Death Row Inmate Receives Purple Heart

N.C. death row inmate receives medals earned in Vietnam

James Floyd Davis would never know freedom again.

Now 62 years old, slightly stooped with thick reading glasses and pasty skin, he looks far removed from the wild-eyed loner who snapped in a violent, bloody spree 14 years ago.

And he looks far removed from the tanned, wiry young man who traded an abusive home life for two tours in the jungles of Vietnam - and a chunk of shrapnel that still throbs in his thigh when the weather turns cold.

All of that past, all of that horror and hurt, stared through thick reading glasses at Jim Johnson as the retired Fayetteville therapist tried to discover who James Davis was.

Johnson, however, wasn't there because Davis was disturbed. He was there because Davis, like Johnson, was a soldier. Both had served in Vietnam during the maelstrom of the Tet Offensive.

Snip

The men also shared post-traumatic stress disorder, the result of battle stress during the war. Johnson, though eventually a lieutenant colonel and a successful therapist, struggled with its effects for decades. His condition gave him a unique perspective as a family and marriage counselor at Snyder Memorial Baptist Church.

The effects of PTSD on the already-fragile psyche of Davis were far more damaging. Although he reached the rank of sergeant, "He said the war just wore him out," Johnson said.

Snip

The Army was happy to send the medals. The prison was less enthusiastic about letting him receive them.

"They said no, like we expected," Rose said. "It was something that was just too unusual. It would take intervention by someone higher up the ladder."

Johnson found that someone in James French, a former warden of Central Prison and now deputy director of the state's correction system.

He also was a Vietnam veteran. He was wounded during the war and received a Purple Heart. Would he be willing to allow a fellow veteran the same honor?

French thought about it and agreed...............Read Rest Here

To both of our brothers, Thank You Jim for fighting for the well deserved recognition long overdue for Jim Davis, not only as to the Purple Heart but his other ignored medals and ribbons of service.

If the Country would have listened he may have gotten the Help Needed, after his two tours, to cope with the experiences of Wars of Choice and even his Childhood trauma's!

They didn't then nor for these next four decades until we were finally able to push the results of Wars of Choice, especially, into the mainstream conscious, Lessons Not Learned, as we waged two more long running occupations and many returning soldiers are fighting the demons of war and occupations. Once again the country is playing catchup, more Lessons Not Learned!

Army Times

Death row inmate gets Purple Heart from Vietnam

Guards took the shackles off death row prisoner James Davis and led him into a small room to get the Army medals he earned more than 40 years ago.

The North Carolina inmate slouched over as retired therapist Jim Johnson picked up the Purple Heart and the Good Conduct medals Davis earned in Vietnam, but never received.

But Johnson recalled that as he prepared to pin the medals on the triple-murderer from Asheville, Davis snapped to attention, hands cupped to the side. Johnson stepped back, and the two Tet Offensive veterans looked at each other. Davis then gave a textbook-sharp salute, Johnson said......Read Rest Here

5 Life Sentences - Good!!

I've been wondering why I hadn't caught anything more about this.

Ex-Soldier Gets 5 Life
Sentences for Iraqi Girl Rape, Family Murders

A former soldier received five consecutive life sentences Friday for his role in the rape and murder of an Iraqi teenager and the slaying of three of her family members.

"What the defendant did was horrifying and inexcusable," U.S. District Judge Thomas Russell said in sentencing to Steven Dale Green, 24, of Midland, Texas. "The court believes any lesser sentence would be insufficient."

A civilian jury in western Kentucky convicted Green in May of raping Abeer Qassim al-Janabi, conspiracy and multiple counts of murder.

Green shot and killed the teen's mother, father and sister, then became the third soldier to rape her before shooting her in the face. Her body was set on fire March 12, 2006, at their rural home outside Mahmoudiya, Iraq, about 20 miles south of Baghdad.........Rest Here

Not only did he do what he did to Abeer and her family, but the blowback on his fellow soldiers started shortly after that, those numbers will never be known but as happened in 'Nam it happened in Iraq, and any war, especially when outright atrocities occur!!

RIP Abeer and your family, RIP!!

