76,000 soldiers 'chaptered out' of veterans' benefits since 2006
Watch the full report on America Tonight, Monday at 9 p.m. ET
Jerrald Jensen joined the Army when he was 34 – much older than the average recruit. He was called to duty, his wife says, by the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, 2001.
In 2006, he deployed to Iraq, where he was the driver for a commander in his unit. By all accounts, he was an exemplary soldier.
In the fall of 2007, his patrol was attacked, and an explosive blew off part of his face and pierced his body with shrapnel. Jensen still managed to drive away from the attack, saving his commander, before being shot in the arm and the back. That incident resulted in a Purple Heart.
Doctors had to rebuild his jaw with titanium. After two years and 16 surgeries, Jensen volunteered for a second combat tour, this time in Afghanistan. He was assigned to Bari Alai, a remote U.S. outpost that faced nearly daily attacks from the Taliban. Six months into his tour, he fell while running to a gun post and again broke his jaw.
Doctors did their best to patch him up, but half of Jensen's face was permanently numb, and he lost his remaining teeth. He felt he'd had enough. Soon, he was transferred to the Warrior Transition Unit, a special unit in Fort Carson, Colo., set up to help wounded active-duty soldiers heal and transition into civilian life.
Once there, Jensen told America Tonight that WTU commanders seemed bent on getting rid of him. He said they wrote him up for minor infractions, like showing up late to a medical appointment, or making an incomplete stop at a stop sign.
Then, on a routine urine test, Jensen came up positive for amphetamines. He had been prescribed the decongestant pseudoephedrine and narcotics for his injuries, which can cause a false positive, so he asked to be re-tested. Instead, WTU commanders told him they were kicking him out of the Army for what they called a pattern of misconduct.
Not only did the Army want to discharge him without benefits like unemployment or access to GI Bill money, said Jensen, they also wanted to give him a discharge that was other than "honorable." That would likely keep him from getting any benefits for the rest of his life.
"They looked at me and told me that I didn't deserve to wear the uniform now, nor did I ever deserve to wear it," Jensen told America Tonight. "And that I was a disgrace and I should be ashamed of myself for letting my family down and my wife, and everyone else."
Watch the full report on America Tonight, Monday at 9 p.m. ET
Jerrald Jensen joined the Army when he was 34 – much older than the average recruit. He was called to duty, his wife says, by the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, 2001.
In 2006, he deployed to Iraq, where he was the driver for a commander in his unit. By all accounts, he was an exemplary soldier.
In the fall of 2007, his patrol was attacked, and an explosive blew off part of his face and pierced his body with shrapnel. Jensen still managed to drive away from the attack, saving his commander, before being shot in the arm and the back. That incident resulted in a Purple Heart.
Doctors had to rebuild his jaw with titanium. After two years and 16 surgeries, Jensen volunteered for a second combat tour, this time in Afghanistan. He was assigned to Bari Alai, a remote U.S. outpost that faced nearly daily attacks from the Taliban. Six months into his tour, he fell while running to a gun post and again broke his jaw.
Doctors did their best to patch him up, but half of Jensen's face was permanently numb, and he lost his remaining teeth. He felt he'd had enough. Soon, he was transferred to the Warrior Transition Unit, a special unit in Fort Carson, Colo., set up to help wounded active-duty soldiers heal and transition into civilian life.
Once there, Jensen told America Tonight that WTU commanders seemed bent on getting rid of him. He said they wrote him up for minor infractions, like showing up late to a medical appointment, or making an incomplete stop at a stop sign.
Then, on a routine urine test, Jensen came up positive for amphetamines. He had been prescribed the decongestant pseudoephedrine and narcotics for his injuries, which can cause a false positive, so he asked to be re-tested. Instead, WTU commanders told him they were kicking him out of the Army for what they called a pattern of misconduct.
Not only did the Army want to discharge him without benefits like unemployment or access to GI Bill money, said Jensen, they also wanted to give him a discharge that was other than "honorable." That would likely keep him from getting any benefits for the rest of his life.
"They looked at me and told me that I didn't deserve to wear the uniform now, nor did I ever deserve to wear it," Jensen told America Tonight. "And that I was a disgrace and I should be ashamed of myself for letting my family down and my wife, and everyone else."
'Chaptered out'
Dave Philipps is a reporter at the Colorado Springs Gazette, located in Fort Carson’s hometown. He began to hear stories about soldiers like Jensen, and has spent months writing a series documenting numerous battle-damaged soldiers forced out of the military without benefits.
"If they kick out these soldiers in a way that they get anything other than honorable discharge, then they don’t automatically qualify for the VA [federal benefits for veterans]," Philipps said. "They get their education benefits taken away. They can’t even apply for unemployment. And so, they’re really left with nothing."
It’s called being "chaptered out." Soldiers may be discharged for reasons ranging anywhere from tardiness to substance abuse, and more serious crimes like assault. Many have been diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and some also have traumatic brain injuries (TBI), both of which can influence behavior and judgment.
