YOUNTVILLE VETERANS HOME SHOOTING IS ABOUT PTSD & GUN CONTROL

YOUNTVILLE VETERANS HOME SHOOTING IS ABOUT PTSD & GUN CONTROL:

MILLIONS OF COMBAT VETS FROM VIETNAM, DESERT STORM, IRAQ & AFGHANISTAN ARE NOT TREATED FOR PTSD.

ALBERT WONG SHOULD NOT HAVE BEEN TERMINATED FROM PTSD/ TRAUMA PROGRAM.

PTSD TURNS MILITARY HEROS INTO MONSTERS WITH NO FEELINGS.

NO COMBAT VET SHOULD HAVE GUNS UNLESS PROPERLY EVALUATED FOR PTSD.

ALL VA HOSPITALS FOOLISHLY ALLOW COMBAT VETS TO CHOOSE IF THEY NEED TREATMENT.

VA HOSPITALS OFTEN IGNORE WARNINGS FROM WIVES & CHILDREN ABOUT VETS SUFFERING FROM PTSD.

VA HOSPITALS DENY VETS PTSD/ TRAUMA TREATMENT TO SPEND FEDERAL MONEY ELSEWHERE LIKE SALARY BONUSES.

PTSD TREATMENT SHOULD BE MANDATORY FOR ALL COMBAT VETS FROM VIETNAM, DESERT STORM, IRAQ & AFGHANISTAN REGARDLESS OF THEIR AGE OR SEPARATION TIME FROM SERVICE.


Sources: ABC News, CNN, Youtube


**** Victims, gunman identified in Yountville Veterans home shooting tragedy


A day-long standoff in Yountville has ended in tragedy.

Officials with the Pathway Home program at the veterans facility identified the three female victims that were killed after an armed gunman entered a staff meeting, taking hostages.

Yountville officials confirm that the three female hostages that died in the standoff are Executive Director Christine Loeber, a therapist Dr. Jen Golick, and Dr. Jennifer Gonzales, a psychologist with the San Francisco Department of Veterans Affairs Healthcare System.

The gunman has been identified as 36-year-old Albert Wong of Sacramento who was a former member of the Pathway Home Program at the veterans facility.

The Pathway Home released a statement saying: "These brave women were accomplished professionals who dedicated their careers to serving our nation's veterans and working closely with those in the greatest need of attention after deployments in Iraq and Afghanistan.

All of us at The Pathway Home are devastated by today's events. We stand with the families, friends, and colleagues who share in this terrible loss."

——————————————————-


***** Three women, suspect dead after hostage standoff in Yountville, California


After an apparent hourslong standoff between police and a gunman, three women were found dead Friday night at the Veterans Home of California in Yountville, authorities said.

The suspect was also found dead, Chris Childs, assistant chief of the California Highway Patrol's Golden Gate Division, told reporters.

The three victims were earlier described as employees of The Pathway Home, a counseling service for veterans who suffer post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), which is on the property.

The suspect had been a client at facility until he left two weeks ago, according to State Senator Bill Dodd.
It's unclear if the women were chosen at random or had a connection with the gunman.

Hostage negotiators had spent hours trying to contact the gunman at the facility north of San Francisco but were not able to do so, according to California Highway Patrol spokesman Robert Nacke.

After the victims were found, investigators were left to determine when during the standoff the deaths occurred.
California Gov. Jerry Brown said the shooting "tragically took the lives of three people dedicated to serving our veterans."

"Our hearts go out to their families and loved ones and the entire community of Yountville," Brown said in a statement.

The governor has ordered flags in the state's capitol to fly at half staff in tribute to the victims and their families.

Larry Kamer told CNN that his wife, Pathway employee Devereaux Smith, said the gunman barged into a going-away party for Pathway employees leaving the job.

"They were having cake and toasting, apparently he just walked in with this rifle," Kamer said. He said his wife and some other employees managed to escape, though he didn't say how.

The man was holding the three people hostage in a room inside the building, Napa County Sheriff John Robertson said during the afternoon.

"We've tried numerous times and been trying since 10:30 this morning to contact him by his own cell phone and also the phones in the dorm area," the sheriff said.
He said authorities knew the gunman's identity but did not release it. Robertson didn't give a motive for the gunman's actions.

Early in the standoff, the man and officers fired shots at each other.

"There was an exchange of gunfire, fired by the suspect and our deputy," Robertson said. "There were many bullets fired."

Law enforcement officers responded to a "shots fired" report around 10:20 a.m. local time from the facility that houses about 1,000 veterans, Robertson said.

Robertson said about 70 students who were inside a theater on the grounds of the veterans home, were safely evacuated.