Christian "Blackwater" values...

Selling children into prostitution

The latest horror show from the Blackwater saga illustrates how absolutely dangerous white supremacy is when empowered with federal dollars and the power to kill.

Instead of being run out of all civilized society, Erik Prince's huge donations to the GOP earned him massive federal contracts and the backing of the US government as his employees raped children under the banner of an American flag.

White power politics is not a matter of free speech when used by the state as a tool of war. It is a war crime. Erik Prince is a war criminal..............Rest Here

KO Visits the eric prince, blackwater,Xe, War Crimes Charges of it's 'christian values' merc company, again with more!!

Iraq Vet in Pennsylvania Murders......

Was Radically Changed by War and PTSD

PTSD sufferers can't always leave the war behind.

Sergeant Nicholas Horner and his Wife
Tragedy and war-inspired Post Traumatic Stress Disorder can meet like a head on crash when the nation's care providers at the Veterans Administration, notorious for lies and deceit, deny our combat veterans the care they need.

This story of deadly, senseless shootings in Altoona, Pennsylvania April 6th is possibly the most tragic story I have ever reported, and if it isn't, it is among the very worst.

A close friend of Nick's, Tina Zahurak, wrote to Salem-News.com asking if I would pay attention to this case and help people understand how this veteran was part of the system that is designed to, yet fails to, adequately treat the unique and varying needs of combat vets.

She wrote, "This man was a good man, not a monster or murderer. He saw and was involved in situations that he should've never been in. This is the other side of PTSD, the dark side, the side where one is not treated suitably and fell through the cracks. I was hoping that maybe you or somebody could share his story, so those victims he killed and injured did not die in vain."

You can find the Rest Here with a Number of Back Links

**********

A short list of reading materials I posted recently

That some may find very helpful, others should find to be useful in the educational quality of understanding and research, and not only for combat veterans but civilian suffers of:

I Can Still Hear Their Cries, Even In My Sleep: A Journey Into PTSD

Veterans's PTSD Handbook: How to File and Collect on Claims for Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder

The War Comes Home: Washington's Battle against America's Veterans

Vets Under Siege: How America Deceives and Dishonors Those Who Fight Our Battles

After the War Zone: A Practical Guide for Returning Troops and Their Families

Life After Deployment: Military families share reunion stories and advice

Moving A Nation to Care: Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder and America's Returning Troops

Help Horner

This website is dedicated to helping Sgt. Nicholas Horner and all other soldiers who are slipping through the cracks of our military system. This story is a tragedy from all angles and our mission is to show you Sgt. Horner's.
After 3 deployments to Iraq, Nick, a highly decorated war veteran, came back a changed man. He was officially diagnosed with PTSD yet he had to fight to get any kind of treatment for it. Sadly, many of our soldiers are not getting the mental help that they desperately need. Doctors in the military are being told not to diagnose PTSD in an effort to deny our soldiers benefits. Because of this, soldiers are being released back into society with severe problems. In Nick's case, he knew that he needed help and he actively sought help. However, he was told he simply had an anxiety disorder. Yet this was so severe that the army discharged him early, even sending him home from Iraq.

Military Suicides

Redeployment sparks many suicides

The number of soldier suicides this year is most likely due to the redeployment of soldiers with psychiatric illnesses, a U.S. researcher says.

David Rudd, Texas Tech University professor and author "The Interpersonal Theory of Suicide, said the more a person is exposed to violence or death, the more that person loses anxiety about death. This specifically applies to soldiers living in a war zone because the interaction with death makes it more probable that these people will kill themselves when they get depressed or anxious. >>>>>Rest Here

As many as 13 soldier suicides in March

As many as 13 soldiers are believed to have killed themselves in March, bringing the number of reported soldier suicides this year to 56, officials announced April 10.

None of the March cases under investigation have been confirmed, but about 90 percent of deaths involved in such investigations typically are ruled to be suicides.

The March total marks a decrease in suicides compared with the first two months of the year.

