Posted on 01/13/2015 12:31:16 PM PST by BBell
A Vietnam war veteran whose attorneys say suffers from severe post-traumatic stress disorder is scheduled to be executed at a Georgia prison Tuesday night, Military Times reported. The state parole board on Monday declined clemency for Andrew Brannan, after the 66-year-old Army veteran's attorneys argued he was having a flashback when he killed a deputy sheriff 16 years ago.
(Excerpt) Read more at nola.com ...
No, I doubt she was in heels. She was quite a tall woman. I saw her with Norman Lear near some vending machines at the studio when I was about 12 years old. She was a big girl.
I have known quite a few vietnam combat vets.
Most were okay.... SOBER! Add alcohol or pills and then it is another story.
One of them committed suicide, just couldn’t live with himself anymore, when he drank he had the urge to want and pull a knife, that’s why he didn’t carry one.
PTSD is real,coupled with depression or some other disorder as bi-polar and it can be a disaster waiting to happen.
I am not justifying what this guy did by no means but if you watch him in the video, you can tell his experienced combat training took over for a short while
gotcha by 63 seconds
Justice Antonin Scalia.
Whoa, that was very difficult to watch........
As a follow-up I'm not so sure such videos posted on the internet are a very good thing. All they serve is to desensitize the population to this increasing violence...........
There used to be a time when a mere newspaper article reporting a murder or crime created shock amongst the readers. Not any more, not even the graphic videos of such crimes and destruction cause a second glance.......
Civilization is coming to an end.......
Given the nature of military service, especially during the draft era, some percentage of those that served, including those who served in Vietnam, were crazy when they joined the military, became crazy during their time in the military, or became crazy after they left the service. Because those entering the military all receive a physical examination, the numbers of loons with military experience is a lower percentage than the general population. Some of the nuts get sorted out along the way. It’s a small number, but they are out there.
Of that number, some subset may have become a homicidal maniac as a direct result of some combat experience, but since most of these cases come from the conclusions of psychiatrists who are just as likely to think that anyone who served in the military is a homicidal maniac, I think that the chances that this guy’s Vietnam experience has anything to do with his crime are very, very low indeed.
It is an injury... from being put in a position that some people just can not tolerate. Consider how outrageous it would be to give the victim of a rape, "Post Coitus Detachment Disorder". I don't agree with many things about President Bush, but this one, I feel he is right. Post Traumatic Stress or all the names it has had over the years... is an debilitating injury.
Have things changed recently?
Georgia is in the 11th Circuit, which was under the purview of Justice Thomas a few years ago.
“I heard that he shot the sheriff... but he did not shoot the deputy.”
Yeah! All around his home town,
They tried’ to track him down;
They say they want to bring him in guilty
For the killing of a deputy,
For the life of a deputy.
When I was in the Army, early 70’s, many of my fellow soldiers in my unit had just come back from ‘nam. Their stories, some had pictures of the atrocities will never be forgotten. Go out on patrol one day, get in a fire fight, have someone go MIA and then on the following day go back out on patrol in the same area and find him gutted and decapitated, well, some of these guys will never be the same high school kid they were before they went there.
Was it ever affirmed that he was a Veteran? There are many people who claim to be a veteran but aren’t. Some even claim to be a combat veteran when about one in seven actually see combat but served in support units. I speak here of “ground pounders” - Army and Marines.
“Yes, but a vet just the same..................”
He is entitled to a free grave at Veterans Cemetery. I think he deserves that honor.
Brannan volunteered for the U.S. Army in 1968.
He excelled in basic training and, in Officer
Candidate School, developed occupational specialties
as a parachutist and trained as a Forward Observer 3
in the artillery division of an airborne unit. RX127 at
673–756. In 1970, Brannan was stationed in Chu
Lai, Vietnam as a First Lieutenant. Id. at 722, 748.
Within days of his arrival, Brannan’s unit was
engaged in intense combat. RX130 at 1642. From
June 1970 to December 1970, Brannan was
responsible for “controlling and adjusting artillery
fire in close support of an infantry company under
combat conditions in a counter-insurgency
environment.” RX127 at 749. During the second half
of 1970 and the first few months of 1971, Brannan
was in the field for all but seven days. Id. at 761.
During that time, Brannan served with soldiers who
confirmed in the state habeas proceeding that their
platoon saw extensive combat and suffering, and
explained Brannan’s leadership role. Id. at 635–56;
RX152 at 8300, 8306; RX124 at 205, 213.