"They were always safe," the sheriff said. "They were put into a locked down position for their own safety." The ages of the students or why they were at the veterans home was not clear Friday afternoon.
The California Department of Veterans (CalVet), which operates the home, said it enacted its emergency protocol. Police surrounded the facility and told people to avoid the area.

Marlon Harrison was one of the family members who gathered outside the gates to the home.
"I'm waiting for a phone call from my daughter," Harrison said. "It's considered a lockdown building, you can't go in unless authorized."

The FBI deployed a SWAT team to Yountville, spokesperson Katherine Zackel said. The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives said via Twitter it was also responding.
Founded in 1884, the facility houses about 1,000 aging vets and is the largest veterans home in the United States, according to the CalVet.

Men and women who served in World War II, the Korean War, the Vietnam War, Desert Storm and Operation Enduring Freedom/Operation Iraqi Freedom live there, CalVet said.

The veterans home is an important part of the Napa Valley Community, with the 1,200-seat Lincoln Theater, a golf course and a large library, CalVet said.

Residents were temporarily evacuated from the veterans home in October when fires raged through Napa County.
Yountville is a town of about 3,000 residents in the north San Francisco Bay area.

VETERANS vs FORCED PSYCH EVALUATIONS (DOMESTIC VIOLENCE & SUICIDE PREVENTION)

@Veterans

VETERANS vs FORCED PSYCH EVALUATIONS (DOMESTIC VIOLENCE & SUICIDE PREVENTION):

WHAT ARE PRES OBAMA & CONGRESS DOING TO CURB DOMESTIC VIOLENCE STATISTICS AMONG US MILITARY VETS?

Sources: Daily Beast, Do Something, Military Times,  Youtube

~ Highlights:

Each day more than 22 US Military Vets commit acts of Suicide.

There is also a growing epidemic of Domestic Violence in the homes of US Military Vets.

If Vets lose a close family member (Son or Daughter) to SUICIDE, why aren't they required by the VA Dept of Veterans Affairs to attend Mental Health Counseling within 72 hours of the occurrence?

Why aren't Vets and Retired US Military Soldiers required to forgo annual Psychiatric Evaluations (Mental Health Check-ups) to continue receiving their Pension Checks and other VA Benefits?

Why is it that State VA Hospitals don't work together to prevent US Military Vets from avoiding required Mental Health Check-ups when those Vets re-locate to a new state?

WAR Is Hell!

The effects of WAR on the Human Mind is often long term Mental Hell and Pain.

Our Vets need Prayer but many of our Vets also need Mental Health Counseling.

Why does it appear as if America's leaders have forsaken our dedicated, Honorable, hardworking US Military troops?

God Forbid.

******  11 Facts About the Mental Health of Our Troops

1. Depression and post-traumatic stress disorder (aka PTSD, an anxiety disorder that follows experiencing a traumatic event) are the most common mental health problems faced by returning troops.
2. The most common symptoms of PTSD include: difficulty concentrating, lack of interest/apathy, feelings of detachment, loss of appetite, hypervigilance, exaggerated startle response, and sleep disturbances (lack of sleep, oversleeping.
3. Post-traumatic stress disorder is diagnosed after several weeks of continued symptoms.
4. In about 11 to 20% of veterans of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars (Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation Enduring Freedom) have been diagnosed with PTSD. Create a support board so your friends can show leave messages of encouragement for troops suffering from PTSD and other illnesses. Sign up for Support Board.
5. 30% of soldiers develop mental problems within 3 to 4 months of being home.

6. 55% of women and 38% of men report being victim to sexual harassment while serving in the military
7. Because there are more men than women in the military, more than half of all veterans experiencing military sexual trauma (MST) are men.
8. An estimated 20% of returning Iraq and Afghanistan veterans turn to heavy drinking or drugs once they return to the US.
9. Between 10 and 20% of Iraq and Afghanistan veterans have suffered a traumatic brain injury (TBI). Possible consequences of this internal injury include anger, suicidal thoughts, and changes in personality.
10. In 2010, an average of 22 veterans committed suicide every day. The group with the highest number of suicides was men ages 50 to 59.
11. Some groups of people, including African-Americans and Hispanics, may be more likely than whites to develop PTSD.

DOMESTIC VIOLENCE vs THE 2016 ELECTION (WOMEN VOTERS)

DOMESTIC VIOLENCE vs THE 2016 ELECTION (WOMEN VOTERS):

VA HOSPITALS DON'T SCREEN VETS FOR MENTAL HEALTH OR SIGNS OF BEATING THEIR WIVES. (AGGRESSION)

THE MEDIA HAS FORGOTTEN RAY RICE PUNCHING OUT HIS THEN FIANCEE' JANAY PALMER.

IT'S TIME TO CLOSE VA HOSPITALS &  PRIVATIZE VET HEALTH CARE.

Helping Women in Abusive Marriages and Relationships become self-sufficient should be a key 2016 platform issue.

