Another “crazy vet” story
43-year-old Julian With got on the New York State Thruway going in the wrong direction last Friday and had a head-on collision with a group of people in a mini-van. With and a passenger in the mini-van died. So while looking for answers to his motivation for the clearly erratic behavior, WNYT dug up some things in his life;
With recently wrote on his facebook page that his wife had left him. Just hours before the crash, he was arrested by Bethlehem police for violating an order of protection in a domestic dispute. Add to that a post on his facebook page that said his mother had three months to live.
So, their conclusion is that his service in Iraq that drove him to the suicide.
“On one hand it could have been something very deliberate, another word a total loss of hope,” says Dr. Ferraioli.
On the other hand, he says it could have been a total disconnect with reality brought on by PTSD.
“Another possibility is trying to numb that pain with drugs or alcohol,” he explains.
The exact cause of the crash is still unknown.
The cause is still unknown, but you know as soon as someone mentioned that he was an Iraq War vet, in the news room there was a collective “oh, well, that explains it” murmur. Even though there are hundreds if not thousands of combat veterans driving on the New York Thruway right this moment and they’re all going with the traffic.
Thanks to Adirondack Patriot for the link.
Category: Veterans Issues
I was having difficulty reading the article until I realized that retard’s last name was With. Fuck that doctor who said that bullshit about pts.
Id think the cause of the crash was the idiot driving the wrong way on the hwy; the reason he was doing so is up for grabs but doesnt seem too hard to figure out, his life seems a mess…and Dr. Ferraioli can eat a dick
Don’t feel bad Shepherd, my brain had trouble registering that, too.
Since when does erratic behavior have motivation behind it? That doesn’t make any sense. Erratic = random.
What a crock of bad reporting.
The cause of the crash is unknown? Huh? Seems kind of obvious to me…
This guy lived pretty near where I grew up. Here’s what the hometown paper had to say:
http://www.timesunion.com/default/article/Wrong-way-Thruway-crash-kills-2-4300071.php
Pretty gruesome picture of the two vehicles too, but you’d have to figure that- wrong way on the Thruway.
I knew Julian With, we were in the same battalion in the 98th Division and we deployed over at the same time to the Sandbox. Before the war he was a great guy to hang with and have a good time. Always had a good attitude and was fun to be around. We were deployed to different areas in Iraq and I know he did see some action like most of us did in 04-05. Afterwards things seemed to be going pretty good. I do know just prior to this, his personal life was in pretty bad shape. I get frustrated at listening to that doctor go on about PTSD. We all have it to some degree, but I think in Julian’s case, it had more to do with circumstances in his personal life that pushed him over the edge. All in all a tragic accident and I doubt we will ever know why he did what he did. I feel for the family in the van that he hit.