Hero? Victim? Or Something Else...

More than a few good blogs rallied to the cause of Dana Beaudine, the Oregon Guardsman who returned from Operation Iraqi Freedom to discover his services were no longer required by his former employer:

Dana Beaudine was wounded in a mortar attack near the town of Basra in Iraq. But after he came home a decorated war veteran, he found himself facing a fight of another kind.

For the past six months, Beaudine has been trying to get his job back with Securitas Security Services USA, the nation's largest private security firm, which counts among its clients the federal government.

Beaudine, 34, worked as a guard at the Henry M. Jackson Federal Building in downtown Seattle before he was called up, serving in Iraq as a corporal in an Oregon National Guard infantry unit.

...

Wounded in action, Beaudine also was diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder, an ailment that alarmed Securitas but which Army psychiatrists said does not prevent him from returning to work.

Today, Beaudine finds himself in the company of thousands of other citizen soldiers who — despite federal law — are struggling to get back or keep the jobs they left behind.

A complicated story, but according to the report Securitas wanted more information on the nature of the Post Traumatic Stress Disorder before allowing Beaudine to return to his job.

The company asked him for a list of all his medications, a signed release so it could review his medical records and a letter from Army psychiatrists saying he was fit to work.

Beaudine said it took time working through Army channels, but he met the company's requests. In a November document to Securitas, the chief of psychiatry at Madigan Army Medical Center at Fort Lewis and a second Army psychiatrist found Beaudine "mentally competent" to do his job.

Securitas then requested he undergo a "fitness-for-duty exam" with a psychiatrist of its choosing. At that point, Beaudine balked, saying the Labor Department had advised him such a screening was unnecessary.

"They just kept raising the bar on me," said Beaudine, a father of three from Spanaway.

Securitas declined to be interviewed for this story. A spokesman said the company did not want to talk about employment practices nor its dealings with Beaudine, describing that as a pending personnel dispute.

In a Jan. 26 letter to the company, the Labor Department stated that after reviewing information from Securitas and Beaudine, it concluded the company was in violation of the Uniformed Service Employment and Reemployment Rights Act, a 1994 law that stiffened job-protection guarantees for returning soldiers.

And now comes this update from the Seattle Times

In verifying the story, Beaudine showed The Times documents that noted several awards from the Oregon National Guard and a recommendation for a Purple Heart put in by the Army.

The Purple Heart award was being processed as the story was published, the Army confirmed.

In submitting him for the award, the recommending officer wrote: "On 23 April 2003 CPL Beaudine sustained lower back injuries and nerve damage in his left leg when his team started receiving hostile fire north of Basrah (Basra). "

Beaudine said that as his team came under fire, an explosion knocked him unconscious as he ducked for cover. When he awoke, he said, he was being treated at Camp Wolf in Kuwait. He said he was evacuated to Germany and then sent to Fort Lewis to complete his recovery.

His medical records show nerve damage in his left leg and a diagnosis of post-traumatic stress disorder.

But his company commander, the unit's top enlisted soldier and a senior sergeant who flew to the Middle East with Beaudine all say Beaudine reported to sick call shortly after arriving in Kuwait, complaining of leg and back pain.

They said they were stunned when military doctors sent Beaudine home.

In fact, no one from his unit contacted by The Times could corroborate Beaudine's story.

"You have been fooled," Command Sgt. Maj. Gerald Schleining Jr. wrote in an e-mail to The Times from Kuwait after the story was published. "Beaudine was never injured in armed conflict. He has never been to Basrah or Iraq for that matter."

Capt. John Robinson, who said he was Beaudine's commander in C Company of the 1st Battalion, 162nd Infantry Regiment, also disputed Beaudine's account.

"This is a disgrace to all those who have legitimately received injuries or died in the combat actions since the first day of the war," Robinson said.

Beaudine, who was honorably discharged in February, insists his story is true.

Beaudine said unit leaders in the 1-162nd were so mixed up upon arriving at Camp Wolf, they didn't know where their soldiers were.

"I was in Iraq," Beaudine said, "and they're not going to come out and say this because I was so far out in front. Nobody knew where anyone was."

Other soldiers in the unit also have complained that they arrived in Kuwait amid confusion and without a clear set of orders or mission. Oregon National Guard officials acknowledge some chaos early on.

"The unit was broken into separate companies. They were all over the map," said Maj. Arnold Strong, spokesman for the Oregon National Guard.

But Strong and other officials added that the unit did not begin missions into Iraq until late May at the earliest, more than a month after Beaudine had been sent home.

The 1-162nd was deployed to Kuwait in late April 2003. Beaudine was part of an advance party that arrived a few days early.

Beaudine initially was unable to provide names of soldiers who could verify his account or who had accompanied him on his mission into Iraq. He didn't know them, he said, because the mission had been hastily arranged, and he was added to a team of soldiers he had never met.

Later, however, he said a Master Sgt. Stanger, who was the sergeant in charge of the advance team, accompanied him into Iraq and was with him when the team came under fire.

Kevin B. Stanger, who has since been promoted to sergeant major, disputes Beaudine's account. So does Capt. Mark Chatterji, who was the officer in charge of the advance team. Both said Beaudine reported to sick call within days of arriving at Camp Wolf.

"He's making stories up on you," Stanger said.

Beaudine's medical records included a document noting his "injuries resulted from duty and operations in Iraq." The document is signed by Army Reserve Capt. Shelby T. Edwards, commander of the Fort Lewis medical hold company where Beaudine was sent to convalesce.

Edwards subsequently submitted Beaudine for the Purple Heart.

Edwards, through a Fort Lewis spokeswoman, declined interview requests. The spokeswoman added that Edwards could not disclose what information she relied upon in making the recommendation because of privacy concerns.

Beaudine said that he never asked to be put in for the award and that the Army did so after reviewing his records.

After The Times inquiry, which included a Freedom of Information Act request for all records verifying Beaudine's account, the Army reviewed and withdrew the Purple Heart recommendation.

"His injuries were noncombat related," said Fort Lewis spokesman Maj. Tom Davis. "He should not have been put in for one."

Curiouser and curiouser! Denied employment due to post-traumatic stress disorder caused by...? I'll leave the legalities to the experts, but in my mind the preponderance of evidence at this point leaves me little doubt what I would do if I were called upon to resolve this case.

Of course, that's what I thought when I read the first story, too.

Beaudine's lawyer, Charles Meyer, said he is waiting for a response from the company on a settlement offer before deciding whether to file a federal lawsuit.

Meyer said he believed his client's account but said the issue of whether he was wounded in Iraq or submitted for a Purple Heart was irrelevant to his job claim.

"He never said he got a Purple Heart, and that has nothing to do with this case," Meyer said. "All he's trying to do is get his job back."

I'm not nominating anyone for membership, but the idea of "Rooney's Heroes" just popped into my head...

Update: When I said "more than a few good blogs" and "I'll leave legalities to the experts" I was thinking of Phil Carter, whose entry on this topic should be read here.

A great opportunity for legal vs moral debate. Would you give the guy his job back? Would you refuse on moral grounds and take the legal punishment that might follow?

Would you use him as an armed guard? In a postion of trust?

Update 2: Smash, who contacted his Congressional Representative over this issue, checks in. The idea of sticter penalties is still a good one, and shouldn't suffer for this.