Reply #1: I almost posted this myself but saw yours first! 1st to K&R

[sce56]

This story reminds me of my time in Bad Hersfeld Germany early 1980's! The Germans hated us due to the crimes committed against the locals after the redeployment of the 11th Armored Cav troops from Vietnam directly to Germany straight from he jungles to another foreign country there were lots of fights robberies and many rapes of the young Fraulein's. The Army never learns how to de-moblize a troops mind after combat especially the kind that is not really a clear cut rightful cause like WWII was.

12th Infantry Regiment coat of arms
The Army was quick to downplay any link between what he and the other soldiers saw in Iraq and the allegations against them. "Anybody that does crimes of that nature, it goes deeper and farther back than anything in the U.S. Army," said Lt. Col. Brian Pearl, the 2-12's commanding officer. "Nothing here has trained them to do what they are charged with." Yet there is a larger story of those who fought with the 700-soldier unit: a string of alleged robberies, domestic violence and senseless murder. Six of the veterans are behind bars, implicated in four separate shooting incidents and five slayings since August 2007. The killings stretch from Colorado to an Orange County beach town, where a veteran of the company is accused of beating his girlfriend to death. In October, a soldier who served in Iraq with another Ft. Carson unit was charged with slitting a woman's throat and leaving her to die in the foothills near Colorado Springs, prompting U.S. Sen. Ken Salazar (D-Colo.) to urge a "swift and thorough review" of the accused soldiers' records. He asked whether the Army, in its zeal to meet recruiting numbers, had issued the soldiers waivers for felonies, serious misdemeanors or mental health issues. The Army has launched a task force to examine the question.

"This is an Army-wide issue and something that has to be paid attention to at the highest levels of government," Salazar said in an interview. What connects these killings, if anything, remains unclear. But some associated with the cases find it impossible to dismiss the common backdrop of Iraq as coincidence. "Think about Vietnam," said Amanda Philipps, one of Eastridge's public defenders. "This is just the tip of the iceberg." Sheilagh McAteer, one of Eastridge's lawyers, who serves on a task force examining crime by Iraq veterans, said she has seen a spike in drug abuse and domestic violence cases. "It's all anecdotal, but it appears there's some kind of connection," she said. "It's going to get worse before it gets better. There are now guys who are coming back from their third tour."