Shadows of dishonor cast on the U.S. military
May 18
BY DONALD BRADLEY AND RICK MONTGOMERY
The Kansas City Star
A military judge last week found Army Sgt. John Russell guilty of gunning down five fellow soldiers at a base in Iraq.
Victims’ family members hugged and wept at the verdict. Russell stood quietly, head down.
Friends and family say he was “combat stressed” by a third tour. “Snapped,” they say. He should have been sent home.
Prosecutors argued that Russell was angry about not getting a mental disability discharge and took out revenge.
What do you think?
Is the respect that America holds for its military — a pride shown Saturday in Armed Forces Day observances — being undercut by acts of mayhem, a growing sexual abuse scandal and a flurry of other misconduct cases grabbing headlines?
Read more here
Showing posts with label Camp Liberty. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Camp Liberty. Show all posts
Sunday, May 19, 2013
Friday, May 17, 2013
Sgt. John Russell given life in prison without parole
U.S. soldier sentenced to life in prison for killing comrades in Iraq
By Chelsea J. Carter
CNN
May 16, 2013
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
A judge finds that Sgt. John Russell killed with premeditation
Russell pleaded guilty to the May 2009 killings at Baghdad's Camp Liberty
He opened fire at a combat stress clinic, killing five people
(CNN) -- A U.S. Army sergeant was sentenced Thursday to life in prison without parole for gunning down five fellow service members at a combat stress clinic in Iraq.
The sentence handed down at Joint Base Lewis-McChord, near Tacoma, Washington, came after Sgt. John Russell pleaded guilty to the killings in a deal in which prosecutors agreed not to seek the death penalty.
Russell pleaded guilty to the May 11, 2009, killings at Baghdad's Camp Liberty, telling a military court last month that he "did it out of rage."
The only question facing the judge, Col. David Conn, was whether Russell committed the slayings with premeditation, which the 48-year-old soldier disputed.
During a brief sentencing hearing, Conn ruled Russell killed with premeditation," meaning the sergeant could not be given a lesser sentence.
As part of last month's plea agreement, Russell described to the court how he killed Navy Cmdr. Charles Springle, Army Maj. Matthew Houseal, Sgt. Christian Bueno-Galdos, Spec. Jacob Barton and Pfc. Michael Yates Jr.
read more here
By Chelsea J. Carter
CNN
May 16, 2013
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
A judge finds that Sgt. John Russell killed with premeditation
Russell pleaded guilty to the May 2009 killings at Baghdad's Camp Liberty
He opened fire at a combat stress clinic, killing five people
(CNN) -- A U.S. Army sergeant was sentenced Thursday to life in prison without parole for gunning down five fellow service members at a combat stress clinic in Iraq.
The sentence handed down at Joint Base Lewis-McChord, near Tacoma, Washington, came after Sgt. John Russell pleaded guilty to the killings in a deal in which prosecutors agreed not to seek the death penalty.
Russell pleaded guilty to the May 11, 2009, killings at Baghdad's Camp Liberty, telling a military court last month that he "did it out of rage."
The only question facing the judge, Col. David Conn, was whether Russell committed the slayings with premeditation, which the 48-year-old soldier disputed.
During a brief sentencing hearing, Conn ruled Russell killed with premeditation," meaning the sergeant could not be given a lesser sentence.
As part of last month's plea agreement, Russell described to the court how he killed Navy Cmdr. Charles Springle, Army Maj. Matthew Houseal, Sgt. Christian Bueno-Galdos, Spec. Jacob Barton and Pfc. Michael Yates Jr.
read more here
Monday, May 13, 2013
Soldier premeditated killing 5 U.S. troops in Iraq
Judge: Soldier premeditated killing 5 U.S. troops in Iraq
May. 13, 2013
Associated Press
JOINT BASE LEWIS-MCCHORD, WASH. — A military judge found Army Sgt. John Russell guilty of premeditated murder Monday in the 2009 killings of five fellow service members at a combat stress clinic in Iraq.
Russell now faces a sentencing phase of his court-martial to determine whether he will face life in prison with or without the possibility of release.
The 14-year veteran from Sherman, Texas, had previously pleaded guilty to unpremeditated murder in exchange for prosecutors taking the death penalty off the table. Under the agreement, prosecutors were allowed to try to prove to an Army judge at Joint Base Lewis-McChord in Washington state that the killings were premeditated.
read more here
Fate of Sgt. John Russell in hands of judge
May. 13, 2013
Associated Press
JOINT BASE LEWIS-MCCHORD, WASH. — A military judge found Army Sgt. John Russell guilty of premeditated murder Monday in the 2009 killings of five fellow service members at a combat stress clinic in Iraq.
Russell now faces a sentencing phase of his court-martial to determine whether he will face life in prison with or without the possibility of release.
The 14-year veteran from Sherman, Texas, had previously pleaded guilty to unpremeditated murder in exchange for prosecutors taking the death penalty off the table. Under the agreement, prosecutors were allowed to try to prove to an Army judge at Joint Base Lewis-McChord in Washington state that the killings were premeditated.
read more here
Fate of Sgt. John Russell in hands of judge
Sunday, May 12, 2013
Fate of Sgt. John Russell in hands of military judge
Five killings at Camp Liberty in Iraq: Calculation or despair?
By Kim Murphy
May 11, 2013
Los Angeles Times
JOINT BASE LEWIS-McCHORD, WASH. — The court-martial of Army Sgt. John Russell concluded Saturday with a military judge asked to decide whether the 14-year Army veteran was deluded by depression and despair as he shot five fellow service members in Iraq, or was executing a calculated plan of revenge against psychiatrists who had blocked his hopes for an early exit from the Army.
In closing arguments after a week of testimony, Judge David L. Conn was presented two starkly different views of what drove Russell, 48, to seize his escort’s M-16 rifle and gun down five people at the Camp Liberty combat stress center at the Baghdad airport on May 11, 2009.
While the defense says Russell was suffering from organic brain damage, major depression and post-combat stress that was aggravated by hostile mental health workers, Army prosecutors argued Saturday that Russell had been trying to paint himself as mentally ill even before the murders in an attempt to win early retirement and had then struck back “in the language of revenge” when a psychiatrist refused such a diagnosis.
Russell has already pleaded guilty to five specifications of murder, but the judge will determine whether the acts were premeditated, a key factor in whether he must serve life in prison or is eligible for parole.
read more here
By Kim Murphy
May 11, 2013
Los Angeles Times
JOINT BASE LEWIS-McCHORD, WASH. — The court-martial of Army Sgt. John Russell concluded Saturday with a military judge asked to decide whether the 14-year Army veteran was deluded by depression and despair as he shot five fellow service members in Iraq, or was executing a calculated plan of revenge against psychiatrists who had blocked his hopes for an early exit from the Army.
In closing arguments after a week of testimony, Judge David L. Conn was presented two starkly different views of what drove Russell, 48, to seize his escort’s M-16 rifle and gun down five people at the Camp Liberty combat stress center at the Baghdad airport on May 11, 2009.
While the defense says Russell was suffering from organic brain damage, major depression and post-combat stress that was aggravated by hostile mental health workers, Army prosecutors argued Saturday that Russell had been trying to paint himself as mentally ill even before the murders in an attempt to win early retirement and had then struck back “in the language of revenge” when a psychiatrist refused such a diagnosis.
Russell has already pleaded guilty to five specifications of murder, but the judge will determine whether the acts were premeditated, a key factor in whether he must serve life in prison or is eligible for parole.
read more here
Tuesday, April 23, 2013
What kind of justice is this?
What kind of justice is this? When you read what happened on a 3rd tour of duty, you should be asking the same question. Families lost people they love over something that never should have happened.
His father was interviewed by Associated Press in May of 2009.
Army 'broke' soldier held in killings, dad says
Feels military bears some responsibility: 'It shouldn't have happened'
But the military already knew the problems associated with redeployments.
The Washington Post reported this in 2006
Redeployments
But the military also said they had addressed it with "Battlemind" training that every soldier received by 2008. Sgt. John Russell would have been one of them. By 2009 Russell was on his 3rd deployment.
