SUPPORT THE TROOPS? Vietnam Vet With PTSD Is FIRST Execution of 2015

[kpete]

A VIETNAM VETERAN WITH PTSD IS THE FIRST US EXECUTION OF 2015

JACKSON, Georgia – In the first execution carried out in the US in 2015, last night Georgia put to death a decorated Vietnam War veteran who had been diagnosed with severe mental illness before he killed a deputy sheriff after a traffic stop in 1998.

.........

Brannan was honorably discharged in 1971. He received the Bronze Star and two Army Commendation medals for his service.

But as he returned to civilian life, deep psychological and personal problems emerged in Brannan’s life. His lawyer said he could not hold down a job and his marriage fell apart. One of Brannan’s brothers was killed in active duty and another committed suicide. In 1984, he was granted partial disability for service-connected Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). By 1991, the Department of Veterans Affairs determined Brannan to be 100 percent disabled due to PTSD, a severe diagnosis that means one’s symptoms show “total occupation and social impairment.”

.........

By the time he was pulled over by Deputy Dinkheller, Brannan was living in a structure he had built in the woods near Dublin, Georgia. It had no running water or electricity. A doctor who examined Brannan would later write that the veteran “was living a marginal, fearful life, living in a primitive homemade shack reminiscent of a bunker in Vietnam.”



MUCH MORE:
https://firstlook.org/theintercept/2015/01/14/vietnam-veteran-ptsd-first-us-execution-2015/

[Autumn]

1. Trained to kill. When he does, they kill him.

Tragic.

[brer cat]

2. "What does putting a man like Andrew Branna to death say

to my generation of veterans? To me, it says that this country can exploit our youth to its gain and then, when it comes time, this country, and the State of Georgia, will discard you like yesterday’s forgotten garbage,” Sion New, a veteran of the Iraq and the Afghanistan wars and law student at Emory University, wrote to the state’s Board of Pardons and Paroles.

Too true.

[abelenkpe]

3. Why do we treat people with mental illness so horribly?

Why was no one caring for him? Looking out for him? If he had no relatives the state should have stepped in and helped. He was a decorated veteran. So sad.

[jwirr]

4. Because it is a invisible disease that we do not understand and are afraid of. And we are too damned

lazy to learn.

[YarnAddict]

5. Because

involuntary commitment is largely a thing of the past. Unless it could be proven that he was a danger to himself or others, he was on his own.

[abelenkpe]

12. Wasn't thinking of involuntary commitment

More like AmeriCorps

http://www.nationalservice.gov/blogs/2013-06-21/new-americorps-grants-strengthen-commitment-veterans

[YarnAddict]

14. That's a great idea,

but if someone isn't willing (or able) to reach out and seek help, you simply can't force them.

[The River]

9. We Look Out for Each Other

If you haven't been through it, you'll never understand it, or us.

We understand you just fine. Sometimes we wish we could fit in
but we never will....despite your best efforts to help us adjust to
your world. We try to blend in by mirroring the behavior we see around
around us. It's a social camouflage we wear to hide in plain sight. The
only time we can be who we are is in the company of other wounded Vets.

There is a very positive "up" side to PTSD. It is the source of our pain
but it is also the source of great strength if you know what to look for
and how to use it to your advantage.

I'm working on an essay (that's rapidly becoming a book) on how to
use the positive elements of PTSD to thrive. A classic example of
making Lemonade out of an otherwise bitter fruit. Life will never be
"normal" again, but it can be better than you can imagine.

[abelenkpe]

13. I will never understand but truly

Wish you the best. Hope to read your book one day!

[niyad]

6. how utterly unspeakable. but then, the pukes in congress just voted to cut disabilit insurance

for millions, including a million vets.

[kelliekat44]

7. Please see my OP on the MLK speech...it is more pertinent to your OP than ever.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/10026097221

"At this point I should make it clear that while I have tried in these last few minutes to give a voice to the voiceless in Vietnam and to understand the arguments of those who are called "enemy," I am as deeply concerned about our own troops there as anything else. For it occurs to me that what we are submitting them to in Vietnam is not simply the brutalizing process that goes on in any war where armies face each other and seek to destroy. We are adding cynicism to the process of death, for they must know after a short period there that none of the things we claim to be fighting for are really involved. Before long they must know that their government has sent them into a struggle among Vietnamese, and the more sophisticated surely realize that we are on the side of the wealthy, and the secure, while we create a hell for the poor."

[Stephen Retired]

8. Hanging my head in frustrated rage

[SomethingFishy]

10. Worst thing is we still don't "support the troops"

Every time I see a Wounded Warrior Project ad on TV I get furious. We have money for tanks and planes and drones and bombs but Veterans need a charity to help them when they come home?

Our priorities are so fucked up...

[BrotherIvan]

16. +1

We obviously can't afford to make more veterans.

[99Forever]

11. Sad and tragic, on every level. n/t

[KingCharlemagne]

15. The depths of barbarity to which this country can and will sink never

cease to amaze and dismay me.

RIP soldier!