New York Times Special Report: 121 Veterans Of Iraq And Afghanistan Charged With Killing Upon Returning Home

New York Times:

Late one night in the summer of 2005, Matthew Sepi, a 20-year-old Iraq combat veteran, headed out to a 7-Eleven in the seedy Las Vegas neighborhood where he had settled after leaving the Army.

This particular 7-Eleven sits in the shadow of the Stratosphere casino-hotel in a section of town called the Naked City. By day, the area, littered with malt liquor cans, looks depressed but not menacing. By night, it becomes, in the words of a local homicide detective, "like Falluja."

Mr. Sepi did not like to venture outside too late. But, plagued by nightmares about an Iraqi civilian killed by his unit, he often needed alcohol to fall asleep. And so it was that night, when, seized by a gut feeling of lurking danger, he slid a trench coat over his slight frame -- and tucked an assault rifle inside it.

Read the whole story: New York Times

Comments

[booker52]

Could this be from repeated deployments?? Too short a time home between deployments? PTSD????

[Wrong2bRight]

All republicans.

[UnrulyPeasant]

Tip of the iceberg..

[clumberfoot]

If you train a man or a dog to fight and kill it can't just be turned on and off like a light.

clumberfeet Vietnam 70-71

[IntelligentDesign]

Soldiers returning from war will of course have trouble fitting back into a civil society, that’s a no brainer - the difference here is that we sent these men and women into the wrong war against the wrong enemy for all the wrong reasons - the quintessential perfect storm for dehumanization.

[boomer1949]

Many years ago the twenty-something husband of a good friend returned from VietNam. M was a helicopter pilot and the missions he flew were death missions -- recovering dead military personnel.

This man suffered when he came home; his wife and children suffered when he came home; his parents and siblings suffered when he came home; his coworkers suffered when he came home.

M could not hold down a job. Why? Because his mind was constantly in military mode -- it was never deprogrammed. When he could sleep, the sleep was interrupted by nightmares. Any simple task or encounter could trigger flashbacks and mentally M would once again be in VietNam.

There was no help or assistance from the VA then -- PTSD? Not! And we think it's been bad in recent years.

Twenty years later M drove to work one day. When he arrived, he could not get out of his car. He was frozen in the driver's seat. He couldn't even take his hands from the steering wheel. M began to cry and thus began his complete physical and mental breakdown.

Although M didn't kill anyone after he returned home, the experiences of that war killed him.

[sonofloud]

Why does this surprise anyone?
The military brainwashes people into killers.
And with Bush's lowering of requirement standards to include criminals.­....this is just going to get worse.

[msmaggie]

Would be interesting to know how many of these guys had some sort of pre-existing condition. The psychological screening process the military uses today is suspect, a far too blunt instrument IMO. Of course that's what you get when your demand for cannon fodder begins to exceed supply.

[Nyland8]

Well, this headline is no surprise whatsoever and was predicted by many here at Huffpo, myself included, years ago. We all remember that Timothy McVeigh was a Gulf War I vet and it's just a matter of time before we have another home-grown terrorist bombing - something the INS will have no control over. And since, for Bush's failure in Iraq, we've lowered the enlistment standards at least three times now, including admitting known racists, skin-heads, neo-Nazis, felons, etc, and we've trained them in weapons, explosives, tactics and military discipline, the only unpredictable thing will be knowing how many innocent American civilians will also become casualties of the Neo-conman war-of-choice.

[elkabong]

The only difference between Christian and Muslim fundies is the amount they have to lose.

[elkabong]

Conservatives are a blight on the planet. Like roaches.

[Subj2Chng]

It's a good thing that Iraq veteran was traumatized by the war, otherwise those two armed criminals might of shot him dead.

[ranch111]

Just wait until some of these guys become law enforcement. This is just the tip of the iceberg.

[IntelligentDesign]

These young men are casualties of a society that has subtly taught them that violence is a justifiable means to an end - it starts with poor parenting and hundreds of hours of violent video games and movies, and it continues with a president who reinforces that mentality by giving them a gun and a green light to shoot to kill, as a means to an end, justifiable or not.

Pretty tough for these guys to acclimate to a civil society after all that conditioning, don't you think? Picture yourself interviewing one of these guys for a job, where it is readily apparent that they are unfit for civilian duty (distant deadly stare, alarming comments, skills limited to kicking doors down and pointing a deadly weapon at frightened women and children while dragging the men out to the street for harsh interrogation…) - who's going to hire a ticking time-bomb like that?

This is just one of the thousands of unintended consequences of having a war criminal as POTUS and CIC - the next several generations will suffer for the sins of George W. Bush.

[pennyfortheguy]

Better we fight them over there, then over here?
Or was it, than over here?