In 2007 it was another soldier.
The killing of Jamie Dean Police in rural Maryland staged a military stakeout and shot a troubled Army vet. As his family plans to sue, they are asking how a soldier being treated for PTSD could be shipped to Iraq.
Spec. Allen Hill had two months between two deployments.
And then there was this report about Combat Stress Clinics
Now John Russell will spend the rest of his life behind bars after pleading guilty. Is this justice? Is this justice for the families?
Was anything done about this report from Army Times?
May 2009
The U.S. military charged the suspect with five counts of murder, and one count of aggravated assault in the killings. Maj. Gen. David Perkins told reporters Tuesday that the charges were filed against Sgt. John M. Russell of the 54th Engineering Battalion based in Bamberg, Germany.
Perkins said the dead included two doctors, one from the Navy and the other from the Army. The other three dead were enlisted personnel.
Sources tell CBS News correspondent Kimberly Dozier the suspect was on his third tour of Iraq.
A recent Army study found soldiers on their third or fourth deployment are twice as likely to suffer from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). Caught early enough, the symptoms including nightmares, sleep disturbances and rollercoaster emotions and hypervigilance, can be treated. But often troops won't ask for help, reports Dozier.
His father was interviewed by Associated Press in May of 2009.
Army 'broke' soldier held in killings, dad says
Feels military bears some responsibility: 'It shouldn't have happened'
Wilburn Russell said Tuesday that 44-year-old Army Sgt. John M. Russell wasn't typically a violent person, but counselors "broke" him before gunfire erupted in a military stress center Monday in Baghdad.
Excerpts of his military record, obtained by The Associated Press, show Sgt. Russell previously did two one-year tours of duty in Iraq, one starting in April 2003 and another in November 2005. The stress of repeat and extended tours is considered a main contributor to mental health problems among troops serving in Iraq and Afghanistan.
But the military already knew the problems associated with redeployments.
The Washington Post reported this in 2006
Redeployments
U.S. soldiers serving repeated Iraq deployments are 50 percent more likely than those with one tour to suffer from acute combat stress, raising their risk of post-traumatic stress disorder, according to the Army's first survey exploring how today's multiple war-zone rotations affect soldiers' mental health........
But the military also said they had addressed it with "Battlemind" training that every soldier received by 2008. Sgt. John Russell would have been one of them. By 2009 Russell was on his 3rd deployment.
In 2007 it was another soldier.
The killing of Jamie Dean Police in rural Maryland staged a military stakeout and shot a troubled Army vet. As his family plans to sue, they are asking how a soldier being treated for PTSD could be shipped to Iraq.
Spec. Allen Hill had two months between two deployments.
Hill joined the Army in Texas in 1986 at age 18. He was placed at Fort Riley in 1990 and has lived in Kansas since. He fought in the 1991 Persian Gulf War before joining the Army National Guard.
When war again found Iraq, Hill was deployed from August 2005 to November 2006. He deployed again in January 2007 with the 731st Transportation Company out of Larned.
Hill’s unit served as convoy security, where he most often drove the Humvees. That was until Nov. 21, the day before Thanksgiving.
And then there was this report about Combat Stress Clinics
Combat stress unit at center of Iraq slaying trial
Sunday, May 17, 2009
The trial of Pfc. Steven Green may end up explaining part of what was behind Sgt. Russell's action at Camp Liberty's Stress Clinic. If doctors are under pressure to return soldiers back to duty, they are not getting the kind of care the doctors are trying to give them. What good do stress clinics do if the commanders are more interested in getting them back into action instead of being healed enough first before sending them back?
Combat stress unit at center of Iraq slaying trial
By BRETT BARROUQUERE
Associated Press Writer
© 2009 The Associated Press
May 16, 2009, 2:42PM
PADUCAH, Ky. — Pfc. Steven Dale Green held on to his sergeant on the hood of a Humvee as it sped down a road in a doomed effort to save the life of his leader.
Staff Sgt. Phillip Miller, who served in Iraq with Green, has testified the incident pushed the soldier over the edge.
"I call it his breaking point," Miller said.
Eleven days after Sgt. Kenith Casica's death on Dec. 10, 2005, near Mahmoudiya, Iraq, Green sought help from combat stress counselors. Army nurse practitioner Lt. Col. Karen Marrs listened to Green talk about wanting to kill Iraqi civilians, gave him a prescription for sleep medication and sent him back to his unit.
The combat stress unit's actions with Green have become central as defense lawyers try to persaude jurors not to condemn him to death for rape and murder in Iraq. Green was convicted May 7 for the rape and murder of 14-year-old Abeer Qassim al-Janabi and the shooting deaths of her family — an attack that took place three months after Green visited the stress unit.
Now John Russell will spend the rest of his life behind bars after pleading guilty. Is this justice? Is this justice for the families?
Was anything done about this report from Army Times?
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.
Monday, April 22, 2013
Sgt. John Russell pleaded guilty
Iraq vet pleads guilty to killing fellow soldiers
Seattle Post Intelligencer
Monday, April 22, 2013
JOINT BASE LEWIS-MCCHORD, Wash. (AP) — An Army sergeant pleaded guilty Monday to killing four other soldiers and a Navy officer in 2009 at mental health clinic in Baghdad during the Iraq War.
The plea at a military court at Joint Base Lewis-McChord means Sgt. John Russell will avoid the death sentence. His maximum sentence would be a life term.
Russell — who is from Sherman, Texas — went on a shooting spree at the Camp Liberty Combat Stress Center near Baghdad in May 2009. It was one of the worst instances of soldier-on-soldier violence in the Iraq war.
Russell was nearing the end of his third tour when his behavior changed, members of his unit testified in 2009.
They said he became more distant in the days before the May 11, 2009, attack and that he seemed paranoid that his unit was trying to end his career.
read more here
Sgt. John Russell example of what went wrong
Seattle Post Intelligencer
Monday, April 22, 2013
JOINT BASE LEWIS-MCCHORD, Wash. (AP) — An Army sergeant pleaded guilty Monday to killing four other soldiers and a Navy officer in 2009 at mental health clinic in Baghdad during the Iraq War.
The plea at a military court at Joint Base Lewis-McChord means Sgt. John Russell will avoid the death sentence. His maximum sentence would be a life term.
Russell — who is from Sherman, Texas — went on a shooting spree at the Camp Liberty Combat Stress Center near Baghdad in May 2009. It was one of the worst instances of soldier-on-soldier violence in the Iraq war.
Russell was nearing the end of his third tour when his behavior changed, members of his unit testified in 2009.
They said he became more distant in the days before the May 11, 2009, attack and that he seemed paranoid that his unit was trying to end his career.
read more here
Sgt. John Russell example of what went wrong
Saturday, March 16, 2013
AP reports on Capt. Linnerooth two months late
Army psychologist couldn't heal himself, lost battle to PTSD
UPDATE January 17, 2013
Department of Veterans Affairs Statement on Dr. Peter Linnerooth
UPDATE
Former Army psychologist critical of military commits suicide
By Andy Greder, Sarah Horner and Will Ashenmacher
Pioneer Press
Posted: 01/13/2013
On Jan. 2, Linnerooth, 42, killed himself in Mankato.
Linnerooth was awarded a Bronze Star after an honorable discharge in 2008 and became critical of the military's limited work on providing mental health care to soldiers, especially to those with PTSD, in the pages of Time magazine and the New York Times. Capt. Linnerooth will be buried with full military honors at 11 a.m. Monday, Jan. 14, at Fort Snelling National Cemetery.
456 people read this post since it went up on 1/13/13. Odd how it only took Sharon Cohen two months to do this story if it mattered that much. She did do a good job on it though. You should read about his life and the loss felt by many.
Vet Who Saved Many in Iraq Couldn't Escape DemonsDoes AP have a greater audience than a small time press like Pioneer? Sure they do but small media outlets get the story out when they happen, and so do the people who track these stories.
By SHARON COHEN
AP National Writer
March 16, 2013 (AP)
He had a knack for soothing soldiers who'd just seen their buddies killed by bombs. He knew how to comfort medics sickened by the smell of blood and troops haunted by the screams of horribly burned Iraqi children.