As many as 24 suicides were reported in January, but on March 4 officials removed one case because it was determined that the soldier was no longer on active duty when he died. Of the 23 remaining cases, 14 are confirmed suicides; nine are pending a determination. >>>>>Rest Here

"Coming home": The Conclusion of Salon.com's Series

Top row, left to right: Kenneth Eastridge, Ryan Alderman, Adam Lieberman, Robert Marko. Bottom row: John Needham, Kenneth Lehman, Mark Waltz, Chad Barrett.

In the final article in Salon's series, we ask what President Obama will do about the rise of suicide and murder among U.S. soldiers returning from combat.

This is the conclusion to Salon's weeklong "Coming Home" series, by Mark Benjamin and Michael de Yoanna, on preventable deaths at Fort Carson. You can read the introduction to the series here.

It's not about what President Obama will do, but what will this Country, who cheers on Invasions of innocents, than willingly supports their Occupation till they lose interest, do to control what these Wars and Occupations have done to those we've sent. Those of us from this countries previous shows of force and failed policies already know, and we won't allow it to happen again!! President Obama and our representatives in Congress are only that, Our Representatives, it's Our Responsibility to right the wrongs, of the policies, and to take care of those we call Heroe's but are quickly forgotten when they return!

The final installment of the Salon series starts out with this:

Feb. 14, 2009 | Two days after the election, the investigative arm of Congress, the Government Accountability Office, released a list of the 13 issues requiring "urgent attention and continuing oversight" from the new administration and Congress. Listen to any politician. Surf the Web. Open a newspaper. You can probably draw up a list yourself pretty quickly, given the recession, two wars and killer peanut butter.

After scanning the headlines, you probably would not jot down the first agenda item on the GAO list of issues "needing the attention of President-elect Obama and the 111th Congress." The first issue on their list: "Caring for Service Members."

Four years ago, Salon exposed inadequate mental healthcare at Walter Reed Army Medical Center, unraveling the first threads in what eventually became part of a national scandal. Today, the grind of multiple deployments in Iraq and Afghanistan translates into scores of damaged soldiers coming home. The trend far outstrips the raft of good-sounding military programs -- seemingly invisible at some Army posts -- the Pentagon set up to help these desperate troops. Forget about moldy barracks or mouse droppings in the hallways. People are dying unnecessarily.

Over the past week, Salon has published a dozen stories and sidebars about the healthcare problems at just one Army post among the many Army installations worldwide, Fort Carson, Colo. Salon dug up 25 cases of suicide, prescription drug overdoses or murder involving Fort Carson-based soldiers since 2004. In-depth study of 10 of those cases exposed a string of preventable deaths. In most cases, deaths seemed avoidable if the Army better identified and then appropriately treated soldiers' combat stress or brain injuries from explosions. In others, the Army, under pressure to deploy more troops in Iraq, brought into the ranks mentally damaged soldiers and then sent them to war. After combat had exacerbated their preexisting problems, the Army set them loose on the streets with deadly consequences.

The rest can be found here.

From page one we're led into page two with this:

"We've had some losses and we've had some soldiers who have done some behaviors that are not accepted in our society"

A few cuts on that page follow:

Throughout all of our reporting, we are unaware of any instance of the Army holding anyone accountable in any way -- from a soldier's first sergeant up to the Army surgeon general -- for any of the missteps documented in our articles.

Former Health and Human Services Secretary Donna Shalala served on a presidential commission, along with former Republican Sen. Bob Dole of Kansas, to formulate solutions to the problems made famous at Walter Reed. Their July 2007 report heavily emphasized better diagnosis and treatment of invisible wounds like PTSD and brain injuries.

And this:

"The problem with the pullout [of troops from Iraq] is not what it will do to Iraq, but what it will do to the United States of America if we are not ready with teams to absorb not simply these young men and women into our society and into our economy, but absorb them into our healthcare system with appropriate and sensitive treatment," she said. "One of the things we had better think about is if we are going to bring a bunch of troops back pretty quickly, we had better be ready for it." She also heavily emphasized preventing troubled soldiers from going to war in the first place.

Which closes with this:

Inside the Pentagon, at least, the rising trend of apparently preventable suicides, murders and other avoidable deaths remains a complicated mystery. Soldiers and their families, meanwhile, are attending too many funerals.

