Why did police shoot PTSD service dog?

There is something that does not make sense in this report. The training these dogs get also comes with a personality check to make sure they are not aggressive. Having an aggressive dog would not help a veterans being treated for PTSD. So how is it this dog turned "vicious" all of a sudden?

Police shoot, injure service dog
9News.com
Nick McGurk
May 7, 2013

DACONO - A Dacono man, who says he suffers from PTSD after multiple tours of duty in the Marine Corps, is upset after police shot his service dog Sunday night.

"I was right here in the grass. He probably just got curious and wandered out there," said James Vester, who says his service dog of three years escaped out through an open fence at his home.

Minutes later, Vester heard a gunshot.

"Blood was coming out of his chest," Vester said.

He said he saw his dog Mongo trailing blood as he returned to him. Mongo had gone down the street and around the corner when police received word of a loose dog.

"The information they received from dispatch was a vicious aggressive dog that did not belong to the owner, at her house, up on her property, jumping on her fence, growling and bearing its teeth," Dacono Police Chief Brian Skaggs said.
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Real video footage of a wounded Marine in Iraq

When you think about Combat and PTSD being called the "moral injury" you need to take away one important point about it. It is because they love and care so much that they carry that deeper level of pain. Why? Because what makes them able to put the lives of someone else ahead of their own, willing to die for the sake of someone else, that comes from an incredible strength within them. That same ability is also what makes them grieve so much.

I was reading this news report and there was a link to the video below. It is not pleasant but I urge you to watch it. What the way they care for the their wounded "brother" and while they do that, others guard the group. This is what they do. The reasons they do it may seem unnatural to the rest of the population but it has been recorded throughout history.

Compassion remains within them and that is a testament to their character. Do not confuse compassion with the lack of courage because military service requires both. They have to be able to care in the first place and then be courageous enough to face whatever we send them to do. After all these years of helping them they are a magnificent example of true unselfishness.

PTSD plagues many military members, but help is available
KSDK.com
May 3, 2013
By Art Holliday

ST. LOUIS (KSDK) - Three Vietnam veterans try to explain the unexplainable, how something that happened 40 years ago causes so much anguish today.

"In terms of veterans, it's a war wound. It's permanent. It never goes away," said psychiatrist Dr. Jay Liss.

"You can't unsee something you've seen and you can't unhear something you've heard and you can't unsmell the ungodly smells of war," said Bob Thompson.

"There's no medication to help you to forget. You never ever forget," said Albert Boyd.

The Department of Veterans Affairs questionnaire for diagnosing post-traumatic stress disorder has 31 symptoms, including: depression, anxiety, panic attacks, chronic sleep impairment, memory loss, impaired thinking, difficulty adapting to stressful situations.

Post-traumatic stress disorder can occur following a life-threatening event like military combat, natural disasters, terrorist incidents, serious accidents, or violent personal assaults like rape. Most survivors of trauma return to normal given a little time. However, some people have stress reactions that don't go away on their own, or may even get worse over time.
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Fort Hood solider dies in motorcycle collision

Fort Hood solider dies in motorcycle collision
ABC News
Posted: May 06, 2013
By John Elizondo

HOLLAND
A Fort Hood solider is dead after two motorcycles collided on a Bell County highway. The accident happened at around 4:27 p.m. Saturday on FM 2268 in the west city limits of Holland.
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Iraq veteran proves he violated probation on Facebook

Judge: Marine violated terms of release
Salem News
BY JULIE MANGANIS
STAFF WRITER
May 7, 2013

DANVERS — A Salem District Court judge has found “clear and convincing” evidence that Marine recruiter Matthew Fairbanks repeatedly violated the terms of his release in a pending assault and battery and weapons case, including failing to surrender an AK-47 to police.

Because of that, Judge Robert Brennan concluded that Fairbanks “poses a substantial risk of danger to the community” and ordered that he now be held without bail until trial.

Fairbanks, 23, an Iraq War veteran whose family has said may be suffering from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, was living in the Endicott Greens apartment complex on Route 1 in January when police were called because of a disturbance in his apartment.

Fairbanks allegedly ripped a toilet out of a wall during the altercation with his 52-year-old father, and then used it to assault the older man, according to police. Officers subsequently found guns and other weapons in the apartment and in Fairbanks’ car.

Then, last month, police and probation officers learned that Fairbanks had posted a photo of himself on Facebook laughing and holding an AK-47 with a caption that said, “So then the judge says to me, he says, you will surrender all your firearms.”
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The lesser known risk to OEF and OIF veterans is when they crash

This is one of the reasons why we will never know the true price of war and what the lack of care does.

Motor vehicle crashes: A little-known risk to returning veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan
Washington Post
By David Brown
Published: May 5

Andy Manis/For The Washington Post
Steven Acheson, an Iraq War veteran, at his apartment in Platteville, Wis., May 3, 2013.

For men and women who have fought in the country’s wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, death behind the wheel is becoming another lethal aftereffect of combat.

After they leave military service, veterans of the two wars have a 75 percent higher rate of fatal motor vehicle accidents than do civilians. Troops still in uniform have a higher risk of crashing their cars in the months immediately after returning from deployment than in the months immediately before. People who have had multiple tours in combat zones are at highest risk for traffic accidents.

The phenomenon has been revealed by various pieces of evidence — research as well as observations of service members, veterans and counselors.

The most common explanation is that troops bring back driving habits that were lifesaving in war zones but are dangerous on America’s roads. They include racing through intersections, straddling lanes, swerving on bridges and, for some, not wearing seat belts because they hinder a rapid escape.

That’s probably not the whole story, however. Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), suffered by thousands of veterans, increases aggressive driving. Drunken driving and thrill-seeking also are more common after combat, according to a few studies and the testimony of many veterans.
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