Capt. Peter Linnerooth was an Army psychologist. He counseled soldiers during some of the fiercest fighting in Iraq. Hundreds upon hundreds sought his help. For nightmares and insomnia. For shock and grief. And for reaching that point where they just wanted to end it all.
Linnerooth did such a good job his Army comrades dubbed him The Wizard. His "magic" was deceptively simple: an instant rapport with soldiers, an empathetic manner, a big heart.
For a year during one of the bloodiest stretches of the Iraq war, Linnerooth met with soldiers 60 to 70 hours a week. Sometimes he'd hop on helicopters or join convoys, risking mortars and roadside bombs. Often, though, the soldiers came to his shoebox-sized "office" at Camp Liberty in Baghdad.
There they'd encounter a raspy-voiced, broad-shouldered guy who blasted Motorhead, Iron Maiden and other ear-shattering heavy metal, favored four-letter words and inhaled Marlboro Reds — once even while conducting a "stop smoking" class. He was THAT persuasive.
read more here
Monday, March 4, 2013
Delay in trial of Sgt. John Russell leaves families frustrated
Family Frustrated by Wait in Army Fratricide Case
Mar 04, 2013
Stars and Stripes
by Megan McCloskey
WASHINGTON -- It’s been almost four years since the deadliest case of American fratricide in the Iraq War, and the Army sergeant accused of killing five of his fellow servicemembers has yet to face a court-martial.
The lengthy delay has one victim’s family questioning what, exactly, is keeping the Army from moving faster on the case.
“It’s just not justified. There’s really no good reason,” Tom Springle said. “We’ve waited long enough.”
His brother, Navy Cmdr. Charles Keith Springle, was among those killed in May 2009 at Camp Liberty in Baghdad when Sgt. John Russell allegedly opened fire on the combat-stress clinic there.
Finally, late last year, after years of delays on both sides, the court-martial date was set for March 11, but it was recently pushed back to late April because the prosecution hadn’t provided the defense with court-ordered funds for expert witnesses.
“I wouldn’t be afraid to bet money this April there’s still no court-martial,” Springle said.
The Springle family has company in their frustration with those still awaiting the trial of Maj. Nidal Hasan more than three years after he allegedly killed 13 people and wounded dozens of others in a shooting at Fort Hood in November 2009. So far, no court-martial dates have held up in that case either with delay after delay, and both groups of victims are angered by the drawn-out process that to them is seemingly without reason.
read more here
Sgt. John Russell trial, example of what went wrong
Mar 04, 2013
Stars and Stripes
by Megan McCloskey
WASHINGTON -- It’s been almost four years since the deadliest case of American fratricide in the Iraq War, and the Army sergeant accused of killing five of his fellow servicemembers has yet to face a court-martial.
The lengthy delay has one victim’s family questioning what, exactly, is keeping the Army from moving faster on the case.
“It’s just not justified. There’s really no good reason,” Tom Springle said. “We’ve waited long enough.”
His brother, Navy Cmdr. Charles Keith Springle, was among those killed in May 2009 at Camp Liberty in Baghdad when Sgt. John Russell allegedly opened fire on the combat-stress clinic there.
Finally, late last year, after years of delays on both sides, the court-martial date was set for March 11, but it was recently pushed back to late April because the prosecution hadn’t provided the defense with court-ordered funds for expert witnesses.
“I wouldn’t be afraid to bet money this April there’s still no court-martial,” Springle said.
The Springle family has company in their frustration with those still awaiting the trial of Maj. Nidal Hasan more than three years after he allegedly killed 13 people and wounded dozens of others in a shooting at Fort Hood in November 2009. So far, no court-martial dates have held up in that case either with delay after delay, and both groups of victims are angered by the drawn-out process that to them is seemingly without reason.
read more here
Sgt. John Russell trial, example of what went wrong
Tuesday, November 20, 2012
Sgt. John Russell trial example of what went wrong on PTSD
By now most people have forgotten what happened in 2009 at Camp Liberty. The witnesses haven't forgotten. The families haven't forgotten. Aside from the trial, the military must have forgotten about this too.
Camp Liberty shootings leave a lot of questions but so far we're still asking questions and getting few answers. In May of 2009 The Guardian headline was "Horror and stress of Iraq duty led US sergeant to kill comrades" and it is something you should read before you decide how you feel about this story.
Camp Liberty shootings leave a lot of questions but so far we're still asking questions and getting few answers. In May of 2009 The Guardian headline was "Horror and stress of Iraq duty led US sergeant to kill comrades" and it is something you should read before you decide how you feel about this story.
U.S. soldier enters no plea in 2009 Iraq shootings
By Laura L. Myers
Reuters
November 19, 2012
Sgt. Russell, Army sergeant accused of killing five fellow soldiers in Iraq, is seen in military photo provided by his father, Wilburn in Sherman
(JESSICA RINALDI, REUTERS / November 19, 2012)
TACOMA, Washington (Reuters) - A U.S. soldier accused of killing five fellow servicemen at a military combat stress center in Baghdad in 2009 entered no plea at an arraignment on Monday at a military base in Washington state.
Sergeant John Russell is accused of going on a shooting spree at Camp Liberty, near the Baghdad airport, in an assault the military said at the time could have been triggered by combat stress.
Russell, of the 54th Engineer Battalion based in Bamberg, Germany, faces five charges of premeditated murder, one charge of aggravated assault and one charge of attempted murder in connection with the May 2009 shootings. Six months ago, he was ordered to stand trial in a military court that has the power to sentence him to the death penalty, if convicted.
Two of the five people killed in the shooting were medical staff officers at the counseling center for troops experiencing combat stress. The others were soldiers.
read more here
Combat stress unit at center of Iraq slaying trial
May 17, 2009
The trial of Pfc. Steven Green may end up explaining part of what was behind Sgt. Russell's action at Camp Liberty's Stress Clinic. If doctors are under pressure to return soldiers back to duty, they are not getting the kind of care the doctors are trying to give them. What good do stress clinics do if the commanders are more interested in getting them back into action instead of being healed enough first before sending them back?
Fort Levenworth hearing set for Sgt. John Russell
Baghdad Shooting Spotlights Combat Stress
Wednesday, August 8, 2012
Psychiatrist fueling "dangerous" combat veteran notion
Psychiatrist fueling "dangerous" combat veteran notion
by Chaplain Kathie
Wounded Times Blog
August 8, 2012
TIME has some explaining to do when they allow something like this.
This just fuels the fear factor of "dangerous soldiers" with no facts to support an outrageous claim.
It is stunning to read about what some "professionals" have to say. Most of the time, you end up wondering why they bothered to write it in the first place. TIME Battleland had an article by Elspeth Cameron Ritchie on the Camp Liberty shootings that are back in the news again. Clearly avoiding addressing the issue of why a soldier would go for help then end up feeling it necessary to use a weapon would have been a better, more helpful angle to write about but she turned around and talked about how hard it is for psychiatrists.
She wrote how violence against psychiatrists are way too common. Ok. How many times has it happened in over 10 years of combat? How about the reverse when a psychiatrist decided to kill as many as possible at Fort Hood? Ritchie is implying that this is a huge problem and it is disgraceful.
Deployed military need tailored mental health care but it seems that has been reported over and over again, yet, no one was doing anything about actually delivering on it.
The other claim Ritchie made was sickening. Trying to spin it back to being about domestic issues and not redeployments insults the integrity of the troops.
I wonder how many of those "more than once" times it resulted in the soldier resolving his "issues" at the end of a gun pointed at his own head? The percentages are staring Ritchie right in the face. There are not 18 psychiatrist a day being attacked or shot by veterans, but they are committing suicide. There are not reports of 18 veterans killing their spouse everyday but they committing suicide. There are not hundreds of veterans committing crimes a month but there are that many trying to kill themselves. I track these reports across the country and the fact is simple. Combat veterans are more of a danger to themselves than anyone else. When you have 18 veterans a day (that they know about) killing themselves and an average of 1 active duty serviceman/woman taking their own lives topped off with the other reports of attempted suicides, that screams psychologist don't have a clue about what they need to do yet Ritchie wants us to feel sorry for them and blame and fear the soldiers. Does Ritchie get paid to write this crap fueling the "dangerous" soldier line to make headlines?
