NcDeuce
03-23-2004, 10:09 PM
War hero faces setbacks back home
FORT CAMPBELL, KY. -- In combat, Army Spc. Dwayne Turner was a hero. Back home from Iraq, his life has been in shambles.
Just last month the 101st Airborne Division soldier was honored with the prestigious Silver Star medal for saving at least two lives in combat. Today he is out of the Army, driving a borrowed car and sleeping at a friend's house.
The smile he beamed at the medal ceremony masked months of problems he says he had since returning home with battle wounds: a suicide attempt along with flashbacks and nightmares so bad he resorted to binge drinking to fall asleep.
"I kind of felt like I was blowing in the wind pretty much," said Turner, 23, of Indianapolis, who was an Army medic.
After going AWOL for two days and smoking marijuana while drunk, he said he got a general discharge from the Army rather than an honorable discharge.
That means he is not eligible for at least $40,000 in college funding he expected to receive. The Army also demoted him from specialist to private before his discharge.
The Army will not comment on the circumstances surrounding Turner's discharge because it is an administrative issue, said Master Sgt. Kelly Tyler, a public affairs officer at Fort Campbell, 50 miles north of Nashville.
Turner, who still walks with a limp, said his problems relate to his struggles back home after the war.
"They don't understand," he said. "They think you're pretty much supposed to be normal when you come back from war, and I don't understand that."
_____
Growing up, Turner loved watching physicians change people's lives on medical shows on television. At 18 he signed on to be an Army medic and became known as "Doc" to his Army buddies.
Last year, he deployed for major combat in Iraq with the 101st's 3rd Battalion, 502nd Infantry Regiment. He was in his element as he treated wounded American soldiers, prisoners of war and Iraqi civilians.
"I loved my job," Turner said. "I loved my guys."
Then, on April 13, he was with comrades in a crowded area south of Baghdad when assailants shot at the soldiers and threw grenades.
Turner treated 16 of the soldiers as the attack continued even though he had shrapnel wounds in both legs and was shot at least twice in the limbs.
"He is a bona fide hero. He saved two lives without question," Brig. Gen. Frank Helmick, who awarded Turner the Silver Star, the third highest award given for actions in combat, said to reporters at the February ceremony.
A beaming Turner was modest.
"I don't consider myself a hero at all," he said that day in the commanding general's office at Fort Campbell. "I just figured everybody was going to come home and nobody was going to die on my watch."
Solomon Abraham, 23, of St. Louis, who is out of the Army now but was in Iraq with Turner, said everyone was in awe of what Turner did and shocked about his injuries because he had always seemed so invincible.
"Words can not even explain how everybody felt," Abraham said. "And it was like shocking that would happen to Doc."
He came back to Fort Campbell without his comrades. Turner said after a couple weeks of hospital treatment, he felt guilty for leaving them behind. He also had flashbacks and anxiety. Eating at McDonald's, he would worry the restaurant would be robbed.
Turner said he sought mental health counseling offered by the Army, and psychiatrists diagnosed him with acute stress disorder and post traumatic stress. He was set to get out of the Army on a medical discharge, he said.
The Army would not comment on Turner's medical records, citing privacy.
Last summer, things got worse for Turner. His grandfather died and he was having problems with his ex-wife, who is the mother of his 2-year-old son.
Everything was too much to handle, and he stopped showing up for duty at Fort Campbell. He was declared AWOL from the Army, according to paperwork he provided.
"I wasn't planning on coming back," Turner said. "I thought I was gone for good."
Drinking one night, he contemplated suicide and cut his wrist. Changing his mind, he treated the wound himself. Embarrassed, he covered up the wound with gauze and hid it with his watch.
Drunk at a party, he said, he smoked a cigar that he said he did not know had the tobacco inside replaced with marijuana. But a friend persuaded him to go back to the Army.
"It wasn't me. I was always pretty honorable and things like that," Turner said. "I can't run away from my problems, I need to face it."
Given an Army drug test _ standard after a soldier goes AWOL _ he tested positive for marijuana.
He said he wishes now that things had turned out differently. But given his state of mind, he's not sure he would not go AWOL again in the same circumstances.
"I wasn't there. There was too much turmoil. I'm pretty sure with my state of mind if it happened all again the same way, I'd probably do the same thing over again," Turner said.
"It was all really just too much for one person to handle and come out OK all the time. Everybody has their breaking point."
_____
Barbara Turner of Indianapolis said the Army should have given her son an honorable discharge.
"He's a nice guy and I think he's getting a raw deal," Barbara Turner said. "He fought for other people and fought for a dream for his future. That was the only way for him to get the opportunity."
Tyler, the public affairs officer, said the Army weighs all aspects of a soldier's conduct when determining the type of discharge.
"The Army is responsible for a great number of things, but some of this has to come down to individual responsibility," Tyler said.
Turner said he has stopped the heavy drinking.
He has gotten a part-time job as an aide at Jennie Stuart Medical Center in Hopkinsville, 15 miles north of Fort Campbell, and he is hoping to soon begin taking classes at Austin Peay State University in Clarksville, Tenn.
He thinks he would like to be a psychiatrist, even though he has a long road ahead of him. After all he has been through, he said he now would like to help people with their own mental problems.
"I kind of understand," he said.
If you remember, just a few weeks ago...this man won the Silver Star for his actions in Iraq. Sad story...what do you guys think about the discharge?
