US Soldier Kills 5 Fellow Soldiers in Iraq

[LoungeMachine]

U.S. Soldier Kills 5 Comrades in Iraq, Military Says

TIMOTHY WILLIAMS
Published: May 11, 2009

BAGHDAD — The United States military said Monday that five American soldiers had been shot by a soldier who opened fire on fellow troops at one of the main American bases in Baghdad.

The American soldier suspected of being involved with the shooting is in custody, the military said.

The shooting took place at around 2 p.m. local time at Camp Liberty, a sprawling base next to Baghdad airport, the military said in a statement. The names of the dead soldiers were being withheld at this time pending family notification, the statement said.

“Anytime we lose one of our own, it affects us all,” Col. John Robinson, a spokesman for the U.S. military in Iraq, was quoted as saying.

CNN, citing unnamed officials, said that at least three others were wounded in the attack, which it said had have taken place at a clinic for soldiers suffering from war stress.

Violence has dropped sharply in Iraq, but a rash of major bombings by insurgents has raised questions about security less than two months before American forces are due to withdraw combat troops from urban bases.

Earlier this month, two American soldiers were killed by a man wearing an Iraqi Army uniform at an Iraqi military training centre south of Mosul

In April, 18 American military personnel members were killed in Iraq — double the number in March and the highest since September 2008, when 25 were killed.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/12/world/middleeast/12iraq.html?ref=global-home

[kwame k]

We're deploying these guys way too often and keeping them over there too long. This is most likely an isolated incident but it does bring home the fact we are over-deploying our men and women.

[ELVIS]

Who knows if this guy wouldn't have killed his parents had he not joined the military...

I guess it's a little known fact that criminals are sometimes offfered military service instead of jail time for small time offenses...

I'm not suggesting anything, but it's worth consideration. It's like the kids that killed themselves and also listened to Ozzy Osbourne. What about all of the kids that were just fine ??


:elvis:

[sadaist]

I get what you're saying Elvis. Just cause this guy was military, doesn't mean he wasn't a whack job anyways. But our deployed military men & women are under a ton of stress. This is just a very sad incident. My prayers go out to the families & friends of the soldiers. :(

[Seshmeister]

Who knows if this guy wouldn't have killed his parents had he not joined the military...


That would have been better though.

They would have been older, there are less of them and they are responsible for him being mental or at least are responsible for him being alive.

[WACF]

I heard on the news that this happened at a stress clinic.

I will save judgment as to whether he was a whack job or just someone pushed way beyond ones limits.

Either is tragic for the 5 and their families...

[ELVIS]

Ok, so he was on his third deployment and referred to the "stress clinic" for "mental health issues."

Why or how did he have access to weapons in the "stress clinic?"

[WACF]

Ok, so he was on his third deployment and referred to the "stress clinic" for "mental health issues."

Why or how did he have access to weapons in the "stress clinic?"

That is a good question...

Another is why is a guy on his third...needing help...and still there.

[thome]

That is a good question...

Another is why is a guy on his third...needing help...and still there.

These days there is a incentive other than God and Country, Justice and Freedom ..money.

I have heard of 10-15K reenlistment bonuses given even to low ranking enilsted men..

Combat pay = more money (overseas, in country type stuff) rank comes faster and that is more money...

My Sympathies to the families of all the GI's.

[Redballjets88]

Wow sad story. Who knows whether this guy was just crazy or way too war weary.

Not only does this say something about how the military treats its men and women who are in iraq but it could also say something about the types of people joining.

The military is a great second chance for many people, but its also beginning to look like a safe harbor for people who should be either in jail or rehab.

I know a few people who are in the service, two of which are recovering addicts who were told it was jail or military. I don't think sending someone into combat is a great way to get them off meth or coke (the drugs of choice by the 2 guys I know)

[hideyoursheep]

I guess it's a little known fact that criminals are sometimes offfered military service instead of jail time for small time offenses...
:elvis:

40 years ago maybe, but not today.

Not to take the edge off of the knife, but civilians do this sort of thing far more often than those guys, and they always have access to weapons. Forget about the stress levels....they're off the chart. Something was happening in house, I'm sure, before this dude went off.