Ritchie got my attention with this headline but as soon as I read the first paragraph, I was at the boiling point.
This is something else Ritchie doesn't take responsibility for.
by Chaplain Kathie
Wounded Times Blog
August 8, 2012
TIME has some explaining to do when they allow something like this.
This just fuels the fear factor of "dangerous soldiers" with no facts to support an outrageous claim.
It is stunning to read about what some "professionals" have to say. Most of the time, you end up wondering why they bothered to write it in the first place. TIME Battleland had an article by Elspeth Cameron Ritchie on the Camp Liberty shootings that are back in the news again. Clearly avoiding addressing the issue of why a soldier would go for help then end up feeling it necessary to use a weapon would have been a better, more helpful angle to write about but she turned around and talked about how hard it is for psychiatrists.
She wrote how violence against psychiatrists are way too common. Ok. How many times has it happened in over 10 years of combat? How about the reverse when a psychiatrist decided to kill as many as possible at Fort Hood? Ritchie is implying that this is a huge problem and it is disgraceful.
Deployed military need tailored mental health care but it seems that has been reported over and over again, yet, no one was doing anything about actually delivering on it.
In 2009 this was released.
Officials have said that troops are under tremendous and unprecedented stress because of repeated and long tours of duty due to the simultaneous wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
The other claim Ritchie made was sickening. Trying to spin it back to being about domestic issues and not redeployments insults the integrity of the troops.
“You know,” I recall saying more than once, “if I sent everyone home whose wife was having an affair, we wouldn’t have a division here.”
I wonder how many of those "more than once" times it resulted in the soldier resolving his "issues" at the end of a gun pointed at his own head? The percentages are staring Ritchie right in the face. There are not 18 psychiatrist a day being attacked or shot by veterans, but they are committing suicide. There are not reports of 18 veterans killing their spouse everyday but they committing suicide. There are not hundreds of veterans committing crimes a month but there are that many trying to kill themselves. I track these reports across the country and the fact is simple. Combat veterans are more of a danger to themselves than anyone else. When you have 18 veterans a day (that they know about) killing themselves and an average of 1 active duty serviceman/woman taking their own lives topped off with the other reports of attempted suicides, that screams psychologist don't have a clue about what they need to do yet Ritchie wants us to feel sorry for them and blame and fear the soldiers. Does Ritchie get paid to write this crap fueling the "dangerous" soldier line to make headlines?
Ritchie got my attention with this headline but as soon as I read the first paragraph, I was at the boiling point.
Military Psychiatrists at War: True Life and Death Decisions
By ELSPETH CAMERON RITCHIE
TIME Battleland
August 7, 2012
Elliott Smith’s recent sad and gripping article for Bloomberg on the 2009 killings at Iraq‘s Camp Liberty certainly re-ignited my own anxieties. It brought me back to when I was an active-duty Army psychiatrist in Korea, Somalia, and Iraq:
The battalion, military police and combat stress specialists had three hours and 34 minutes to avert tragedy. Instead, after lost opportunities and miscalculations, the blue-eyed sergeant from Texas used a stolen gun to kill three enlisted men and two officers in the deadliest case of soldier-on-soldier violence in the war zone.
Such violence against psychiatrists by their patients is tragically way too common.
So are mass shootings by individuals who appear to have major psychiatric problems.
For psychiatrists in the military who are deployed in the war zone, the additional scary challenge is that their world is full of men and women with weapons.
Don’t get me wrong. Of course, these are Soldiers, Marines and other service members who are there fighting for their country. They generally strive to do their very best to do the right thing.
But Soldiers occasionally get “Dear John” letters from home. Or get mad at their commander. And are brought to their combat stress control shop or division psychiatry unit for an evaluation.
As an Army mental health provider, you are always being asked to make judgments of a Soldier’s risk to self or others.
Read more
This is something else Ritchie doesn't take responsibility for.
Col (Ret) Elspeth Cameron Ritchie, served as Army's top mental health advisor during a period where suicide rates doubled. Recently retired, now Ritchie frequently writes about and speaks on military mental health issues. She is one of many who have recently reported the Services are likely underreporting suicide data among members of Reserve and Guard components.
Thursday, August 2, 2012
Military mental health crisis exposed with Camp Liberty killings
Military mental health crisis exposed with Camp Liberty killings
By ELLIOT BLAIR SMITH
Bloomberg News
Published: August 2, 2012
Sergeant John Russell lay awake, wondering what his wife would do if he killed himself.
He was so messed up that his first lieutenant removed the firing pin from his M16 assault rifle. Six weeks from the end of his fifth combat-zone tour, and five years from retiring on a 20-year Army pension, he suspected he wouldn’t see any of it.
Before dawn, shaking and stuttering, Russell walked through the still desert outside Baghdad to the quarters of Captain Peter Keough, the 54th Engineer Battalion’s chaplain. Keough listened, and hastily made the sergeant’s fourth appointment in four days at an Army mental-health clinic.
“I believe he is deteriorating,” Keough e-mailed an Army psychiatrist. “He doesn’t trust anyone.” Russell, the chaplain wrote, “believes he is better off dead.”
It was 10:07 a.m. on May 11, 2009. The battalion, military police and combat stress specialists had three hours and 34 minutes to avert tragedy. Instead, after lost opportunities and miscalculations, the blue-eyed sergeant from Texas used a stolen gun to kill three enlisted men and two officers in the deadliest case of soldier-on-soldier violence in the war zone. His victims’ bodies are buried across the U.S., from Arlington National Cemetery to the Texas panhandle.
Russell slipped through the safety net constructed to catch troubled soldiers. More and more are falling. The armed services’ mental-health epidemic has deepened since the Camp Liberty killings. In June, Defense Secretary Leon Panetta ordered a Pentagon review of every diagnosis from 2001 on. read more here
5 US soldiers shot at Camp Liberty in Iraq
By ELLIOT BLAIR SMITH
Bloomberg News
Published: August 2, 2012
Sergeant John Russell lay awake, wondering what his wife would do if he killed himself.
He was so messed up that his first lieutenant removed the firing pin from his M16 assault rifle. Six weeks from the end of his fifth combat-zone tour, and five years from retiring on a 20-year Army pension, he suspected he wouldn’t see any of it.
Before dawn, shaking and stuttering, Russell walked through the still desert outside Baghdad to the quarters of Captain Peter Keough, the 54th Engineer Battalion’s chaplain. Keough listened, and hastily made the sergeant’s fourth appointment in four days at an Army mental-health clinic.
“I believe he is deteriorating,” Keough e-mailed an Army psychiatrist. “He doesn’t trust anyone.” Russell, the chaplain wrote, “believes he is better off dead.”
It was 10:07 a.m. on May 11, 2009. The battalion, military police and combat stress specialists had three hours and 34 minutes to avert tragedy. Instead, after lost opportunities and miscalculations, the blue-eyed sergeant from Texas used a stolen gun to kill three enlisted men and two officers in the deadliest case of soldier-on-soldier violence in the war zone. His victims’ bodies are buried across the U.S., from Arlington National Cemetery to the Texas panhandle.
Russell slipped through the safety net constructed to catch troubled soldiers. More and more are falling. The armed services’ mental-health epidemic has deepened since the Camp Liberty killings. In June, Defense Secretary Leon Panetta ordered a Pentagon review of every diagnosis from 2001 on. read more here
5 US soldiers shot at Camp Liberty in Iraq
Friday, May 18, 2012
Sgt. John Russell faces death penalty
Soldier faces murder charges in Iraq base deaths
Published May 18, 2012
Associated Press
SEATTLE – Murder charges have been filed against a sergeant accused of killing four other soldiers and a Navy officer in May 2009 at a mental health clinic in Iraq, the Army said Friday.
The charges against Sgt. John Russell were referred Wednesday and announced Friday in a statement from Joint Base Lewis-McChord. He faces five charges of premeditated murder, one of aggravated assault and one of attempted murder.
