SGT Paul Sasse, United States Army

When Paul Sasse joined the Army in 1999 at age 19, he was fulfilling a lifelong aspiration and continuing a family tradition--his stepfather had reached the rank of Sergeant Major.

In 2004 he was deployed to Afghanistan as an Infantryman. In 2006 he joined the First Special Forces Group and deployed to Iraq in 2007. On May 9, 2007, Sasse’s Humvee was hit, and he was knocked unconscious, suffering a Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) that was later diagnosed. He was subsequently assigned to the 10th Group Special Forces at Ft. Carson in 2010, where an Army physician cleared him for a third deployment to Iraq.

Upon his return to Ft. Carson in 2011, his life began to unravel. His wife left him, taking his two daughters with her. He was prescribed medications for ADD (Adderall) and Anxiety Disorder (Trazadone). He was diagnosed with Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) and TBI and transferred to the Warrior Transition Unit (WTU) in 2012. His downward spiral continued, and on July 3, 2013, he was involved in a domestic incident with his wife and was arrested by the El Paso Police Department and taken to the County Correctional facility. Sasse’s JAG attorney requested that he be transferred to a psychiatric facility for treatment and that criminal charges be dropped, but the base Commander refused.

USJAG interceded on this soldier’s behalf, averting a Chapter 10 Discharge.