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TRAIL OF DEATH
The New York Times reports:
Individually, these are stories of local crimes, gut-wrenching postscripts to the war for the military men, their victims and their communities. Taken together, they paint the patchwork picture of a quiet phenomenon, tracing a cross-country trail of death and heartbreak.
The New York Times found 121 cases in which veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan committed a killing in this country, or were charged with one, after their return from war. In many of those cases, combat trauma and the stress of deployment — along with alcohol abuse, family discord and other attendant problems — appear to have set the stage for a tragedy that was part destruction, part self-destruction.
Via Alan R.M. Jones, who emails: “Undoubtedly some service men and women returning from combat areas suffer mentally – as is the case in every war. Stars and Stripes has already pointed out the numbers seeking and receiving counseling. Some of these people had serious problems well before they entered the armed forces. However, 121 cases from a pool of 1.6 million Iraq and Afghanistan veterans does not support the Taxi Driver Vietnam Hollywood narrative the NYT is trying on. Department of Justice homicide stats bear this out. Moreover, the ‘killings’ cited by the Times also include accidental homicides, e.g. vehicular.”
The NYT piece also ran in Melbourne’s Age. It’s only a matter of time - possibly a century or so - before the Iraq vets I keep recklessly associating with eventually add me to their deadly “patchwork”.
John Muhammad, the “Beltway Sniper”, spent over ten years studying extremist Islamic teachings before going on his shooting rampage in 2002. So naturally the press offered him up as a crazed veteran based on his service in Desert Storm…
Posted by richard mcenroe on 2008 01 14 at 11:08 AM • permalinkYeah, the crazy vet schtick. It’s older than dirt, disproved, and yet the NYT prints another story on that very subject. No wonder NYT stock values keep on nose diving.
Oh, and Tim? You’re indeed a marked man, from all those vets you associate with. Only.....is beer a deadly weapon?
Posted by The_Real_JeffS on 2008 01 14 at 11:45 AM • permalinkThe NYT editors are nothing more than scum. In six years of warfare and over a million returning vets, there have been 121 “incidents.” This is well below the level of crimes committed by the same non-vet demographic. I’m really starting to hate those NYT muthas.
Posted by Mystery Meat on 2008 01 14 at 12:03 PM • permalinkBetter not recklessly associate with me then, I haven’t killed anyone since I’ve been home......yet.
Unless it would kill you to let me buy you a beer if you’re ever in my neck of the woods.
Posted by Old Tanker on 2008 01 14 at 12:10 PM • permalinkOne of the posters at OPFOR Just returned home from deployment and had something to say about the info they are all given during the ‘demobilization’ process. The military has come a long way in trying to identify and help soldiers that need it.
Posted by Old Tanker on 2008 01 14 at 12:15 PM • permalink#8, dang it, I linked to the comments....scroll up for the story.....
Posted by Old Tanker on 2008 01 14 at 12:17 PM • permalinkI think this is one of those “received wisdom” type of articles.
Posted by wronwright on 2008 01 14 at 01:03 PM • permalink#5 Rebecca H.
I suspect the left wing line is that WWII was a justifiable (well hard to justify the otherside) war. Lefties seem to have little to say about korea because there are not the movies, or something. They are certain that Vietnam and the current war are immoral - and this presumably causes the problems.
It would seem that their ideology causes the problems, not battlefield experience.
For the left - it is always about them.Posted by Toiling Mass on 2008 01 14 at 03:52 PM • permalinkAnd coming out this month is Rambo IV, which looks to be an utter bloodbath.
Yeah, cool, ain’t it? I think I’ll break my rule of not going to the theater for this one.
Posted by The_Real_JeffS on 2008 01 14 at 09:08 PM • permalinkDon’t you just love it? The tale of the crazed veteran on a killing spree? The only thing my own crazed veteran has killed in the last little while was an unlucky fish that accidentally got hooked up on his line.
Comparatively, one of my former colleagues in my younger years was father to a notorious professional hitman who separated at least a dozen souls from their bodies without ever coming within sight of a military recruitment centre. (What he sent round finally came back, though).
In my own experience with former military people (husband, brother, brothers-in-law, many friends) they are particularly careful about anger and behaviour around weapons of all types. Having been there and done that, none of them seem terribly keen to repeat the experience.
On the other hand, ensuring that everyone knows one is a potentially deranged vet can open plenty of doors. Preferential seating, parking spaces, jumping lines, all are a piece of cake when accompanied by a twitch, crazy eyes, and a suitably battered field jacket.
Posted by Steve Skubinna on 2008 01 15 at 10:51 PM • permalink
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In the 70’s and 80’s the media would invariably describe some draftee who served in Germany or Korea then went nuts after discharge as a “Vietnam Vet”. Same story, different year.