If convicted, he could face the death penalty.
The charges result from an investigation into the shooting at the Camp Liberty Combat Stress Center near Baghdad.
No date for the court-martial has been set. Russell is being held at the base about 40 miles south of Seattle.
Russell is from Sherman, Texas, and is now about 47 years old, said Lt. Col. Gary Dangerfield. The delay since the incident has been filled with the process of determining whether Russell is fit to stand trial. Russell has an Army defense attorney but it is standard procedure for them not to comment to the media, Dangerfield said.
Read more
From 2009
Update on soldiers killed at stress clinic
Published May 18, 2012
Associated Press
SEATTLE – Murder charges have been filed against a sergeant accused of killing four other soldiers and a Navy officer in May 2009 at a mental health clinic in Iraq, the Army said Friday.
The charges against Sgt. John Russell were referred Wednesday and announced Friday in a statement from Joint Base Lewis-McChord. He faces five charges of premeditated murder, one of aggravated assault and one of attempted murder.
If convicted, he could face the death penalty.
The charges result from an investigation into the shooting at the Camp Liberty Combat Stress Center near Baghdad.
No date for the court-martial has been set. Russell is being held at the base about 40 miles south of Seattle.
Russell is from Sherman, Texas, and is now about 47 years old, said Lt. Col. Gary Dangerfield. The delay since the incident has been filled with the process of determining whether Russell is fit to stand trial. Russell has an Army defense attorney but it is standard procedure for them not to comment to the media, Dangerfield said.
Read more
From 2009
Update on soldiers killed at stress clinic
Monday, August 8, 2011
Fort Levenworth hearing set for Sgt. John Russell
Before you judge, what happened is one of the reasons things changed for soldier seeking help with PTSD. There were lapses in how the Army addressed soldiers seeking help but this discovery was too late to save the lives of the five service members he is accused of killing.
Hearing set for soldier in health clinic shootings
By JOHN MILBURN
Associated Press
Published: Monday, Aug. 8, 2011 - 12:09 am
Last Modified: Monday, Aug. 8, 2011 - 12:39 am
FORT LEAVENWORTH, Kan. -- A key military hearing will begin Monday for a U.S. soldier charged in a 2009 shooting that killed five service members at a mental health clinic in Iraq.
Army Sgt. John Russell is accused of carrying out the deadliest act of soldier-on-soldier violence during the war in Iraq. The case brought attention to the issues of combat stress and morale as troops increasingly served multiple combat tours.
Russell had gone to counseling to deal with combat stress, but an investigation found lapses in how the military monitored him and how authorities responded once the shooting began at a base on the edge of Baghdad.
Russell faces five counts of premeditated murder, two counts of attempted premeditated murder and one count of assault. During the hearing beginning Monday at Fort Leavenworth, a military officer will hear evidence and decide if Russell should face a military trial. The proceedings are similar to a civilian grand jury.
Read more: Hearing set for soldier in health clinic shootingsKilled in the shooting wereNavy Cmdr. Charles Springle, 52, of Wilmington, N.C.Pfc. Michael Edward Yates Jr., 19, of Federalsburg, Md.Dr. Matthew Houseal, of Amarillo, TexasSgt. Christian E. Bueno-Galdos, 25, of Paterson, N.J.Spc. Jacob D. Barton, 20, of Lenox, Mo.
Friday, October 16, 2009
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.
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
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.
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.
Wednesday, July 15, 2009
Mom of GI killed in Camp Liberty clinic shooting seeks info
Mom of GI killed in clinic shooting seeks info
The Associated Press
Posted : Wednesday Jul 15, 2009 14:05:38 EDT
FEDERALSBURG, Md. — The mother of a Maryland soldier killed with four others in a shooting at a mental health clinic in Iraq says she wants to know more about how her son died.
Shawna Machlinski says she filed a Freedom of Information Act request last month to get more details about the May shooting in which her son, 19-year-old Pfc. Michael Yates Jr. of Federalsburg, was killed.
read more here
http://www.armytimes.com/news/2009/07/ap_mom_soldier_death_071509/
The Associated Press
Posted : Wednesday Jul 15, 2009 14:05:38 EDT
FEDERALSBURG, Md. — The mother of a Maryland soldier killed with four others in a shooting at a mental health clinic in Iraq says she wants to know more about how her son died.
Shawna Machlinski says she filed a Freedom of Information Act request last month to get more details about the May shooting in which her son, 19-year-old Pfc. Michael Yates Jr. of Federalsburg, was killed.
read more here
http://www.armytimes.com/news/2009/07/ap_mom_soldier_death_071509/
Wednesday, May 20, 2009
Nancy Pelosi is killing the troops
by
Chaplain Kathie
Nancy Pelosi said the CIA did not tell congress exactly what was being done and when it was being done but it's not as if this would be the first time the CIA got things wrong and won't be the last time the government of this nation turns into a he said she said. Considering that anyone in the loop on any of the secret goings on running this country cannot talk about it in the media, there is a lot that is going on we don't find out about until years have passed. The problem is, the reporting on Pelosi, a pit-bull for the Democratic Party and target for the Republicans has in effect been killing the troops. It's not just the jumping on Pelosi story that has been doing it, it is the failure of the broadcast media to report on other things that are harder to report on but of so much more value.
Sgt. John Russell waits for trail, for what caused him to kill five at the Camp Liberty Stress Clinic. Five families grieve for their family members killed and another, Russell's family searches for answers, also grieving. While newspapers and local TV stations find this tragedy worthy of their attention and reporting, cable "news" has found a more interesting story in politics. Not that reporting on the characters running this country is bad, but we need to be asking what it is they value when they fail so miserably at reporting on what else is going on.
CNN, MSNBC and I presume FOX (because I don't watch FOX) have all piled on the same story of Nancy Pelosi and what the CIA did or did not tell congress. Others have since come out pointing out discrepancies in what the CIA claims and what they know to not be true. Is this a worthy story? Sure it is but so much coverage on this as if she is responsible for giving the orders to torture instead of claiming she was not told the whole truth. It is not as if she could have saved the lives of five men now dead because of the stresses the troops are under in Iraq as well as what they face in Afghanistan. So where is the reporting on what the troops are going thru? Where are the stories on Iraq and Afghanistan?
During the Presidential campaign the media found only that to report on and excused their lack of interest in the two military campaigns as viewer driven but did they ever explain how it was the blogs were on fire discussing both military campaigns as well as the Presidential one? The public interest was alive and well but being starved. The problem is the troops ended up paying for it because the general public was not informed adequately enough to rise up and help the troops coping with the tremendous stresses they were under and had nothing in place for when they came home needing our help. As the months went by, it was harder and harder to track the stories around the country about what was happening to them, the tragedies unfolding in every part of this country because not enough people knew what was going on.
Were 1.9 million lives worthy of reporting on? That's how many served. How about the lives on the line in Iraq and Afghanistan still? Don't they matter? What about their families? These are recent stories about the Camp Liberty tragedy that should have been on cable news.
Tragic stories that have hardly been mentioned. But there are many, many more stories they find unworthy of their attention.
As Americans deal with the bad economy, home values dropping and jobs being lost, they will not think about what else is going on while they are hunting for jobs and worrying about finding ways to pay their bills. They won't find the stories of National Guards families suffering because of the lost incomes, coming home to no jobs after they risked their lives and the lack of support in their own communities to help them heal from PTSD. They won't know about families on food stamps because there is just not enough money to make ends meet while their family member is risking his/her life in service to this nation.
The media has a moral obligation to report on what is happening to our troops and have had a moral obligation to report on our veterans also suffering. They just have not taken the time to notice any of it. How many lives could have been saved had they bothered to report on any of what's been going on for the last 8 years? We need only look back at the tragedy of Camp Liberty for the answer. After this all the brass in the military have been trying to find out what else they need to do to prevent this from happening again because of all the reporting that was done and is being done. Yet tragedies have been unfolding across the country all these years that should have been worthy of their attention but alas, they just found more "important" to them to report on. After all, it's easier to jump on stories and take guesses when it comes to politics as usual but it is a certainty fueling the war between parties is not about to save lives, find answers, remove the stigma and provide knowledge about what the troops are going thru. They would have to actually invest the time in finding the people involved and talking to them instead of just picking up the phone and getting the usual talking heads to speculate of false earth shattering news.
