Tulsa Soldier Rebuilding Credit, Life After Burglary

A soldier back on the Homefront from Afghanistan is trying to recover from being a crime victim. While he was deployed, someone cleaned out his storage unit, taking everything he owned.

Stealing is always wrong. Stealing from a deployed soldier, that's an outrage.

While most soldiers with Oklahoma's 45th Infantry are readjusting to life back home, Greg Goodson is starting over.

"It sucks, you know. You think you could come home and your stuff is all there, and it's not," Goodson said.

A few days ago, Goodson was among a group of soldiers welcomed home after a yearlong deployment, most of it in Afghanistan. He returned knowing everything he owned was taken while he was away.

"Some of the lowest people I could ever think of probably," said soldier Greg Goodson.

He had everything in storage at County Line Storage in Broken Arrow: furniture, clothing, hunting gear, you name it. But someone cut the lock and took it all, while he was deployed.

"I felt really helpless. Like I didn't have anything I could really do about it," he said. "It just felt I was there, and I was out of the picture, and there was nothing I could do about it."

Goodson's mom and grandmother were clued in on the theft when the thief wrote a lot of hot checks on Goodson's checking account. That took a while to straighten out.

The fact that someone stole from a soldier serving his country - that will be hard to get over.

Losing family heirlooms is the hardest part.

"My mom had a family picture of all of us when I was really young that meant a lot, pictures of my grandma and stuff like that - that I can't get back," Goodson said.

Goodson hopes the thief has a conscience but isn't optimistic. All his stuff was worth about $20,000.

So while his fellow soldiers are readjusting, he's starting over and trying to stay positive.

"Stuff can be replaced. Some stuff can't, but at least I still have my family and I'm home and that's what matters," he said.

Goodson is now forced to try to repair his credit, since the thief wrote so many hot checks on his account.