Nation: War Casualty

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Verdict for a troubled vet

"The gooks are everywhere, the gooks are here! Kill them! Kill them!" With this terrible bellow, Viet Nam Veteran John R. Coughlin, 33, began firing his sawed-off shotgun at the Quincy, Mass., police station from the veterans' section of the town cemetery only 100 feet away. Police quickly ringed the thrice-decorated ex-Marine at a safe distance, but, recognizing they were dealing with a crazed man, held their fire. Imaginatively, the police shouted back and forth with their own improvised military jargon: "A Company is located over there. B Company has been pulled back. C Company will move in." They pleaded with him to surrender. Perplexed, Coughlin, who had been high on drugs and alcohol the previous day, stood up and shouted, "Kill me!

Kill me! I will not give up my weapon." He fired his shotgun into the air and ran. Finally, he smashed the gun against the cemetery gate before being subdued.

That was last May. Last week, in a potentially precedent-setting development, Norfolk County Assistant District Attorney Gerald Kirby, who was representing the state, boldly asked that the charge against Coughlin eventually be dropped. Kirby accepted a state medical diagnosis that Coughlin was suffering at the time of the incident from "traumatic war neurosis" and thus could not be held criminally responsible for his action. Kirby and the judge agreed that the charge of owning a sawed-off shotgun would be dismissed after two years, provided Coughlin behaved and continued to respond to the drug abuse treatment that commenced soon after his arrest.

Viet Nam veterans in the past have used their wartime neuroses to upgrade their discharges from dishonorable to honorable. But the Coughlin case now demonstrates that in a criminal proceeding, the psychological disorders specifically attributable to Viet Nam combat experience can result in the dismissal of charges. This move could have far-reaching effects.

After fighting a draining and divisive war that many neither understood nor supported, Viet Nam veterans returned to the U.S. to face public neglect or, worse, characterization as criminals by antiwar protesters. Viet Nam veterans have higher rates of suicide, divorce and mental breakdown than the population at large. Many became drug addicts in Viet Nam, and unemployment among veterans has been high.

The Coughlin case is a recognition of all that. Prosecutor Kirby notes a "truly remarkable change" in Coughlin. Last June he was "very haggard, confused, worn out"; last week he was "alert, even jovial at times."

Kirby himself had some strong thoughts about war neurosis: "If the damn thing is there," he said, "let's admit it, not tag it with 'cowardice' or put it in the closet and pretend it doesn't exist." -