RenÃ© Schwappach’s son returned from a tour of duty in Iraq with the wounds of war — wounds she is desperate to see heal.

Jerry Schwappach, 25, is suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder. This month, the active-duty Army soldier entered a 28-day in-patient treatment program for PTSD. It’s the first treatment his mother says he’s received for the disorder in more than a year and a half.

“I’m glad he’s going to be in a hospital and getting care,” said RenÃ© Schwappach, of Hammond, Wis. “It gives me a minimum of 28 days to try to figure out what I’ll do next.”

She has been locked in a battle with the military over her son’s treatment. She alleges that his disorder has been ignored during his time stationed in the Warrior Transition Unit at Fort Drum in New York.

Twice she has flown out to the base to meet with Army officials, pressing them to transfer Jerry to another base in hopes he’ll get better care. She has asked legislators to get involved and has contacted veterans groups for help — anything to get her son’s PTSD treated.

“It saddens me that these kids were good enough to go fight for us, but they aren’t good enough to take care of,” RenÃ© Schwappach said. “This is not the way I sent my son to (the Army); this is not how I want him to come back.”

An Army spokesman could not speak specifically about Jerry Schwappach’s case, but he said in an e-mail that the Army is “fully committed to diagnosing and treating the signature wound from these wars, post-traumatic stress.”

“Even though the diagnosis and treatment of these invisible wounds is not as precise and developed as the diagnosis and treatment of physical, visible wounds, we continue to seek innovations in … prevention, diagnosis and treatment of post-traumatic stress,” wrote Lt. Col. Christopher Garver, Army spokesman at the Pentagon, in an e-mail.

Brian Engdahl, a rehabilitation psychologist at the Minneapolis Veteran Affairs Medical Center, says it can be difficult for soldiers to get PTSD treatment.

“It’s not that easy to access the quality and quantity of care that you need if you’re on active duty, because there’s a severe shortage of mental health professionals, especially in the military,” Engdahl said.

It’s a problem the Army is working on, Garver wrote. Since 2007, the Army has added 71 percent more behavioral-health providers to “help meet the needs of soldiers returning from combat,” he said, adding that the Army is aggressively recruiting health professionals.

RETURN FROM WAR

When Jerry Schwappach returned in November 2008 from his tour as an infantry gunner and driver in Iraq, his mother noticed a change.

He was quick to anger and had anxiety problems, she said. Before he went to bed, he would secure his mother’s home.

“Every door was locked, every window was locked and every light was on in my house,” she said. “And that’s the way we had to sleep.”

He also had nightmares — which woke him — of traumatic incidents in Iraq, said Jerry Schwappach, speaking from Fort Drum. During one such incident, he and his unit had to pick up the body parts of Iraqi policemen killed by a car bomb.

“It was horrible,” he said.

Jerry Schwappach, who has a 4-year-old daughter and is separated from his wife, also began having problems with alcohol and marijuana. Realizing he needed help, he contacted his mother and soon entered Arms Acres, a chemical-dependency treatment center in Carmel, N.Y.

There, he was diagnosed with PTSD and generalized anxiety disorder. He then was transferred to Holliswood Hospital, a psychiatric hospital in Holliswood, N.Y., where his treatment shifted to his PTSD, he said.

After about a month, he was released and went back to the Army, which he said knew about his PTSD diagnosis but did not address it.

“My treatment just stopped,” Schwappach said.

COMPLEX CARE

Care for PTSD typically takes 18 to 24 months, although in some cases much longer, said Engdahl, who has researched PTSD for 25 years.

The first six months of treatment are often “fairly intense” and can include education, group and one-to-one counseling, and medication evaluations, he said.

Important to treatment, Engdahl said, is the continuity of care, which can be difficult for soldiers being deployed or moved from place to place by the military.

“A break in (care) often leads to almost a regression — you’re almost back to where you were before you started counseling,” he said.

RenÃ© Schwappach saw that regression in her son before he entered a treatment program this week.

“He’s really down on himself,” she said. “It’s just the way he talks — it’s like he’s not worth anything.”

Complicating matters for her son is that a military doctor diagnosed him with bipolar disorder after his tour of duty. Both Jerry Schwappach and his mother say he showed no signs of the disorder, for which he’s now being medicated, before his enlistment.

Engdahl said bipolar disorder is biological — people are born with it — but it can emerge from the stress of deployment. Issues associated with bipolar disorder, such as mood swings, can be so prominent that progress cannot be made on the PTSD treatment without first addressing the bipolar disorder.

“Parts of PTSD treatment are very hard, and if you’re in a very depressed state you’re not going to absorb things. … You won’t be able to make progress,” Engdahl said.

Soldiers suffering from traumatic brain injuries also face difficulties in dealing with PTSD, because the injuries can make it hard for a patient to concentrate, learn material and keep emotions under control, Engdahl said.

RenÃ© Schwappach said she believes her son may have incurred a traumatic brain injury while in Iraq. He will be tested for the injury during his stay this month in the Freedom Care program at University Behavioral Health in Denton, Tex.

ADVICE TO OTHERS

RenÃ© Schwappach said she’s spent countless hours seeking help for her son, not to mention the money — around $4,500 for the visits to Fort Drum.

In addition to seeking treatment for him, she’s also trying to get her son’s ailments properly recognized on his medical board papers, which he needs to receive full military compensation.

Her efforts have given her some insight into what others should do to get help for loved ones with PTSD, she said. One thing is key, she said: “Don’t give up and don’t leave them alone.”

“Make sure you check on them,” she said. “Half the time they don’t even say anything.”

She added that it’s important to do research and get any paperwork associated with the soldier’s treatment.

“Always ask for copies of the records and keep a file of your own,” she said. “You want copies of doctors’ notes.”

There are many groups to turn to for help, said RenÃ©, who has gotten the offices of Wisconsin’s U.S. Sen. Russ Feingold and Rep. Ron Kind to look into her son’s case.

“Anything to do with veterans, go to them and they can point you in the right direction,” she said, adding that she’s found help at the Department of Veterans Affairs, a local Veterans of Foreign Wars post, and in online support groups.

“Get help for anything,” she said. “There are a lot of people out there that will help.”

Andy Rathbun can be reached at 651-228-2121.

HOW TO HELP

A benefit is under way through Dec. 20 to gather money and gifts for the wounded soldiers in the Warrior Transition Unit at Fort Drum. Items can be dropped off at JJ’s Sports Bar or Associated Bank, both in Hammond. Donations can be made by calling any Associated Bank and asking to give to the Benefit for Our Wounded Veterans.