US staff sergeant kills 16 Afghan civilians

[Forever_frost]

I've been reading that his unit sent him back despite him having PTSD and this being his 4th rotation.

[mikec]

I've been reading that his unit sent him back despite him having PTSD and this being his 4th rotation.

So basically he was trapped in hell and this was his only way out...

[ELVIS]

you train a man to kill dont be surprised when he does.

god bless.

[Wicked98Snake]

Give him a medal?

[ceyko]

I've been reading that his unit sent him back despite him having PTSD and this being his 4th rotation.

Did you by any chance get what his MOS is?

I'll constantly pull that card about too many rotations. 4 rotations should be unheard of, much-less the amount people actually do these days.

I'm not saying what this E-6 did was right, but there is a difference between someone quite possibly going nuts due to REAL (not perceived or self induced) stress and the way the media seems to be portraying it.

w/o a draft I don't have an answer - other than pulling out (which I think we should do now as well).

The only counter argument to me is that during say WWII - guys were fighting for years. Which is true for sure. I think one saving grace (if you can call it that), is their ROE was a lot more open and the mission/enemy was a lot different. Of course, they had their own set of serious problems too.

[Forever_frost]

They said this is his first rotation to Afghanistan, but he'd done 3 others in Iraq and the last rotation to Iraq was caught up in an IED and suffered a traumatic brain injury. No way the man should be given capital punishment. TBI, PTSD AND sent back into combat? If there's an insanity plea, there you are

[svauto-erotic855]

They said this is his first rotation to Afghanistan, but he'd done 3 others in Iraq and the last rotation to Iraq was caught up in an IED and suffered a traumatic brain injury. No way the man should be given capital punishment. TBI, PTSD AND sent back into combat? If there's an insanity plea, there you are

Traumatic brain injury = Concussion. A concussion doesn't/shouldn't give you a pass on the gallows if you REALLY step on your dick by killing 16 people.

That is just the politics of his crime. Now ask me personally if I give a damn about what he did.

[92redragtop]

Hand him over to the Afghans to be tried - he walked off the base on his own to commit these murders.

[Forever_frost]

Traumatic brain injury = Concussion. A concussion doesn't/shouldn't give you a pass on the gallows if you REALLY step on your dick by killing 16 people.

That is just the politics of his crime. Now ask me personally if I give a damn about what he did.

Actually a TBI is quite a bit worse than a concussion. Hell, the VA bases disability ratings on it and there are new studies that show how an explosion changes your brain chemistry and structure.

From someone who has a severe tbi

[Forever_frost]

Hand him over to the Afghans to be tried - he walked off the base on his own to commit these murders.

Hell no. We do not hand our soldiers over to the natives. Ever. That's why we have military courts

[92redragtop]

Yeah but he'll likely be dealt with gently versus cap punishment, etc by military. I don't think he really cared when he did this in their country so they should have arrested him themselves if they were smart.

[KBScobravert]

Yeah but he'll likely be dealt with gently versus cap punishment, etc by military. I don't think he really cared when he did this in their country so they should have arrested him themselves if they were smart.

I don't think gentle is going to be anywhere near how he is handled. He very single handedly was the straw that broke the camel's back over there. In one act he changed the dynamics far greater than anything else that has happened. Karzi the Corrupt is calling for us to terminate all bases in rural areas and bring our entire force into the main hubs. I can tell you there are only a handful (BAF, KAF, Salerno, Sharana, MEZ-FLE, Phoenix??) of "hub" or Base size locations in that country. I know this because I have been to all the ones in the North, East and West. We have well over 150+ small bases he is referring to (been to 35+ of those personally).

Whether the change is for the good or the bad is yet to be foreseen. If his actions turn the entire Afghan force against us and it very well could do that, we are in for a shit storm and a sure fight. Not necessarily a bad thing though.

If they turn on us it just means they were always going to do so, get it over with and lets get it on.

If they don't turn on us and we still pull back, we have lost the ground that several thousand have died for and countless thousands have been injured for.

Fuck that entire region. I spent long enough there to have an informed opinion and say that they are not worth the shit you kick off your boots before stepping in the barn.

In reference to the SSGT and his reasoning. There is no reasoning that can account for killing 16 people in this manner. I am sure many, many, many more have thought about it but he proved one of the 3% that could not distinguish between right and wrong. There is not an acronym that fits what he did or that he or anyone can lay on it. Evil is just that.

[KBScobravert]

Hand him over to the Afghans to be tried - he walked off the base on his own to commit these murders.

I agree with Forest, there is no way if I was the last Private standing would I let some goat fucking ANP or ANA touch him. We will handle him ourselves. If the Afghan's don't like it they can fight us for him but I can tell you how that will end; not in their favor.

[Forever_frost]

The soldier, a 38-year-old father of two who is originally from the Midwest, deployed last December with the 3rd Stryker Brigade, and on Feb. 1 was attached to a "village stability operation." Browne described him as highly decorated and said he had once been nominated for a Bronze Star, which he did not receive.

But he did say that the soldier and his family thought he was done fighting. During tours in Iraq, the soldier suffered a concussive head injury in a car accident caused by a roadside bomb, Browne said, and he suffered a battle-related injury that resulted in surgery to remove part of his foot.

He was screened by health officials after the head injury before he redeployed, Browne said. He did not know if his client had been suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder, but said it could be an issue at trial if experts believe it's relevant.

He and the rest of his brigade had initially been told they wouldn't have to go to Afghanistan, Browne said.


So TBI, PTSD, missing his foot, and his buddy was killed the day before, 4th tour. I can see why he did it

http://news.yahoo.com/lawyer-afghanistan-suspect-loath-deploy-211017201.html

[ceyko]

So TBI, PTSD, missing his foot, and his buddy was killed the day before, 4th tour. I can see why he did it

Yeah, if you're like me on this one - you understand why he may have snapped but you're still expecting him to be punished as seen fit via a court martial.

Likely, he's going to spend the rest of his life making big rocks into little rocks.

For those that want to hand him over, obviously have never been in a foreign country in these situations.

1. We owe it to him and others who come under scrutiny by the locals to handle it internally.

2. If we just handed US citizens over to the locals, NO military or civilians would be as willing to support these missions. Especially civilians which make up a good portion of the support structure and supplement the force. I've been in 1 situation where I would've been f'ed if I ended up in a local prison w/o NATO/US backing - and that was over just a car accident with an injury. Much-less murder..etc. Point is, we can't turn our backs on our people, regardless of the crime in these situations.

3. What he supposedly did was heinous, no doubt. However, we owe it to him to hear him out on our/America/UCMJ terms.