Last week, a decorated Iraq war veteran with a knife in his back pocket hopped the nine-foot fence and was able to enter the White House. His hope was to tell President Obama that the “atmosphere was collapsing,” according to a Secret Service agent. The Secret Service did not shoot or send dogs to attack him because he carried no visible weapon or threat. The same intruder was also found to have two rifles, four handguns, and over 800 rounds of ammunition in his Ford Bronco. The intruder was Omar Gonzalez, who did three tours in Iraq and suffered from PTSD. The accused had previously undergone treatment for the stress disorder in Texas. He was quickly apprehended by the Secret Service who plan to investigate the intrusion and consider new proposals to improve security.

The troubled veteran perhaps sheds light into the need of veterans and inadequate care of the department of Veteran Affairs. Mr. Gonzalez is divorced, homeless, estranged from his family and living with his two pet dogs in the wild.

“We talked to him on 9/11 and he said he planned to go to a Veterans Administration hospital to seek treatments,” said the family member, who asked that he not be identified pending completion of the Secret Service investigation.

Mr. Gonzalez also has a history with the police. He was arrested in July for evading police and having possession of a sawed-off shotgun. He was also involved in an incident on August 25 when he was seized outside the white house with a tomahawk.

“He’s been depressed for quite some time,” the relative said. “He’d been taking antidepressants and anti-anxiety medication. I suspect he stopped taking it, otherwise this wouldn’t have happened.”

The relative of the accused offered the information that Gonzales was badly wounded by a homemade bomb that took part of his foot, giving him a limp.

“A portion of his foot was amputated,” he said, “and the evidence is the limp you see in the video of him running across the White House lawn.”

An estimated one-fifth of the 2.6 million troops who have served in wars suffer from PTSD or depression.

Figures show that as of April 2014, nearly 600,000 disability-compensation claims are pending and over half have been pending for over 125 days.

Mr. Gonzalez can be considered one of the lucky ones who got treatment. Many veterans do not trust the VA, and are afraid to seek out treatment.

“About 30 percent of Veterans with untreated PTSD take a more chronic course,” says Dr. Michele Spoont, a clinical and research psychologist at the Minneapolis VA Health Care System. “They are more likely to have failed marriages, be indigent, and have a number of medical problems. It’s one of those things that cascades over time. You lose your job. Your marriage falls apart, and it just accumulates.”

Mr. Gonzalez can be charged with entering a restricted building or grounds while carrying a deadly or dangerous weapon and could face up to 10 years of prison.

FSA Connection Questions

1. In the article, who was the intruder?
2. In this piece, inadequate means what?
3. The author seems to offer what main idea
4. What is the connotation of the word restricted? Select one sentence that best summarizes the work