More than food for thought!!

You can find links to the other installments of this week long series at the bottom of this recent, and last, installment.

The following is a Press Release from Veterans For Peace:

Veterans For Peace

Veteran Organization: “Congress Must Face Escalating Military
Suicides. Bring the troops home now!” PDF

The United States military is scrambling to head off what has turned into an epidemic of suicides. As reported
on CNN, 24 service members killed themselves in January of this year, six times as many as in January of last
year. 2008 was the fourth consecutive year of increases in soldier suicides.

Veterans For Peace Executive Director Michael McPhearson said this is not a surprise to him. “It is tragic. It is
the culmination of years of continuous deployments and general stress the Armed Services have been put
under because of an invasion and subsequent occupation that should have never happened.”

The Army Times reports that Army Secretary Pete Geren has ordered a February 13, 2009, one day halt to
recruitment activities also known as stand-down of the Army’s entire recruiting force and a review of almost
every aspect of the job in the wake of a wide-ranging investigation of four suicides in a Houston Recruiting
Battalion.

Mike Ferner, Veterans For Peace’s National President stated, "I don't want to see anybody in Washington shed
one tear for the families surviving these suicides as long as Congress continues to fund these wars and the
President continues to deploy more troops. You put people through combat; you get suicides and PTSD related
violence back home. That's the simple equation Congress and the President cannot ignore."

One vivid example of this equation comes from the Houston Chronicle, which reported in a May 18, 2008 that
an Army investigation attributed the 4 recruiter suicides to a combination of work environment, stress and
personal issues. The latest was the March 6, 2007 death of Sergeant Nils Aron Andersson who shot himself in
the temple less than 24 hours after his wedding to Cassy Walton. Cassy killed herself the next day.

McPhearson went on to add; “Nils Anderson’s death was nearly two years ago and the Army is just reacting to
the 4 deaths in one Battalion. They should have seen these 24 deaths in January coming. Veterans For Peace
is asking our members to visit with their Congressional Representatives and Senators next week to discuss
these suicides, that the occupations of Iraq and Afghanistan contribute to the deaths and how our economy
must transition from a reliance on war spending to human needs spending. We look to Congress to take these
suicides seriously and stop spending our taxes on war. Bring all our troops home now.”

# # #

Founded in 1985, Veterans For Peace is a national organization of men and women veterans of all eras and duty stations
spanning the Spanish Civil War (1936-39), World War II, the Korean, Vietnam, Gulf and current Iraq wars as well as other
conflicts cold or hot. It has chapters in nearly every state in the union and is headquartered in St. Louis, MO. Our
collective experience tells us wars are easy to start and hard to stop and that those hurt are often the innocent. Thus,
other means of problem solving are necessary. Veterans For Peace is an official Non- Governmental Organization (NGO)
represented at the U.N.

Veterans For Peace

"That young man never should have come into the Army" 4th in Series "Coming Home"

The above subject title is the forth addition in a week long series at Salon.com by Mark Benjamin and Michael de Yoanna on the returned Soldiers from Iraq and Afghanistan called "Coming Home". It's the open window into what happens to some after serving in man's hell on earth, Wars and Occupations of Choice!

This is the fourth installment in a weeklong investigative series called "Coming Home." You can look at Kenneth Eastridge's MySpace page here, and read the story of Robert Marko here. Marko was sent to Iraq despite psychological problems and is now awaiting trial for murder in Colorado. You can also read the introduction to the series, and the first, second and third installments, which appeared Monday, Tuesday and Thursday.

This installment in this important series begins with this:

Kenneth Eastridge is being held at Kit Carson Correctional Facility in Burlington, Colo.

Feb. 13, 2009 | FORT CARSON, Colo. -- Late on the night of March 11, 2006, Kenneth Eastridge got in a fight with his girlfriend. It ended with his arrest for a felony.

The Kentucky native, an Army soldier stationed at Fort Carson, between deployments in Iraq, had fallen asleep after drinking when his girlfriend began to pound on his apartment door. She wanted inside, and she wanted to talk.

