SSG Eric James, United States Army

Staff Sergeant Eric James served two tours as a Sniper with the United States Army in Iraq. In 2011, he was pulled over and arrested on a drunk-driving charge. That was the end-marker. Following his last deployment, he experienced serious readjustment issues stemming from the combat-related psychological trauma he sustained in Iraq.

As in the cases of thousands of other veterans, the Army considered tossing him out on charges of misconduct.

James made hours of recordings with Army Psychiatrists and Therapists at Ft. Carson and later turned those over to National Public Radio (NPR) and Colorado Public Radio (CPR) which led to a well-publicized investigation into the misconduct discharges of over 22,000 Army combat veterans.

USJAG was integral to exposing the Department of Defense in its abusive discharge practices.

You can listen to the secret recordings here.