Posted on 03/15/2012 6:45:45 PM PDT by Free ThinkerNY
WASHINGTON — The American staff sergeant suspected of killing 16 Afghan villagers had been drinking alcohol — a violation of military rules in combat zones — and suffering from the stress related to his fourth combat tour and tensions with his wife about the deployments on the night of the massacre, a senior American official said Thursday.
“When it all comes out, it will be a combination of stress, alcohol and domestic issues — he just snapped,” said the official, who has been briefed on the investigation and who spoke on condition of anonymity because the soldier has not yet been formally charged.
As new details emerged about possible reasons behind the shootings, the American official said the military was preparing to move the sergeant to a prison in the United States as early as Friday, most likely to Fort Leavenworth, Kan., just a day after he was flown to a detention site in Kuwait from Afghanistan.
The sergeant’s sudden transfer to the United States is the result of a behind-the-scenes diplomatic uproar with Kuwait, which learned of the sergeant’s move to an American base on Kuwaiti territory from news reports before the United States government could alert the Kuwaitis about the move, the senior American official said.
“When they learned about it, the Kuwaitis blew a gasket and wanted him out of there,” the official said.
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
4 tours? It took me a loooong time to decompress from ONE 8 month tour. You can't do this to young men without grave consequences.
Nearly all war venues are extremely austere and dangerous environments that can take a heavy toll on a person. Add to that family problems and THREE TOURS TOO MANY.. and well.
I agree 100% with what you say. My post simply called into question the ‘one every 80 seconds’ number. That can’t be correct.
Oh yes they do too. Each persons breaking point is different. BTW alcohol use with his injury history? Likely from PTSD. A lot of PTSD patients use alcohol too try and make it go away.
He hasn’t been charged yet.
In some patients antidepressants can have the same results as giving them LSD. I've seen it happen. The medical term for this is called Serotonin Syndrome. Persons taking antidepressants should not be in the armed forces. Nor should the armed forces be giving them out too troops unless they are out of combat, used for short term treatment, and on convalescent leave from their units.
“That would be 394461.575 veterans a year.”
We’d a probably heard about that.
I’d a been to a few funerals.
Damn, how do things like that get out there and repeated like Gospel?
Daily Kos?
Could it be he is Muslim...or Heaven forbid, an “African American”?
They are not releasing his name until his family has been relocated and put out of retaliation’s way.
Bingo on who to blame - against Repubs it's the hhighest level possible. When a Dim is in the WH - go for the loweston the totem pole.
I don't think any of us, who haven't walked the mile in his boots, are qualified to judge him. 4 tours in a "war" where the restrictions for defending yourself (when killing the enemy should be the main goal) get worse and worse - almost have to have a bullet hole in you to justify shooting your weapon, and the knowledge that the odds for your death go up with each deployment. Add to it the stress of not seeing your wife and kids, and the added stress because when the wife is stressed it usually causes even more tensions. Perfect recipe for someone to "snap" but we have the UCMJ and the Rules of Engagement, dontyaknow, that are supposed to ensure that every soldier stays professional, calm, cool and never show the cracks in the foundation holding you together. Ever since Clinton, the military has gotten more and more bureaucratic at lower levels. Used to be you took care of your troops; now it's more a deal to see who is most willing to "make the tough decisions" in slamming your guys for the smallest infraction. We lost a lot of good men and women (even the AF Chief of Staff when Clinto made his position untenable. I'm more surprised that we don't have a lot more cases where soldiers lash out at the dangers around them - reflects great credit on their inner strength.
Done with the rant - I feel better.
God Bless Our Troops! And God Damn Obama.
That is a nice thought...
Yes, he has really hurt his own family.
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