DETROIT – Sgt. Anthony Gazvoda spent 10 months in Afghanistan. He was involved in 34 firefights and earned an Army commendation medal with valor. He was honorably discharged and went home looking for a job.
The 31-year-old, who is from Michigan's Upper Peninsula, was thrilled when an opportunity to be a Border Control agent with the Department of Homeland Security presented itself. He took it and was posted to Laredo, Texas.
“After about two months I started noticing my sleep was off. I started having anxiety and depression,” Gazvoda said.
That wasn’t all. He was hypervigilant all the time. His co-workers noticed he was falling apart and sent him back to Michigan on paid leave to sort out what was wrong. The government’s doctors agreed on a diagnosis: Gazvoda was suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder.
“The government’s doctors have evaluated him and said he’s fit to be a Border Patrol agent. We just need to get him out of the southern, arid desert,” attorney Jason Turkish said.
The climate and terrain in Laredo brought on flashbacks of gun battles and hauling friends out of burning Humvees.
Gazvoda didn’t think a transfer would be a problem. He was wrong.
He said he was caught up in a government tornado of paperwork and threats, and ultimately decided to sue the Department of Homeland Security in federal court.
“There is no bigger fight than the federal government,” Turkish said.
It's fight they won. A federal judge has ruled the government can’t force Gazvoda to return to Laredo or lose his job, granting a temporary injunction.
This kind of legal victory rarely happens. Gazvoda said he is hoping it will become permanent.
Turkish says nobody is asking for special treatment here, just a transfer due to health issues from serving in the military.
“You send these brave men and women off to war. You have to be accountable when they return home,” Turkish said.
Gazvoda isn’t suing for any monetary damages, only for a job in Michigan.