
There is a phrase to describe people like T-Bo in the lexicon of warmongerers like Bush: cannon fodder.
If you're all so pissed-off at the "system", stop whining and elect a libertarian. If you think your saviors Hillary & Obama will wave their magic wand, you're deluded. They will have so many markers called in that nothing will be done for years. Of course, they'll just tell you, "Well! If Bush hadn't...." And you'll buy it.
I don't hate Bush but I certainly deplore his actions in this matter. And for anyone to say that a person who sees the errors of this so called war "hates the troops" is, at best, very short sighted, and at worst, simply disingenuous! They pull that gross misrepresentation out of a hat to attempt to denigrate the person to which they object.
The ones who seem to hate the US troops are Bush and Cheney. They are solely responsible for the dead in this war and for the stresses of serving multiple tours of duty in a non-ending military action. They alone should be held to account for this atrocity. The troops, on the other hand, have done a commendable job and should be thanked by the American public for their service to their country and for doing the best possible job in this unfortunate circumstance. Wanting them home and out of harm's way is scarcely hating them, it is closer to loving them!
I fully supported Bush in going into Afghanistan and attempting to get Osama. However, when Bush chose to cut and run from there so he could invade an oil bearing nation and avenge his daddy's death threat, he totally lost me. Now he no longer seems to feel that getting Osama is meaningful even though he swore to bring the perpetrators of the WTC destruction to justice. Saddam was his intended goal from the start and the American people were sold a false bill of goods in the matter. I believe that subsequent events have well established that this was an unnecessary war of choice.
It has always bothered me how our government treats the men and women that serve this country in the armed services.
The men and women while in battle don't always get the proper equipment that they need to properly be protected. Then when they get home God forbid that they require medical care. The Veterans hospitals are the dirtiest and most uncaring places in our country.
These hospitals have been bragged on but, why then don't the President and other high ranking officials use them instead of these high costing hospitals. If their good enough for our soldiers they should be good enough for political leaders!
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RIP Will. I will miss you.
He did not get the support he needed from the military and yet he would have defended the actions of the people in charge to the death. .. Go in peace Will. Go in peace T-bo.
This after FIVE combat tours . . . I think the whole POINT was that there was a mental issue and the comment he made to George "Mission Accomplished" Bush seem to add substance to the allegation that he had issues already. Service men have been idoctrinated to do as told and the Deserter-in-Chief using them for anything not 100% necessary for National Defense is disgusting. Whether they call it "Shell-Shock", "Battle Fatigue" or "Post Traumatic Stress Disorder", it is encumbent on the government that sacrifices these men to bear the responsibility for treating them . . . not dodge it.
Sorry for your loss Peggy . . .
Regards,
Doyle I <~~~~~
John P. I got news for you, laddie, this Chicken Hawk president wouldn't defend your life from any threat, no matter how small, unless there was something in it for him. You could die by the side of the road as far as he's concerned, I guarantee it.
Peggy - my heart goes out to the surviving brother.
...And even more amazing that some of these same people were indulging in the attacks made on John Kerry . . . a REAL war hero . . . Pathetic more than amazing, I think.
Regards,
Doyle I <~~~~~
With a 28% approval rating that's really saying something.
I don't wonder.....I KNOW that he is not aware of this tragedy, nor does he even care.
LoL! Supply and Demand . . . with the enormous SUPPLY, the price has to go down . . .
Don't feel bad . . . Bush lovin' is gettin' expensive due to the dwindling supply . . . just cost you your ethics, anything resembling intelligence and your humanity.
But, for a limited time only, you can also get a free gift! That's right! Order your "Bush Lovin' by the Dozen" package of pre-printed responses to EVERY question and get a free yellow streak tattoo guaranteed to fit every back! Also, a free pre-recorded message from a McBush sound-a-like and a bumper sticker running down a random Democrat for no reason whatever. Order now . . . supplies are limited until Jan. 20th, 2009.
Regards,
Doyle I <~~~~~
To suggest this Marine had no help, or treatment from the VA is simply self serving, emotionalism on the part of his wife and family.
