I 
117TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 1737 
To designate the Mental Health Residential Rehabilitation Treatment Facility 
Expansion of the Department of Veterans Affairs Alvin C. York Medical 
Center in Murfreesboro, Tennessee, as the ‘‘Sergeant John Toombs Resi-
dential Rehabilitation Treatment Facility’’. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
MARCH 10, 2021 
Mr. DESJARLAIS (for himself, Mrs. HARSHBARGER, Mr. FLEISCHMANN, Mr. 
KUSTOFF, Mr. BURCHETT, Mr. GREEN of Tennessee, Mr. ROSE, Mr. 
COOPER, Mr. COHEN, and Mr. STEUBE) introduced the following bill; 
which was referred to the Committee on Veterans’ Affairs 
A BILL 
To designate the Mental Health Residential Rehabilitation 
Treatment Facility Expansion of the Department of Vet-
erans Affairs Alvin C. York Medical Center in 
Murfreesboro, Tennessee, as the ‘‘Sergeant John Toombs 
Residential Rehabilitation Treatment Facility’’. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. FINDINGS. 
Congress finds the following: 
(1) Sergeant John Toombs of Murfreesboro, 
Tennessee, served in the Tennessee Army National 
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Guard as a part of the highly distinguished 230th 
Signal Corps. 
(2) His six years in the National Guard in-
cluded a deployment to Afghanistan, where Sergeant 
Toombs proudly served as a guard and escort for 
visiting dignitaries and reporters traveling into high-
ly dangerous, war-ravaged areas in Afghanistan. 
(3) As a result of his service in Afghanistan, 
Sergeant Toombs developed symptoms of Posttrau-
matic Stress Disorder (PTSD), a disability he con-
tinued to suffer from after leaving the National 
Guard in 2014. 
(4) After two years of battling PTSD and fail-
ing to receive the necessary treatment, Sergeant 
Toombs tragically took his own life in November of 
2016. 
(5) However, the life of Sergeant Toombs has 
impacted other veterans in Tennessee suffering from 
PTSD. Since this devastating tragedy, positive 
measures have been made to raise awareness and 
improve the overall treatment of veterans suffering 
from PTSD within the Tennessee Valley Healthcare 
System. 
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SEC. 2. SERGEANT JOHN TOOMBS RESIDENTIAL REHABILI-
TATION TREATMENT FACILITY. 
(a) DESIGNATION.—The Mental Health Residential 
Rehabilitation Treatment Facility Expansion of the De-
partment of Veterans Affairs Alvin C. York Medical Cen-
ter in Murfreesboro, Tennessee, shall be known and des-
ignated as the ‘‘Sergeant John Toombs Residential Reha-
bilitation Treatment Facility’’, after the date of the enact-
ment of this Act. 
(b) REFERENCES.—Any reference in any law, regula-
tion, map, document, paper, or other record of the United 
States to the Alvin C. York Mental Health Residential Re-
habilitation Treatment Facility referred to in subsection 
(a) shall be deemed to be a reference to the ‘‘Sergeant 
John Toombs Residential Rehabilitation Treatment Facil-
ity’’. 
Æ 
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