Hello friends, family and everyone …

Today I humbly write this on behalf of my son PFC Leighton Marchetta. Leighton is an Army VET suffering from severe PTSD. His ptsd is the result of toxic leadership within his unit which also caused the suicide of two young soldiers within a week. One of the young men who took his life was my son’s battle buddy, mentor and best friend. Unfortunately it was not an easy suicide and to top it off my son was the one who found him. A few days later, after being “smoked” for defending the two young men, my son also attempted suicide.

To say that the leadership of this unit was lacking, would be an understatement. Anytime two Soldier’s take their lives within one unit, in such a short period of time, and a third attempts; there is a serious issue within the ranks.

My son has been left with serious issues after all of this and he was discharged from the Army. A broken Solider, he was no longer useful. As so many of our young Vets with ‪#‎ptsd‬, services were far and few in-between and his dedication to seeking them out was also lacking.

Leighton is a happy young man with a bright future and was eager to embrace it. That is, until the other night. After being pressured to drink at a BBQ, Leighton began to spiral out of control. In the middle of a full #ptsd freak out, he was put into a truck to be taken home. On the way home, with his bare feet, Leighton kicked out the back window of the truck. Bleeding all over the place, the people caring for him at the time, pulled over and basically beat him into submission, then placed him back into the truck where he passed out. Rather than taking my son to the hospital for help with his #ptsd episode or the cuts and bleeding on his feet, he was taken home and left in the truck by his biological father. Sometime latter my son wakes up, finds out what happened and couldn’t handle all of it. Still drunk and in his ptsd spiral he went into the house, got a high powered rifle and drove off with the intention of killing himself.

A bad situation became worse when Leighton chose to ‘commit suicide by cop’. Driving up to the local State Trooper’s Office, he got out of the truck, yelled ‘you are going to have to kill me' and shot twice. Thank heaven that no Officer was injured. It was clear that Leighton did NOT want to harm the Officers but only wanted to be killed himself. These wonderful Officers did not kill my son, but rather only shot him in the shoulder. Praise be to all of Heaven.

Needless to say, Leighton is in jail under suicide watch. He is completely unstable at this time and determined to take his own life. Without the proper care and services I fear that he will succeed.

These fears are what has led me to write to you today. I have found help for Leighton but at this time it is out of reach. We have a treatment facility willing to take Leighton, but the DA is under no obligation at this time to allow his transfer out of the jail. I’ve been trying to navigate the waters of the legal system, but it’s very apparent that no one is going to listen to me and a lawyer is our only hope of finding an advocate for Leighton. Fortunately, I’ve found a lawyer that seems to be just perfect for my son. He’s an Army brat himself, with career Army parents, he knows about navigating the Veterans Court (where I hope my son’s case can be moved to) and has worked with Military related PTSD cases in the past.

But, as we all know, lawyers are very expensive. They are asking for $3000 down and $800 a month until $15,000 is paid off and this is just for the pretrial work. I don’t mind the money at all and I can make the payments if I cut my expenses down to the bone. You can’t put a price on the life of your son. I have a little, but coming up with the whole $3000 down is a huge issue for us and without it the lawyer won’t even visit Leighton to let him know that we are fighting to help him.

With social media being what it is, I come on my with heavy heart, asking for a bit of help. I know it sounds like a lot of money when most of us are trying to keep a roof over our heads and food on the table. But, if everyone who reads this donates just $1.00 to help Leighton get the psychiatric care that he desperately needs we will have the down payment in no time at all.

Please if you can spare $1.00, click the PayPal button bellow. If not, I totally understand and ask that you pray for Leighton. He’s a special young man, who has so much to offer the world. He just doesn’t see it.

We thank you from the bottom of our hearts. HUGS HUGS HUGS 
Laura Quesinberry