G.I. May Blame Iraq Trauma for Killing

[Barrett808]

G.I. May Blame Iraq Trauma for Killing
By ELLIOTT MINOR, Associated Press Writer

COLUMBUS, Ga. - At least one of four soldiers accused in the killing of a buddy in Georgia after their return home from Iraq may argue in court that they were unhinged by the horrors they had seen on the battlefield.

Attorney David S. West said he plans to have his client, Pfc. Alberto Martinez, examined for post-traumatic stress disorder.

"The most amazing thing to me is to hear the harrowing descriptions of what these kids went through," West said. "They were one of the first units into Baghdad. All along the way, they were under fire. They were sleeping in their armored vehicles for fear they were going to get shot dead. They had people around them who were getting shot."

Martinez is accused of stabbing Spc. Richard Davis, 25, of St. Charles, Mo., at least 30 times a few days after their unit returned from Iraq in July.

(more)

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20040322/ap_on_re_us/soldier_slaying&cid=519&ncid=1480

[MsUnderstood]

1. I read a most disturbing story in local paper

It was about a soldier returning from Iraq.

http://www.fresnobee.com/local/story/8305089p-9146550c.html

Overall, it was a sad description of how we've screwed up another boy turning him into a man. But here, the soldier tells of his emotions at home:
<snip>
When an old friend showed Cox his handgun, Cox told him to put it away.

"Right away, my mind went to how I would clear the room I was sitting in, which person I would take down first, and I didn't want to think of my friends that way," he says.

He's driving his truck, windows down to let in the breeze, drinking a Gatorade -- still a treat to him, after having even water rationed -- when he sees some children playing along a Selma street.

"The kids in Iraq would play in this nasty stuff, broken glass, and sewage. We'd go into a firefight. Bullets flying. And they'd be right there running around," he says. "I don't like to remember."
</snip>

What is most disturbing is that we do not, make that cannot provide therapy for these young men and women because it would undo the years of brainwashing provided by the military.