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By Trevor Wilhelm

WINDSOR — Dodging bullets from children, stumbling across a boy with his face blown off and grasping a dead friend in his arms — the horror was more than Stefan Jankowski could bear.

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Diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder and hooked on prescription drugs, the 25-year-old Windsor soldier returned home from war in Afghanistan to face a losing battle with his own demons.

His family said he died Saturday from a prescription drug overdose, after getting little help from the military he dreamt of serving from boyhood.

They want answers, saying the military “washed their hands of him” and didn’t give Mr. Jankowski the help he needed after he was discharged.

“You can’t put a gun in his hand, he can’t even take care of himself,” said father Bruce Timothy. “So they don’t need him anymore.”

“He’s been found in the front yard of his house jumping over the railing, thought he was still in the war, running around on the grass in his underwear.”