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Hawthorne Marine publishes fourth book about region’s residents killed in military conflicts
Paul Chepurko, author and Hawthorne Marine, who is publishing his fourth book, “Small Town – Big Sacrifice IV,” about the region’s residents who died in American military conflicts, talks about his new book at his home.
Mitsu Yasukawa/Northjersey.com
A U.S. Air Force sergeant who allegedly attempted suicide several times after returning from a deployment in the Middle East last year was told this week that he must leave his New Jersey base.
The story of Kyle Matthews’ mental health issues, which this columnist first reported on NorthJersey.com two months ago, raises questions about whether the Pentagon is adequately addressing growing concerns about rising mental health problems within its own ranks.
But this week the story took a sudden and threatening turn.
When Matthews’ mental health issues and his efforts to find appropriate treatment were detailed in a detailed exclusive report by NorthJersey.com in June, the Air Force told Matthews it would review his case. But in a surprise move and without the slightest warning, the Air Force has apparently stopped its review.
Matthews, 28, a nine-year Air Force veteran and father of six young children stationed at the sprawling Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst in southern New Jersey, received formal orders this week that he will be discharged from military service next Tuesday.
Unless the Pentagon intervenes, Matthews will have to move out of a three-bedroom house on the base with his wife and two children, ages three to nine, including two sets of twins.
What’s next for Kyle Matthews? “We are totally overwhelmed”
Reached by phone Wednesday, Matthews and his wife, Kylie, 31, said they were desperately trying to find a moving company to transport their furniture and other belongings, possibly to central Pennsylvania, where they grew up and where they may try to live with relatives.
“We are completely overwhelmed,” Matthews said in a brief telephone interview while commuting between offices at the base.
“I can’t believe they’re doing this,” Kylie Matthews added in a separate interview. “They’re breaking so many federal laws and nobody cares. We have nowhere to go.”
So far, the Matthews have few allies or advocates.
They have approached a number of politicians, notably Democratic Rep. Andy Kim, whose district includes Joint Base McGuire, and Democratic Sen. John Fetterman of Pennsylvania, where Kyle and Kylie Matthews grew up.
However, representatives of Kim and Fetterman said they had failed to persuade the Air Force to change course.
Meanwhile, a veterans group has called on the Pentagon – and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin – to intervene and stop Matthews’ removal from office until doctors can reach an agreement on his health condition and treatment options.
In an email to Austin obtained by NorthJersey.com, Jeremy Sorenson, a former Air Force fighter pilot who is now director of Guard and Reserve Affairs for the nonprofit Uniformed Services Justice & Advocacy Group, called the Air Force’s firing of Matthews “unlawful.”
In a telephone conversation, Sorenson also accused the Air Force of knowingly engaging in “systemic, unlawful misconduct” in its handling of the Matthews case.
Brenda Gohr, a Texas-based attorney and former Air Force officer and military lawyer who has taken on Matthews’ case in her role as legal representative for a group called The Veteran’s Advocate, said she has no hope that Matthews’ discharge from the military will be appealed.
In general, Gohr said, service members have few rights to challenge formal military orders. For example, a request for a temporary restraining order to prevent discharge — as is possible in the civilian sector — is generally viewed as impermissible and legally unfounded in the military. Still, Gohr is trying — as Sorenson did — to get Pentagon officials to intervene and reevaluate Matthews’ case.
A spokesman for Joint Base McGuire declined to comment, citing military policy not to comment on “personal matters.” An Air Force spokeswoman at the Pentagon also declined to comment but promised to look into the matter.
Exclusively from Mike Kelly: How does the military deal with trauma? The problems of a New Jersey sergeant raise questions
How does the military respond to mental health issues?
What is striking about Kyle Matthews’ story is that civilian and military doctors have come to completely different conclusions about the nature of his mental health problems.
The Pentagon’s sweeping attempt to deal with the psychological trauma within its own ranks spanned nearly a quarter century and two wars. More than 7,000 U.S. troops died in those conflicts, most of them in Iraq and Afghanistan. But another 30,000 took their own lives, often after returning home and finding they could not cope with the trauma of war and a lonely deployment in a hostile country where death often came by roadside booby trap. Thousands more were diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder, depression and other mental health problems.
Civilian doctors who examined Matthews at the request of the Air Force after his suicide attempts concluded that his mental health problems ranged from post-traumatic stress disorder and bipolar disorder to depression and anxiety.
Doctors at Joint Base McGuire, however, said Matthews was suffering from only minor adjustment and personality disorders. The Air Force also suggested in medical records reviewed by this columnist that Matthews may be faking his psychological trauma to receive additional veterans benefits.
Matthews denies faking anything – including three suicide attempts. What’s more, although the Air Force denies that Matthews has serious problems such as bipolar disorder, it has nevertheless prescribed him medication to treat bipolar disorder.
Both sides agree that these problems were exacerbated when Matthews’ unit, the 305th Aerial Port Squadron, was relocated from Joint Base McGuire to a remote base in the Kuwaiti desert, where it helped coordinate U.S. military air traffic throughout the Middle East.
“My husband … never came home”
In a 3,700-word written statement to NorthJersey.com, Kylie Matthews described her husband as a dramatically changed man with a personality she did not recognize after he returned from Kuwait in April 2023.
“Even though he ‘physically’ returned,” Kylie wrote, “my husband, the man I fell in love with, never came home.”
Soon after returning home, Matthews sought psychological help. He also asked to leave the Air Force.
The Air Force complied. But now Matthews, who claims he didn’t fully understand what leaving the Air Force would mean, plans to stay in the military – at least until he can apply for additional veterans benefits to pay for his mental health treatment.
Matthews says being discharged from the Air Force would prevent him from receiving treatment for a number of mental health issues.
“I’m trying to stay positive,” said Kyle Matthews. “I’ve completely lost hope.”
Mike Kelly is an award-winning columnist for NorthJersey.com, part of the USA TODAY Network, as well as the author of three critically acclaimed nonfiction books and a producer of podcasts and documentaries. A paperback edition with an updated afterword of his 1995 book “Color Lines,” which chronicles race relations in a small New Jersey town after a police shooting and was called “American journalism at its finest” by The Washington Post, was released last year. For unlimited access to his insightful thoughts on how we live in the Northeast, subscribe or activate your digital account today.
Email: [email protected]
