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U.S. soldier, accused of murder, had been diagnosed 3 months earlier with homicidal ideas

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sabra Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Jan-09-07 04:30 PM
Original message
U.S. soldier, accused of murder, had been diagnosed 3 months earlier with homicidal ideas

http://www.twincities.com/mld/twincities/news/16420329.htm

U.S. soldier, accused of murder, had been diagnosed 3 months earlier with homicidal ideas
Associated Press

FORT CAMPBELL, Ky. - An Army private charged with the slaughter of an Iraqi family was diagnosed as a homicidal threat by a military mental health team three months before the attack.

Pfc. Steven D. Green was found to have "homicidal ideations" after seeking help from an Army Combat Stress Team in Iraq on Dec. 21, 2005. Green said he was angry about the war, desperate to avenge the death of comrades and driven to kill Iraqi citizens, according to an investigation by The Associated Press.

The treatment was several small doses of Seroquel - a drug to regulate his mood - and a directive to get some sleep, according to medical records obtained by the AP. The next day, he returned to duty in the particularly violent stretch of desert in the southern Baghdad suburbs known as the "Triangle of Death."

...

Col. Elspeth Cameron Ritchie, psychiatry counsel to the Army Surgeon General, would not specifically discuss Green when contacted by The AP. She defended the military's policies regarding the treatment of emotionally or psychologically distressed soldiers.

"If unresponsive to treatment and/or a persistent danger to self or others, they will be evacuated," Ritchie told The AP in an e-mail.

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MADem Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Jan-09-07 04:37 PM
Response to Original message
1. So many of those 'shrinks in the field' have civilian practices and are reservists
Their diagnoses are going to be WAY more honest than a careerist might tend to provide. That said, it isn't appropriate for the counsel to the Surgeon General to talk about the kid in any way, shape or form--the Privacy Act prohibits it. The rest of the statement was the usual mealy-mouth shit...she should have, if she wanted to be truthful, used SHOULD instead of WILL in that last sentence...! Obviously, this guy was NOT evacuated, and he SHOULD have been...!
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AndyA Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Jan-09-07 04:42 PM
Response to Original message
2. No matter how bad I imagine things must be for our troops, I'm certain
they're worse than I imagine them to be. How depressing to be over there fighting for something you aren't sure about. There is no clear enemy in Iraq, and the message for going to war has never been clearly stated.

I really wonder how many of our troops are suffering from depression. We just need to bring them home.
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Tempest Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Jan-09-07 04:49 PM
Response to Original message
3. How many Steven Greens are out there with a burning fuse?
That won't go off until after they're back in the states?
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rebel with a cause Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Jan-09-07 05:48 PM
Response to Reply #3
5. Don't be so certain it will go away once they are back home.
These "burning fuses" have a tendency to burn until they lead to a explosion, no matter where they are unless they get help, and I mean real help that could last for years. We learned that from Vietnam, and should have learned it from other wars in years past.

On another subject, Don't you just love the new army commercials? The kids want to go to the army for all the benefits they can get from it. They are going to get special training, college, and etc. Yeah, special training on how to kill and/or try not to get killed. :mad:
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Tempest Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Jan-10-07 11:16 AM
Response to Reply #5
8. That's what I said
"That won't go off until after they're back in the states?"

I said off, not out.
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MasonJar Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Jan-09-07 05:02 PM
Response to Original message
4. He should have been evacuated obviously.
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kskiska Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Jan-09-07 06:19 PM
Response to Original message
6. What about the other guys who went along with his scheme?
Were they diagnosed as well?
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TexasLawyer Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Jan-09-07 06:54 PM
Response to Original message
7. catch 22
"If unresponsive to treatment and/or a persistent danger to self or others, they will be evacuated,"

How do you know that treatment has been ineffective or that the affected soldiers pose a persistent danger to self or others until they kill themselves or others?

Obviously just self-reporting a problem doesn't do the trick.
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