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

[sparkandy]

i for one will not criticize these men until i've walked a mile in their shoes. victims of domestic violence, especially when it results in injury and fear of death, experience a form of ptsd, and it gives one the tiniest clue what these men have suffered and still suffer. but what they have been through thanks to our pres, is unimagineable to those who haven't been there.

[cheneyhasawarmachine]

"You know that 95 percent of the guys in the hospital bed lost guys whenever they got hurt and survivors' guilt is the worst thing you can deal with," Pannell said, adding that other veterans recovering from wounds at Walter Reed share his resentment for the anti-war protesters.

"We don't like them and we don't like the fact that they can hang their signs and stuff on the fence at Walter Reed," he said. "[The wounded veterans] are there to recuperate. Once they get out in the real world, then they can start seeing that stuff (anti-war protests). I mean Walter Reed is a sheltered environment and it needs to stay that way."

[pennyfortheguy]

Debrief them by saturation in Halo 3, transitioning to Frogger and Dig Dug.

Be all that you can be.
This (undeclared) War was unnecessary by the way.
We had our 'boot' on Saddam's neck for the longest time.

[knerd]

Sad.

"Gone to solders, every one.
"When will we ever learn...."

[LaFeminazi]

What makes PTSD worse?
The more disturbing the experience, the more likely you are to develop PTSD. The most traumatic events:



are sudden and unexpected
go on for a long time
you are trapped and can't get away
are man-made
cause many deaths
cause mutilation and loss of arms or legs
involve children.

http://www.rcpsych.ac.uk/mentalhealthinformation/mentalhealthproblems/posttraumaticstressdisorder/posttraumaticstressdisorder.aspx

Bingo.

[Waitaminute]

That one of the main reasons troops should not have multiple extended tours of duty. That why troops shouldn't fight wars based on lies.

If you don't have anything to fight for, its an extra burden. Compounded by extended multiple tours. They can't get away from the fighting and what they experienced, the things they see. It keep getting worse and worse.

First this bush punk, sent them over there based on greed and lies. Then he extended the tour. Then he sent them back on multiple tours. Ignored post traumatic Stress. Because that would get in the way of him and his cronies lust for power.

This and everything connected to it, is because of bush and the stupid wrap themselves in the flag suckers for supporting him. These are the consequences.

[dam1r]

This is all a big tragedy for "little men" :-(

And instead of facing the problems, media will go on and on with Obama and his preacher's talks...
generating the hate towards Hillary... and all that to divert the attention from the real-life issues SUCH AS the one discussed in that NYT article.

Plain tragic...

[ResistanceisFutile]

Is it a case of the "Military" hiring killers or is it a case of the "Military creating killers. Either way the country suffers.

At the risk of being called a commie "make love not war".

[doinaheckofajob]

neocon trolls show up to defend the criminal murders and taunt with their third grade arguments. neocon trolls sound as deranged as the criminal murders they want to protect. nice fantasy for the mentally disturbed, keeps them voting republican.

[cheneyhasawarmachine]

"You know that 95 percent of the guys in the hospital bed lost guys whenever they got hurt and survivors' guilt is the worst thing you can deal with," Pannell said, adding that other veterans recovering from wounds at Walter Reed share his resentment for the anti-war protesters.

"We don't like them and we don't like the fact that they can hang their signs and stuff on the fence at Walter Reed," he said. "[The wounded veterans] are there to recuperate. Once they get out in the real world, then they can start seeing that stuff (anti-war protests). I mean Walter Reed is a sheltered environment and it needs to stay that way."

[geobushono]

let's remember Travis Bickle was just looking for a release.

[geobushono]

Welcome back.
Of course mary started dating the guy who didn't go.
and your family can't pull strings to help you find a job. (there in china).
you're living in a box.
the VA can't afford to help you.
the only job training you ever got was learning to kill.
I guess you're fucked brother...­.WE ALL know why.

[VOTER]

Trolls - Chickenhaw­ks/Warmong­ers

Afraid to serve in Bush's War of
Choice.

And afraid to post the names of their favorite GOP candidates for the 2008 election.

Trolls fear WORDS.

TROLLS SUFFER FROM ALLODOXAPHOBIA, FEAR OF
OTHER PEOPLE'S OPINIONS.

[cheneyhasawarmachine]

Kevin Pannell, who was recently treated at Walter Reed and had both legs amputated after an ambush grenade attack near Baghdad in 2004, considers the presence of the anti-war protesters in front of the hospital "distastef­ul."

When he was a patient at the hospital, Pannell said he initially tried to ignore the anti-war activists camped out in front of Walter Reed, until witnessing something that enraged him.

"We went by there one day and I drove by and [the anti-war protesters] had a bunch of flag-draped coffins laid out on the sidewalk. That, I thought, was probably the most distasteful thing I had ever seen. Ever," Pannell, a member of the Army's First Cavalry Division, told Cybercast News Service.

"You know that 95 percent of the guys in the hospital bed lost guys whenever they got hurt and survivors' guilt is the worst thing you can deal with," Pannell said, adding that other veterans recovering from wounds at Walter Reed share his resentment for the anti-war protesters.

"We don't like them and we don't like the fact that they can hang their signs and stuff on the fence at Walter Reed," he said. "[The wounded veterans] are there to recuperate. Once they get out in the real world, then they can start seeing that stuff (anti-war protests). I mean Walter Reed is a sheltered environment and it needs to stay that way."

[pennyfortheguy]

army strong.