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AWOL Soldier Plants to Return on Veterans Day

By AP

Fort Campbell, KY – A soldier who says he went AWOL after the Army failed to treat his post-traumatic stress disorder intends to turn himself at Fort Campbell today. Specialist Jeff Hanks is a 30-year-old infantryman. He says he's suffered anxiety and anger since a 2008 tour in Iraq and tried to seek treatment at Fort Campbell last month during his mid-tour leave from Afghanistan.

When told he would have to immediately return to Afghanistan, Hanks instead went home to North Carolina. He could be facing a dishonorable discharge or jail when he returns to Fort Campbell this afternoon. Rates of desertion among Army soldiers increased 80 percent between 2003 and 2007, a time of repeated and extended deployments.