The troops and our veterans are dying for the attention of the media but they haven't bothered to notice! They've just been too busy talking about Michelle Obama's arms and clothes and Nancy Pelosi's memory. How much time has talk radio invested in this as well? Honestly I cannot attack cable news and forget about the obligation talk radio has as well. They talk about what Pelosi knew or didn't know without any ability to actually know the truth but when the truth about what is happening to our troops and veterans is documented and known, they avoid it. What about the obligation Rush has to the troops? What about the obligation Hannity and O'Reilly have to the troops and our veterans? What about the hosts of Air America, admittedly doing a better job of mentioning any of their stories, but still, failing to spend enough time on any of them. Stephanie Miller, Richard Greene mention them from time to time and Thom Hartman spends more time on the veterans when he has on Larry Scott of VA Watchdog, but still not enough time. If you put all the hours talk radio on both sides spend on the troops and veterans it would pass as fast as you can hit a snooze button on an alarm clock but this alarm has been piercing the air in homes across this nation while the broadcast media has been snoozing!
We can talk about the obligation the government has to the troops and the veterans all we want but the media has a bigger obligation because the pubic has not been informed enough to get the government to live up to their obligations. They talk occasionally about gays in the military and don't ask-don't tell as a morale issue but fail to report on what is actually killing our troops and veterans that can be prevented. How many more tragedies will they suddenly find of value to even mention before they fully grasp the fact they are partly responsible for the failure to act, report and inspire the American people to act to correct the damage being done? How many more will be buried between this Memorial Day and the next one that did not need to die? Suicides have gone up every year and so have attempted ones while they failed to report so we can decide to act. Tell them they need to live up to their obligation to the troops because in the process of their decisions on what is valuable to cover, they are killing the troops by avoiding them.
Chaplain Kathie
Nancy Pelosi said the CIA did not tell congress exactly what was being done and when it was being done but it's not as if this would be the first time the CIA got things wrong and won't be the last time the government of this nation turns into a he said she said. Considering that anyone in the loop on any of the secret goings on running this country cannot talk about it in the media, there is a lot that is going on we don't find out about until years have passed. The problem is, the reporting on Pelosi, a pit-bull for the Democratic Party and target for the Republicans has in effect been killing the troops. It's not just the jumping on Pelosi story that has been doing it, it is the failure of the broadcast media to report on other things that are harder to report on but of so much more value.
Sgt. John Russell waits for trail, for what caused him to kill five at the Camp Liberty Stress Clinic. Five families grieve for their family members killed and another, Russell's family searches for answers, also grieving. While newspapers and local TV stations find this tragedy worthy of their attention and reporting, cable "news" has found a more interesting story in politics. Not that reporting on the characters running this country is bad, but we need to be asking what it is they value when they fail so miserably at reporting on what else is going on.
CNN, MSNBC and I presume FOX (because I don't watch FOX) have all piled on the same story of Nancy Pelosi and what the CIA did or did not tell congress. Others have since come out pointing out discrepancies in what the CIA claims and what they know to not be true. Is this a worthy story? Sure it is but so much coverage on this as if she is responsible for giving the orders to torture instead of claiming she was not told the whole truth. It is not as if she could have saved the lives of five men now dead because of the stresses the troops are under in Iraq as well as what they face in Afghanistan. So where is the reporting on what the troops are going thru? Where are the stories on Iraq and Afghanistan?
During the Presidential campaign the media found only that to report on and excused their lack of interest in the two military campaigns as viewer driven but did they ever explain how it was the blogs were on fire discussing both military campaigns as well as the Presidential one? The public interest was alive and well but being starved. The problem is the troops ended up paying for it because the general public was not informed adequately enough to rise up and help the troops coping with the tremendous stresses they were under and had nothing in place for when they came home needing our help. As the months went by, it was harder and harder to track the stories around the country about what was happening to them, the tragedies unfolding in every part of this country because not enough people knew what was going on.
Were 1.9 million lives worthy of reporting on? That's how many served. How about the lives on the line in Iraq and Afghanistan still? Don't they matter? What about their families? These are recent stories about the Camp Liberty tragedy that should have been on cable news.
Among 5 Killed, a Mender of Heartache and a Struggling Private
By JAMES DAO and PAUL von ZIELBAUER
Published: May 16, 2009
They came to the clinic at the base in Iraq for reasons as different as their ranks.
Maj. Matthew P. Houseal, a 54-year-old psychiatrist and father of seven in the Army Reserve, was there to counsel, having requested an Iraq deployment to support soldiers struggling with the heartache and hardship of war.
Pfc. Michael E. Yates, 19, was there to talk, perhaps about the pain he was feeling about being separated from his girlfriend and infant son, relatives said.
And Sgt. John M. Russell, 44, was there because he had to be. After 15 years in the Army, he had fallen into debt and out of favor with his commanding officer, who took away his weapon and sent him for counseling.
It was in that clinic, a low-slung building at Camp Liberty on the outskirts of Baghdad, that Sergeant Russell used a weapon that he seized from an escort last Monday to shoot and kill Major Houseal, Private Yates and three other people, Army officials say. He has been charged with five counts of murder in the deadliest case of soldier-on-soldier violence involving the American military in the six-year Iraq war.
go here for more
Among 5 Killed, a Mender of Heartache and a Struggling Private
Funeral set for soldier from Md. killed in Iraq
Baltimore Sun - United States
FEDERALSBURG - A 19-year-old Federalsburg soldier killed at a counseling clinic in Baghdad is to be buried this week.
Funeral services for Michael Edward Yates Jr. are to be held at noon Thursday at the Framptom Funeral Home in Federalsburg. Interment will follow at the Eastern Shore Veterans Cemetery in Beulah.
click link above for more
Mourners remember quiet, helpful Army doctor
LubbockOnline.com - Lubbock,TX,USA
By Chris Ramirez | MORRIS NEWS SERVICE
Wednesday, May 20, 2009
Story last updated at 5/20/2009 - 1:28 am
He was a soldier, a respected doctor, a steady-handed pilot, all qualities worth bragging about. But Matthew Philip Houseal wasn't the chest-beating type, his sister said.
He often melted quietly into the background. For that, many people knew him as "the invisible man," she said.
"He always was there for people," said Anne Houseal, a U.S. Air Force colonel. "He was a great example of service and honor."
Family and friends gathered Tuesday at St. Ann's Church in Canyon to pay their final respects to the slain Amarillo physician. Hundreds of American flags waved outside the church as a bell tolled and a lone bagpiper played softly in the distance.
Heads bowed and eyes welled with tears as a military color guard brought his flag-draped casket into the church. Arms curled gently around heavy shoulders.
"It's a sad day in America," said Jack Barnes, president of America Supports You Texas. "A good man was taken away from us."
Houseal, 54, a major in the Army Reserve, was one of five soldiers killed May 11 when a U.S. soldier allegedly opened fire in a mental health clinic at Camp Liberty in Baghdad.
In his sermon, the Rev. Phu Phan praised Houseal for sacrificing for his country and for placing the needs of others, often strangers, above his own.
"He found meaning in his desire to help others," Phan said. "We need to thank God for the gift of his life."
Troubled by the rising suicide rates among veterans, Houseal joined the reserves to use his training as a psychiatrist to help stem the tide.
click link above for more
Tragic stories that have hardly been mentioned. But there are many, many more stories they find unworthy of their attention.
As Americans deal with the bad economy, home values dropping and jobs being lost, they will not think about what else is going on while they are hunting for jobs and worrying about finding ways to pay their bills. They won't find the stories of National Guards families suffering because of the lost incomes, coming home to no jobs after they risked their lives and the lack of support in their own communities to help them heal from PTSD. They won't know about families on food stamps because there is just not enough money to make ends meet while their family member is risking his/her life in service to this nation.
