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Finally in July 2008, Hassell sought help, at the North Mississippi Behavioral Health Center, spending five days under a doctor's care.

"I've just been told by everyone that it's not normal the way i act. I just went up there to see if they could help me," Hassell said.

Doctors said he was "schizoaffective", a combination of schizophrenia and bipolar disorder. It's a condition that should have disqualified him from the National Guard.

According to the Army's standards of medical fitness, schizophrenia and bipolar disorder *disqualify* a person from serving. Doctors prescribed Hassell lithium and thorazine for his condition

Hassell says the doctors told him to stay on the medication, and if he stopped it and started it again, his condition would get worse.

Within a few days after being released from the hospital, Hassell shipped out to boot camp. He claims he told his sergeant about his medication.

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"He said the doctors didn't know what they were talking about and I was going to be fine. I just needed to get away from here," Hassell said.

Hassell left his medicine at home and shipped out to Fort Knox, KY on August 12, 2008.

"He was so ready to serve his country, he was willing to do whatever they said to do. and that's exactly what he did," Abra Hassell said.

Hassell quickly adjusted to life at boot camp. The On Your Side Investigators obtained his basic training evaluations, where Hassell earned high marks. One thing missing from his record is any violent episodes. Hassell says the structure of boot camp kept his temper in check.

"I just kind of held it in, followed orders, stayed out of the way," Hassell said.

On December 11th, Hassell graduated from basic training and returned to Mississippi, but it was just a matter of time before Hassell relapsed.
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  • And in Benton County, the worst incident -- Hassell nearly killed his best friend, Joshua Beard.
"I saw Eddie with the knife, he didn't look like himself. I tried to contain him, get the knife. I grabbed his hand. He started going crazy. He put it to my neck," Beard said.

Hassell attacked Beard with a knife from the Army surplus store, using techniques he learned in the National Guard.

"When he did it, I remember being on the floor, and his sister was trying to pull it out of me. It has a hook on the end of it. So I'm crawling away, blood's going everywhere and he came back and said, thats not how you get it out. I guess he realized what's going on and he got it out of me," Beard said.

"He was trained to do that. My husband didn't know tactics like that until they trained him to do that. He did it without thinking, just out of reaction," Abra Hassell said.

Training that Hassell's wife says never should have happened, given his criminal history and mental illness.

"Had they checked my husbands mental status before he signed up, had they done a background check on him, they would have found out all of this in the beginning and would have never signed him up," she said.