Eastridge responded with a string of obscenities and then flung the door open. He pointed a loaded pistol at his girlfriend. She looked at him like he was crazy, then turned and ran. Eastridge didn't fire. He stood motionless, stunned by his own reaction.

For those following this series, or any of the many that have started to surface, and the many more series or just singular reports that will be coming, long into the future, keep in mind the people you won't hear or read about. Not just the soldiers sent into these conflicts and occupations but those who live in these countries that are destroyed and occupied. Think of what they are going through, have gone through, and will be going through. The ones that choose to fight against any invaders, the ones trying to survive the invasions and than the occupations, the children growing up in the conditions created, the ones that survive! They are as human as those sent, no different, and go through the same reactions to, mentally and physically, what they knew of life is no more, they exist in a new reality not the one they were taught existed but one most don't experience!

This first page, of the forth installment leads into the second page, "They'll say, 'What makes the grass grow?' and we would say, 'Blood! Blood! Blood!'", and than on to a third, "The Army released him without assessing his mental condition"

He's also not receiving treatment for his PTSD in prison. He worries that if he sees a psychologist, it could delay his release date if ongoing problems are found: "Right now I just want to get out as fast as possible."

Can he find ways to prevent his life from spiraling out of control again? "I can't really say that I can," he says.

The following report is attached to the forth in the series, link is above as well.

"He hears sounds which seem to be voices"

The Army knew Cpl. Robert Marko might have psychological problems, but sent him to Iraq anyway. He is now awaiting trial for murder in Colorado.

Feb. 13, 2009 | When Judilianna Lawrence missed school, her mother called the police. Then she checked her daughter's MySpace account. Within hours, sheriff's deputies were asking questions of Robert Hull Marko, a Fort Carson, Colo., Army soldier who fought in Iraq.

Lawrence's mother had discovered correspondence indicating that her daughter and Marko had planned to meet, and Marko piqued investigators' interest when he initially denied he knew Lawrence. His story kept changing during a chilly weekend in October 2008. Eventually, Marko admitted he knew the 19-year-old special education student, saying he was with her in the rugged terrain somewhere around Pikes Peak, west of Colorado Springs, Colo. He said he left her there.

By Monday, Oct. 13, on Marko's 21st birthday, he finally led deputies to a wooded area. There, investigators searched for and found Lawrence's body, her throat slashed. She had also been raped, investigators say.

This is very disturbing in just what it says at the beginning, the Army knew this soldier might have psychological problems, yet they not only didn't try to help him or find out more they sent him into the occupation, another body needed!

We've all read about those who didn't have problems, were dedicated to their choice of serving the country, were trained than sent into the theaters. Some, after serving their tours, many extended with little dwell time, were sent back showing signs already of what the stress and experience of the preceding tours had caused. Sent back now with drugs issued by their military branches to coup with their trauma, instead of delving deeper and getting the treatment they needed, compounding the already suffering!

We will be living with the devastating remnants of these last years for many years to come, just from the mental stress of combat and occupation, all of those we've sent have now had their lives changed forever, as have those we've occupied. Will we as societies once again ignore that which is right in front of us, as we have before? Will we find better understanding of what extreme trauma can do to many who experience it, be it in combat and occupation or the many traumatic events many go through in their lives, that change the way our minds relate to these?

"You're a p- - -y and a scared little kid", 3rd Installment of "Coming Home"

The subject title above is the third installment of a week long series of reports being run at Salon.com.

The first two installment reports can be found in links below or with this link of what I posted previously

John Needham at home in San Clemente, Calif., in January 2007, during a two-week leave from his tour of duty in Iraq.

John Needham returned from Iraq, suffering from combat stress. If he had received proper care, would he be standing trial for murder?

This is the third installment in a weeklong investigative series called "Coming Home." Read a note written by John Needham here. You can also read the introduction to the series, and the first and second installments, which appeared Monday and Tuesday.

The third installment in this series, by Michael de Yoanna and Mark Benjamin at Salon.com, starts out thus:

Feb. 12, 2009 | FORT CARSON, Colo. -- Fellow soldiers in Iraq called John Wiley Needham "Needhammer" for his toughness. They also saw him as somehow charmed, because the tall blond Army private from Southern California always seemed to be just far enough away from danger. People died next to Needham; Needham survived.

