Well this is a breath of fresh air. A court in El Paso, TX has been set up sepcifically to deal with returning vets who have gotten themselves into trouble. It is taking into account the effect that combat has had on them and working to provide peer counseling and other ways to keep them from simply going to jail. They do not automatically excuse crimes, but look at the entire picture of each person and if they seem to have been affected by their service they offer help. h/t Dawn Patrol.
"It's based on drug court, where there are immediate consequences, with a lot of heavily supervised probation," said El Paso County District Judge Ron Crowder, a two-star general in the Colorado Army National Guard, a former paratrooper in Vietnam and holder of the Distinguished Service Medal.
Crowder is developing the court with a group that includes mental-health counselors, court administrators and veterans advocates.
I hope this concept catches on and provides another safety net for those who have done the right thing and then been hurt while doing so. We have to work in every part of society to get these folks help not punishment. This is a great piece of that puzzle.
And this, which is a touch long and I think I'll post a link instead of the whole story, but it's a story about winning in the face of adversity which should make you think, your life isn't so bad after all.
H/T Blackfive
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