Returning soldiers not getting help, critics say
Colorado Springs Gazette

As Army officials try to figure out what led a Green Beret based at Fort Carson to kill himself Sunday, veteran advocates say soldiers returning from war aren??t getting the help they need.

Chief Warrant Officer William Howell, 36, shot himself in the head outside his Monument home during a confrontation with police. Authorities had been called to the house by his distraught wife, who said the couple were having an argument.

Howell had been home for three weeks after serving a 10-month tour in Iraq with an elite fighting unit that experienced heavy combat, according to Maj. Robert Gowan, spokesman for the Army??s Special Forces.

The unit lost a member in January when Master Sgt. Kelly Hornbeck was killed by a roadside bomb. Another member was charged with cowardice when he suffered a panic attack and wouldn??t go on missions after seeing a dead body. Gowan said soldiers in Howell??s unit received counseling to deal with Hornbeck??s death.

??I know that when soldiers are departing a theater of combat, such as Afghanistan and Iraq, they undergo specific counseling about reuniting with their spouses, stress screening,? Gowan said.

Fort Carson officials say that all soldiers receive at least seven hours of counseling as a part of their redeployment. Some veteran advocates don??t believe it.

??I would challenge you to go out and ask those (returning) soldiers if they have gotten their seven hours of counseling. They??re not,? said Steve Robinson, executive director of the National Gulf War Resource Center, an advocacy group for veterans.

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