The Army denies that combat stress causes homicide

The Army denies that combat stress causes homicide
An Army report seems to confirm a Salon investigation linking battle stress to murder. But the Army begs to differ
Editor's note: Read excerpts from the Army's report on homicides at Fort Carson here or download the full study here. Read Salon's Coming Home series about preventable deaths at Fort Carson here.
By Michael de Yoanna and Mark Benjamin


July 16, 2009 FORT CARSON, Colo. -- The harsh combat in Iraq, including potential war crimes that were witnessed by soldiers, contributed to a series of brutal murders by soldiers based at this Army post near Colorado Springs after they returned home, according to a hard-hitting Army study released Wednesday. Many of the findings in the study, which was announced by senior Army brass at a press conference on the post, mirror those in Salon's Coming Home series, which identified a pattern of preventable homicides and suicides at Fort Carson among soldiers who served in Iraq with combat stress and failed to receive proper medical treatment.

According to the report, "Survey data from this investigation suggest a possible association between increasing levels of combat exposure and risk for negative behavioral outcomes." The study also says that "combat intensity/exposure . . . may have increased the risk for violent behaviors" and that its "findings are consistent with recent research on combat exposure and subsequent behavior outcomes among Soldiers."

Salon's Coming Home series showed that soldiers who returned from combat duty with symptoms of stress were often ridiculed or otherwise discouraged from seeking help, were overmedicated or misdiagnosed, or chose to self-medicate with drugs and alcohol. Many had been deployed even though they were already displaying signs of combat stress. Additionally, some of the soldiers involved in violence against themselves or others had preexisting conditions that should have disqualified them from service, but were allowed into a military hard-pressed for new recruits via waivers.
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The Army denies that combat stress causes homicide