The media has a moral obligation to report on what is happening to our troops and have had a moral obligation to report on our veterans also suffering. They just have not taken the time to notice any of it. How many lives could have been saved had they bothered to report on any of what's been going on for the last 8 years? We need only look back at the tragedy of Camp Liberty for the answer. After this all the brass in the military have been trying to find out what else they need to do to prevent this from happening again because of all the reporting that was done and is being done. Yet tragedies have been unfolding across the country all these years that should have been worthy of their attention but alas, they just found more "important" to them to report on. After all, it's easier to jump on stories and take guesses when it comes to politics as usual but it is a certainty fueling the war between parties is not about to save lives, find answers, remove the stigma and provide knowledge about what the troops are going thru. They would have to actually invest the time in finding the people involved and talking to them instead of just picking up the phone and getting the usual talking heads to speculate of false earth shattering news.
The troops and our veterans are dying for the attention of the media but they haven't bothered to notice! They've just been too busy talking about Michelle Obama's arms and clothes and Nancy Pelosi's memory. How much time has talk radio invested in this as well? Honestly I cannot attack cable news and forget about the obligation talk radio has as well. They talk about what Pelosi knew or didn't know without any ability to actually know the truth but when the truth about what is happening to our troops and veterans is documented and known, they avoid it. What about the obligation Rush has to the troops? What about the obligation Hannity and O'Reilly have to the troops and our veterans? What about the hosts of Air America, admittedly doing a better job of mentioning any of their stories, but still, failing to spend enough time on any of them. Stephanie Miller, Richard Greene mention them from time to time and Thom Hartman spends more time on the veterans when he has on Larry Scott of VA Watchdog, but still not enough time. If you put all the hours talk radio on both sides spend on the troops and veterans it would pass as fast as you can hit a snooze button on an alarm clock but this alarm has been piercing the air in homes across this nation while the broadcast media has been snoozing!
We can talk about the obligation the government has to the troops and the veterans all we want but the media has a bigger obligation because the pubic has not been informed enough to get the government to live up to their obligations. They talk occasionally about gays in the military and don't ask-don't tell as a morale issue but fail to report on what is actually killing our troops and veterans that can be prevented. How many more tragedies will they suddenly find of value to even mention before they fully grasp the fact they are partly responsible for the failure to act, report and inspire the American people to act to correct the damage being done? How many more will be buried between this Memorial Day and the next one that did not need to die? Suicides have gone up every year and so have attempted ones while they failed to report so we can decide to act. Tell them they need to live up to their obligation to the troops because in the process of their decisions on what is valuable to cover, they are killing the troops by avoiding them.
Tuesday, May 19, 2009
PTSD:Bringing the war back home
Bringing the war back home ...
Growing numbers of war-traumatised US servicemen are going on the rampage. so what is the army doing to help its damaged GIs?
From Andrew Purcell in New York
BEFORE HE went on the rampage, John Russell was showing such obvious signs of combat-related stress that he should have been sent home from Iraq, according to military mental health professionals. The army sergeant, who killed five fellow soldiers at a clinic at Camp Liberty in Baghdad on Monday, was nearing the end of his third tour of duty. That he was still in a war zone despite his superiors knowing he was a threat to himself and others is a symptom of the institutional pressure to keep damaged men fighting.
Floyd "Shad" Meshad, director of charity the US National Veterans Foundation, was an army medic in Vietnam, where he counselled soldiers in the field suffering from combat-related stress.
"It's clear that this situation was escalating and sending this guy back for a third tour was just insane," he told the Sunday Herald. "If they see any sign of breaking or snapping they need to remove soldiers completely out of the combat zone and get them into professional care. That's the bottom line."
John Keaveney, a Scot who joined the US Army during the Vietnam war and now runs a veterans support organisation in California, believes that unless the military improves its mental health treatment, there will be similar massacres - but this time of civilians back home, not fellow GIs in a combat zone.
"It'll be a recurring theme," he said. "You have to understand how desperate a person has to be to get a gun and to kill something snapped inside of him, his mental pain became unbearable and he thought that maybe lashing out at people would bring attention to the fact that he was injured."
Russell's commanding officer had confiscated his weapon a week earlier because of concerns about his mental state, but on the way out of the clinic, he wrestled a gun from the staff sergeant who was escorting him, returned inside and began killing, apparently indiscriminately. Two of the dead were officer counsellors, including a volunteer psychiatrist from the army reserve. Three others were enlisted men.
Russell's comrades said that he was angry because his nightmares and constant anxiety were not taken seriously. His father, Wilburn Russell, claimed he had been sent to the clinic for punishment, not treatment. "I think they broke him," he said.
In an email, John Russell had said he was worried he would be dishonourably discharged, losing his salary and army pension, soon after taking out a mortgage on a house in Sherman, Texas.
A career soldier with the 54th Engineering Battalion, Russell had served in Kosovo and Bosnia. His specialism, salvaging robots used to destroy roadside bombs, meant that he saw "a lot of carnage and things he shouldn't have seen", according to his father. He lived in Germany, but on visits back to family in Texas he was perceptibly different - more nervous and unpredictable with each deployment. "Nobody should have to go three times. They should've realised that," his father said.
go here for more
Bringing the war back home
Growing numbers of war-traumatised US servicemen are going on the rampage. so what is the army doing to help its damaged GIs?
From Andrew Purcell in New York
BEFORE HE went on the rampage, John Russell was showing such obvious signs of combat-related stress that he should have been sent home from Iraq, according to military mental health professionals. The army sergeant, who killed five fellow soldiers at a clinic at Camp Liberty in Baghdad on Monday, was nearing the end of his third tour of duty. That he was still in a war zone despite his superiors knowing he was a threat to himself and others is a symptom of the institutional pressure to keep damaged men fighting.
Floyd "Shad" Meshad, director of charity the US National Veterans Foundation, was an army medic in Vietnam, where he counselled soldiers in the field suffering from combat-related stress.
"It's clear that this situation was escalating and sending this guy back for a third tour was just insane," he told the Sunday Herald. "If they see any sign of breaking or snapping they need to remove soldiers completely out of the combat zone and get them into professional care. That's the bottom line."
John Keaveney, a Scot who joined the US Army during the Vietnam war and now runs a veterans support organisation in California, believes that unless the military improves its mental health treatment, there will be similar massacres - but this time of civilians back home, not fellow GIs in a combat zone.
"It'll be a recurring theme," he said. "You have to understand how desperate a person has to be to get a gun and to kill something snapped inside of him, his mental pain became unbearable and he thought that maybe lashing out at people would bring attention to the fact that he was injured."
Russell's commanding officer had confiscated his weapon a week earlier because of concerns about his mental state, but on the way out of the clinic, he wrestled a gun from the staff sergeant who was escorting him, returned inside and began killing, apparently indiscriminately. Two of the dead were officer counsellors, including a volunteer psychiatrist from the army reserve. Three others were enlisted men.
Russell's comrades said that he was angry because his nightmares and constant anxiety were not taken seriously. His father, Wilburn Russell, claimed he had been sent to the clinic for punishment, not treatment. "I think they broke him," he said.
In an email, John Russell had said he was worried he would be dishonourably discharged, losing his salary and army pension, soon after taking out a mortgage on a house in Sherman, Texas.
A career soldier with the 54th Engineering Battalion, Russell had served in Kosovo and Bosnia. His specialism, salvaging robots used to destroy roadside bombs, meant that he saw "a lot of carnage and things he shouldn't have seen", according to his father. He lived in Germany, but on visits back to family in Texas he was perceptibly different - more nervous and unpredictable with each deployment. "Nobody should have to go three times. They should've realised that," his father said.
go here for more
Bringing the war back home
Sunday, May 17, 2009
Combat stress unit at center of Iraq slaying trial
The trial of Pfc. Steven Green may end up explaining part of what was behind Sgt. Russell's action at Camp Liberty's Stress Clinic. If doctors are under pressure to return soldiers back to duty, they are not getting the kind of care the doctors are trying to give them. What good do stress clinics do if the commanders are more interested in getting them back into action instead of being healed enough first before sending them back?
