Military service played a large role in Robert Liddick's life
Reported by: Chris Papst Email: ChrisPapst@cbs21.com
Contributor: Nate Wardle
Continuing coverage of a double murder and suicide in Cumberland County. We now know more about the man who police say killed two people early yesterday morning before killing himself.
Robert Liddick is believed to have shot his live-in girlfriend, Wendy Royer and Paul Johnson while Johnson's 18 month old son was in the house.
Wednesday we reported that Robert Liddick had years of military service and now we know much more about that service.
Liddick started his military career back in 1987 with the Army Reserves and later switched to the Air Force. He was involved in numerous military operations from Noble Eagle, which involved Homeland Security after 9/11, to Iraqi Freedom to Enduring Freedom.
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Robert Liddick life
Some may read this report along with a too many others and believe combat veterans are all "dangerous" but when you consider there have been more than 2 million deployed into Iraq and Afghanistan, the percentages are very low. We cannot ignore these reports any more than we can ignore the numbers of suicides, attempted suicides and veterans charged with crimes. We have a responsibility to all of them and their families. We cannot ignore the veterans coming home, relatively emotionally unwounded, or with mild PTSD, needing support and help readjusting. The fact is, we cannot ignore any of them. That's how we got into this situation in the first place.
WWII we did a fantastic job getting jobs, education and housing. After all it was hard to ignore them when it seemed as if everyone knew a veteran personally. When they came home from Vietnam, we did a great job staying away from them, insulting them and blaming them for what was happening to them. No jobs, turned away from all the service organizations, parents of WWII generation telling them to "just get over it" and we made them ashamed they went where we sent them. It has taken almost 40 years to restore their dignity, yet many are still homeless, jobless, trapped in a backlog pile of claims topped off with the veterans getting help from the VA seeing their appointments cut back so that the newer veterans can be seen and their quota of getting them in the door is met. The fact remains for all the advances in taking care of them, stories like what happened to Robert Liddick, Wendy Royer and Paul Johnson. Two people dead because someone else served? How do they explain someone dedicated to risking his life for others turning around and taking the lives of others?
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