MiamiHerald.com (Reproduced from Antiwar.com)

Posted on Tue, Feb. 05, 2008

BY DAVID OVALLE

Depression, nightmares and anxiety attacks plagued him after a roadside bomb obliterated his friends in Iraq.

He shared his plight with reporters and a congressional delegation. He complained about inadequate treatment and indifference from military superiors.

Diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder, Army Spec. Alex Lotero was a public casualty of the Iraq War -- and now the military says he's a deserter.

Shortly after he took his case public, Lotero deserted his base in Fort Carson, Colo., in June 2007, the military said. Lotero, 21, was arrested late last week after he was discovered by Miami-Dade police in Kendall.

Miami-Dade officers were called to a domestic dispute involving Lotero and his girlfriend in Kendall, where he had been hiding from military authorities.

Officer Keyfrem Guzman ran a routine records check on Lotero and discovered the Army had issued an arrest warrant for the goateed, tattooed soldier.

''He had no choice but to arrest him,'' said Miami-Dade Detective Mario Rachid, a police spokesman.

Lotero, who grew up in Miami and graduated from Sunset High, is being held at Miami-Dade County Jail.

According to Fort Carson spokeswoman Dee McNutt, Lotero had been absent without leave since June 2007. When base officials receive the report from Miami-Dade police, military personnel will pick him up from Miami-Dade's jail, she said.

Lotero's story came to light in May 2007 through Washington-based Veterans of America, which lobbies for rights for soldiers returning from combat zones.

The group had been investigating mental healthcare for veterans at Fort Carson, including Lotero's case.

The group organized a visit for a congressional delegation to Fort Carson, where soldiers spoke about problems with post-traumatic stress disorder.

Lotero told the delegation that he been diagnosed with PTSD and attended group therapy.

''That's basically all that you hear, is one dude's problems with his chain of command, another dude's problems with his chain of command, and that's all you hear,'' he told The Denver Post.

Lotero said his superiors offered him a ''personality disorder'' discharge, which would have made him ineligible for veterans benefits. He rejected the offer.

The New York Times ran a black-and-white portrait photo of Lotero in a report on veterans battling mental disorders.

''They belittled my condition,'' Lotero told the newspaper of his superiors. ``They told me I was broke, that I didn't have anything left.''

He showed the newspaper his tattoo of a ghoulish, rotting Vietnam-era soldier.

''This is how I feel right now,'' he said of the tattoo.

After graduating from Sunset High, Lotero joined the military at the suggestion of a recruiter, his father said Monday.

His father, Alex Lotero Sr., was shocked Monday to hear his son had been detained -- when Lotero returned from Colorado, he told his father he had been honorably discharged.

From August to the end of November, Lotero lived with his father in Kendall while he looked for work. Lotero returned from service angry and bitter, his father said.

''He said I would never understand the things that happened to him,'' said Lotero Sr., a security consultant. ``I tried to understand, but he would get very aggressive with me.''

Lotero Sr. said his son moved out abruptly, got a new phone and disappeared.

He said the military had abandoned his son.

''They said they would help him and now they are going to screw up his life even more,'' Lotero Sr. said.