Twiggs sees a physician's assistant and is prescribed two medications. "I was mixing the medications with alcohol every night." something I don't think you can blame on the Marines-- I have no doubt the doctors told him "no booze."
Twiggs goes to Iraq again and then returns, once more with PTSD. "All of my symptoms were back and now I was in the process of destroying my family. …I did not understand what was happening to me. My situation worsened, if you can believe that. I started neglecting my work, and my answer for everything was alcohol."( I don't think you can really blame anyone but Twiggs himself here, either)
He ends up at Bethesda Naval Medical Center in a locked ward. "I was not exactly a model patient. (Again, is this anyone's fault but his??)
I was experiencing psychosis (a VERY big difference between "experiencing psychosis, rather than DIAGNOSED and was is he boozing somehow? )
Twiggs is sent to a VA facility for four months. ( four months and no care, no help???)
At one point while I was at the VA, I was (on) up to 12 different medications a day. I saw several doctors throughout all of this, and it seemed that each one had a different medicine. I often wondered if they talked with each other ( They don't have to talk to each other, that's what your medical history is for. I have 4-5 different types of doctors, all in various places around the city, but my entire record goes where I go.)
I was experiencing visual ad audible hallucinations that I firmly believe were a direct result of being overmedicated. (I wonder if he was boozing at this point in time.)
On any given day, I was sad, mad or depressed, I often felt that I was weak and not worthy of calling myself a Marine anymore. (Well, I've seen much the same words from a great deal of people posting to gather but I don't remember any Marines, and I'm sure they all don't have PTSD).
I slept covered in sweat every night and constantly shook uncontrollably."
Twiggs completes the PTSD treatment program ( he completes treatment but the Marines are to blame??? ---and stops taking most of the medications. (whose fault was this, eh ???)
He begins working for the Marine Corps Martial Arts Program. "Every day is a better day now. As my body and mind grow stronger….so does my spirit. I see everything so much differently now. Looking back, I don't believe anyone is to blame for my craziness, but I do think we can do better. We have got to make our Marine and sailors more aware of PTSD before they end up like me and others."
Ironic, given how his days on earth ended. He feels better, he has more mental clarity and apparently a new found respect for religion.
I really don't think you can blame this on anyone but Twiggs--- mostly because 1000s of Marines, soldiers, seamen, and airmen are NEVER diagnosed with PTSD --- why do some break, and others not???
Some of the people declaring "PTSD" should be looking in the mirror more closely, and try to see the dead faces of his "buddies," as ghosts stading behind him with contempt and say, "grow up buddy, shit happens, you're a Marine, stand tall. Does our death mean so little to you, you'd rather whine and cry about how hard it all was, or do you want to stand tall, LIKE A GOOD MARINE, and quit blaming others for your own lack of courage and integrity."
I ask again, where's Patton's glove when you need them.
OOH-RAH! ! !
"Ooh-rah comes from the places in our hearts that only Marines understand. It is achieved in sweat, nurtured with drill. It is raw determination and gut-wrenching courage in the face of adversity. It is a concern for fellow Marines embodied by selfless acts of heroism. It cannot be administrated. It is not planned and put into action. It cannot be manufactured. Ooh-rah must be purchased. Ooh-rah is Marine."
I applaud Travis Twiggs service. He is a real hero, no matter what has happened since his four tours in Iraq and one more in Afghanistan. I would merely like to point out, as I have done-- PTSD is now a catch all moniker often applied without any linkage whatsoever to battle duty, as so many more members of our military never have to endure such a "disorder."
I suspect Travis was a damn good soldier, but didn't learn how to turn off/ turn on the "kill switch."
When he was at home, he was lost without his buddies, and the "juice" or adrenaline offers, wasn't there either. Reality becomes a bore--- they might be feeling empty and alone.
As soon as he got his orders to go back to Iraq however, he was happy again-- looking forward to PURPOSE once again.
What drives any man to go to war?? The smart asses will tell you, "the old white men in congress"
What really drives our enlistees, is courage, integrity and the willingness to put your life on the line for your COUNTRY ! ! !
Most military people are looking for PURPOSE-- I guess Travis Twiggs was doing the same, and found his purpose, admirably in the combats he fought.
