Report: 14 accused GIs were ‘at risk’

Report: 14 accused GIs were ‘at risk’

By Michelle Tan - Staff writer
Posted : Sunday Jul 26, 2009 8:24:53 EDT

Intense combat experiences, prior criminal behavior, substance abuse and barriers to seeking mental health care all contributed to a “cluster” of murders or attempted murders allegedly committed by soldiers from the same Fort Carson, Colo., brigade, Army leaders said July 15.

Fourteen soldiers are accused of murder, attempted murder or accessory to murder in separate attacks between Jan. 1, 2005, and Oct. 30, 2008. In all, the soldiers are accused of killing 11 people. Ten of the 14 soldiers are from 4th Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division. Six of the 14 belonged to the same infantry battalion.

“We would all like to look back at the cluster of misconduct and criminal activities ... and be able to say, ‘This is the reason they happened, and we know exactly what could have been done to prevent them,’ ” said Lt. Gen. Eric Schoomaker, the Army surgeon general. “But that’s rarely the way things work when dealing with human behavior.”

Instead, a team of experts from Army Medical Command found the accused soldiers were “at risk for engaging in violent behavior” based on known risk factors such as prior criminal behavior and psychopathology, according to the team’s report, released July 15.
read more here
http://www.armytimes.com/news/2009/07/army_carson_072609w/