Julia O'Malley : Reaction to John Mayo's story

Julia O'Malley

Julia O'Malley writes a general interest column about life and politics in Anchorage and around Alaska. She grew up in Anchorage and has worked at the ADN on and off as a columnist and reporter since 1996. She came back full time as a reporter in 2005.

As a reporter, she covered the court system and wrote extensively about life in Anchorage, including big changes in the city's ethnic and minority communities.

In 2008, she won the Scripps-Howard Foundation's Ernie Pyle award for the best human-interest writing in America. She has also written for the Oregonian, the Juneau Empire and the Anchorage Press.

E-mail her at jomalley@adn.com.

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Reaction to John Mayo's story

Posted by adn_jomalley

Posted: September 21, 2009 - 3:00 pm

Comments (0) |

A number of readers have contacted me to see what happened to John Mayo, the Fort Rich soldier I wrote about last week who was discharged after a shoplifting episode. (Read the story here)

When I talked to him last, on Friday, he said a couple soldiers he knew had contacted him. A number of readers offered help -- baby clothes, money, help with jobs, and housing. I passed those offers along. He said he was going to meet with some of the soldiers who had made contact this week. Then his cell phone went dead and I haven’t been able to contact him since.

Many readers who contacted me were sympathetic. Some talked about their own experiences with PTSD or the experiences of family members. Others were skeptical about what was missing from his story. Here’s some of what people had to say:

“I am also a former Soldier who spent 15 months in Iraq with the 4-25. I was as an Infantryman in 1-501st IN (ABN). It looks like this guy had problems before he joined the army and went to the army to escape them. Some people do make the break from their past, many do not. When will ADN tell a story of a Soldier who goes to war and comes back and still reminds a productive citizen. That is what happens to the vast majority of us! The so called experts are just that, so called. Its like when I went to the VA there in Anchoraged to be screened for benifits, its almost like they wanted to think I had PTSD. They made it sound like I was weird because I don't have PTSD and can sleep just fine at night. So they want to claim 20 percent of the Army comes home troubled. I am sure at least 20 percent of the gneral population is troubled and many of these Soldiers (the 20 percent) were troubled before the Army.

This from a military pilot who is currently deployed:

“It's easy, looking down from thousands of feet above, to forget how real the war is. Given all we've een through as a nation, I still support the effort, if not the reasons for going in). But I cannot fathom how this man has "slipped through the cracks" and it disturbs me greatly. …

I'd like to know a bit more about Mr. Mayo's performance as a soldier, how that performance changed as his condition deteriorated, and what his superiors say of him.”

“i am a soldier who is stationed at fort richardson and i am over in afghanistan right now with the 4th bct 25th id. They need to redo that investigation and know that he wasnt aware what he was doing. its hard for us while we are deployed especially our infantry.”

“I too have a brother over there. He is about to come back from his second stretch next month. I noticed a change in him after his first time. This time I have only recieved two emails from him the entire time he has been gone (little over a year). Anyways, just wanted to say thank you for the article. I'm glad someone is trying to shed light on things.”

“I also received an Other Than Honorable discharge after returning from iraq in 2005 where I served in the Marine Corps infantry. I lost my best friend during my deployment and when I returned I started drinking heavily to cope and ended up getting a dui. My unit charged me on top of the punishment I received from the state even though I expressed to them my concern of my own ptsd. Eventually I became fed up with the treatment I received from my unit and I knew if I quit going to my drills they would have to seperate me, at the time I thought that was my only way out.”

“My boyfriend was deployed 3 times and now has PTSD. He was kicked out of the army for it and is also having a very hard time. He was given all kinds of medicine to take, none of which have helped. People need to know what this war is doing to these soldiers. Healthy young men are coming back with mental scars that will last for the rest of their life.”

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