In 2013, an investigation by the Colorado Springs Gazette revealed that an increasing number of wounded combat veterans were being kicked out of the Army for misconduct, often with no benefits, as the military downsized after a decade of war. For many, this misconduct was a manifestation of the injuries they incurred on the battlefield. At home, the traumatic brain injuries and the post-traumatic stress disorder could show up as behavioral problems like a short temper and forgetfulness. Young and inexperienced commanders dealt with soldiers with health issues as problem soldiers. “It is time to start teaching these kinds of soldiers a lesson,” Fort Carson's lead prosecutor at the time, Maj. Javier Rivera said in an email. The “lessons” were handed down as misconduct discharges, which surged 67 percent at Fort Carson alone. The men in the photographs above were dealing with the effects of war when the Army threatened some, and kicked others out of the service.


To read the full story from the Pulitzer prize winning series, Other than Honorable, visit gazette.com/soldiers


Kash Alvaro attempts to escape from behind a box spring as he moves into a friend's apartment across the complex from where he was living with his girlfriend. The bed was a donation from the Redistribution Center, a nonprofit organization that gives milli
Colorado Springs firefighters attend to Kash Alvaro as he starts showing signs of a seizure. Nurses at the doctor's office where he was trying to see a primary care physician called 911 after Alvaro nearly fainted while trying to check in for a routine ap
Kash Alvaro stops for lunch at a gas station on the way to apply for indigent medical care in Divide, Colo. where the wait for coverage is shorter than it is in Colorado Springs. Without access to the VA hospital, Alvaro has had an unsteady supply of seiz
Kash Alvaro looks out the window of a friend's apartment in February to see if his girlfriend, Angel Moreno, is at her apartment. Alvaro was staying with his friend after an argument with Moreno. Even though their relationship was rocky, Alvaro said he wo
Jerrald Jensen lights a cigarette in his home office in February. Jensen deployed to Iraq in 2006 where a roadside bomb ripped through his Humvee and shattered the lower half of his face. After 16 surgeries over the course of 18 months, Jensen volunteered
Jerrald Jensen holds pieces of shrapnel that doctors pulled from his face after a blast in Iraq that ripped his jaw apart. The wounded veteran has thought about getting the shrapnel made into a ring.
A portrait of Sgt. Jerrald Jensen, taken before his first combat tour, sits on a side table in the living room of his Castle Rock, Colo. apartment.
Jerrald Jensen argues with his wife, Robin Jensen, early in March, about how to pay their bills after learning that his VA benefit checks wouldn't start for at least another month. Even though Jensen was able to keep his benefits with a medical discharge,
Jerrald Jensen leaves a Veterans Affairs hospital in Denver empty-handed in February after trying to get a prescription for his pain and PTSD medication. He has been out of medication for three weeks.
Jerrald Jensen gets "Cold Blood" tattooed on his neck as a tribute to the cavalry company he served with on a mountaintop in Afghanistan. Jensen has a tattoo of a Purple Heart on the other side of his neck.
Jerrald Jensen cleans his mouth to keep his wounds from getting infected. "Since my mouth doesn't close, it all just falls out," Jensen said. "I feel like a 2-year-old." Jensen lost all his teeth when he was injured for the second time in Afghanistan. He
Jerrald Jensen watches TV as his wife, Robin, sleeps next to him. Robin, who watched her husband go through dozens of surgeries, said the hardest thing was seeing how the Army treated him when he returned injured from Afghanistan. Only after informing a t
Sgt. Paul Sasse smokes a cigarette in handcuffs outside a courtroom at Fort Carson as he waits to be arraigned on assault charges. Sasse, who did three combat tours with the 1st and 10th Special Forces Groups, started deteriorating mentally after his firs
Sgt. Paul Sasse gets patted down before going back to solitary confinement at the El Paso County Jail in January. The wounded Army veteran had been in jail without charge for six months in connection with beating his wife and assaulting military police. W
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