Brannan’s fellow soldiers, who never testified at Brannan volunteered for the U.S. Army in 1968.
He excelled in basic training and, in Officer
Candidate School, developed occupational specialties
as a parachutist and trained as a Forward Observer 3
in the artillery division of an airborne unit. RX127 at
673–756. In 1970, Brannan was stationed in Chu
Lai, Vietnam as a First Lieutenant. Id. at 722, 748.
Within days of his arrival, Brannan’s unit was
engaged in intense combat. RX130 at 1642. From
June 1970 to December 1970, Brannan was
responsible for “controlling and adjusting artillery
fire in close support of an infantry company under
combat conditions in a counter-insurgency
environment.” RX127 at 749. During the second half
of 1970 and the first few months of 1971, Brannan
was in the field for all but seven days. Id. at 761.
During that time, Brannan served with soldiers who
confirmed in the state habeas proceeding that their
platoon saw extensive combat and suffering, and
explained Brannan’s leadership role. Id. at 635–56;
RX152 at 8300, 8306; RX124 at 205, 213.
Brannan’s fellow soldiers, who never testified at and remained plagued with guilt over these deaths
decades later. RX152 at 8265; RX125 at 365. One of
Brannan’s immediate commanding officers died when
he stepped on an explosive device. RX127 at 641–42,
813, 832, 825; RX124 at 206. Upon hearing the
explosion, Brannan rushed his team to the location
and immediately “assumed command of the
company.” RX127 at 642, 749. Subsequently, he was
praised: “On two separate occasions LT Brannan
unhesitatingly assumed command of the company
when it had lost its company commander. LT
Brannan has done an outstanding job in a combat
environment.” Id. at 749–50. He received two Army
Commendation Medals and a Bronze Star, one of the
nation’s highest awards for meritorious service in
combat. RX28 at 1330–31; RX34 at 2712–17.
At the end of 1970, Brannan was transferred
from his Forward Observer position to the position of
Executive Officer. RX127 at 727. In mid-1971, this
tour of duty in Vietnam ended, and he returned
home. Id. at 738, 767.
B.
Brannan’s combat experience forever altered his
personality and his life. Although he initially reentered
civilian life, he soon began to manifest signs
of serious mental illness. His condition worsened
from an initial diagnosis by the VA of PTSD and
partial disability rating in 1984, to a diagnosis and
rating of 100% disability as a result of service-5
connected PTSD in 1991, retroactive to 1990.1
He
also was diagnosed by his VA psychiatrist as
suffering from Bipolar Disorder in 1994. RX128 at
900, 910; RX129 at 1253.
VA doctors documented Brannan’s deteriorating
condition, his increased withdrawal from society, his
inexplicable behavior and “bizarre” speech, and his
“continued and chronic depression.” RX128 at 930,
1159; RX129 at 1373. In early 1989, his VA
psychiatrist noted that Brannan was “preoccupied
with total aspects of the Vietnam conflict, in which
he served as a point observer, to the point of giving
up employment, perhaps a marital relationship, and
limiting his contacts with society as a whole except
for Vietnam veterans.” RX128 at 922. Brannan was
then hospitalized for several weeks for treatment
“centered on psychotherapy dealing with PTSD
issues” and “mood disturbance.” Id. at 927; RX129 at
1344. The staff found Brannan to be depressed and
chronically suicidal. RX128 at 1164.
1 Under VA guidelines, a declaration of 100% disability from
PTSD requires “[t]otal occupation and social impairment, due to
such symptoms as: gross impairment in thought processes or
communication; persistent delusions or hallucinations; grossly
inappropriate behavior; persistent danger of hurting self or
others; intermittent inability to perform activities of daily living
(including maintenance of minimal personal hygiene);
disorientation to time or place; memory loss for names of close
relatives, own occupation, or own name.” 38 C.F.R. § 4.130.
According to the VA, when Brannan was first deemed 100%
disabled, only 6% of veterans receiving compensation for any
disability were rated as 100% disabled. RX155 at 9160. 6
Brannan’s VA psychiatrist concluded th
So, yeah, the guy was definately sick, maybe he doesn’t deserve the death penalty, he’s 66, let him die in prison.
His lawyer really had to dig deep through his medical records to come up with this. Lot’s of men and women returned to their lives after coming home. He can argue his case before G-d.
Read post 53 and 55.
I find it hard to believe he has PTSD 45 years after the fact.
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