Posted on 07/13/2007 11:51:48 PM PDT by Nitro
CBS) NEW YORK The death and destruction of U.S. troops fighting in Iraq seems to have become so rampant to one local soldier that he actually staged an attack on himself -- allegedly hiring a hitman to non-fatally shoot him -- so he wouldn't be sent back for another tour of duty.
Now, 20-year-old Jonathan Aponte is under fire at home in the Bronx for his decision that may send him to prison.
"There are some people mentally that can handle it. There are some people who just can't. You need to know when to say enough is enough," Aponte told CBS 2 HD exclusively Friday.
For Aponte, that day was Monday, the very day he was supposed to go back for another tour of duty to serve ten months on the front lines. He admits to CBS 2, however, that he couldn't face another tour of drama and devastation.
"Bullets being shot at me, almost being hit, with car bombs, burning flesh," Aponte recalls of his first tour. Now the soldier, his mother, and lawyer all say his plot for pain proves he's a victim of post traumatic stress disorder caused by the horrific memories of battle.
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The proof, they say, is the bullet wound he helped give himself after feelings he described as "desperate."
Aponte's lawyer wouldn't let him talk about the event that's brought criminal charges, but a statement of his in court records bring his confession to light:
"I jokingly said that I should get shot in the leg ... so that it can buy me some extra time away from Iraq," he said.
After his new wife text messaged a hitman who would do the job, Aponte admits, "I asked him what was a good price. He told me $500 would be fine."
The shooting was set to happen under a bridge on Gunhill Road on the very day of the redeployment.
"I decided I wasn't going to go back one way or another," he said.
When Aponte arrived at the appointed time, he smoked a cigarette then closed his eyes because he didn't want to see it coming, he told police. The next thing he knew, he had a gunshot wound to his right knee.
"He was asking for help, but we didn't know what he was asking for. We didn't understand," said Gwen Aponte, his mother.
Now Aponte's mother, father, and lawyer all say a doctor diagnosed him with post traumatic stress disorder, and that's why he should be counseled, not incarcerated.
"If he's ill, he needs to get help," said Martin Goldberg, Aponte's lawyer. "He is as much a casualty of the war as someone struck by a bullet."
Aponte says the pain and potential of prison are a better option than another dose of duty. "There are risks in prison, but as far as getting shot at everyday, I think it's better," he said. "Mentally, I can't do it anymore. I can't handle it anymore."
Both Aponte and his wife are facing charges of conspiracy and filing a false report. The soldier's lawyer says the military will soon evaluate his client and either say he's fit for duty and send him back to Iraq, provide counseling if needed and then send him back, or give him some kind of discharge.
I think neither. War IS horrific, and there are truly some people that psychologically cannot handle it. The effects can definitely be profound. There are many times that soldiers come back damaged, as different persons than before they left. I can empathize with it.
Besides, since he hired a guy to shoot him in the knee, he can’t be TOO much of a coward. That takes a certain amount of guts to stand there and get shot.
How do you pose?
Well, now he can look for a rich widow to marry and run for the Senate from Massachusetts.
My pose will be going for your throat!
He will have endured combat, unlike haircut John.
What are they charging him with, attempted suicide? Or perhaps conspiracy to cause physical harm to oneself.
Believe it or not....
the charge is.......
damaging Government Property.
Well, let’s see. He had someone shoot him, because he was afraid to go somewhere where he might get shot...
If you don’t want to be John Wayne.....
don’t strap on the pistols.
Omg!?!? See what the draft does to people!!!!1111
Oh.... wait.. It’s a volunteer force.. Hmmm..
I get it now. Hiring someone to shoot you beats killing the enemy and possibly getting shot. I’m kinda slow..
The USA used to be about doing your best and good things would come...... Now, every last A-hole is trying to do the very least...
“He is as much a casualty of the war as someone struck by a bullet.”
Very much so. :P
Aponte? Looks like Gunny Highway has to go after him again!
"Honey, get me a hitman, would 'ya?"
Somehow, I don't think this is the All-American couple. . .
How many people causally know a Hitman, let alone the ability to just text message them? Is this a New Yorker thing were one has to have a Lawyer, CPA and Hitman on call?
Probably something like destruction of government property.
“Hold still, I am going to shoot.
How do you pose?”
....aaaand your point is?
I’ve seen firsthand the psychological damage that war can bring. It ain’t pretty. Some people - yes, even ones that VOLUNTEERED for service (the volunteering vs. the draft argument is irrelevant here) — simply break down when faced with real combat, real death and destruction, and the very real threat of being blown up by a roadside or suicide bomb at any moment.
It’s a hell of a lot of stress, and despite all of the training one goes through to prepare, some people simply are negatively affected by it more so than others. ALL people are affected to some degree; there is no escaping it; the psyche is ALWAYS affected and will ALWAYS carry the impressions of its experiences forward. It is simply a matter of degrees.
I don’t condone this guy’s actions in the least. But I can understand them, and having seen what war can do to a person, I can empathize with them. There is a psychological cost that goes well beyond the physical “X killed, X injured” statistics.
I do wonder how one actually hooks up with a hitman. Yeah, probably not your typical American family. But all-consuming fear and desperation can push people to such lengths. If you want to call it cowardice, I think you’re wrong. If you are not affected at all by war events, then you are not human. Again, the extent to which one can handle the inevitable horrors of war is a matter of degree that varies from person to person, and this guy just couldn’t bear any more of it. It happens in every war that has ever been fought.
Let’s just be thankful that we have soldiers that CAN handle the daily and nightly pressures. (Many of these come home after their duties as changed, more aggressive individuals in their civilian lives, though, too. Many military wives throughout the history of the military can attest to that.)
You know he could have just wet the bed 6 times in a row and the army would have kicked him out.
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