armytimes.com/news/2011/01/gannett-army-formerly-awol-campbell-soldier-deploys-011011/ By Jake Lowary – the (Clarksville, Tenn.) Leaf-Chronicle Posted : Monday Jan 10, 2011 13:26:34 EST

A Fort Campbell soldier who was considered AWOL in November and turned himself in said he would follow orders and deploy back to Afghanistan.

Jeff Hanks, 30, said Saturday that he would follow orders to deploy on Sunday even though he claims he still has post-traumatic stress disorder and has not received proper treatment from the Army. His attorney has also filed a formal complaint with the military claiming he was “wronged.”

“of course I’m going to do my job, but there’s parts of me that know something’s wrong,” he said Saturday night.

Hanks went home to North Carolina in October when he was on mid-tour leave and went to the Army to get help but said his commanders failed to help. the day he was to go back to Afghanistan to finish his tour, his anxiety and depression reached its limit when someone behind him clapped loudly in an airport restaurant.

The 1st Brigade Combat Team soldier said he developed PTSD following a 2008 deployment to Iraq. Since, he says he struggles with headaches and anxiety in large crowds, has nightmares and trouble sleeping and has been unnecessarily mean to his daughters.

Hanks, with supporters from the anti-war groups Iraq Veterans Against the War and Operation Recovery, held a press conference on Veterans Day to call attention to his situation and advocate for better mental health services for soldiers with PTSD.

“It’s sad that I had to resort to that, but I did what I thought was right,” he said then of his flight from the Army.

Since turning himself in, Hanks said he’s been going regularly to appointments both on and off post. the appointments and treatment on post with military behavioral health specialists have “never really got anywhere,” he said.

According to the IVAW website, four civilian doctors have diagnosed Hanks with PTSD.

The military recommended Hanks for a 12-week group therapy course, but his commanders and provider both “balked” because the course would take too long and said he would still have to deploy, he said.

“‘He didn’t really need it anyway, we’re just tying up loose ends,’ ” Hanks said of what he was told by the Army.

He sought a second opinion and that provider, also in the military, acknowledged symptoms of depression, anxiety, stress and sleep problems, he said.

“He cleared me [to deploy],” Hanks added.

Hanks’ attorney on Saturday filed an Article 138 with his commanders at Fort Campbell. the article allows any member of the military to officially claim that they were “wronged” by a commanding officer. Under the article, grounds for the claim can include “violation of law or regulation; beyond the legitimate authority of that commander; arbitrary, capricious, or an abuse of discretion; or clearly unfair.”

Hanks said he is not sure what the result of the filing will be, but that he plans to deploy anyway.

“I’m going to follow orders and go,” he said.

8 December 2010 last updated at 10:48 ET Share this page the cholera epidemic has prompted protests against the UN in Haiti

None of Nepal's soldiers serving with UN peacekeepers in Haiti was tested for cholera before they went, the Nepalese army's chief medical officer says.

Brig Gen Dr Kishore Rana told the BBC the UN did not require such a test unless a soldier had cholera symptoms.

Earlier on Wednesday, a Nepalese army spokesman rejected a report suggesting the Haiti epidemic had originated from its soldiers.

Cholera has killed more than 2,000 Haitians, prompting anti-UN protests.

Brig Gen Rana contradicted previous statements by the Nepalese army which has maintained that all its troops were given a thorough medical test – including being tested for cholera – before being deployed to Haiti in October.

He said that UN protocol had been followed during the pre-deployment medical, but that none of the troops exhibited symptoms of cholera – so no follow-up tests were done.

His comments come after the leaking of a report by a French disease expert which suggested UN peacekeepers were the most likely source of the cholera epidemic sweeping Haiti.

‘Hypothetical’

Sources who saw the report by epidemiologist Renaud Piarroux said it had evidence the outbreak was caused by river contamination from Nepalese troops.

The report was rejected by army spokesman Ramindra Chhetri on Wednesday.

"We strongly condemn the making of such allegations with no firm evidence or facts," the AFP news agency quoted him as saying.

He said the report's conclusions were "hypothetical" and said the Nepalese base in Haiti had been tested three times and no cholera had been found.

The cholera epidemic has killed 2,120 people, and nearly 100,000 cases have been treated, according to the Haitian government.

The report by Mr Piarroux found that the source of the outbreak was a Nepalese peacekeeping base, whose toilets contaminated the Artibonite river, media reports on Tuesday said.

The river was the main focus of the outbreak when it began in October, but cholera has since spread throughout the country.

The UN mission in Haiti, Minustah, said there was "no conclusive evidence" that UN peacekeepers were the source of the epidemic.

Minustah said the report by the French expert was "one report among many", but it was taking it "very seriously".

Many Haitians have blamed the Nepalese peacekeepers for bringing cholera to the country, and there have been violent demonstrations against them.

‘Not local’

The strain of cholera had already been matched to one from South Asia, although it is present in other Latin American countries.

Cholera is endemic in Nepal; last year, the disease killed more than 300 people in the far west of the country and this September, there was an outbreak in the capital Kathmandu.

Medical experts say it is possible to carry the disease without exhibiting symptoms.

In an interview last week, Mr Piarroux said it was clear cholera had been introduced to Haiti, which had not seen an outbreak of the disease for more than a century.

"It started in the centre of the country, not by the sea, nor in the refugee camps. the epidemic can't be of local origin. That's to say, it was imported," he told AFP.

UN peacekeepers have been in Haiti since 2004 to help restore political stability after years of unrest.

They have also been helping relief efforts following last January's massive earthquake, which killed about 230,000 people.