But "Needhammer" was not indestructible after all. He struggled with the aftereffects of the explosions he'd dodged. He survived a suicide attempt while in Iraq, and, after being shipped out of the country in 2007, was diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder and a brain injury. He took so many prescription meds he could barely hold his head up. According to Needham's father, Mike, the Army's response to the soldier's problems was punishment rather than treatment.

Last year, just weeks after his discharge, he allegedly beat 19-year-old aspiring model Jacqwelyn Villagomez to death in his California condo.

It continues with this clip:

A Salon investigation has identified several trends involving Fort Carson soldiers who became homicidal. There are failures by healthcare workers and commanders to provide proper care to soldiers struggling with hidden wounds such as PTSD and brain injuries. There is a tendency to overmedicate soldiers struggling with stress or other injuries. Behind it all is an Army culture that punishes problematic soldiers instead of aiding them.

But it can't be misunderstood that Fort Carson, nor just the Army, is the only Military Base where soldiers, returning from In-Theater tours in Iraq and Afghanistan, is the only base where these soldiers, especially after serving multiple tours, many on extended tours of more than a year, are experiencing the problems of reintegration and suffering from the effects of war and occupation of others, especially within the culture of the military. Those of us who are 'Nam vets, and others before and after that, were there with our brothers who went through the same, and back than the tour in country was normally only a twelve month one for the greater majority. Longer tours, less down time between tours, strain of these tours on the soldier and their families, and so much more of the personal and military stress can break down even the strongest minds of many, war and occupations are the complete opposite of the way we are raised and taught how to view the world around us.

This first page of the Salon report, third installment, leads into this "We believe what happened was he had a flashback and lost control" second page, subtitled thus at the bottom of page one.

While Wolgast declines to link soldier healthcare and violent crimes to PTSD, Sheilagh McAteer, a Colorado public defender and a member of a federal Health and Human Services task force exploring ways to divert combat veterans who resort to crime, sees compelling links.

McAteer says soldiers returning home after traumatic war experiences are struggling with violence. Some are winding up in prison and Army officials need to wake up and recognize the problem, she adds.

So far, though, the Army is "refusing to take responsibility," McAteer says. "That's a problem."

Just as happened before and for the long time after, till the next War of Choice raises it's ugly head, as we never learn the real lessons of, and fail to even learn and understand the tactical.

"The Death Dealers took my life!"

Salon.com has a series running all this week called "Coming Home", researched and written by Mark Benjamin and Michael de Yoanna.

The following is the description and lead in information on the series:

"Coming Home" is a week long investigative series on preventable deaths at Fort Carson, a U.S. Army post in Colorado, among troops who have returned from combat tours in Iraq.

Salon national correspondent Mark Benjamin and Colorado-based journalist Michael de Yoanna reviewed more than two dozen incidents of suicide, suicide attempts, prescription drug overdoses and murder involving Fort Carson troops and examined 10 of those cases painstakingly. They interviewed troops, their families and survivors of suicide attempts, studied thousands of pages of medical and Army records and conducted a prison interview with a soldier convicted of being an accessory to the murder of one of his comrades. They learned that much of the violence could have been avoided if the Army did a better job of recognizing and treating the symptoms of PTSD.

A friend sent me the first in the series, which was posted yesterday, 2.09.09, called "The Death Dealers took my life!"

Army Pvt. Adam Lieberman attempted suicide on October 30, 2008, leaving a suicide note scrawled on the wall of his Fort Carson, Colorado barracks.

Adam Lieberman tried to kill himself when he returned from Iraq. Only then did the Army take his mental health seriously.

This is the first story in a week long series called "Coming Home." Read an introduction to the series here; see photos of Heidi Lieberman painting over her son's suicide note, and a copy of the "Hurt Feelings Report," here.

