{"id":2194,"date":"2011-06-12T20:17:58","date_gmt":"2011-06-13T03:17:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/randomandodd.com\/?p=2194"},"modified":"2011-06-12T20:17:58","modified_gmt":"2011-06-13T03:17:58","slug":"please-help-my-step-son","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/randomandodd.com\/?p=2194","title":{"rendered":"Please help my Step Son…"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/p>\n

Sgt Dennis Tackett and his wife Elizabeth need our help to bring attention to their legal case.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Please review the information about his case and send your thoughts and suggestions to the Colorado Springs Gazette at:\u00a0opinion@gazette.com<\/a><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Our objective is to bring attention to the local TV and newspaper so that our collective support can influence the civilian court to either show some consideration for Sgt Tackett’s challenges from his three deployments or to refer him directly to the Veterans Treatment Court for special sentencin<\/span><\/span>g.<\/span><\/p>\n

From our emails to the local newspaper, we are hopeful the media exposure will help the District Attorney and the court to allow Dennis to receive probation with community service with Purple Star Veterans and Families. He would provide outreach services to Veterans and their families in the greater Colorado Springs area and our organization would provide the necessary monitoring of his time and contribution.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

From Sgt Dennis Tackett:<\/span><\/p>\n

To Whom It May Concern:<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Before I tell you my story, I would like to let you know how much I appreciate your concern and support for myself and my family.\u00a0 I want to let you know in the clearest way possible what has happened in the past and present to lead me to this place and to let you know the steps that I have taken and am continuing to take to heal myself and to prevent any future incidents.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 I graduated high school not knowing exactly what I wanted to do with my life.\u00a0 I played around with some college courses and worked with the state department of California and had no direction and decided that the Army was a good idea and wanted to see the world.\u00a0 I wanted to fight for our country and wanted to be one of those brave soldiers that you see in the movies.\u00a0 Two weeks after boot camp ended, I came down on orders for Afghanistan and was, definitely, about to see the world.<\/span><\/p>\n

My time spent in Afghanistan (1 year) was a learning experience and I started to suffer from major depression.\u00a0 I was in charge of detainee operations and having these war criminals constantly watching my every move began to get very uncomfortable after more time that passed.\u00a0 I was in a heightened state of awareness all the time and it makes it very hard for me to feel comfortable now around more than a few people.\u00a0 I even got to spend my 21st<\/sup>\u00a0birthday with the detainees.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

I met my wife during this deployment while online and we began a friendship.\u00a0 I would call her often and felt like I could open up to her about what I was going through.\u00a0 I returned home a few days before Christmas and met her for the first time in person.\u00a0 We got married a few months later in Texas, while I was at K9 school, and moved to Fort Carson, CO shortly after that.\u00a0 She got pregnant with our first daughter and things started to stabilize a little bit with my mood because I was so busy being a new dog handler and with shopping for baby stuff and our new life together.\u00a0 Four months after my daughter was born, I was on orders to leave for Iraq.\u00a0 I felt like, once again, I was missing everything important back home.\u00a0 I felt like I was either going to die or kill myself before the deployment was over because of my depression.<\/span><\/p>\n

Once returning from Iraq, my wife got pregnant with our second daughter and I was on orders to deploy again for a third (year-long) deployment.\u00a0 I left 2 weeks before my baby was born and had to leave my wife and two-year-old, by themselves, to have my second child.\u00a0 Thank goodness a few friends stepped in to help her and left me with some assurance that she would be looked after. Two months into this deployment, my wife\u2019s father died and I was left, again, completely unable to help with anything back home in the midst of another deployment.\u00a0 I was feeling more and more disconnected with Civilian life and in my own bubble.\u00a0 I started to distance myself from everyone to try to cope with what was going on.<\/span><\/p>\n

I was diagnosed with PTSD in 2007 and began seeking help at that time but things have gotten progressively worse.\u00a0 After getting back from my 3rd<\/sup>\u00a0combat tour (36 months), I started seeking more help, aggressively, because I was having an internal battle with extreme anger and depression and didn\u2019t want anything to happen because of it.\u00a0 I have now had Intermitant Explosive Disorder, Insomnia, depression, and an inability to adjust to a new environment added to this list. It is as simple as this, in Afghanistan, I was a child and wasn\u2019t able to process emotions that I was having and, honestly, I am still not really able to process them very well without having some sort of meltdown.\u00a0 The other two combat deployments were just icing on the cake.\u00a0 Being away from the wife and kids, missing them grow, missing the connection between myself and everyday life is something that I am working through.\u00a0 I am currently in therapy sessions and anger management and army substance abuse program and was doing all of this except for substance abuse before this incident occurred.<\/span><\/p>\n

