'Treatment Court' Sought for Vets

LA CROSSE, Wis. -- His uncharacteristic behavior started with personal isolation that soon escalated to drunken driving and armed robbery.

Post-traumatic stress disorder after a tour in Iraq in late 2004 had festered inside the young war veteran, undiagnosed, his family unaware. "We had no idea at that time what PTSD even was," said the soldier's Coon Valley father, who asked to remain anonymous.

His son, a former U.S. Army Calvary Scout, eventually was admitted to the Tomah VA Hospital and returned home in January 2006.

So did his PTSD.

Kitchen knives and aluminum foil began to vanish. He reeked of crack or methamphetamine.

"He looked terrible. He wouldn't talk," his father said. "That's when I thought I would find him dead."

He left home and stopped reporting to his probation officer. His mother immediately thought of him when she heard about a 2008 armed robbery at a North Side La Crosse tavern.

"I never thought in a million years I would do something like this," the soldier later would tell the judge at sentencing.

He left the courtroom with 10 years of probation and an order to report back to the VA Hospital. While he's not expected to return home for at least six months, the punishment was in stark contrast to his co-defendants' 10-year prison terms.

"The kid got a gift," his father said.

The soldier's father now is a strong advocate for developing a local veterans treatment court, a concept being explored by a 20-member commission of local and regional leaders, most with military background, and those who work with veterans.

The court would screen veterans facing criminal charges, guide them to treatment services for issues stemming from combat, such as PTSD and substance abuse, and require ongoing meetings with a judge, said La Crosse County Circuit Judge Todd Bjerke, who also has been a U.S. Army Reserve judge advocate since 1989 and a staff judge advocate for the 88th Regional Sustainment Command at Fort McCoy.

"The bottom line is that veterans who get into trouble should be given an extra assistance for what they've done for us," Bjerke said. "If you send them off to war and they come back damaged mentally or unable to keep sobriety, you shouldn't hold the fact that you sent them off to war against them."

Mark Huesmann, a 23-year Army Reserve member and major with a training brigade at Fort McCoy, said he has represented at least 30 veterans in his 15 years as a local attorney.

"With multiple deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan, we're seeing a significant increase in PTSD," he said.

"This is another tool in the toolbox to provide veterans an outlet for treatment," he said.

Those exploring a local program now are surveying to show need for such a court. About 3 percent of 316 inmates surveyed during a recent two weeks of criminal intake court were veterans, Bjerke said.

The treatment court would be open to all veterans with service-related issues and could be funded through grants. Bjerke envisions local military groups volunteering members as mentors.

New York's Erie County established the nation's first veterans treatment court in January 2008. It has 120 active participants and 12 graduates, none of whom have re-offended, said Henry Pirowski, coordinator of treatment courts.

Rock County on July 1 will become the first to institute the court in Wisconsin. At least three other counties are considering the concept, said Randy Kraft, spokesman for the state public defender's office.