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When Killers Come Home

When Killers Come Home
By Dave Phillips

Marquez's 3,500-soldier unit - now called the 4th Infantry Division's 4th Brigade Combat Team - fought in some of the bloodiest places in Iraq, taking the most casualties of any Fort Carson unit by far. Back home, 10 of its infantrymen have been arrested and accused of murder, attempted murder or manslaughter since 2006. Others have committed suicide, or tried to. Ref. Source 8

Home Killers When

I can understand what they are thinking. You just can not turn a switch on or off as to when to kill or not too. Once you have taken the life of another then it is very easy to do it again. This is what makes murders especially serial murders so dangerous. Once they get that first one out of the way they find it easier to do again. Now we have many young men who have gone through special training on how to kill, blow up or by other means kill your enemy. Once they get back to the states they need to go through a lot of debriefing to learn that it is not right to kill another human. I think the military has a long way to go to get their troops to the correct frame of mind so we do not have soo many killers running loose.

When Killers Come Home History & Civil Business Politics

When Killers Come Home: Part II
Warning Signs
By Dave Phillips

After coming home from Iraq, 21-year-old medic Bruce Bastien was driving with his Army buddy Louis Bressler, 24, when they spotted a woman walking to work on a Colorado Springs street. Bressler swerved and hit the woman with the car, according to police, then Bastien jumped out and stabbed her over and over. Ref. Source 4

Home Killers When

I think these kind of stereotypes veterans as something evil. For me if you were a nut case before military service you are going to be a bigger nut case after. War isn't for everybody.

Home Killers When

I think that Hunter makes a good point. Individual stories of murderous people do not show actual trends. I would expect to see exhaustive statistical analysis before making any sort of accusation that returning vets are worse than the general populace.

For example, since it is very clear that murder rates are strongly affected by ethnic / cultural makeup, as well as economic conditions, and even the availability of armed citizens, all of these things need to be present in the analysis.

Are the murderers in urban areas significantly more likely to be vets? How about in rural areas? Look at the most dangerous areas such as the inner cities. Are the murderers there more or less likely to be vets?

A lot of lazy reporters and commentators like to take single incidents to make it appear that trends exist that don't really when the information is analyzed.

Another thing to consider is whether or not the unstable and potential killers aren't drawn to those types of units. So, my question is this: "Does that unit make the killers, or do the killers make the unit?" That question comes AFTER the intense analysis to determine whether this really is a statistical anomaly or not.