From War to Prison: a PTSD Documentary, Debuts Online

Documentary highlights conflicts between returning PTSD Combat Vets and a criminal justice system that often fails to consider their unique situation.

Visit: From War to Prison: Veterans Caught in the Criminal Justice System - intheirboots.com

(LOS ANGELES) - Post Traumatic Stress Disorder and the impact this complex and misunderstood problem had on a young American's life is the subject of a hard-driving documentary debuting online today called From War to Prison.

Nathan Keyes served two tours in Iraq during his 8 years in the U.S. Army. But when he came home from the war suffering from PTSD, everything went terribly wrong, and now this soldier is serving three years in prison.

His mom, Jamie Keyes, says in his military service, her son followed in the footsteps of his grandfather and uncle; they both served in the military.

When Nathan came home from the war suffering from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, Jamie says she didn’t know what to do for him.

"These boys don’t come home with an instruction booklet – how to deal with them, how to respond to them, and I knew almost nothing about Post Traumatic Stress Disorder," Keyes said in a report published by C. Peterson with Barrow County News in Georgia.

"I knew nobody that had a son or daughter in the military, let alone one who came home with a disorder."

Nathan had a violent flashback from the war in August 2008 that led to his three-year incarceration in a St. Augustine, Florida prison.

Nathan Keyes serving his country in a Hell hole known as Iraq

The film chronicles the life of this Iraq Veteran with severe PTSD who "fell through the cracks of the Dept. of Veterans Affairs" in the words of the filmmakers. He eventually reacted violently to what he thought was a threatening situation. You can read about this in great detail in my article on Nathan Keyes, entitled Mom of Incarcerated Iraq Vet Speaks Out About PTSD^[1].

As a news release about this program states, "His plea to the Judge that his actions were PTSD related is a plea for understanding across the nation from Veterans who now find themselves going 'From War to Prison.'"

"From War to Prison," highlights the conflict between returning soldiers struggling to reintegrate into society and criminal justice systems which may not consider a veteran's unique situation.

It is fair to say that when Nathan Keyes came back, Iraq came with him. Surviving in combat in a place like Iraq when you go on patrols constantly, wears a person down and hones their thinking a certain way, our Dr. Phil Leveque, a Combat Veteran of the U.S. Army in WWII, says he would hit the ground any time a car backfired for years after the war. He dreamed that the Germans were coming for him in his sleep; it is the same problem on a different day.

Only Nathan Keyes ran into what I described in my article, as an egotistical ex-Marine who wanted to "teach him a lesson" over a stupid traffic incident, and who pushed this veteran soldier at the wrong moment in precisely the wrong way.

Combat had been Nathan's only mode of living. Life back home involved drinking, paranoia, a home break in, thoughts of suicide, even a suicide attempt that was not successful. This guy was in bad shape and needed help, the right kind of help.

This is the reality of all of those waving American flags during the Bush years; this is a guy who went and served and did well, but he was sent to Hell, and perhaps that is half the problem.

They're expected to be perfectly OK and some will, but a trigger may set off a person with PTSD in ways that many fail to understand. That ignorance is widespread and sadly, includes many in the criminal justice system.

Have another tour of combat duty soldier! Fire up that HUMVEE, crank up the Blue Force Tracker, lock and load your M-4! Let's go see who shoots at us today, gee, I wonder how many IED's are planted on this road, say... check that guy over there using a cell phone, oh crap!

Yeah, Iraq is a really nice place. Who wouldn't be able to easily readjust to civilian life after that? The better question would be, who would?

Nathan's mom Jamie is keenly aware of the treatment, or lack of treatment from the VA. Like so many of us, she laments the lack of real creative and thoughtful approaches to this severe problem in our society, and the overall lack of awareness in the United States of America.

"The more aware this country is about our returning soldiers and their issues, the better chance we have of changing a system that is failing them horribly. It has become my mission in life to promote awareness and to give a voice to the many veterans and their families who are going through what we do on a daily basis."

I cited in the previous report that regardless of what the law says, it is not unusual for an Iraq War veteran to remain armed after returning from the war. In fact, it is more common than you would expect.

The charges against Keyes stemming from a verbal confrontation in traffic led to his being charged with two counts of aggravated assault with a firearm and one count of firing a firearm from a vehicle.

The film points out how at the time of his arrest there were only three Veterans Courts (courts that focus on the unique needs of Veterans charged with crimes) in the country, and now they say, Nathan’s battle is to gain understanding from his Judge.

This is not about supporting the war or not supporting the Iraq war or any other, it is about the reality of PTSD and what we are or are not going to do about it. We have a documentary on PTSD under production also, and by moving these programs forward, we can begin making a dent in this problem that is little short of a national epidemic, at least for the thousands upon thousands of families directly impacted by a veteran with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.

Watch this important 30-minute documentary about PTSD by visiting this site: From War to Prison: Produced by intheirboots.com

IN THEIR BOOTS, now launching its third season is a documentary series about the impact the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan are having on people here at home. Each episode is available for free viewing online at intheirboots.com. All stories focus on the individual and collective experiences of our men and women in uniform returning from serving our nation. These are told from a non-ideological, non-partisan perspective.

In Their Boots is a production of Brave New Foundation.

^[1] Feb-09-2010: Mom of Incarcerated Iraq Vet Speaks Out About PTSD - Tim King Salem-News.com

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Tim King is a former U.S. Marine with twenty years of experience on the west coast as a television news producer, photojournalist, reporter and assignment editor. In addition to his role as a war correspondent, this Los Angeles native serves as Salem-News.com's Executive News Editor. Tim spent the winter of 2006/07 covering the war in Afghanistan, and he was in Iraq over the summer of 2008, reporting from the war while embedded with both the U.S. Army and the Marines.

Tim holds numerous awards for reporting, photography, writing and editing, including the Oregon AP Award for Spot News Photographer of the Year (2004), first place Electronic Media Award in Spot News, Las Vegas, (1998), Oregon AP Cooperation Award (1991); and several others including the 2005 Red Cross Good Neighborhood Award for reporting. Serving the community in very real terms, Salem-News.com is the nation's only truly independent high traffic news Website. You can send Tim an email at this address: newsroom@salem-news.com