This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2010, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
There was something different about Brandon Barrett when he came home from Army basic training in early 2007.
Bill Barrett had always been proud of his son. But now, the Marine Corps veteran noticed, "Brandon held himself higher. Joining the Army was a life-changing experience for him. It was a good change."
But Bill Barrett now fears that his son's experiences at war brought on another change — something deeper, something darker.
Something deadly.
The younger Barrett, a veteran of the war in Afghanistan, was wearing full battle gear and carrying a loaded rifle when a police officer confronted him in downtown Salt Lake City on Friday afternoon. A police spokeswoman said Barrett opened fire, striking the officer in the leg. The officer returned fire, killing the 28-year-old soldier, whose bloodied body fell in a patch of grass behind the Grand America Hotel, near one of the city's busiest intersections.
According to military records, Brandon Barrett served in Afghanistan as part of the NATO-led International Security Force from July 2009 to June 2010, a member of the Army's 4th Battalion, 23rd Infantry Regiment.
The 23rd arrived at Afghanistan at a time of escalating violence. Barrett's unit, Charlie Company, suffered a number of attacks, including a suicide bombing, which wounded 15 soldiers and one interpreter. In a message to a friend on his MySpace page during his deployment, Barrett referred to his present location as "Suckghanistan," but made few other references to the volatile country.
Bill Barrett, who fought in the first war in Iraq and suffers from post-traumatic stress related to his service, said he wonders whether he should have been able to see signs of a similar struggle in his son when he came home from Afghanistan.
"But he really just seemed very happy to be home," Barrett said of his son's most recent visit to his family in Tucson. "There was a smile on his face, and he said he was looking forward to going onto his next duty station."
Barrett said he didn't know anything was wrong until police officers came to his home on Aug. 19.
Until that day, Barrett had thought his son was on leave from Joint Base Lewis-McChord in Washington state.
"They showed up and said that his command was worried about him," Barrett said. "They wanted to find him."
A spokeswoman from the base said Saturday that Brandon Barrett had been AWOL from his unit since July 20. On Aug. 19, the unit reclassified him as a deserter, an administrative action that triggers a federal arrest warrant.
Bill Barrett said his son left Tucson shortly after the police visit. "I thought he was on his way back to Washington to turn himself in," he said.
It's unclear when the soldier arrived in Salt Lake City. A staff member at the Grand America Hotel said Brandon Barrett had a reservation to stay at the hotel but had canceled it.
Although he hadn't seen any signs of trouble in his son, Bill Barrett believes the military should be working harder to identify those who are struggling after their deployments.
"They aren't evaluating these kids coming back from war like they should," he said.
Officials at Lewis-McChord declined to comment on whether Barrett had been receiving mental health treatment, but noted that the Army has worked hard to identify troubled soldiers and make medical care available to anyone who is suffering from post-traumatic stress, depression or anxiety.
The Army estimates that about one-third of military members who have served in Iraq or Afghanistan will return home in need of some level of mental health treatment, and "what we want soldiers to understand is that there is no shame in seeking help," said Lewis-McChord spokeswoman Maj. Jenny Willis. "We understand that everyone has problems, and it's human to feel that way."
But Seth Manzel, a former Lewis-McChord soldier who serves as executive director of G.I. Voice, a nonprofit dedicated to supporting military members who are facing problems related to their service, said that the Army's actions don't always match its rhetoric.
He said there is "a shamefully small number" of mental health professionals available to treat soldiers, and often a long wait between appointments. And for those who do get in to see a doctor, Manzel said, "there's virtually no confidentiality — soldiers have to sign a disclosure statement that gives the counselors permission to tell their commanders virtually anything."
While Manzel isn't familiar with Barrett's situation, he said many soldiers go AWOL from their base specifically because they can't find the mental health treatment they need there.
Sue Lamoureux believes that a lack of appropriate and accessible mental health treatment for military members and veterans is contributing to the number of soldier-on-police incidents across the country.
Her husband, Pat, has spent the past two years in Nevada's Nye County jail awaiting trial on multiple counts of attempted murder related to a firefight with sheriff's deputies near the trailer park where he lived in Pahrump in September of 2008.
Lamoureux said her husband was suffering from flashbacks, post-traumatic stress and the reality-bending effects of a cocktail of drugs prescribed by his doctors at the Department of Veterans Affairs Medical System; his suffering peaked when he fired at the deputies, wounding one as he took cover behind rocks and trees.
Pat Lamoureux was ultimately shot twice in the leg and taken into custody — and Sue Lamoureux said she feels blessed that her husband survived. But, she added, she had hoped his case would serve as a wake-up call.
"Instead, I just keep hearing about cases just like Pat's case, over and over again," she said. "It seems like it's happening more and more. And all I can say is that it is obvious to me that the system is failing to adequately care for our veterans, and law enforcement just doesn't know how to intercept and diffuse these situations before it comes to gunfire."
Officer released from hospital
A Salt Lake City police officer wounded in a shootout with soldier Brandon Barrett was released from the hospital Saturday. The officer, whose name was not released, was shot in the leg after responding to a report of a man in full battle dress carrying an assault rifle and pacing behind the Grand America Hotel, near State Street and 600 South on Friday. After he was shot, the officer was able to return fire, killing Barrett.