Philipps said the number of soldiers getting kicked out for misconduct has gone up every year since the war in Iraq began. Since 2006, 76,000 soldiers have been chaptered out, Philipps calculates.
"If you just look at the army combat post where the most soldiers are, the post that might be most affected by PTSD, [there is a] 67-percent increase," he told America Tonight. "So it seems to suggest that a lot of the misconduct is being driven by these constant deployments."
A troubling pattern
Veteran advocates Robert Alvarez and Georg-Andreas Pogany said that Jensen's story is not uncommon. At Fort Carson, they've seen case after case of wounded combat veterans being pushed out.
"The moment you stop providing proper and appropriate and individually tailored treatment to an individual who is suffering from post traumatic stress disorder, traumatic brain injury, that person has a very high potential of developing behavioral problems," said Pogany, a former sergeant first class and a post-traumatic stress disorder diagnosis advocate.
Both Pogany and Alvarez said that medically discharging a wounded soldier can take up to 14 months, and a commander cannot get a replacement soldier fit and ready for combat until the process is complete.
"These people become a burden on these units. They are taking a valuable position. They can't replace them,” said Alvarez, a former Marine and a psychologist who works with wounded war veterans. “They will say they have a mechanism to replace them, but the fact is you can’t get in the WTU today. They’ve tightened it down so much, the parameters, that no one can get in.”
For Philipps, the math is simple.
"These commanders are stuck in this position where if they try to get them out medically, they are still stuck with them, maybe for a long time," he said. "If they decide to kick them out for misconduct instead, they could be out in weeks."
Commanders at Fort Carson declined an interview request, but gave a statement to America Tonight: “The Army does not and will never discharge soldiers to avoid providing the needed medical care and benefits. Standards of discipline and accountability apply to every soldier, whether assigned to a unit or to a warrior-care environment.”
Similar cases have been reported at combat bases across the country, from Hawaii to Texas to North Carolina, and not just in the Army.
Andrew Long was deployed to Afghanistan soon after he joined the Air Force when he was 19. When his Humvee ran over an improvised explosive device, he was knocked unconscious. Upon his return to the U.S., he was diagnosed with both PTSD and TBI.
He was awarded the Purple Heart and named Airman of the Year, but privately, his life was falling apart.
"I was drinking pretty heavily. I knew that there were things going on that could probably be looked into as far as the mental aspects of the effects of the deployment," he told America Tonight.
Less than six months back from deployment, Long was involved in an accident while driving under the influence of alcohol and an altercation at a bar near his base. He enrolled in the military’s substance abuse program.
Military medical staff argued on his behalf, but he said his commanders refused to connect his misconduct with combat-related injuries.
In July, Long was discharged from the Air Force, losing access to benefits like the GI Bill and unemployment insurance. His discharge form cites misconduct and drug abuse.
"There was no drug abuse involved. I never came up hot on a piss test or abused any type of medications. And that’s what you associate with drug abuse,” Long told America Tonight. “And when an employer or an agency that helps veterans reads this, they now look at me in a different light.”
An insider speaks
America Tonight spoke with an insider from U.S. Army Medical Command, who confirmed that some wounded soldiers are being targeted for misconduct discharges in order to get them out of service more quickly. He asked us to protect his identity out of fear of retaliation.
"The soldier, they may be a combat veteran. They're not as sharp as they used to be. They want to get rid of them. The easiest way is chapter," he told America Tonight. "So if they have someone they don't like, they target him. They set up a couple formations in a false place for that individual and they make the plan that that individual is going to show up there, and when they don't show up in the right place, we're going to write them up. They'll see a soldier that is on edge. They'll push them, to get them to lash out."
Because they are discharged without benefits, a majority of them become homeless if they don't have family, he said. "I've seen soldiers actually taken out to the front gate, with all their possessions and sat down. They don't have a car. They don't have a family. And so they're out there with a flat screen TV, sitting in the grass."
Philipps argues the problem isn't part of a deliberate policy, but the result of a dysfunctional policy.
"The medical discharge system is so clogged, because it leaves commanding officers stuck with soldiers who can’t do their jobs,” he said. “It creates an incentive at a ground level to get these guys out in another way."
Still waiting
Long continues to wait while he appeals his discharge. He has moved back to his parents’ house in Oregon.
Jensen's story ends better than most. Weeks before he was to be pushed out of the Army, a general who had met and been impressed by his service, intervened on Jensen’s behalf.
"She called up Fort Carson and said, 'Knock it off. Let this guy off medically in the way that he’s earned.' And they did," Philipps said. "But the statistics show that lots of other injured guys like him didn't have anyone to call and they were just kicked out."
Today, Jensen lives a short drive from Fort Carson. His health has deteriorated, and he’s still waiting for the Department of Veterans Affairs to approve an operation that would give him some teeth.
"These are service members. These are war fighters. This is a volunteer army," the Army Medical Command insider told America tonight. "That should mean a lot."
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