The Army denies that combat stress causes homicide

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


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

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

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

Surgeon heals patients and their violent ways

Surgeon heals patients and their violent ways
Story Highlights
Dr. Carnell Cooper's Violence Intervention Program helps trauma victims

The program aims to break the cycle of violence by targeting its root causes

Study: Participants are three times less likely to be arrested for a violent crime

Do you know a hero? Nominations are open at CNN.com/Heroes

BALTIMORE, Maryland (CNN) -- Dr. Carnell Cooper, a Baltimore surgeon, is saving lives inside and outside the operating room.
Since becoming a trauma surgeon 16 years ago, he has dedicated himself to treating the many young African-American men who've been shot, stabbed or beaten, only to see them return to the ER with another severe injury just months later.
But when one of his patients was readmitted with a fatal gunshot wound to the head in 1996, it changed Cooper's life.
"The night that we pronounced that young man dead and my colleagues said there's really nothing we can do in these situations. ... I just didn't believe that," said Cooper, 54. "From that day forward, I said, 'Let's see what we can do.' "
Cooper created the Violence Intervention Program (VIP) at the Shock Trauma Unit of the University of Maryland Medical Center, the state's busiest hospital for violent injuries. It became one of the country's first hospital-based anti-violence programs.
"We approached this problem like any public health crisis, like heart disease or smoking," he said. "We tried to work on the root causes."
Since 1998, VIP has provided substance abuse counseling, job skills training and other support services to nearly 500 trauma victims.
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Get involved: Violence Intervention Program
In Depth: CNN Heroes
"Using that scalpel blade to save their life is the first step," Cooper said. "The next step is to try to keep them from coming back."
A 2006 study by Cooper and his colleagues, published in the Journal of Trauma, showed that people in the program were six times less likely to be readmitted with a violent injury and three times less likely to be arrested for a violent crime.
The issue hits close to home for Cooper. Born to unwed teenagers in Dillon, South Carolina, he grew up in a neighborhood where violent crime was commonplace; he had friends and relatives who ended up dead or in jail.
But his grandparents made sure he stayed on the right path. As a straight-A student, he attended a prestigious high school in Massachusetts, then Yale University and Duke University School of Medicine.
But while Cooper rose above his circumstances, he felt sympathy for the young men who rotated in and out of his operating room.
"They could be my friends, my family," he said.
Cooper's program attempts to help patients from the moment they arrive because victims of violence face a greater risk of receiving another violent injury. Everyone treated for violent wounds at the hospital is seen by a VIP case worker, often at bedside. For Cooper, approaching patients at this early stage is crucial.
"We may get them in a moment when they are thinking, 'I just almost died,' " he said. "We say, 'We're going help you find a way to get out of the game.' "
Watch Cooper talk to a victim of violence at his bedside »
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http://www.cnn.com/2009/HEALTH/03/25/cnnheroes.carnell.cooper/index.html

A Labor of Love to Stop the Violence in Orlando

Residents of Orlando apartment complex gather to honor victims, fight violence
Vincent Bradshaw | Sentinel Staff Writer
September 7, 2008
Hundreds of residents, many of them in tears, gathered at The Palms Apartments in July after two teenagers and one man were shot to death.

On Saturday, they gathered again at The Palms on Mercy Drive, this time to promote peace.

The event, called "A Labor of Love to Stop the Violence," took place in a courtyard near the apartment where the three people were killed. It was the latest of several events focused on making life better at the complex.

Dozens of children did back flips on inflatable bouncers, while adults cooked and met law-enforcement officials. Church members sang and prayed, and others called on residents to be peaceful.
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'Trying to Hold On' Amid The Despair of D.C.'s Streets

"You got a lot of people walking around, traumatized or scared or angry or sad," Bowers said. "It's kind of an urban battleground. We never know how people's visions are limited when they live in an environment where bodies on the street are the norm."

'Trying to Hold On' Amid The Despair of D.C.'s Streets
Teen Looks to Dreams of Education, Peace
By Robert E. Pierre and Clarence Williams
Washington Post Staff Writers
Saturday, August 9, 2008; Page A01

Monica Watts, two months out of high school, buried another brother this week.



She barely remembers her older brother Donald, who was killed during a robbery more than a decade ago. Her baby brother, John, 18, was shot to death July 25 in Forestville as he tried to rob an off-duty officer, Prince George's County police said. He was a year her junior but felt like her twin. She called him "Streets," and he belonged to the cohort most likely to be killed: young, black, male, involved with the criminal justice system.

Since 1989, the year Watts was born, 6,000 homicides have been recorded in the District. By her count, Watts, at 19, has lost more than a dozen relatives and friends to violence since 2003. One was stabbed; the others were shot. Two brothers. Two boyfriends. A host of other young men and women in their teens and 20s.

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