Now, here is what happened leading up to the criminal charges.\u00a0 I had had a very painful surgery about a week and a half before this occurred.\u00a0 I ran out of pain meds before that night and was drinking a little too heavily and trying to deal with the pain by numbing it with alcohol.\u00a0 I had a friend come over to play video games, after my wife and kids had gone to bed.\u00a0 He told me the events that occurred that night, after I was released from jail and it went like this (because I honestly don\u2019t remember much from that evening due to intoxication):\u00a0 He said that I wanted to punch him in the face.\u00a0 He didn\u2019t want me to punch him in the face and said that I said, \u201cCome on\u2026you can punch me first and then I will punch you back.\u201d\u00a0 He said that he didn\u2019t like that idea and suggested that I punch another acquaintance of ours.\u00a0 He said that I said, \u201cI don\u2019t know where he lives and can\u2019t.\u201d\u00a0 He said that he knew where the guy lived and proceeded to drive me over there.\u00a0 He said that I knocked on the guy\u2019s door, the guy answered the door, and I, then, punched him in the face and walked back to the car.\u00a0 He dropped me off at home and the cops came to my house at 5 a.m. the next morning and I was still out of it and arrested me and booked me and I sat in jail for 5 days.\u00a0 I thought to myself, what is going to happen to my family?\u00a0 Is the guy okay (and I wanted to call him and apologize but a restraining order had been put in place for me not to contact him)?\u00a0 How did I get to this point after all the help I had been seeking?\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

I can tell you that these feelings don\u2019t just go away.\u00a0 It is constant battle to even walk into a grocery store or to pull into a gas station without scanning every detail of my surroundings constantly.\u00a0 I have to have my back against a wall so that I know that no one is behind me.\u00a0 I drive my wife crazy because I will have to leave crowded areas at a moment\u2019s notice because I start getting angry and uncomfortable and highly agitated.\u00a0 I rarely leave my house because it is hard for me to deal with all of these emotions all the time and would rather be around my family because that is the one place I feel secure.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0I, also, believe that the fact that I am physically disabled as well has an effect on my mental state.\u00a0 My knees are equal to that of a 50-year-old mans and I have no arches in my feet, both of which happened due to all of the physical strain I endured while meeting the requirements of my job in the military.\u00a0 It hurts just to walk around on a daily basis (from arthritis and complete lack of cartilage) which leaves me without the ability to release any pent up aggression through exercise.\u00a0 I can never play sports again without suffering for a week afterwards in pain and that was a huge way that I used to deal with stress in the past.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The prosecutor is charging me with Felony Assault and Felony Burglary (because my hand might or might not have crossed the threshold of the house) and I was told that I met all of the qualifications to go to the Soldier\u2019s Trauma Court.\u00a0 The prosecutor is refusing to release the case to the Soldier\u2019s Trauma Court and the lowest he is willing to go in a plea agreement is Felony Menacing with A Deadly Weapon (my fist) and 2 years of probation.\u00a0 I have no priors (not even a speeding ticket) in the civilian courts and my record is spotless on the military side with many awards won over the years.\u00a0 I know I deserve to be punished for what happened but I have pleaded for a deferred sentence with probation and community service which, basically, allows my record to go clean after completing all requirements set forth by the court.\u00a0 If convicted of a felony, I am looking at a possible dishonorable discharge and the loss of my ability to get hired to do anything that I am qualified to do and this will make it very hard to support my family.<\/span><\/p>\n

In closing, I just want to say that the mind of a soldier is a complex thing.\u00a0 There are so many factors that go into what makes us tick the way we tick.\u00a0 The Army has done the best it can to take care of me but there are some things that just take time to heal and can\u2019t be fixed overnight.\u00a0 I feel that the prosecutor isn\u2019t allowing soldiers to go through the proper channels to recover and is trying them as average citizens without taking into account what has happened to them (mentally and physically through war).\u00a0 I am hearing more and more about this being a common thing and am asking for some support, not only for myself, but for others suffering the same treatment.\u00a0 Once deployed, a soldier is never the same and when you\u2019re in an unstable environment for so long and so many times, it is impossible to not be unstable yourself afterwards.\u00a0 Healing takes time and work and I feel that something should be done to protect soldiers and educate people working in the judicial system to better protect soldiers in this sensitive state and not to let them get away with things, but to understand that they aren\u2019t necessarily criminals but that they are truly sick and need to be rebuilt from the ground up.\u00a0 Thank you and God Bless.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 -Dennis Tackett, Jr.<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Sgt Dennis Tackett and his wife Elizabeth need our help to bring attention to their legal case. Please review the information about his case and send your thoughts and suggestions to the Colorado Springs Gazette at:\u00a0opinion@gazette.com Our objective is to bring attention to the local TV and newspaper so that our collective support can influence…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2194","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-random"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/randomandodd.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2194","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/randomandodd.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/randomandodd.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/randomandodd.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/randomandodd.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2194"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/randomandodd.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2194\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/randomandodd.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2194"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/randomandodd.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2194"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/randomandodd.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2194"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}