TORTURED SOUL: Iraq vet struggled with PTSD then killed wife, himself - News

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Apr. 05, 2009
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TORTURED SOUL: Iraq vet struggled with PTSD then killed wife, himself

Wartime tragedy followed airman home to North Las Vegas

By KEITH ROGERS
LAS VEGAS REVIEW-JOURNAL

Video

Read Klinkenberg's "Who I Am -- Self-Biography"

War Back Home
Las Vegas Review-Journal series on post-traumatic stress disorder

Jason Klinkenberg battled post-traumatic stress disorder after his Iraq tour.
Special to the Review-Journal

Monette and Art Klinkenberg speak March 27 about their son Jason's battle with post-traumatic stress disorder after returning from Iraq. In February, Jason Klinkenberg killed his wife and himself.
Photo by Jason Bean/Review-Journal

Happier times: Jason Klinkenberg and his wife, Crystal

Long after the fire went out in Iraq, the trauma remained burned in his mind.

Senior Airman Jason Klinkenberg never got over watching his buddy burn to death on Nov. 11, 2005. That's when militants fired a rocket-propelled grenade at their convoy that hit the cab of a tank truck filled with diesel fuel.

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"I went looking for the driver," Klinkenberg, 25, wrote Jan. 30 in a paper for his psychology class at the College of Southern Nevada.

"He was on fire and screaming. Just when I was about to enter the fire and try to pull Daniel "Miami" Jurn out ... the ACC (assistant convoy commander) grabbed me by the vest and said there was nothing we could do. So we stood there watching 'Miami' burn to death."

The fire was so intense it melted plastic reflectors on another truck in the 35-vehicle convoy.

When the flames subsided seven hours later, "Klink," as he was called, recovered Jurn's remains and hauled them back to their base in Balad.

Jason's parents, Art and Monette Klinkenberg of Tooele, Utah, noticed the change in their son upon his return from Iraq in early 2006.

"He couldn't enjoy the Fourth of July," Art Klinkenberg said. "Fireworks, birthday candles, the fireplace in the house. Those were all things that pretty much set him off or made him (go) back to a shell, basically, and not want to talk to anybody.

"So we looked at it kind of like he died in the same time frame (as Jurn) because he was never the same after that."

The battle stress turned tragic last February.

Three weeks after he wrote his college report, "Who Am I -- Self Biography," he shot to death his wife of 17 months, Crystal, and then turned the .38-caliber handgun on himself.

The murder-suicide unfolded Feb. 20 during a two-hour standoff with police at the couple's North Las Vegas apartment. Officers responding to a 911 call heard a struggle inside where the sound of gunfire broke the predawn silence. A SWAT team later found the couple dead in the master bedroom with the revolver at Jason's feet.

In the days that followed, his family, friends and Air Force commanders wondered what might have been done to prevent the tragedy.

Jason's family said his turmoil would have been less had his discharge not been pushed back for more than a year. He attempted suicide in October when his discharge date again was extended.

He was anxious to get out of the Air Force and get on with life, said a former noncommissioned officer who spoke on the condition of anonymity.

"After he came back from Iraq, he was kind of twitchy," he said. "You never know when that button is going to get pushed. Was he asking for help? I think he was screaming."

He said his friend "Klink" was struggling with post-traumatic stress disorder, including the nightmarish flashbacks often experienced by combat troops and first responders. It can cause sleep loss and erratic, impulsive behavior and make a person short-tempered.

PTSD-induced crime and suicide are a fast-growing problem among those who saw combat in Iraq and Afghanistan. In January, 24 soldiers committed suicide, topping the combat deaths for that month in both war zones.

Six days after Klinkenberg shot himself and his wife, U.S. Senate Veterans Affairs Committee Chairman Daniel Akaka, D-Hawaii, called for action to address the issue, saying, "The rise in active-duty suicides is one piece of a larger mental health crisis faced by service members and veterans."

Rep. Shelley Berkley, D-Nev., said a "full array of mental health services" needs to be provided to members of the armed forces and veterans suffering from PTSD.

"While they may not have been wounded by a bullet or IED, there is no denying the emotional and physical toll that PTSD has taken on Americans who experienced combat in Iraq or Afghanistan," she said.

Klinkenberg's parents said PTSD caused him to snap after he spent a night on the town with Crystal and a friend.

North Las Vegas police who investigated the murder-suicide reported that trouble began after the group had been to Stoney's Rockin' Country Bar on Las Vegas Boulevard South.

