Pulitzer-winning series used as tool to lobby for change

[unhappycamper]

http://gazette.com/pulitzer-winning-series-used-as-tool-to-lobby-for-change/article/1518509



Iraq War veteran Kris Goldsmith speaks at a news conference with Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand. On Tuesday, Gillibrand announced her support of the Military Mental Health Review Board Improvement Act, saying she was prompted by Goldsmith.

Pulitzer-winning series used as tool to lobby for change
By Dave Philipps Published: April 19, 2014 | 12:00 am

After a combat tour in Iraq, Kris Goldsmith was discharged from the Army in 2007 for attempting suicide.

His superiors wrote him up for malingering and not being on a plane to his second combat deployment - a flight he missed because he was locked in an Army hospital psychiatric ward. He was given a general discharge that stripped him of some veterans benefits.

"They kicked me out as quickly as they could," he said when reached Thursday at his house in New York. "And ever since, I've struggled. I can't get a real job because my discharge papers say I committed a serious offense."

Other than honorable: The Gazette's Pulittzer Prize winning special report

Once out of the Army, Goldsmith decided he would do whatever he could to keep the same thing from happening to other troops. This year, with other veterans, he started knocking on doors on Capitol Hill.

[Victor_c3]

1. There are a series of really good articles at that link

It's too bad that most people don't seem to wander to the vet section of this forum. There is a lot of good material routinely posted here (most courtesy of Unhappycamper [by the way, thanks for taking the time to do that]).