Pfc. Kyle Brooks denied and died

Yesterday I posted a comment on the article about Kara Hinrichs. “Female Iraq Veteran committed suicide after traffic stop”

I received an email from one of her “brothers” telling me that they have all been having a hard time with this but what has made it worse is the judgment of some people leaving comments on the original news story. There are so many of their stories not getting the attention they should and what little attention they do get comes from clueless folks with nothing better to do than stand in judgment of people they will never understand or even try to. Selfish people can never understand someone like Kara Hindrichs any more than they can understand why someone would be willing to die for someone else.

One more story that has not received much attention is the death of Pfc. Kyle Brooks. After reading some of the comments on the above post, I knew that readers of VT do care about what is going on and are angry. I left this comment.

As bad as you may thing the above reports are, this one caused me to lose a couple of nights sleep. Why? Because I talked to a couple of friends of mine involved with VA claims. They told me this is part of a law the congress did back in the 80′s. Even though this soldier was diagnosed by the Army, treated and given medication, even though he was honorably discharged from said Army, he was not able to get help from the VA because he had not served at least two years! There are way around this but the fact remains that as bad as the reports are out there, there are many more stories we never hear about. I’ve been tracking these reports for almost 20 years now and this one, it really got to me.

Pay really close attention to this part.

“They were treating him for PTSD while he was still over there (in Iraq),” said Mark Charters of Midland, Brooks’ uncle. “They gave him an honorable discharge, a month’s worth of pills and then told him that he wasn’t eligible for help at the VA hospital because he hadn’t served 24 months of active duty.”

When you are done screaming, read more because it gets worse.

Family seeks changes to VA treatment rules following soldier’s death

Published: Monday, May 09, 2011, 9:00 AM

By Holly Setter
Booth Mid-Michigan

BAY CITY — U.S. Army Pfc. Kyle Brooks didn’t die while serving his country in Iraq, but his family says the experience is what ultimately killed him.

Now, family members are taking action and speaking out about the soldier’s death, hoping to prevent further loss of life.

Brooks, a 23-year-old Bay City native, served in Iraq from November 2008 to June 2009. He returned home suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder, a form of anxiety that can occur after a person has seen or experienced a traumatic event.

In February, Brooks committed suicide, leaving behind a wife and 2-year-old son. His family buried him April 25 in St. Patrick Cemetery in Bay City.

Family members say Brooks still would be alive had he received the care and support he needed.

This comment was left on my blog by Kyle’s dad.

Steve Charters has left a new comment on your post “Family says Pfc. Kyle Brooks would still be alive …”:

1st, I want to thank you for posting this. We are trying to get the word out. I am Kyle’s father , Steve Charters. We are hoping a follow up story will be done, but more importantly we are hoping that our going public with this very painful story will help at least one soldier get the treatment they need and DESERVE. One follow up piece of info that was a further OUTRAGE is that the VA has now denied Kyle’s headstone. I understand from my brother that the Michigan Patriot Guard has asked to pay for it. Please continue to support our troops and get the word out !
Steve Charters
Bethlehem, GA

Kyle was diagnosed by the DOD with PTSD and treated for it but then when he went to go to the VA for help, they said he didn’t serve long enough. He is dead now because of this. He wanted help. He tried to get help. He did everything possible to recover from serving this country and yet again, this country let down one more soldier and the family is left to wonder if anyone cares.

While this family was willing to tell their story, you should be wondering how many other families have suffered because of this. As we’ve seen in the past, they are all waiting for someone to give a damn and do something about it!