I'd like to know why his brother Will had to die, just because Travis never found the "purpose" he was looking for. Equally as bad, he never allowed Will to find his "purpose" either.
I'll chalk this one up to arrogance, not PTSD or anthing else. Suicide, by definition, is arrogance. Why someone, in the end, chooses to die by suicide is because they've made themselves more important than their duty, more important than battle.
I don't believe it is EVER correct to look for EXTERNAL reasons for what we do-- we should always look inwardly for motivation, rather than looking for something external to blame.
read again pal, he was getting up to 12 drugs a day and washing it down with booze.
When he was at home, he was lost without his buddies, and the "juice" or adrenaline offers, wasn't there either. Reality becomes a bore--- they might be feeling empty and alone. "
I cannot think of a better argument against war. Going to war does not take courage, it does not involve patriotism in its true form, it does not involve sanity in any sense. To rise above the desire to kill and the acceptance of being killed is the true definition of sanity and love of anything, including one's country. So sad that there are people who still think in this barbaric, callous, hateful way.
Darn, you fooled me with the first line, I thought you might decide to say something intellegent for a change *chuckle* I was wrong.
Going to war does not take courage, it does not involve patriotism in its true form, it does not involve sanity in any sense.
That's your emotional opinion, and that's fine-- but I'm pretty sure it's pretty important to maintain national defense, as it was ONE OF THE VERY FEW THINGS explicitly authorized by the Constitution, to the Federal government.
If the power to enact war is found in the Constitution, and it is, there is no logical basis to deny war or the various reasons why wars are fought. Throughout the history of time war has been with us, there is no logical means to suggest war will disappear any time soon.
Their is no "desire to kill" -- though they are properly trained and ready to fulfill whatever job the CiC places before them. There is nothing "barbaric or hatefull" about being trained for the job of defending their nation, nothing whatsoever
So sad there are so many touchy feely types burning incense, eating only "organic" food, but never in their hybrid car-- these people are so emotional, the delicate genius type, perceiving not how the world exists, but the way they think it SHOULD BE.
Joe old buddy, you've been around enough to know everyone has an answer for that, but here's mine---
I believe the liberation of Iraq began when Clinton signed regime change into law, and began an airborne war spanning the last years of his presidency. I believe Clinto did this in DIRECT response to the 1991 cease fire agreement being broken by Sad damn.
The "oil for food" scandals proved once and for all the UN is ineffectual and corrupt.
The logic of liberation was the only response remaining--- and I didn't even mention oil *chuckle*
Look at all of the hullaballou NOW, just wait, they might get their wish come true. One day we just might be FORCED to make sure oil in general, no matter where it is found, flow freely on the open market.
I KNOW that he is not aware of this tragedy, nor does he even care
*ROFL* what an IDIOTIC STATEMENT *ROFL* just HOW could Sheryl POSSIBLY "know" what bush knows or what he cares about *ROFL*
sheryl the mystic visionary reading minds *ROFL*
I wonder if she actually has visions that tell her this is "true" *ROFL*
Bush has by his own admission on many occasions stated that he keeps himself insulated from newspapers, news, and any type of information contrary to his own beliefs. He has never once visited the graves of soldiers who have died in the conflict he initiated. Another insulation. He has demanded that the media not broadcast coffins of soldiers being taken from planes returning home for burial. I do not have to be a mind reader to understand this man. By his own statements, he makes his heart known to those who listen.
All I know is that I lost two people who I cared about and thought about often, and they are no longer here, regardless of why or how they died.
You can all go screw yourselves.
All the great loudish wenches around the world think so too baby *ROFL* I would suggest "Russ M" is the emotional one, wouldn't you ???
You are a particularly vulgar and insulting person
why thank you sweetie *chuckle* I work hard for that attitude honey pie.
I guess responding to people who have different opinions from yours in such a manner makes you feel better about yourself.
dear heart, I couldn't care less what you think about your own opinion, much less what you think about mine. (chortle)
If we liberated Iraq - I am happy to be in a free country. It is hardly a liberated country. They are not even safe enough to send their children to school.
puhleeze......
Afghan people feel feel for them and their family
Mir
Jobs in Afghanistan