Some soldiers thrown out of the military for problems related to post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) have been cut off from the very services that could help them reclaim their lives, USA Today reported Nov. 2.

Former Marine sniper Chris Packley struggled with flashbacks after combat in Fallujah, smoking marijuana and leaving his base without permission. He was expelled from the Marine Corps, thus losing access to military mental-health and addiction programs designed to help returning combat veterans. As many as a thousand former Marines face a similar quandary.

Lt. Col. Colby Vokey, who supervises the legal defense of Marines in the western United States, said veterans are being punished for exhibiting the classic symptoms of PTSD. "The Marine Corps has created these mental-health issues and then we just kind of kick them out into the streets," he said.

The Marine Corps is looking into cases like Packley's to see if the reasons for their discharge could be traced to combat stress. "We're digging down into the data sources we have to try and come up with answers," said Navy Capt. William Nash, coordinator of the Marine Corps' combat-stress programs. "That it happens at all is obviously not ideal."

Recent research shows that 17 percent of modern-day combat troops suffer from PTSD. But Nash said that Marine Corps rules hold that PTSD is not an excuse for misconduct.

"PTSD does not force anyone to do an illegal act," he said. "The consequences to the Marine Corps of not upholding those standards of behavior would be a much greater tragedy. It would dishonor all those Marines who have been injured by the stress of war but who have not broken the rules."

Marines who get dishonorable discharges are denied full Veterans Affairs (VA) benefits, as are conscientious objectors and deserters. But the VA also has discretion over the extent of benefits provided to troops given bad-conduct or "other-than-honorable" discharges.