Family says accused soldier needs PTSD treatment, not punishment

By Chris Vaughn

Army Staff Sgt. Joshua Eisenhauer is a two-tour veteran of combat in Afghanistan and an airborne trooper with the distinctive red beret of the 82nd Airborne Division.

The 1999 graduate of Fossil Ridge High School is also a criminal defendant, housed in a maximum-security prison in Raleigh, N.C., facing a raft of serious felonies and, according to the Army and his family, suffering from severe symptoms of post-traumatic stress.

What happened Jan. 13 in Eisenhauer's apartment outside the gates of Fort Bragg seems inexplicable to those who know him. Authorities say Eisenhauer opened fire on police and firefighters responding to a small fire on his apartment deck, then engaged in a prolonged shootout that nearly killed him. His attorney and family say the events make sense only in Eisenhauer's head, where he apparently thought he was defending his post from an attack by insurgents.

"Joshua was not in his right mind," said his father, Mark Eisenhauer. "He fired warning shots into the ceiling at the beginning. After that, the shots seemed to be at some target he was visualizing that wasn't real. Joshua is very good with all types of guns, and yet he didn't hit anybody, thankfully. Wherever he was in his mind, it was not in North Carolina."

Eisenhauer's family and attorney say that his post-traumatic stress disorder is so severe that the only place he should be prosecuted is in a military courtroom, so he can receive intensive therapy from military specialists. The commanding general of the 18th Airborne Corps, Lt. Gen. Frank Helmick, has agreed to take jurisdiction of Eisenhauer's criminal case, but only if Cumberland County District Attorney William West asks.

"We worked very hard to convince the military that the fair and appropriate thing for them to do was request prosecutorial jurisdiction, and they have agreed to do that," said Mark Waple, Eisenhauer's attorney and a West Point-educated former Army attorney. "Now the ball is in the court of the Cumberland County district attorney's office. We hope to have a response from them within the next few days. What happens next depends on what that response is."

A spokeswoman for West said Friday afternoon that the DA is "still conferring with the military" on the matter.

The toll of war

Eisenhauer, 30, and his younger brother grew up in Richland Hills, Watauga and Fort Worth. He graduated from Fossil Ridge High School in the Keller school district.

His mother, Dawn, was an assistant city manager in Watauga and now works for a nonprofit in Afghanistan. His father, Mark, was a Watauga councilman and an engineer at Bell Helicopter. He now lives in the Northeast.

In 2002, Eisenhauer's younger brother, Eric, died in a traffic accident in Fort Worth. "He always looked up to his big brother, and they shared a bond that will never end," his obituary read.

Eisenhauer enlisted in the Army in 2005 and joined the 1st Battalion, 508th Parachute Infantry Regiment of the 82nd Airborne. He served one 15-month tour in Afghanistan in 2007-08 and came back a different man, his father said.

"It took a toll on him," he said. "I was praying he'd never go again. I thought maybe that we could bring him back from all that. It took us a long time, but he started getting better.

"Then he signed up for another tour. I couldn't believe it. I was so upset. But he told me, 'Dad, I don't really feel comfortable or protected unless I'm with my men.'"

That second tour, in 2009-10, was even tougher. Eisenhauer returned with grave problems, his friends and relatives have said. He lost close friends in battle, had to collect soldiers' remains after a suicide bomber attack, discovered a troubled soldier who had hanged himself and felt powerless to defend the men under his care, his father said.

A report released Friday by the Institute of Medicine said that previous wars "have been characterized by such injuries as infectious diseases and catastrophic gunshot wounds. However, the signature injuries sustained by United States military personnel in these most recent conflicts are blast wounds and the psychiatric consequences to combat, particularly post-traumatic stress disorder, which affects an estimated 13 to 20 percent of U.S. service members who have fought in Iraq or Afghanistan since 2001."

Soldiers told Waple that Eisenhauer exhibited extreme signs of hypervigilance, sleeplessness, paranoia and flashbacks and seemed increasingly isolated psychologically -- all classic PTSD symptoms. As early as April 2011, Eisenhauer was placed on a "medical profile" and referred to a medical evaluation team for "psychiatric reasons." In August, he was transferred out of his infantry unit to a warrior transition battalion, where he was supposed to receive treatment before receiving an early discharge.

"As far as we can tell from his medical records, he had very few therapy sessions and was unfortunately being treated with anti-anxiety medications, specifically benzodiazepines," Waple said.

Benzodiazepines are classified by the Drug Enforcement Administration as depressants, and they are known for creating addiction. Large doses, or chronic doses, are "associated with amnesia, hostility, irritability, and vivid or disturbing dreams," according to the DEA.

Alarmed by increasing abuse of the drugs within the Army and accidental overdoses by soldiers on complex drug cocktails, the Army surgeon general released new standards this spring that stop the use of the drugs to treat post-traumatic stress.

'He flashes back to Afghanistan'

On Friday, Jan. 13, Eisenhauer woke up to the sounds of firefighters and police officers trying to get into his apartment. Neighbors had called 911 because of smoke coming from his outdoor porch.

"He hears the sounds of rushing footsteps up the stairwell and a loud banging on his door, and he flashes back to Afghanistan," Waple said. "He gets his Glock 19 pistol from under his mattress -- he's sleeping on the floor -- and he starts firing. That led to nearly a 90-minute shootout."

When police finally gained entry to the apartment, Eisenhauer was found bleeding heavily from four gunshot wounds, including one in the chest. Waple said "all the glass was shot out, there were three tear gas containers used, approximately 30 bullet holes inside the apartment." He described a "scene consistent with a combat environment."

When he regained consciousness in the hospital, his attorney said, his first words, charted by a nurse present, were "Who's got the roof?"

Waple said that Eisenhauer is not receiving proper mental-health care in the Raleigh prison, and the chief prison psychiatrist seems to agree. Dr. Michael Larson said that the prison "is not designed for acute crisis intervention" and that he has witnessed Eisenhauer's flashbacks and paranoia.

Waple has argued to the district attorney that Eisenhauer, as an active-duty soldier, is entitled under federal law to receive medical care from the military. The Army surgeon general has issued new directives on treating severe post-traumatic stress, and Waple is convinced that intensive therapy could help Eisenhauer.

"This delay in providing the necessary mental-health treatment is not only preventing improvement, it is causing his mental health to deteriorate," Waple said.

As a child, Eisenhauer loved to ride around with police and visit the firehouses in Watauga, access granted by his parents. His father knows that, in the right mental state, his son would not open fire on police officers and firefighters.

"They were his heroes when he was growing up," his father said.

Chris Vaughn, 817-390-7547

Twitter: @CVaughnFW

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