OUR SOLDIERS AND MARINES ARE NOT SAFE IN THEIR OWN POSTS

“At no time in our military history have soldiers or Marines been required to serve on the front line in any war for a period of 6-7 months, let alone a year, without a significant break in order to recover from the physical, psychological and emotional demands that ensue from combat,” 2007 Army report.

By Robert Weller

Our Army was known for being an effective killing machine, until it was handed guerrilla wars far beyond its numbers. People who just won't come out and fight.

Now, more and more of the dead are self-inflicted _ our own _ suicides, troops killed in America or downrange by other soldiers, and civilians who live near posts.

From what we know already, much like the Columbine killers, Maj. Malik Nadal Hasan, had walked around with everything but a megaphone saying our wars in Afghanistan and Iraq are unjustified.

Also like the Columbine teens he had been bullied. A soldier was arrrested a pro-Allah sticker off Hasan's car and causing $1,000 damage by scratching the exterior with a key.

One retired Army colonel boldly told reporters that he had heard Hassan questioning the wars and told him to shut up. Assuming this colonel was telling the truth why didn’t he inform his superiors. Other reports, not confirmed, said Muslims sometimes were called rag heads or worse.

The Army instituted a buddy chain program two years ago, several years after PTSD cases. Hasan may not have been able to have diagnosed himself but what about the other shrinks around him?

Meanwhile, the Globe and Mail reported NATO and Afghan authorities were investigating Saturday whether an airstrike during the intensive search for two missing U.S. paratroopers mistakenly killed eight Afghans and wounded more than 20 Afghan and American forces.

Based on recent investigations no one will be punished in the Fort Hood case. Hasan’s injuries likely will be more effective than any judge can impose. In any case, accountability is no longer a principle in the Army. Other than the killers, no commander was punished for preventing some of them from getting the mental care they should have after returning from downrange to Fort Carson.

Reporters were outraged but the Army said this was not the time to start blaming people. Moments later we reporters were asked to help convince troopers they could get the help they need. That was a non-starter. If their commanders can stop them, and not be punished, why should they care what reporters say.

It has been reported that we have 10,000 Muslims in our Army. Why do we have any? I say that not because I hate them. I don’t see why they should be sent out to fight their religious brothers. I applaud their desire to fight for the United States. But couldn’t we find another role, and I mean one that keeps them away from guns.

It is my understanding that Islam does not recognize the separation of mosque and state. Even if it did, it would be a lot to ask a Muslim to kill a brother on behalf of a Christian nation.

Air Force Academy graduate Mikey Weinstein, whose children also attended the academy, said he was not surprised by Fort Hood. He said the Air Force did nothing but talk when his children, Jewish like him, were told by other cadets that they would burn in hell if they didn't accept Jesus as their only savior.

Suicides are out of control. Sixteen American soldiers killed themselves in October in the U.S. and on duty overseas, an unusually high monthly toll that is fueling concerns about the mental health of the nation's military personnel after more than eight years of continuous warfare. A total of 134 have killed themselves this year, The Wall Street Journal reported.

There is no up-to-date figure on how many soldiers have killed each other, in some cases it involved disputes on robbery schemes. The Marine Times reported today A Marine private accused of killing another Marine at Camp Lejeune, N.C., was taken into custody Friday. Pvt. Jonathan Law, 21, of 2nd Supply Battalion, was detained by military authorities Friday morning, according to a 2nd Marine Logistics Group news release.

Eleven soldiers were charged with murders outside Fort Carson, near Colorado.

The army brought in the brass for an investigation. They found several factors, previous problems with drugs and minor crime, and PTSD. In some cases soldiers had been blocked from getting the counseling the Army had demanded be given. No one was punished.

This reporter asked why no commander was being punished? Where is the accountability? Nothing happened to a doctor who prescribed methadone and morphine to a soldier and sent him home unsupervised. The next day he was found dead. Lt. Gen. Eric Schoomaker said this is not the time to talk about that. I said, “If not now, when?”

"It's no surprise that these murders happened at Fort Carson, as opposed to another Army base," says Paul Rieckhoff, an Iraq War veteran and executive director of Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America. "The failures of leadership we've seen there border on dereliction of duty,” he told Rolling Stone.

We still don't know exactly how Patt Tillman, a hero if there ever was one, died.

Even now, PTSD is brushed aside as a possible contributing factor in the Hasan case because he was never in combat. You only need to experience trauma, even something as simple as divorce, to suffer PTSD. In this case the doctor may have felt guilt because he had treated some of his Islamic brothers who had been to fight. He also had cracked because he knew he was being sent to the war zone. This does not in any way excuse what he did. But where were his commanders. He asked to be discharged.

There are two issues here. We don’t have enough troops. That can be solved by pulling back, but we seem more likely to be preparing to order more coffins. Or we could resume the draft.

A second solution would be to create an independent review board to investigate every none combat death both here and downrange. It would be easier for doctors. They could simply be sent before civilian medical boards.