Young Marine Dies Of PTSD - And Neglect

Posted by Bob Geiger at 7:34 AM on January 31, 2007.

In Minnesota.

He died earlier this month at the age of 25 -- not in Iraq, but back home, in Minnesota.

He died of wounds received during his seven-month tour of duty in Iraq, wounds different from the ones that earned Schulze two purple hearts. This young man died of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, of wounds to the soul and not the flesh. He died because the government that was there to send him far away to fight in 2004 wasn't there for him when he got home.

Schulze had a harrowing time in Iraq, spending time in the heated battles of Ramadi in April, 2004. While he was there, 35 Marines in his unit were killed, including 17 of them in just 48 hours of combat.

The young Marine was wounded twice in battle but returned home to...

rebuild his life and to cope with the things he had seen, things he had done and friends he had lost. But, by the time he was discharged from the Marines in late 2005, he was deeply troubled with images of combat and violence that he could not get out of his mind.

According to Minnesota press reports, Schulze went to the Veterans Administration (VA) center in Minneapolis on December 14, 2006, met with a psychiatrist and was told that he could only be admitted for treatment four months later, in March.

On January 11, 2007, accompanied by his parents, he went to the VA hospital in St. Cloud, Minnesota and told people at that VA facility that he was thinking of killing himself. They told Schulze that they could not admit him as a patient and sent him on his way.

The next day, January 12, Schulze called the VA, reiterating that he was feeling suicidal. He was told that he was number 26 on the waiting list.

A man who had risked his life in Iraq and done everything that was asked of him by the United States government, was told by that same government that his sacrifice would be repaid by being 26th on a list of Veterans similarly crying out for help.

"Jonathan wanted help so bad," said Marianne Schulze, Jonathan's stepmother. "At the end of the conversation, Jonathan got off the phone so distressed."

On January 16, Schulze called his family and told them that he was going to do it -- he was going to kill himself. His family called the local police, who raced to his house, kicked in his door and found him hanging from an electrical cord.

Attempts to resuscitate him were unsuccessful.

Having read about Schulze while on a trip to Minnesota, Senator Byron Dorgan (D-ND) brought the story to the floor of the Senate and read it into the record on Monday.

"The story is nearly unbelievable to me," said Dorgan in a speech on the Senate floor. "The newspaper description of the flag-draped coffin of this young marine who earned two Purple Hearts fighting for his country in Iraq contains a sad, sad story of a young marine who should have gotten medical help for serious psychological problems that were the result of his wartime experience."

The Marine's family says that he couldn't sleep, would have nightmares reliving the combat he had experienced and suffered from vivid flashbacks when awake.

"He was a delayed casualty of the Iraq war," his father, Jim Schulze, a Vietnam Veteran, said of Jonathan.

Jonathan Schulze, who leaves behind his fianceé, a 6-month-old daughter and who had another baby on the way, was a machine gunner who wrote often to his parents about what he was experiencing in Iraq, the firefights, the bombings and dismembered bodies blown apart by Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs).

"I pray so much over here and ask God to keep me out of harm's way and to make it back home alive and in one piece," he wrote to his parents in 2004. "I bet I easily pray over a dozen times a day and I always pray while I am on patrol as I am terrified of getting hit by an IED aka a bomb. Our vehicle elements and Marines on patrols are getting hit hard by these bombs the Iraqis plant all over and hide on the ground."

He survived all of that only to come home and find neglect, the results of an administration big on tax cuts for the wealthy, but not real strong on taking care of Veterans returning home from the war created by the George W. Bush and, until this month, left unchecked by the do-nothing Republican Congress.

As is often the case when things like this happen, the VA is citing privacy laws and won't talk about the Schulze family's account of what happened to Jonathan or issue any comment at all.

But Senator Dorgan says he's going to press for answers.

"I am going to ask the inspector general to investigate what happened in this case," said Dorgan on the Senate floor. "What happened that a young man who was a marine veteran with two Purple Hearts turns up at a VA center and says: I am thinking of committing suicide, can you help me, can you admit me, and he is told: No, the list is 26 long in front of you?"

"Are there others who show up at a VA center and say: I need help, only to be told no help is available? I hope that is not the case. It is the unbelievable cost of war."

What a tragic ending. I did part of my internship at the VA in Minneapolis. It was a great facility. Full of caring residents and nurses and physicians. It's a teaching facility. A beautiful hospital, too. But there are only so many beds on the unit.

Andrew Borene: Be ready with the mental health safety netAmericans who risk their lives for their nation also deserve access to treatment once home.
Andrew Borene
Published: January 31, 2007

The real tragedy in the wake of the suicide of Jonathan Schulze is that the young Marine asked for help but help was not forthcoming. We can respond proactively to this travesty, if we now prepare the state to help other veterans who may also be suffering.
Reading the story of this young Marine, I recognized that the same story might have been written about me. If I had not had the luxury of inpatient treatment and a supportive community when I needed it, I might have met the same fate.

I too may have been called "the life of the party," unaware that what lay beneath the disguise of thrill-seeking behavior was sadness and shame. Many were likely fooled by my unfulfilling search for happiness and escape from my own pain. I sought importance with an early run for the Minnesota Senate, even while attending law school and with two young boys at home. In the end, nothing I did in pursuit of excitement allowed me to outrun my shadow for long. Like Jonathan, my feelings of inferiority associated with believing I had not done enough and did not merit the nightmares and the overly intense reactions to daily events, may have created obstacles to seeking help.

I have now learned that, through no fault of our own, some of us may be predisposed to long-lasting psychological effects from the experience of war. It is well known that some human beings are simply predisposed to addiction, depression, anxiety or other disorders. For many the stigma of seeking help as a "mental health" patient is almost too much to bear in itself -- so when Jonathan Schulze showed the courage and responsibility to ask for help, it should have been available.

"Post-traumatic stress disorder" has been associated with a negative connotation for so long that the Department of Veterans Affairs has suggested clinicians refer to the same set of symptoms with terms like "adjustment" disorder and "transition" difficulties. Whatever the name, it is estimated that nearly a third of our combat veterans will need some assistance in readjusting to civilian life.

Mental health crisis services provide a safety net that is crucial for many Minnesota families. According to the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) of Minnesota, suicide is the leading cause of death for 15- to 34-year-olds. But reimbursement rates for mental health are inadequate for private providers, and our public services are frequently overburdened or underprepared.

For some, like Jonathan, the only option might have been the VA medical center or other state services. But if Minnesota's hospitals are overwhelmed now, what will they do when approximately 3,000 Minnesota Guardsmen return after an unprecedented combat extension?

We need to act now. Advocates for mental health suggest that more efficient coordination of outpatient care would open beds for emergency admissions. Paying mental health crisis workers commensurate with other public safety officers might keep them available 24 hours a day. We should also support Rep. Jim Ramstad's mental health parity legislation, which would require private health insurers to provide reimbursement for mental health care comparable to that for physical health care.

Troops returning from the war will need the services that they were promised as part of their enlistment contracts. We need to honor an unwritten guarantee that Americans who stand up and risk their lives on behalf of their country deserve access to treatment upon returning home.

Emergency mental health services save lives, and treatment works. One young Marine made the right choice to ask for help but was let down. Minnesota now has a choice in our collective response to this wake-up call on veterans and mental health issues. Let us pray that we do the right thing and never let this happen again on our watch.


Andrew Borene, a law student at the University of Minnesota, was a U.S. Marine lieutenant in Iraq. He is an adviser to Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America, a veterans advocacy group.