Updated: 11/17/2009 10:34 PM KSTP.com | Print |  Email
By: Jenny Griswold and Becky Nahm

Standoffs Involved Vets Who May Have PTSD

Two standoffs in the metro in three days both involved Iraq war veterans who friends say suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder.

On Nov. 11, officers went to the Apple Valley home of Robert James Dunnum, 44.

According to a criminal complaint, he had been drinking and told his wife "you want a war, I'll start a war."

He's charged with making terroristic threats and domestic assault.

He allegedly had seven guns and a grenade.

On Nov. 13, in Edina, officers sent neighbors to their basements while a man holed up in his home with a gun. The man was also an Iraq war vet.

Dr. Ernest Boswell is a psychologist who consults with the Minnesota National Guard.

He hasn't treated either man to know if they do indeed suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder. But he says, no matter what the cause the men, like many returning soldiers, need help whether they want it or not.

Boswell says the rate of post-traumatic stress disorder was about 22 percent for returning Vietnam veterans. For Iraq and Afghanistan vets it's much less, about 10 percent.

But Boswell says it is a problem that will never go away on its own.

"You cannot continue to deploy people cycle after cycle after cycle without them having some kind of long term legacy," said Boswell.

Boswell says many still see therapy as a weakness and it may be up to those around them to take the first step toward mental health.

He said, "Far too often family members in retrospect say I observed a lot of things but I didn't want to say anything. We need to stop this conspiracy of silence and speak out."

Boswell says every psychological issue is made worse with alcohol.

There are many programs devoted to returning troops and families.

For more information, click here.