After overcoming life-changing injuries, multiple tours of duty and other hardships, Todd Arnold wants to help other struggling veterans turn their lives around. It’s a calling, he said.
Arnold, 43, graduated earlier this month from Bexar County’s third Felony Veterans’ Treatment Court class. It is an intense program which focuses on former servicemen and women who suffer from drug or alcohol abuse, issues with mental health or PTSD, and have specified felony offenses pending.
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The program — known as VTC — requires weekly meetings with therapists, officers of the court, Veterans Affairs officials and random urinalysis tests.
The judges and the District Attorney’s Office takes their success in the program into consideration when deciding the outcome of their criminal cases.
Arnold loved his job as an M1 Abrams tank driver in the U.S. Army. He spent eight years in combat in three tours of duty in Iraq and two in Afghanistan.
“I was blown up a couple of times, shot twice and stabbed three times,” he said Tuesday while working the counter of his girlfriend’s shop, The Candy Store.
Each rotation “had a different surprise,” Arnold said.
“I have shrapnel in my face, head and back; still got the bullets in my leg and chest, a fake wrist, metal boxes in my neck.”
Heavily wounded, he came back to the states. He had to learn to walk and talk again because of traumatic brain injuries and PTSD. He was forced into medical retirement in 2009 after 18 and a half years in the Army, and he moved to San Antonio.
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“I came to visit and I could see they are real military friendly (here),” he said. “I knew it would be a great place to finish raising my kids.”
But things changed in 2015 for Arnold when he was pulled over and arrested on charges of driving under the influence.
“I had a Jack and Coke and two Budweisers,” he said, before he drove a friend to check on a family member in distress.
“That one little mistake caused a chain reaction that led me to treatment court,” and changed his life, Arnold said.
His case was transferred to the 186th District Court and Judge Jefferson Moore, who runs VTC with Judge Lori Valenzuela of the 437th District Court.
Arnold’s case had been delayed for years, he said, when court officers suggested last year that he consider VTC.
“Before I went into program, I was depressed, dealing with this court stuff for so many years,” he said. “I ended up losing my marriage. I felt worthless.”
Arnold entered the program a year ago and surprised everyone, said John Herman, VTC court coordinator.
“When he came in, you knew he had a story to tell, but he didn’t know how to tell it,” he said.
Soon, Herman said, Arnold began to take on the role of a quiet leader.
“He sat up front, we never had to get onto him” for anything, he said.
Herman said Arnold began talking to other vets, offering help.
“He led the 186th crew, sat in the front row, and was there for each person,” Herman said.
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“After he overheard that one of the participants didn’t have a ride, he offered rides to vets,” Herman said. “That’s who Mr. Arnold is. He wants to give back and be an ear to others.”
Arnold followed every step required in the program, and before his graduation, completed what the program calls the Give Back Project, an act of giving back to the San Antonio community in some way.
Carolyn Alvarado, VTC court support specialist, said Arnold is an asset to the program. It’s why she asked him to participate in the alumni program.
“He can say to them, ‘been there, done that,’ and tell them if they give the program a chance, they can be helped,” she said.
Arnold took the volunteering aspect of the program to heart, starting with animal shelters.
“They don’t talk back or judge. Animals need you, and I had to get that feeling back of being needed again,” like he felt when he was in the military.
From there, he volunteered at an elementary school and considered substitute teaching. He also sponsored a young boy for Special Olympics.
“Everything you do, you are building yourself back up,” he said of giving back. “It’s like the Army. They break you down and build you up like they want. Same thing with this program, and volunteering helped build me back up.”
He said there’s nothing like the feeling of getting out there and helping someone else in need.
“You feel productive and better about yourself,” Arnold said. “Some vets afterward feel, ‘I’ve made amends for my mistake,’ like we did something to overturn that mistake. That’s what the Give Back Project can do.”
Getting that point across to fellow participants was the focus of his project.
“I mentored some of the new guys in the program as a trial run, and educated them about the Give Back Project and explaining the difference between community service (required by the program) and actually volunteering.”
Arnold also said veterans are competitive.
“So outdoing each other for the greater good is fun,” he said.
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Now that he is a graduate, he will have to complete the After Program, the last phase. Once that is done, Arnold said he will be back as a mentor, helping spread the word while holding up his veteran brothers and sisters.
In addition to being an ambassador for VTC, Arnold is helping his girlfriend with her dream of opening up The Candy Store, off of Potranco Road and North Ellison Drive on the West Side that specializes in new and old school candies. The shop’s motto: “where life is a little sweeter.”
Reflecting on his journey, Arnold is grateful for his family, the Army and VTC. He no longer feels shame and has turned his life around, he said.
“I’m still here. I am blessed. I still have all my limbs and can still function,” he said.
As he prepares to help with VTC and running the candy store, Arnold also looks toward the next phase of his life: marrying his girlfriend.
“Hopefully once I’m completely done with the legal stuff, we can get married,” he said. “I don’t want to bring extra baggage into this.”
ezavala@express-news.net | Twitter: @elizabeth2863
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