Veteran suffering from TBI is missing
A veteran from North Branch, Minn., who suffered a traumatic brain injury during a tour in Iraq, has been missing for more than a week, his wife said from their home in South Carolina.
Army Sgt. Robert Larson, 26, was last seen purchasing gas for his Jeep Wrangler in Gary, Ind., on Sunday, Oct. 7. He left their home near Fort Jackson in Columbia, S.C. on Saturday, said wife Pam Larson.
Robert Larson, who is 6-foot-1 and weighs 190 pounds, received a purple heart after an attack from improvised explosive device in Iraq in June 2005. He suffered a concussion and was diagnosed with a traumatic brain injury and post traumatic stress disorder. He received a Purple Heart.
"It's been a roller coaster," Pam Larson said. "Some days, he is exceptional. Some days, he struggles."
Pam Larson said she hopes that her husband and father to a two boys, ages 3 and 5, is headed to his parent's home in North Branch.
"I just want him to be found," Pam Larson said. "And I want people to know that he's a father."
The Larsons and their two children were stationed in Germany until late winter and he was medicated then, Pam Larson says. When they were transferred to South Carolina, she said Robert Larson went "untreated and unmedicated" from about February to June.
"The Army didn't say or do anything," Larson said. "The situation went untreated."
Pam Larson then said she heard from a sergeant that her husband missed a doctor's appointment last week.
Larson said the Army will begin holding his paychecks since he didn't report last week.
"They talk about an Army and family covenant, but they hold his paychecks?" Larson said.
Robert Larson serve a second tour in Iraq in 2008 and 2009 and one in Afghanistan in 2011.
"He has been away from home more than he has been home during our marriage," said Pam, a fellow veteran and Purple Heart recipient who was injured in the same attack as her husband. "I'm staying strong. He married a fighter. I'm leading the search."
A spokeswoman from Fort Jackson did not immediately return a phone message.
