Lax security blamed after deadly shooting at Camp Liberty

This was one of those times when I had deep compassion fatigue. I thought that since everything was done the way people like me keep pushing for it to be done, getting help as soon as possible, getting help in theater, but they still ended up dead, there really wasn't much point in fighting to get anyone into treatment. Yes, I know it is never too late to get help and that the majority will heal, lead good lives and really live a life with help, the sad part is, we just can't save them all. I really wish we could.

Lax security blamed after deadly shooting

By Michelle Tan - Staff writer
Posted : Friday Oct 16, 2009 18:32:02 EDT

The Camp Liberty Combat Stress Center in Baghdad, Iraq, where a soldier is accused of shooting and killing four other soldiers and a Naval officer on May 11, had “numerous physical security deficiencies” that put staff and patients at risk, according to a report released Friday.

Many of the patients seen by the center’s staff are “potentially violent,” according to the AR 15-6 investigation into the shooting. And the report highlighted several problems, among them inadequate locks on the one-story building’s exterior doors, training for staff and storage for weapons.

The investigation also found the 54th Engineer Battalion, the unit to which the accused shooter belongs, did not have formal written policies and procedures in place regarding behavioral health treatment. Instead, the battalion relied heavily on the battalion chaplain’s expertise.

Sgt. John M. Russell is accused in the shooting. He faces five counts of murder, two specifications of attempted murder and one count of aggravated assault.

Russell, who was 44 at the time of the shootings, is in pre-trial confinement in Kuwait. He was escorted into the Combat Stress Center where he got into an argument with the staff and was asked to leave, according to original reports.
read more here
http://www.armytimes.com/news/2009/10/army_campliberty_101609w/

Monday, May 11, 2009

5 US soldiers shot at Camp Liberty in Iraq
Update on soldiers killed at stress clinic at Camp Liberty
Updates on Camp Liberty shooting
Dr. Matthew Houseal one of the dead among Camp Liberty Shooting
Camp Liberty shootings leave a lot of questions


Wednesday, May 13, 2009

Army IDs soldiers shot by Sgt. at Camp Liberty

Maj. Matthew P. Houseal, 54, of Amarillo, Texas;
Sgt. Christian E. Bueno-Galdos, 25, of Paterson, N.J.;
Spc. Jacob D. Barton, 20, of Lenox, Mo.; and
Pfc. Michael E. Yates Jr., 19, of Federalsburg, Md.

Is Camp Liberty the tragedy that will end the excuses?
Bodies of servicemen killed by comrade come home from Camp Liberty
Mental health bill finds new urgency after Camp Liberty tragedy
Mom of GI killed in Camp Liberty clinic shooting seeks info
I almost forgot how many posts were about Camp Liberty. What I didn't forget was the fact that we failed them. We failed Sgt. Russell, his family and Maj. Matthew P. Houseal, Sgt. Christian E. Bueno-Galdos, Spc. Jacob D. Barton and Pfc. Michael E. Yates Jr. plus their families. We also failed the men and women in their units, their friends and their neighbors. We failed the others who fell through the cracks already hanging onto hope waiting for their turn to be helped. What we have to also remember is that we didn't fail all of the veterans with PTSD.

18 Veterans commit suicide everyday. That's appalling. That is also just the ones they know about. Too many more are never reported as suicides. There are over 10,000 a year attempting to commit suicide. We need to keep fighting for them just as hard as we fight for the ones we cannot save. We also need to keep fighting for the ones we did get into help, help that wouldn't have been there if we didn't care in the first place.

I applaud Vietnam veterans often when I bring up the point other veterans came home with the same kind of wound inside of them, but it took the Vietnam veterans to have it recognized and treated. What I keep forgetting to mention is that it took the American people to listen to their voices and do something about it. We heard them, at least some of us did. Imagine how many lives we managed to save!

Still stories like this end up reminding us just how much more we have to do before we can honestly say we did all we could do to save as many as possible.


I am reviewing a book written by Victor Montgomery III, Healing Suicidal Veterans. This book, like so many others, would not be possible if people didn't care, take a stand and demand someone do something. Maybe too many Moms didn't recognize their sons. Too many wives ended up knowing there was something really wrong with their veteran husbands. Maybe hearing how much they wanted to go back to Vietnam gave us enough of a clue, they just didn't feel as if they belonged here anymore. How could they really? We didn't make them feel welcomed.

We didn't want to hear what they had to say and we didn't want to establish any safety nets to be ready. We did it reluctantly. We never wanted to really witness war. That's what hurt them the most.

Ever since we sent them to go into combat, it's been easy to wave a flag and cheer. It's even easy to show up when they come home but we want to go back to our own lives, pretending they can do the same. It's just easier that way.

They were like us before they went. They stopped being like us when they went. When they came home, they even stopped being like the others taking their place, because they tasted war, risked their lives, saw things no one is ever really prepared for and they became veterans. This title they will carry the rest of their lives, but we want to pretend they just go back to being our son/daughter, husband/wife, parent, neighbor, co-worker or friend. Yet if we really thought about them, we'd want to know what they have going on inside of them even if we didn't want to know all the details. After all, if we can listen horror stories that are a part of normal "life" from "regular" people, then why can't we listen to them?

We pay to read horror books, go to movies, decorate our yards for Halloween and spend a fortune on costumes, but real life of what they go through is just too much for us? This makes no sense at all. Pretending they we just away for vacation will not help them heal and if we don't then we'll end up with a lot more horror scenes like Camp Liberty with real funerals that didn't need to happen.