A male witness, described as Crystal's friend, said Jason "was talking to another woman and Crystal got upset. Crystal then started talking to another male at the bar. ... Jason became angry, pushed Crystal and threw her cellular phone on the floor," the police report states. Jason was escorted off the property by security.

Another friend gave Crystal and the witness a ride back to the North Las Vegas apartment where the shooting occurred. The door was locked.

"Jason arrived soon after them and let them in," the report says. "She gathered some of her belongings and left in order to avoid another argument," but she forgot something and went back to get it.

Jason locked the door, and the witness shouted, asking him to open it. But Jason yelled back, "Just go away!"

"Then he heard Crystal yell, 'He has a gun to my head! Call the police,'" the report says.

Crystal's family declined a request through Klinkenberg's parents to be interviewed for this story.

She was "the love of his life," Klinkenberg's father said. "He couldn't say nothing bad about Crystal ever."

HONORING HIS COUNTRY

As a boy, Jason took special classes to overcome speech problems. With his father in the Air Force, the family moved often.

From Kentucky to Alaska to Montana to Utah's Dugway Proving Ground, Jason lived the life of a military brat who learned how to make friends. In his own words, he "got along with everyone." He played basketball in high school and tried out for the track team to be a hurdler. He was elected treasurer of his senior class.

He decided to join the Air Force, not because his dad had served, but because he was taught to honor his country.

"I love this country, and most of all, I respect and love the U.S. flag," he wrote. "It is the whole reason I joined."

His enlistment sent him to Nellis Air Force Base as a vehicle operator for the 99th Logistics Readiness Squadron.

A car accident near Mesquite when he was returning from leave one night in 2003 left him with a serious back injury that normally would have kept him out of combat assignments. But he focused on recovery, determined to be fit when his unit got orders to deploy in 2005.

"He busted his ass to go to be with his buddies," Art Klinkenberg said. "He wanted to go. He didn't have to go."

He married Crystal in September 2007, more than a year after his Operation Iraqi Freedom tour and about the time he was beginning his battle with PTSD.

From the summer of 2007 through February of this year he made 38 visits to psychologists and psychiatrists off the Nellis base, according to payment claims filed through the military's insurance program.

He also was taking medication for back problems, which played a role in his court-martial for a minor drug offense. His father described that incident as an act of compassion by Jason to provide a painkiller, OxyContin, to a friend in need. He wasn't a drug dealer, Art Klinkenberg said.

Although he was confined for less than a month, the offense forced the Air Force to enforce a decades-old regulation that extended his discharge from January 2008 to October 2008, and then again through this year.

The delay kept him from seeking mental health care as a veteran with disability benefits through the Department of Veterans Affairs.

The stress of not being discharged with full benefits in October weighed heavily on him.

On Oct. 20, North Las Vegas police responded to a suicide attempt. Jason's father did not have details of the incident but said his son was taken to the base hospital. Police did not confiscate the gun he had in the apartment because no crime had been committed, the father said.

"And this is where the problem all begins," Art Klinkenberg said. "They just wanted to medicate him, put him in a zombie state. And he refused the medication."

After a couple of days, he was transferred to a hospital "somewhere in Las Vegas," Art Klinkenberg said.

"He was there for a week, obviously not long enough. And then he went back to work, and pretty much nothing was done about it.

"That's where the ball dropped, I think," he said. "I don't want to say anything bad about the Air Force. ... I don't want to point fingers because too many balls were dropped and basically it's too late. Jason can't be brought back, and neither can Crystal."

Col. David Belote, commander of the 99th Air Base Wing at Nellis, said Thursday that he couldn't comment on "whether the Air Force dropped the ball."

He said Jason Klinkenberg's discharge decision was up to the Secretary of the Air Force Personnel Council.

"As wing commander, even the general officers in the chain of command are not empowered to deal with those particular situations. That is reviewed in Washington, D.C.," he said.

The council, Belote said, decides whether to grant a disability rating and either medically retire an airman with a disability, or decide if the "misbehavior was unrelated to the condition." In the latter case, an airman might receive a general discharge and would be eligible for fewer benefits.

Belote speculated that a decision in Jason's case would have been made in "some number of weeks."

"It does take months, and we were working toward the end of that process when airman Klinkenberg killed himself," he said.

"I will certainly admit that a bureaucratic process, which has been in existence for quite some time and designed to enforce a zero tolerance policy on drug abuse ... was not as agile as we would have hoped to be in this particular case."

The bottom line, he said, is "the Air Force tried to reach out."

"We tried, and we're going to continue to work to make sure that nobody falls through the cracks, and if we can learn anything, publicly or privately, from airman Klinkenberg's case, we will reinvest in the United States Air Force and in the military and prevent something like this from happening again," Belote said.