The first page of this report starts out thus:

Feb. 9, 2009 | FORT CARSON, Colo. -- The day before Halloween 2008, Army Pvt. Adam Lieberman swallowed handfuls of prescription pain pills and psychotropic drugs. Then he picked up a can of black paint and smeared onto the wall of his room in the Fort Carson barracks what he thought would be his last words to the world.

"I FACED THE ENEMY AND LIVED!" Lieberman painted on the wall in big, black letters. "IT WAS THE DEATH DEALERS THAT TOOK MY LIFE!"

With more following, about his unit, what happened, his mother and commander, leading into the second page, I am a queer; I am a little bitch; I am a cry baby; I want my mommy; All of the above. Leading to the third and final page of installment number one, "I wanted to rip her jaw off and scrape the skin off her face with her Goddamn teeth"


The second in the series comes on 2.10.09 is called "Kill yourself. Save us the paperwork":

Pfc. Ryan Alderman in Iraq in an undated photo.

Pfc. Ryan Alderman, now deceased, sought medical help from the Army. He got a fistful of powerful drugs instead.

This is part of the second installment in a week long series called "Coming Home." Read Ryan Alderman's sworn statement, written a week before his death, here, and a description of three other suicides of Fort Carson-based soldiers here. See the introduction to the series here.

The second, in this series, starts out with the following:

Feb. 10, 2009 | FORT CARSON, Colo. -- It was unseasonably warm for November in Colorado as Heidi Lieberman approached the door of the Soldiers' Memorial Chapel at Fort Carson. She walked past a few of the large evergreens that dot the chapel grounds and then entered the blockish, modern beige and brown chapel topped with a sharp, rocketlike steeple.

Inside, the chapel was hushed. Camouflage-clad, crew-cut young men packed the pews. Up in front, an empty Army helmet hung on the butt of an upright M16. A pair of brown combat boots sat below, as if they had been tucked under a bunk. A soldier handed Heidi a program for a memorial service. On the front was the image of a soldier, kneeling in prayer below an American flag and illuminated by a beacon of light from above. The inscription just below the kneeling soldier read, "Lord, grant me the strength ..."

It had been five days since Heidi's son Adam, 21, a soldier at Fort Carson, swallowed handfuls of prescription sleeping pills and psychotropic drugs in the barracks, trying to die. With a can of black paint, Adam brushed a suicide note on the wall of his room. The Army, Adam wrote, "took my life."

Adam had lived. Pfc. Timothy Ryan Alderman wasn't so lucky. Alderman had been found dead of a similar drug overdose in his room in the barracks at Fort Carson in the early-morning hours of Oct. 20, 10 days before Adam Lieberman made his suicide attempt.

Heidi, who was at Fort Carson to deal with the aftermath of her own son's suicide attempt, had decided to attend Alderman's funeral although neither she nor her son had known him. She sank into a pew and tried to reconcile two warring thoughts.

The first page leads into the second, givin this title at the bottom link to: "It looked like a slaughterhouse operation to me", which than leads to the third, "That's shitty. That breaks all the rules. He was overmedicated"

Please go over and read these two reports, than follow this extremely important series. I'll be updating this post as each days report is posted.

With the long running occupations continuing, and as the multiple tours start weighing on some of these soldiers, add on the economic problems of the country, their families sacrificing and trying to carry on a normal existence while waiting, over and over, and we're just witnessing the beginning of what may be coming!

Just as those of us who served in another long running occupation, without having to serve more than one tour, watched as our own brothers and sisters returned, never leaving behind what they had experienced nor completely returning home!

Take In A Deep Breath America

As far as suicides among active duty soldiers
and veterans of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan
are concerned,
we in America have just seen the tip of the iceberg.
Two tours will be twice the chance of suicide.
Three tours will be triple the chance of suicide.
Four tours will be four times the chance of suicide.
These soldiers will be deleted by this country like
unwanted e-mails.
Why?
Because the American people do not support the troops.
Nobody wants to do the math.
Take in a deep breath America,
the wars are coming home to the stuffed closets of your
mind.
When you fall asleep at the wheel,
people die in your neighborhood.
Eventually,
they may die in your own home.
When I was in Vietnam toward the end of the war,
this is what I saw.
Blood on my hands,
brains in my lap.