Combat stress unit at center of Iraq slaying trial
By BRETT BARROUQUERE Associated Press Writer © 2009 The Associated Press
May 16, 2009, 2:42PM
PADUCAH, Ky. — Pfc. Steven Dale Green held on to his sergeant on the hood of a Humvee as it sped down a road in a doomed effort to save the life of his leader.
Staff Sgt. Phillip Miller, who served in Iraq with Green, has testified the incident pushed the soldier over the edge.
"I call it his breaking point," Miller said.
Eleven days after Sgt. Kenith Casica's death on Dec. 10, 2005, near Mahmoudiya, Iraq, Green sought help from combat stress counselors. Army nurse practitioner Lt. Col. Karen Marrs listened to Green talk about wanting to kill Iraqi civilians, gave him a prescription for sleep medication and sent him back to his unit.
The combat stress unit's actions with Green have become central as defense lawyers try to persaude jurors not to condemn him to death for rape and murder in Iraq. Green was convicted May 7 for the rape and murder of 14-year-old Abeer Qassim al-Janabi and the shooting deaths of her family — an attack that took place three months after Green visited the stress unit.
Dr. Pablo Stewart, a psychiatrist at the University of California-San Francisco, told jurors Marrs and other combat stress teams are in a tough situation, charged with treating soldiers but also mindful of pleasing commanders, who wanted soldiers to stay in the field with their units.
"She's trying to please her command and at the same time treat her patients," Stewart said. "I see that as an almost impossible job."
That impossible job left some of Green's fellow soldiers with little confidence in combat stress units.
go here for more
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/ap/tx/6427280.html
Saturday, May 16, 2009
Some military commanders still stuck on stupid when it comes to PTSD
Conduct unbecoming of an officer should now include stupidity and the inability to learn. The wound suffered by soldiers in their command has been killing more after combat than during it since recorded history began. What part of military history did these commanders study? Didn't they ever study the aftermath of warfare? It is part of the big picture and it's their job to learn from it. They want the best and the brightest but they don't want to have to do anything when it comes to healing the best and the brightest so they can still serve their nation. The men and women serving today are no different than the other humans serving in different wars and the studies on PTSD began in the 70's showing exactly what price is paid. Along with the problem there were clear instructions on addressing it as soon as symptoms begin so that damage done is not beyond repair.
Now I'm wondering what the real problem is. Is it that they refuse to learn from what history and scientific research has shown or is there something more sinister here at work?
We know there is a problem in the military with Chaplains more interested in proselytizing than they are interested in consoling and listening. Are they part of the problem considering there is a shortage of Chaplains in the military and the ones deployed are not focused on the troops as troops instead of converts? Are they pushing the soldiers seeking help away because they will not covert or are not members of their particular denomination of Christian? There are, believe it or not, some Christian still looking at any kind of mental illness or anxiety disorder as being judged by God, counted among the "non-chosen" by God and therefor unworthy of their help. Are they part of the problem?
We know denial is a big issue when it comes to PTSD. Most of the people slamming the soldiers coming forward discussing PTSD have PTSD themselves and it is not unheard of for them to turn around and feel sorry for what they did to others while they were in denial themselves. When generals came out and discussed their own battles with PTSD, they showed great courage but before then they were in denial they were wounded. We have to ask what their attitude toward their men was in the dark days of denial in order to understand the mind-set of the commanders still dismissing PTSD for anything other than what it is.
The good news is that more and more commanders are addressing PTSD the right way but the bad news remains too many are still addressing it by attacking the soldiers with the courage to step up and say they need help. The question is, how many commanders are still ignorant and what is being done to hold them accountable?
Now I'm wondering what the real problem is. Is it that they refuse to learn from what history and scientific research has shown or is there something more sinister here at work?
We know there is a problem in the military with Chaplains more interested in proselytizing than they are interested in consoling and listening. Are they part of the problem considering there is a shortage of Chaplains in the military and the ones deployed are not focused on the troops as troops instead of converts? Are they pushing the soldiers seeking help away because they will not covert or are not members of their particular denomination of Christian? There are, believe it or not, some Christian still looking at any kind of mental illness or anxiety disorder as being judged by God, counted among the "non-chosen" by God and therefor unworthy of their help. Are they part of the problem?
We know denial is a big issue when it comes to PTSD. Most of the people slamming the soldiers coming forward discussing PTSD have PTSD themselves and it is not unheard of for them to turn around and feel sorry for what they did to others while they were in denial themselves. When generals came out and discussed their own battles with PTSD, they showed great courage but before then they were in denial they were wounded. We have to ask what their attitude toward their men was in the dark days of denial in order to understand the mind-set of the commanders still dismissing PTSD for anything other than what it is.
The good news is that more and more commanders are addressing PTSD the right way but the bad news remains too many are still addressing it by attacking the soldiers with the courage to step up and say they need help. The question is, how many commanders are still ignorant and what is being done to hold them accountable?
Army fights stigma of mental care
By ROBERT H. REID – 2 hours ago
BAGHDAD (AP) — A military culture that values strength and a "can do" spirit is discouraging thousands of soldiers from seeking help to heal the emotional scars of war in Iraq and Afghanistan, despite top-level efforts to overcome the stigma, commanders and veterans say.
Up to one-fifth of the more than 1.7 million military members who have served in Iraq or Afghanistan are believed to have symptoms of anxiety, depression and other emotional problems. Some studies show that about half of those who need help do not seek it.
"It's a reality that for some — certainly not all, but for some — there's a stigma to stepping forward for behavioral health," Maj. David Cabrera, who runs counseling services at a military hospital in Germany, told The Associated Press.
"Our goal is to eradicate the stigma," he said. "We're not there yet."
Encouraging more soldiers to seek help, and training leaders to spot signs of trouble, have taken on new urgency since the fatal shooting last Monday of five U.S. service members at a counseling center at Baghdad's Camp Liberty.
Army Sgt. John M. Russell has been charged with five counts of murder. He was finishing his third tour in Iraq and had been ordered to seek counseling at the center, the Army said.
Sergeants on their third or fourth assignments to Iraq or Afghanistan are more than twice as likely to suffer mental health problems as those on their first assignment to a combat zone, according an Army study last year.
Combat stress is common in every war — including "battle fatigue" cases in World War II and the lasting trauma still suffered by thousands of veterans of the Vietnam conflict.
What makes the current conflicts different are the frequent, repeating rotations. Most soldiers spent just one or two assignments in Vietnam, but many American soldiers and Marines are on their third or fourth tours in Iraq and Afghanistan.
go here for more
Army fights stigma of mental care
Is PTSD Still Being Downplayed?
We still don't know what happened but if the Army is still trying to downplay PTSD, we have a lot bigger problem than this!
Did Doctors Deny Iraq Shooter's Stress?
Troop Mate Says Sgt. John Russell Knew He Had A Problem; Is PTSD Still Being Downplayed?
WASHINGTON, May 14, 2009
(CBS) A soldier in accused shooter Army Sgt. John Russell's unit says Russell was angry because he thought he was suffering from combat stress.
But he told his fellow troopers that the doctors at the clinic he allegedly attacked did not believe him, reports CBS News correspondent Kimberly Dozier at the Pentagon.
The 44-year-old signals specialist from the 54th Engineering Battalion, based in Bamberg, Germany, was charged with five counts of murder and one count of aggravated assault for Monday's shooting, which killed two military doctors and three soldiers, at a combat stress clinic at Camp Liberty, in Iraq.
Russell had been relieved of his weapon a week earlier, after making some "inappropriate remarks," his fellow soldier said, and he'd been referred to the stress clinic for counseling. But each day, the counselors "sent him back to his base," where Russell complained the doctors were refusing to take his symptoms seriously or give him the medication he thought he needed.
On Monday, the soldier says Russell was being transported back and forth to the mental health clinic by his staff sergeant escort.
After yet another argument at the clinic, he and his escort had just returned to Russell's brigade headquarters. That's when he "assaulted his escort, stole his weapon," and held him at briefly at gunpoint. Russell snatched away the keys for the vehicle, and drove back to the treatment center, where he allegedly opened fire.
go here for more
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2009/05/14/national/main5014301.shtml
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)