Again.

I'm not sure how many times this has happened over the past year, but there was another fatal shooting at a military base in the United States today. And again, it was a soldier, albeit a retired one. Fort Carson was cast into the spotlight earlier this year as being the place you're most likely to be killed by a stressed out soldier following a spat of murders committed by vets returning from the Middle East. Similarly, Fort Campbell was highlighted as the place you're most likely to commit suicide following a rough few weeks which left a number of people dead, all of whom were stressed out soldiers.

The deputy commander of Fort Campbell and my former brigade commander, Brigadier General Steve Townsend even went as far as to officially prohibit soldiers under his command from committing suicide over a long weekend earlier this year. I hope someone else finds that as odd as I do. We'll ignore the fact he's doing nothing to help his soldiers, just like the rest of the Army.

Fort Lewis, however, managed to evade the limelight despite a number of suicides, two underage girls overdosing in barracks on the post, a murder/kidnapping, and most recently, the discovery of a child porn studio in a wooded training area, and this most recent murder/suicide attempt.

I feel like this offers irrefutable evidence there is something wrong with today's Army. The stresses of repeated long tours may finally be getting to the strongest soldiers in the regular Army. Of course, I can't explain the "stresses" the average POG/fobbit/REMF experiences, but then again, I can't explain anything they do.

The other services don't appear to have the growing murder rate. The other services also restrict tours to between three and twelve months, and increase the "dwell" time spent at home between tours. Maybe they're onto something?


jordan