Cpl. Chad Eric Oligschlaeger
As a senior in high school with all the options in front of him he decided to join the US Marine Corps and serve his country because he wanted to give back to those who came before. Knowing he would probably be going to war, he stated “Maybe if I go now, my children won’t have to.” Devoted to his family and dedicated to his friends, Chad faced life’s challenges
head on and with no fear. His favorite directive to friends and brother was get going or get out of the way; to his parents it was get to living.
July 18, 2004: 17 year old Chad left for boot camp in California and after thirteen weeks of boot camp and several months of advance weapon training, he received his orders for Iraq. He served his first tour in the Sunni Triangle during the height of the Sunni uprising in Western Iraq. He spent seven months in a place he described “as the scariest place on earth.” During his seven months, he suffered the loss of many friends and Marine Corps brothers.
March 29, 2006: Chad arrived stateside to a telephone call that his grandfather had passed just hours before and was then whisked away for funeral services. He spent the next year in more training for what was anticipated for his next tour. During this time, the signs and symptoms P.T.S.D. (“Post Traumatic Stress Disorder”) started to show. He tried on several occasions to get help, but was berated and ridiculed by his superiors and ultimately decided to try and work through the issues on his own. (Military doctors documented his condition as severe P.T.S.D. and recommended in-patient treatment. His superiors overrode this and sent him back for a second tour.)
November 21, 2007: Upon returning from his second tour, there was a pronounced difference. All the symptom of P.T.S.D. were readily apparent. Nightmares, hallucinations, sleepless nights and erratic behavior were fast becoming the norm.
He again asked for help from the military and treatment began with the characteristic denials and ridicules from his superiors coupled with the agonizingly slow process from the medical field. After several months of weekly counseling meetings and numerous prescriptions it was determined that he would be better served at a private facility for P.T.S.D. When an opening for that facility was not readily available, he was sent to a detox facility in California instead. While in counseling at the detox facility he was shut down several times when he began opening up about the fire fights and the friends he lost on his tour in Iraq. He was told, "You can only discuss Iraq on Wednesdays."
May 5, 2008: He returned to base from the detox facility with an increase in nightmares, hallucinations and sleepless nights for which the base doctors prescribed more and more medications (at last count, over 12 separate medications for sleep and anxiety had been prescribed, these are a few: Zolpidem an Ambien equivalent; Trazodone; Fluoxetine; Chantix and Seroquel). While he was waiting for a bed to open up, he roamed the base, drugged up and unsupervised.
May 16, 2008: Chad made several phone calls this evening, to his parents and several of his friends and fiancée. His last phone call was logged at 12:48AM May 17, 2008 (Saturday). It was not until May 20, 2008 (Tuesday) at 5:30PM that Chad was found dead lying on the floor in his room. The only reason he was found at that time was because his fiancée was finally able to get a hold of one of his friends and had him go check on Chad. We had not heard from him since his phone call on Friday evening.
A week after Chad passed a bed opened up at the private P.T.S.D. facility. Chad passed just two months before serving his four years in the Marine Corps. His fiancée had just purchased their house, wedding plans were in the works, and he had signed up for college.
July, 2009: Here we are still waiting for a death certificate from NCIS as they are still investigating his death.
September, 2009: We have received the autopsy report for Chad. It has been classified as an accidental death due to multiple drug toxicity. In short, the combination of prescription medications had multiple interactions. Basically the medications in question should have only been prescribed in a clinical setting and even then our research has shown that none of them should have been prescribed together. Negligence on the part of the Navy is apparent.
This is just a short overview of one Marine’s struggle and one family’s quest for help. There are an estimated 350,000 troops suffering from some form of P.T.S.D. The military and the VA are overwhelmed, understaffed, underfunded and in denial. We (the family and friends of Cpl. Chad Eric Oligschlaeger) are determined not to let this travesty continue. These men and women have given so much and ask for so little, that we feel it is our duty to help them get all the way home.
For photos and news clippings about Chad, please visit Chad's Gallery.