FORT CAMPBELL, KY. -- In combat, Army Spc. Dwayne Turner was a hero. Back home from Iraq, his life has been in shambles.
Just last month the 101st Airborne Division soldier was honored with the prestigious Silver Star medal for saving at least two lives in combat. Today he is out of the Army, driving a borrowed car and sleeping at a friend's house.
The smile he beamed at the medal ceremony masked months of problems he says he had since returning home with battle wounds: a suicide attempt along with flashbacks and nightmares so bad he resorted to binge drinking to fall asleep.
"I kind of felt like I was blowing in the wind pretty much," said Turner, 23, of Indianapolis, who was an Army medic.
After going AWOL for two days and smoking marijuana while drunk, he said he got a general discharge from the Army rather than an honorable discharge.
That means he is not eligible for at least $40,000 in college funding he expected to receive. The Army also demoted him from specialist to private before his discharge.
The Army will not comment on the circumstances surrounding Turner's discharge because it is an administrative issue, said Master Sgt. Kelly Tyler, a public affairs officer at Fort Campbell, 50 miles north of Nashville.
Turner, who still walks with a limp, said his problems relate to his struggles back home after the war.
"They don't understand," he said. "They think you're pretty much supposed to be normal when you come back from war, and I don't understand that."
_____
Growing up, Turner loved watching physicians change people's lives on medical shows on television. At 18 he signed on to be an Army medic and became known as "Doc" to his Army buddies.
Last year, he deployed for major combat in Iraq with the 101st's 3rd Battalion, 502nd Infantry Regiment. He was in his element as he treated wounded American soldiers, prisoners of war and Iraqi civilians.
"I loved my job," Turner said. "I loved my guys."
Then, on April 13, he was with comrades in a crowded area south of Baghdad when assailants shot at the soldiers and threw grenades.
Turner treated 16 of the soldiers as the attack continued even though he had shrapnel wounds in both legs and was shot at least twice in the limbs.
"He is a bona fide hero. He saved two lives without question," Brig. Gen. Frank Helmick, who awarded Turner the Silver Star, the third highest award given for actions in combat, said to reporters at the February ceremony.
A beaming Turner was modest.
"I don't consider myself a hero at all," he said that day in the commanding general's office at Fort Campbell. "I just figured everybody was going to come home and nobody was going to die on my watch."
Solomon Abraham, 23, of St. Louis, who is out of the Army now but was in Iraq with Turner, said everyone was in awe of what Turner did and shocked about his injuries because he had always seemed so invincible.
"Words can not even explain how everybody felt," Abraham said. "And it was like shocking that would happen to Doc."
He came back to Fort Campbell without his comrades. Turner said after a couple weeks of hospital treatment, he felt guilty for leaving them behind. He also had flashbacks and anxiety. Eating at McDonald's, he would worry the restaurant would be robbed.
Turner said he sought mental health counseling offered by the Army, and psychiatrists diagnosed him with acute stress disorder and post traumatic stress. He was set to get out of the Army on a medical discharge, he said.
The Army would not comment on Turner's medical records, citing privacy.
Last summer, things got worse for Turner. His grandfather died and he was having problems with his ex-wife, who is the mother of his 2-year-old son.
Everything was too much to handle, and he stopped showing up for duty at Fort Campbell. He was declared AWOL from the Army, according to paperwork he provided.
"I wasn't planning on coming back," Turner said. "I thought I was gone for good."
Drinking one night, he contemplated suicide and cut his wrist. Changing his mind, he treated the wound himself. Embarrassed, he covered up the wound with gauze and hid it with his watch.
Drunk at a party, he said, he smoked a cigar that he said he did not know had the tobacco inside replaced with marijuana. But a friend persuaded him to go back to the Army.
"It wasn't me. I was always pretty honorable and things like that," Turner said. "I can't run away from my problems, I need to face it."
Given an Army drug test _ standard after a soldier goes AWOL _ he tested positive for marijuana.
He said he wishes now that things had turned out differently. But given his state of mind, he's not sure he would not go AWOL again in the same circumstances.
"I wasn't there. There was too much turmoil. I'm pretty sure with my state of mind if it happened all again the same way, I'd probably do the same thing over again," Turner said.
"It was all really just too much for one person to handle and come out OK all the time. Everybody has their breaking point."
_____
Barbara Turner of Indianapolis said the Army should have given her son an honorable discharge.
"He's a nice guy and I think he's getting a raw deal," Barbara Turner said. "He fought for other people and fought for a dream for his future. That was the only way for him to get the opportunity."
Tyler, the public affairs officer, said the Army weighs all aspects of a soldier's conduct when determining the type of discharge.
"The Army is responsible for a great number of things, but some of this has to come down to individual responsibility," Tyler said.
Turner said he has stopped the heavy drinking.
He has gotten a part-time job as an aide at Jennie Stuart Medical Center in Hopkinsville, 15 miles north of Fort Campbell, and he is hoping to soon begin taking classes at Austin Peay State University in Clarksville, Tenn.
He thinks he would like to be a psychiatrist, even though he has a long road ahead of him. After all he has been through, he said he now would like to help people with their own mental problems.
"I kind of understand," he said.
If you remember, just a few weeks ago...this man won the Silver Star for his actions in Iraq. Sad story...what do you guys think about the discharge?