Mike Hastie
U.S. Army Medic
Vietnam 1970-71
February 9, 2009

Five Blackwater Guards To Face Massacre Charges Next Week

Guards Told to Surrender to the FBI by Monday on Manslaughter, Assault Counts

Five Blackwater guards have been told to surrender to the FBI by Monday to face federal manslaughter and assault charges connected to the shooting deaths of 17 civilians at an traffic circle in Iraq last year, ABC News has learned.

Read Rest Here

I'll Leave You To Judge {UPDATED}

This morning on NPR's Morning Edition they had this report:

Iraq Vets Charged with Murder of Fellow Soldier

A soldier who had survived two tours in Iraq and had been sent home after suffering traumatic brain injury was murdered in December in Colorado Springs near Fort Carson, Colo. Army Spc. Kevin Shields was killed, according to police, by three fellow soldiers who had served with him in Iraq.

Army Spc. Kevin Shields was laid to rest on Dec. 15th. 2007

If you do a search of the names you'll find more information.

But at the above link you'll be able to read, and listen to, this mornings report.

You'll also find much more, like their MySpace page links, discussed in the report, as well as other information.

My first question was, especially after hearing one statement:

The AK-47 is not issued by the U.S. military, but it is commonly used by Iraqi insurgents. "This is a weapon that should have been turned over to higher commanders and stored," De Yoanna said.

Relating to 'Real Life'

Defendant Bastien told police that he saw Eastridge fire at Iraqi civilians with an AK-47 to make it seem like enemy fire. The Army's Criminal Investigative Division has investigated and so far has not been able to substantiate that charge. Eastridge earned a Purple Heart while in Iraq.

was, how many innocent Iraqi's did he, and or the others Kill for no reason, if statement is true, i.e. Atrosities, with little or no concern for their fellow soldiers lives, from the Blowback, thus getting one or more killed or maimed!

Experiance from 'Nam, as any Combat/Theater Vet from any conflict can tell you, Atrosities happen, and some are Intentional!

March 13-16 Iraq and Afghanistan veterans will gather in Washington DC to witness and tell their stories and experiences about U.S. foreign policy in both countries. The nation will hear directly from those who have been there on the ground. This gathering will be in the tradition of the 1971 Winter Soldier investigations held by Vietnam Veterans Against the War. Not since that original event has the American public had such an important opportunity to hear the truth about the brutality of war and the nature of U.S. foreign policy.

Update:
Sniper unit leader tells of ordering shooting
At a trial for one of his soldiers, the U.S. Army team leader says he ordered an Iraqi civilian killed 'to shut him up.

After Janabi's 17-year-old son, Mustafa, discovered them and was briefly detained by the sniper unit, Hensley said he decided he had no choice but to kill Janabi.

He described the decision on May 11 as one of many hard choices in a counterinsurgency campaign in Jarf Sakhr, 35 miles southwest of Baghdad.

But they let the Son go, think on that, as to their reasoning for killing the father.

Hensley said he had planted an AK-47 assault rifle on the body after Vela had shot Janabi, which he described as a common procedure.

James Culp, Vela's civilian defense attorney, said this was the third case he had been involved with in which soldiers had planted weapons on bodies to boost their cases for "kills" in Iraq.

To all those who've joined the ranks of us Combat/Theater Veterans Atrosities Happen some are even policy from the top of the chain, some are intentional by one or more individuals, most are accidental.

But they do happen and when they do they endanger the rest in possible 'Blowback', that's War.

They only happen because of the actions of the Few but they are perceived by the Invaded and Occupied as Acts Of Murder and other Human Rights Crimes and Retaliated as such, and the Invaded Populace Perception is the only one that matters!

We Condemn others for the same and if we don't prosecute, right to the Top, we loose our Morality as a Nation and People!

Waterboarding, as Torture, is now front and center, but what other forms are we Condoning and Practising!

We are now the Face of Terrorism, as a Nation, for we are Terrorizing Millions!

And what is Extremely Dangerous and Much more than simple Sad, we have Many, here in this Society, that want us to sink even lower into this abis we've created!!