[FORD]

Actually, because the BCE was understandably having a hard time recruiting for their stupid illegal fucking war, they did drop the standards considerably, allowing people in the military with arrest records and probably some who were a couple sandwiches short of a picnic before they went in.

Except the gays though. They're still out. (No pun intended)

[hideyoursheep]

Ok, so he was on his third deployment and referred to the "stress clinic" for "mental health issues."

Why or how did he have access to weapons in the "stress clinic?"
I'd consider it more stressful to walk around without a weapon in a hostile environment.

Stress Clinics?

:019:

If that isn't a signal that we need fresh bodies in the armed forces, then I don't know what else is. Start the draft. Why wait until someone else starts fucking with us?


My brother-in-law is coming home for good from Ft. Riley in a couple weeks.

70% disability....I'm not sure why, but he has been fed anti-depressants since he returned to CONUS. He was hit with a bullet in the shoulder....not from direct fire, but from the Iraqi rednecks celebrating a soccer game and firing in the air....the round came down and hit him in that muscle between the neck and shoulder.....he got a Purple Heart for that....I tease him, and say it was one of those John Kerry Purple Hearts!

But he got disabled when a rocket or mortar hit the wall of the building he was in while he was leaning against it. He didn't catch any shrapnel, but the concussion from the blast separated his ribcage in the front slightly...from what I gather, it never healed properly and he's kind of unable to do all those fun things the Army likes you to do.

Fuckin' guy!:biggrin: When he came back to the States, he went apeshit on Ebay with all that tax free money and bonus payment he couldn't spend over there, and bought a shitload of guitars, basses, drums, mics and PA system. He calls me Saturday and says he's at some sort of USO show at Riley, and that guy who played Lt. Dan from Forrest Gump has a band or some shit...Anyways, I've been drafted to help him hook all this shit up when he gets home.

Sounds like a plan.

:beers:

[ELVIS]

40 years ago maybe, but not today.



Yes they do, I know some...

They send them to rehab first and off to bootcamp...

[hideyoursheep]

There's more to it than you're saying then, because they don't take common criminals, ELVIS. Especially felons.

Why would someone need to go to jail instead of rehab to begin with? What are you leaving out?

[Seshmeister]

70% disability....I'm not sure why, but he has been fed anti-depressants since he returned to CONUS. He was hit with a bullet in the shoulder....not from direct fire, but from the Iraqi rednecks celebrating a soccer game and firing in the air....

I always used to wonder about that when I was younger, where the bullets end up when those assholes do that.

[hideyoursheep]

Actually, because the BCE was understandably having a hard time recruiting for their stupid illegal fucking war, they did drop the standards considerably, allowing people in the military with arrest records and probably some who were a couple sandwiches short of a picnic before they went in. Depends on what you were arrested for. On some level, you have to be "a few sandwiches short" to begin with, or you ain't going to make it. There are times you have to force yourself to throw reason out the window. That's hard for some of you intellectual types to do.


Except the gays though. They're still out. (No pun intended)
And they should be.

Who wants to wake up in their bunk only to see their new roommate standing over you, jerking himself off while watching you sleep?

Where on the battlefield is there room for animosity between 2 same sex lovers who had a falling out?

There's no room for that shit in there!

I'm not saying gays aren't human, but deployments are long, emotions run high... attachments can happen, and with out-of-the-closet gays thrown in, it would be to much of an unwanted distraction to straight soldiers. Very uncomfortable.

Like letting the males shower with the females. Disasterous.:biggrin:

[hideyoursheep]

I always used to wonder about that when I was younger, where the bullets end up when those assholes do that.

I was thinking the same thing....he said it was HOT!

That has got to be one of the most unlucky wounds you could receive.

He called me a couple of times while he was still in Iraq, and was contemplating a re-enlistment for a tour in Afghanistan (before the other injury). I said, "No. Don't tempt fate. And kill that black cat that must be hanging around camp."

[ELVIS]

There's more to it than you're saying then, because they don't take common criminals, ELVIS. Especially felons.



I said "small time offenses" and the two that I know of are both drugs and one involved robbery. As far as I know, they had their records cleaned up...

[hideyoursheep]

A weed posession thing they might overlook today, but whoever that recruiter is taking someone with robbery=idiot.