A local veterans advocate, Johnathan Abbinett, a Vietnam veteran, underwent years of therapy for his PTSD. He predicts there will be a flood of cases because of the strain of multiple deployments on soldiers, sailors, Marines and airmen, and the nature of the war on terrorism.

"There's a nightmare that's about to unfold in the next 10, 20, 30, 40 years," Abbinett said, "and it's going to make the Vietnam veterans' generation pale in comparison."

Contact reporter Keith Rogers at krogers @reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0308.

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Please enter your name Name: Please enter your email Email: Please enter a comment COMMENTS : (word count limit is 300) You have reached the maximum number of words allowed Current Word Count: Note: Comments made by reporters and editors of the Las Vegas Review-Journal are presented with a yellow background. Friend wrote on April 13, 2009 11:29 PM: Mary, I think it is really funny that you say people that saying good things about klink did not know him when you only knew him for 2 years??? What he did was a crime but that was not who he was all the many years before you "knew" him. We are mourning for the person we knew. You only knew the twisted shell that was left and I wish you you had been lucky enough to know even five years ago. Johnathan L. Abbinett wrote on April 09, 2009 05:31 PM: "Jim" we totally agree that Jason is fully responsible for killing Crystal - PTSD is not an accepted legal defense! I do demand answers from the USAF because I'm a Veteran's Advocate, Political Activist, Columnist and Critic - that's what we do, we demand facts and answers! It's my understanding that Art and Monette Klinkenberg DID apologize to Crystal's parents - so, you just don't know what you're talking about dude! And to say anyone is "happy this happened" is just sick! Jim wrote on April 08, 2009 10:13 PM: Some people at the corporate world witnessed and experienced some horrifying events. One example came to mind was a lady who was sexually harassed so much that she quit her job and eventually couldn't get out of the house, let alone returning to work. It's her PTSD. She has never been to war. PTSD doesn't only result from battlefields. Her HMO doctor didn't really cure her, and eventually she no longer had insurance with her loss of job. So her working environment is not perfect. So her medical treatment is not perfect. Neither were Jason's. This lady in the example did not become a murderer. Jason did. Jason is responsible for his killing another human being. Not the airforce. Abbinett demands answers from USAF. We don't. Jason's family owes Crystal's family a big apology for taking Crystal's life. Abbinett sounds like almost happy this had happened so Abbinett could further his agenda. But exactly like someone said, he had done dis-service to the soldiers suffering from PTSD. Very few PTSD patients end up killing someone, and most killers don't have PTSD. We will never know if Jason would have killed someone with or without PTSD. Paul wrote on April 08, 2009 08:31 AM: John Byrne Military allegedly pressured medical personnel to downgrade soldiers' diagnoses: US military officers pressured Army medical personnel not to diagnose soldiers with post traumatic stress disorder in an apparent effort to save money and reduce benefits, according to an investigation published Wednesday. Interviews conducted by Mark Benjamin and Michael de Yoanna for Salon revealed that at least two Army medical personnel say they've been pressured by higher-ups to avoid giving wounded soldiers post traumatic stress diagnoses. Concerned that he had been misdiagnosed, an unidentified Army sergeant surreptitiously recorded his military psychologist as he told him "in a moment of candor" that he'd been advised to give him a lesser diagnosis. Johnathan L. Abbinett wrote on April 07, 2009 11:34 PM: Dear Sherry Kopchik, Thankyou for your attempt to explain your understanding of PTSD - but, I must correct you on a couple of points. 1.) PTSD is a Mental Disorder and Bipolar Disorder is similar, but very different - the similarities is what has contributed to your confusion. 2.) There are distinct differences between Mental Disorders and Mental Illnesses - as an example Depression is the most common form of a Mental Illness - but, Depressed people are NOT insane! The range of Mental Health between a Mental Disorder, Illness and Insanity are vast and the three should NOT be confused! Hope this helps everyone in better coming to a basic understanding of Mental Health issues! Sherry Kopchik wrote on April 07, 2009 07:25 PM: I am not judging what happened. My intent is to shed some light on Jason’s disorder. PTSD is a mental illness, sharing the same symptoms as many others, including bipolar. I have been living with bipolar for 8yrs now. These illnesses can cause ‘episodes’ or mental breakdowns to occur often brought on by a trigger related to a bad experience or stress. Being irrational doesn’t describe these horrific events. A truer description is your mind transcends reality. During this time you fully retreat into whatever false thoughts your brain is telling you. I can say first hand, whether you are depressed or reliving a trauma, it is very real and extremely scary. Sometimes outside stimuli can affect the experience, or you may be completely unaware of your surroundings. Every feeling you experience