Calling it the "elephant in the room," Sarah Palin told the crowd at a Donald Trump rally in Oklahoma on Wednesday that her son Track's arrest on domestic violence charges earlier this week was due to post traumatic stress disorder.
In 2008, Track Palin, 26, served with the Army in Iraq. "My son, like so many others, they come back a bit different, they come back hardened, they come back wondering if there is that respect for what it is that their fellow soldiers and airmen, every other member of the military so sacrificially has given to this country," Sarah Palin said. "It starts from the top. The question though it comes from our own president, when they have to look at him and wonder, do you know what we go through, do you know what we're trying to do to secure America and to secure the freedoms that have been bequeathed us?" Because of her son, Palin said she can "certainly relate with other families who feel these ramifications of some PTSD and some of the woundedness that our soldiers do return with."
Paul Rieckhoff, the head of the nonpartisan Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America, told NBC News he's glad Palin is using her platform to bring awareness to PTSD, but added: "It's not President Obama's fault that Sarah Palin's son has PTSD. PTSD is a very serious problem, a complicated mental health injury and I would be extremely reluctant to blame any one person in particular." On Monday, Track Palin was arrested in Wasilla, Alaska, after he allegedly punched his girlfriend in the face, kicked her in the knee, and threatened to kill himself with an AR-15 assault rifle. He was charged with assault, possession of a firearm while intoxicated, and interfering with the report of domestic violence.
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