Maybe all soldiers need to go AWOL for mental health reasons?

I don't know the motivations or mental state of this 30 year old Ft. Campbell soldier but he may be on to something.

Refusing to re-deploy to Afghanistan and checking himself into a mental health treatment program is the best thing this young man can do for himself, his wife and two kids. He needs a little gentle deprogramming if he hasn't done that himself already. He deserves a chance to live as normal a life as possible.

After all, he was manipulated into 'volunteering.' His training included a form of mind control. Who knows what he saw and learned and physically encountered in his first tour of Afghanistan? Maybe he found out that everything he knew was wrong and wants no more of the lies? Maybe he just needs a little help in separating himself from the madness?


There was a time when we called AWOL "another week of life."  It's still the same today. Refusing to deploy or better yet not volunteering ... it's he healthiest thing a young man or woman can do.

"I'm taking off my grave clothes and walking away."

 

              "War will cease when men refuse to fight."
                                -Fridtjof Hansen

FT. CAMPBELL, Tenn. – The wife of a formerly AWOL Ft. Campbell soldier who was scheduled to deploy to Afghanistan said her husband has entered a mental health treatment program instead.

Spc. Jeff Hanks went AWOL during his mid-tour leave from Afghanistan last year and turned himself in on Veterans Day.

The 30-year-old soldier complained about the lack of treatment by the Army for his behavioral health issues he said stemmed from previous deployments and a concussion suffered in Afghanistan.

His command ordered him to return to Afghanistan to finish out his deployment, but his wife Christina Hanks said Tuesday that he is now staying at Cumberland Hall, a residential treatment program in Hopkinsville, Kentucky.

Ft. Campbell spokesman Rick Rzepka confirmed Hanks will not deploy immediately, but would not discuss his case due to privacy rules.

Hanks' case has been taken up by supporters from the group Iraq Veterans Against the War, who were with Hanks during a press conference outside the installation's gates last November when he turned himself in.