[Vision2020] Iraq Vet Holds Hostages, Wants PTSD Treatment

[Tom Hansen]

>From today's (April 17, 2007) Daily News Roundup edition of the Army times -

Still don't see any parallels between the Iraqi Civil War and Vietnam?

--------------------------------------------------------------------------

Iraq vet holds hostages, wants PTSD treatment

The Associated Press
Posted : Tuesday Apr 17, 2007 20:14:18 EDT

HERINGTON, Kan. - A veteran of the Iraq war who held his family hostage and
wore military armor during a standoff with police surrendered only after
being assured he would receive help for post-traumatic stress disorder,
police said.

The 33-year-old Fort Riley soldier, whose name was not released because he
had not been charged, locked himself and his family inside his Herington
home Sunday night. He released his family shortly after the incident began,
but surrendered only after talking to a Herington police officer who had
befriended him, police Chief John Pritchard said.

Pritchard said Tuesday that the man would undergo psychiatric evaluation at
Fort Riley before the Dickinson County attorney will decide what, if any,
charges will be filed.

"Our first concern was to get help for the family and him," Pritchard said.
"At the same time, we're finishing our investigation so the county attorney
can determine how to proceed."

Police went to the man's home about 8:30 p.m., after receiving a call that
he was holding his wife and four children hostage. After releasing his
family shortly after officers arrived, he put on military body armor and
said he wanted to "go down in a blaze of glory," Pritchard said.

Pritchard said the man had nine loaded firearms, including two assault
rifles, in the house. The man did not point a weapon at officers during the
standoff, but officers saw him with a weapon in a backyard several times, he
said.

After refusing to talk to other officers, the man said he would talk to
Herington police officer Curtis Hartman, who had befriended the man and
visited him at his home.

Hartman talked to the man for about an hour before the soldier agreed to
surrender.

"I think it was that rapport that helped resolve the issue the way it was,"
Pritchard said. "When he surrendered, he told the officer, 'I did this for
you. You treated me like a person, and I appreciate it." '

Pritchard said one of the conditions of the man's surrender was that he
receive treatment for post-traumatic stress disorder, from which the man
believed he was suffering because of his service in Iraq. Pritchard said he
didn't know when or how long the man had served.

Hartman wouldn't discuss specifics of the conversation but said the man
talked about what was bothering him and about getting help.

"I got him to where he would remove his body armor and put down his weapons
and listen carefully as I told him how he could come out of his house so
there would be no harm to him or to any of our officers or to anyone else,"
Hartman said.

The man attempted suicide after being placed in a holding cell at the
Herington Police Department and was treated for minor injuries before being
taken by ambulance to Fort Riley, at about midnight Sunday, Pritchard said.

Fort Riley officials did not return phone calls Tuesday to The Associated
Press.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------

Seeya round town, Moscow.

Tom Hansen
Moscow, Idaho

"Patriotism is not a short and frenzied outburst of emotion but the tranquil
and steady dedication of a lifetime." 

--Adlai E. Stevenson, Jr.