The U.S. staff sergeant who allegedly killed 16 Afghan civilians on Sunday served three tours in Iraq and was diagnosed with traumatic brain injury in 2010 in a vehicle rollover incident. According to the Washington Post, the 38-year-old soldier, who the military refuses to identify until they are able to formally charge him, joined the Army 11 years ago as a sniper, is a married father of two and was deployed to Afghanistan for the first time in December. After sustaining the brain injury, he was declared fit for duty. “We’re going to do a thorough investigation," commander of U.S. and NATO forces in Afghanistan, Marine Gen. John Allen told CNN. "We’re going to hold this individual accountable.”
Officials say the soldier walked off a combat outpost in Kandahar Province around 3 a.m., and though an Afghan soldier reported an "unauthorized departure," the base couldn't be mobilized quick enough to intercept the sergeant before the killings began. “We put together a search party right away, and it was as that search party was forming that we began to have indications of the outcome of his departure," Allen said.
The staff sergeant was based out of Joint Base Lewis-McChord near Tacoma, Washington, the same military base that allegedly doctored hundreds of diagnoses of PTSD for soldiers returning from combat. At least 300 service members had their diagnoses reports changed so that the military wouldn't be held responsible for their treatment in years to come.
"They’re just not ready for all these soldiers coming back with problems,” a former soldier stationed at Lewis-McChord and current director of a program that advocates for better treatment of veterans with psychological disorders. “They want to get soldiers shipped out as fast as they can. . . . They have a quick-fix program—just get you medicated and send you back out.” Twelve soldiers committed suicide on-base last year.
Yesterday President Obama stressed the seriousness of the incident:
The United States takes this as seriously as if this was our own citizens and our own children who were murdered. It’s not who we are as a country, and it does not represent our military…There’s no question that we face a difficult challenge in Afghanistan. But I’m confident we can continue the work of meeting our objectives, protecting our country, and responsibly bringing this war to a close.
