Iraq War Vet Shoots Five, Kills Ranger, on the Lam in Nat'l Park

allegedly kills 5

 

so sad... my thoughts are with ALL the families affected... so much of the time, the military just use up these young people and then forget about them...

 

Did the 4 people shot at the party die? The reports I find say that 4 were shot there and of those 4, two were critically injured.

Okay, Skip. I thought my question had gone un-noticed so I moved it down here. Thanks for the correction.

 

I'm lucky I never went to Iraq. Everybody I knew never came back the same.

 

I predicted this would happen on xmas day.. I know what its like being a veteran on the holidays. It takes more than a little ptsd to set someone off though.

 

Im not sure if I have any ptsd, I know what the doctors tried to tell me I have, but my case is a little different. Worst part of Iraq lasted about 48hours just prior to me coming home. Im desensitized to most things, like dead people, and really really dead people. People die whether its car accident or battle. Seeing mutated corpses don't bother me. I seen piles of dead human beings. That's nothing new in Iraq.
Smells bothered me when I returned home. I cant stand to smell of cooking food. It reminds me of skins being burned, I don't like the smell of hot metal- certain kinds of metal smell worse than others when hot. I was in Iraq, everything is hot. The smells of cooked engines piss me off. The smell of diesel really pisses me off. The smell of gun powder smoke dont bother me to much, but it take me there. The sound of fireworks in the distance makes me think air strikes..

Reality is, I was there before and returned again. But when I went the first time. I come back home to my family. When I came back home the second time. The police had killed my bother, my ex with newborn vanished. There was nobody waiting for me to come home. I was served with warrants by the state police on the air nation guard base here in pgh.. Thanks for all the fine work you did in Iraq. Here is an arrest warrant for you, But they were for things my bother did. I was not detained but once again, I just wanted to run away from it... I had to face the pig justice system. Since my legal problems were cleared up, expunged, entire case dissolved against the sheriffs office. Its like that whole little legal business didnt even exist. But it did. They cant bring back my bother. In fact 3 people in my family died while I was serving in Iraq. My Bother, Aunt, Uncle and mysteriously this old women that was also involved in my court case. She was the judges mother. So I can play conspiracy games all day, it really isn't going to do me any good. And its not going to do me any good to go on a shooting spree, build a back pack bomb, attack a bus load of people. Nothing I could do will change the face of the past. Harming innocent people isn't going to get your message across. You could kill an entire police force. Its not going to effect the world one bit. Only the news hounds will make a fortune on the misery of others. It would be posted on the internet for a few days, and into the past it will go. They will dig thru your personal crap looking to blame more than themselves for what happened.

What kind of outlets did this veteran have? Where was he getting treatment. What medications was he on? ... I dont take medications other than cannabis. They tried to give me all kinda of brain damaging shit. Mention cannabis and they roll their fucking eyes. Well cannabis makes me feel better. Isnt the point of treatment to make the patient feel better?

Truth is I closed the book on the treartment the VA was giving me. The dont identify me as a real preson ,.. you see Im a transgender person and thats a big fucking NO NO when it comes to veteran treatment. I go to a private clinic for transgender people, I get treated like a Human being, NOT A TOOL .. I am not a robot, unless I feel like dressing up as one..

As well I cope with things better as my true self.. My true self hasnt ever changed. I just went on a little ride with some bad people. But I did some good things for the people of Iraq and Afghanistan. Many times I can see the faces of the people I helped. But I can also see the faces of the people I horrified..

May Allah bless us all and give guidance to follow the right path and do no more harm..

 

This was the most impressive thing I read on HF so far, reminds me of all the stories of all people older than 40-50 years who lived through the war IN my country- when I was young, I grew up with their stories and traumatisms (my mother survived the phosphorus burning of Dresden).

Thanks, orison

 

takes a special person to go through all that shit and to still be capable of love, kindness and creativity... :grouphug:

 

Society trains our soldiers to kill in time of war and yet expects them to respect life in time of peace. And for people who have gone through that experience life is cheap and with a shell-shocked mind can be extremely dangerous to themselves and to others

Hotwater

 

Often, none of that seems to matter once they've been used as means toward achieving an end desired by the machine.

 

I know a few people with PTSD. It ranges in severity from getting a little nervous at the sound of fireworks to talking about killing people like it means nothing to you to drinking every day just to cope and having intense breakdowns every night.

I think a good support network upon returning home helped all these guys. Not all soldiers have that.

Maybe this incident will force the military to focus on processing these soldiers with a little more care when they return from war.

Of course, like Orison said, treatment usually involves forcing a bunch of medication down your throat. This guy could very well be on some kind of powerful psychoactive that influenced his actions moreso than PTSD.

 

I aint nothing but love and kindness. My MOS was an electrician. But I did very little things I was trained for. I was trained to repair and service missile systems. Mostly plug and play kinda shit. That's all electrical work is. Moving command post, setting up offices basically command centers. From Water pumps, to communications.
My 2nd tour was with the 407th support and maintenance company B, combat Yes. Front line infantry/ forward No. We often drove around Iraq with no armor, choosing those ourselves over armored vehicles with more weapons. Its faster, lighter and Mp3 players, we get shit done..

One problem is the VA hospitals and mental health care facilities do, is expose you to someof things you dont want to see no more. I regret that I didnt lose a appendage. It seems like the VA is set up for just those type of injuries. You walk in there and its really institutionalized. And its not a clean hospital smell either. It bothered me all the time. I think there something in the air there that makes you violent. I kid you not. After leaving there every time I was more pissed off than I was entering. Most the time I entered with good intentions. And other time security treats me like Alqaeda, even though they have seen me 100times..

You cant see the scars in someone mind. As I stated mine is more the nightmare of returning to no loved ones in my family home. Granted my brother did some fucked up shit.

I was pretty lost and bored after coming home the 2nd time.. I found myself doing what the neighborhood I left was doing. I had nice car, money to start. I bought some crack and went into business. It probably really helped me. Aside from working I was still really bored. Ready to jump up at anything moving. What a better time to sell crack, I get up when the phone rings.Never missed a snap. It was like going on patrol I never knew what I was going to bump into. Also learned how destructive the power of crack is, how easy it is to control people. I was E6 in the army, Staff Sargent so I have a little superiority complex. Couple that with being the crack dealer, I felt like a god. :devil:

Much going on in my mind when the first Iraq war was over in 92. I was just getting into the grateful dead touring after my grandma passed in 90. Then Iraq Invaded Kuwait and off I went. I spent most my time there in the Saudi Arabian desert manning artillery and abms. This where most the Iraqis crossed over and surrendered. That was easy enough. And I came home and followed the Dead some more..

I already explained part 2. But sometimes I cant explain. One thing that really been on my mind and weirds me out is. I was sort of a big fan of the movie Hair. I loved this movie when I was a kid. Id sit and watch it over and over. Anymore I watch this clip, I find myself struck with tears and waves of emotions. Berger in the WTF moment.. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fhNrqc6yvTU"]Hair - Let the Sunshine In - YouTube I dont know what I was thinking when I was 17, there wasnt anything for me to do in the city of Pittsburgh. I didnt have an education I dropped out of school when I was in the 8th grade. Due to my transfer from catholic school to public. I just never went. My mom would take me, I just wouldn't go inside. Then in magnet I repeated 9th 2time and entered the Army DEP program. I was 17. And there I sort of had to go..

 

The guy stole the idea from rambo