MORE ON CPL. TRENT THOMAS

Some time ago, I noted this item:

Cmdr. Paul S. Hammer deals with such issues daily. Hammer, a psychiatrist, is responsible for the Marine Corps' mental-health programs during this deployment rotation. He confirmed that Marines with post-traumatic stress disorder and combat stress are returning to Iraq, though he would not say how many.

Cpl. Trent Thomas may have been one of those returned and that's what his defense team claimed:

Injury, stress affect Marine, experts testify
By Rick Rogers
UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER

July 17, 2007

CAMP PENDLETON – Brain damage and mental illness might have impaired the judgment of Marine Cpl. Trent Thomas, two experts in war-related injuries testified yesterday at Camp Pendleton.

Maria Mouratidis, said Thomas suffers from mild traumatic brain injury and post-traumatic stress disorder. Those ailments probably stemmed from repeated exposure to explosions and other combat factors, said Mouratidis, who heads the Traumatic Stress and Brain Injury Program at Bethesda Naval Medical Center in Maryland.

Mouratidis and Navy Capt. Thomas Grieger testified that the two mental problems might have caused Thomas to take part in the alleged abduction and murder plot.

“In a situation that is high-pressured, Cpl. Thomas would have found it very difficult to act in any way other than the way his superiors wanted him to,” Mouratidis said. She testified that Thomas told her about withstanding 25 to 30 bomb blasts in Iraq, including four that knocked him out.

In addition, psychological tests show that Thomas lacks impulse control and the ability to properly process and assess things going on around him, Mouratidis said.

Post-traumatic stress disorder and traumatic brain injuries “create problems greater than any single problem alone,” said Grieger, whom the defense team described as an expert on PTSD. He said those conditions tend to make people act more aggressively.

“They would perceive threats differently than we do,” Grieger testified. “They would tend to emulate the force that their superiors employ.”