during this time is magnified, consumes you, and most often you are left with an overwhelming, crushing feeling of guilt, worthlessness, and utter despair. It is impossible to describe to others the excruciating pain and confusion this causes within you. These encompassing feelings are what may bring on unexplainable and often harmful behaviors that leave everyone wondering how someone so gentle could be capable of committing heinous acts. These aren’t acts of anger or harmful intent. In this altered state of mind, the intent is to end the unbearable pain, theirs and perhaps in their confusion the ones they love as well. I am not saying this is what happened, because none of us will ever truly know. I am offering a view of how mental disorders such as PTSD can and does affect those afflicted when they are improperly treated or overlooked. I hope the military recognizes the dangers of this illness and implements a swift, proper and more vigilant treatment in the near future. Paul wrote on April 06, 2009 03:34 PM: Johnathan L. Abbinett: Let's see now ... below, you wrote the following, addressed to me: Please show everyone involved in this story some respect and keep your ill formed philosophical opinions to yourself - PLEASE! ... The only good that come from this now is that people break their silence and begin to speak up about how serious the coming epidemic of PTSD is for this new generation of veterans - it is not about you "Paul" or your asinine philosophical opinions! Just as these veterans have protected your right to free speech, I will remind you they also provided you with a right to remain silent - especially when you don't know what you're talking about! Now, please stop posting this bunk and doing such a terrible and cruel dis-service to the honor of our military service members and military families! I have no further desire to engage in a debate with you - please show some degree of respect for the feelings of those touched directly - PLEASE! Then, you wrote the following, addressed to "Ladies and Gentlemen". If I've offended anyone, especially any member of Crystal's familiy - I do sincerely apologize for that, for in no way, shape or form did I intend to hurt anyone's feelings in any way ... I am beginning to understand the problem. Johnathan L. Abbinett wrote on April 06, 2009 12:22 PM: Ladies and Gentlemen, My only "agenda" is as a Disabled Vet that wants America to only send our troops into harms way in Just Wars as a last resort - and to fully fund the V.A. so our wounded warriors get the quality of care they were promised in a timely manner - that's my "agenda" and it needs to be done NOW! We are trying to determine the facts about Jason Klinkenberg's medical case and what care he did, and did not, get - the intention is to take whatever corrective action is needed to help the USAF prevent such a tragedy in the future! We would also appreciate being able to tell Crystal's story, because too few Americans have any idea how much our Military Families are sacrificing in supporting their spouses in service - and it is an equally important story! If I've offended anyone, especially any member of Crystal's familiy - I do sincerely apologize for that, for in no way, shape or form did I intend to hurt anyone's feelings in any way - I just know the media and know there is a very short period of time where the loss of Crystal, and her story, will get to be told - now is that time! We have plenty of time to research the facts about what happened in this PTSD case, and what steps need to be taken to prevent such a triple tragedy from ever happening again! In reality, we are sure there will be more tragic acts of violence by Veterans struggling with PTSD - but, we must do all we can to help our Wounded Warriors and our Military Families. BTW: Narcissitic personalities do not care about anyone but themselves - so, that allegation is absolutely absurd and ridiculous - it's not about me folks! mary wrote on April 06, 2009 09:26 AM: To Add who can't even use his or her own name,(Lover) no that would not be me. I did support them and both of them until his drug charges and seeing my friend being pulled down by him. By the way I do know about the Military and PTSD..I too am a Military spouse...why don't you get your facts striaght... June wrote on April 06, 2009 08:35 AM: "Abbinett is Amazing" said, "Again, all admit that Jason murdered Crystal - how many time do people have to state that clear fact?" No matter how many times, it won't be enough, for each time Abbinett uses Jason's murder to push Abbinett's own agenda. FACT: Jason committed murder. FACT: Crystal is the murder victim. FACT: Jason is not the murder victim. FACT: The alledged cause by Abbinett PTSD, has not been proven to be the reason Jason killed, and is even contrary to the witnesses' accounts. FACT: Abbinett uses a lot more real state in RJ to push his agenda on PTSD, and only says he cares about Crystal too, after readers blame his apparently biased position. Then he starts harassing Crystal's family to "tell your story" and uses Jason's parents' taking interviews to exemplify how victims' family should act in their grief. My opinion: Jason should be tried for the crime of brutally taking another human being's life, stripped whatever rights, and Crystal's family can receive the closure that they deserve. They do not deserve the harassment from Johnanthan L. Abbinett. Read All Comments