Women married to U.S. SOLDIERS and ATHLETES are frequent victims of DOMESTIC VIOLENCE.

There are thousands of Male U.S. Military Vets living in American society with severe MENTAL HEALTH issues.

Due to Survival skills they learned while on Active Duty, its not uncommon for Military VETS (Men) to appear Sane in public while Abusing their Wives and Children behind closed doors.

VA Hospitals do NOT screen these Military Heroes, instead they just prescribe them PILLS for the purpose of SELF-MEDICATING their Mental Health issues.

Considering the number of mega VA Hospitals Scandals under Pres OBAMA'S administration, I say it is time shut down all VA Hospitals and PRIVATIZE Health Care for Veterans.

It is also time for all VETS to receive MANDATORY Mental Health screening each time they request pills for illness, each time they are DIVORCED and each time an immediate member of their family dies via SUICIDE.

~ Husbands Who Bring The War Home

With thousands of troops now preparing to return, a new crisis may open on the domestic front. Military wife Stacy Bannerman on the husbands she’s seen transformed into domestic abusers.

"If you don't hear from me in the next 24 hours, call the police," she whispered, then hung up. My phone read 2:12 am; it was the third call in as many minutes.

I tried calling back—no answer. I went back to sleep, angry at Kristi for calling in the middle of the night and scaring me with a single sentence.

The next morning I fired off an email: "I cannot, for the love of God, imagine what you were thinking when you called last night.

Please tell me." Kristi and I had become battle buddies at home while our husbands were serving in Iraq in 2004-05.

We had cried each time a military family member called with word of a soldier's death or suicide; we grieved at funerals and gravesites, marches and memorials.

We wept with and for each another when she or I learned that our husband had been mobilized for another deployment, and again when they finally came home.

Her husband had served three combat tours since 2002.

The last one was the shortest yet, a mere 10 months, and Kristi wrote in an email that "he actually came back pretty normal this time!" That was nearly four months ago. When my phone rang in the afternoon early last fall, I saw that it was her, and picked up.

"Mark tried to strangle me last night," she blurted out. "I called you from the bathroom. I locked myself in with the pets. I didn't want him to hurt my puppy. I'm sorry I called. I was just so scared, and I didn't have anyone else to call. I couldn't call the cops."

I had gotten other midnight calls from other military wives, cowering in closets and under dining room tables, dialing for a lifeline to someone outside of their domestic war zone.

But this was my friend: strong and smart, she had worked at a women's shelter nearly a decade ago. She knew all the warning signs.

And Kristi's husband adored her.

He had no history of domestic violence, no pattern of abuse. He had made no attempts to isolate her from friends, family, or finances. Mark's most recent post-deployment mental health assessment hadn't indicated any issues.

There hadn't been a single red flag before Mark wrapped his hands around Kristi's throat and squeezed, which is what makes veterans' household violence unique.

Abuse by combat veterans tends to have its own distinctive pattern that is unlike the recurring power-and-control cycle of abuse described in most domestic violence literature.

The journal Disabled American Veterans stated that veteran interpersonal violence often involves "only one or two extremely violent and frightening abusive episodes that quickly precipitate treatment seeking."

"Mark tried to strangle me last night," my friend blurted out.

The majority of studies of treatment-seeking veterans with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) or combat-related mental health issues report that at least 50 percent of those veterans commit wife-battering and family violence.

Male veterans with PTSD are two to three times more likely than veterans without PTSD to engage in intimate partner violence, according to the VA, which also found that the majority of veterans with combat stress commit at least one act of spousal abuse in their first year post-deployment.

"How are you now?" I asked Kristi. "Where is he?"

"I'm okay, but my throat hurts a little. He's gone. I made him leave this morning. I told him I didn't want to hear from him until he had talked to a counselor or gotten into some kind of treatment.

I said that I didn't feel safe with him, and I couldn't…I wasn't…" she sobbed, hiccupping out words, "I wasn't sure if I ever would again… Goddamn it. Goddamn this war."

Kristi and I talked a lot over the next days and weeks—mostly she talked, and I listened. She was seeing a civilian counselor, but spent most of her time at home, shell-shocked and alone.

She said her counselor just kept telling her to leave her husband, giving her lectures on the typical cycle of domestic abuse, so she tried to find someone who understood the military and veterans.

She called the military chaplain on post, but he never called back. She called the VA, and asked if they had support programs for wives of combat veterans.

They didn't. She called Military One Source, a free counseling assistance program provided by the Department of Defense.

But the lady there just started to cry, and told her that she got "these calls all the time. I can't help you. Unless you authorize a report, I can't authorize assistance."

Kristi reached out to another military spouse that lived off post and was married to an Iraq war veteran.

She told her what happened, and her friend said that she and her husband had gotten into so many fights, hitting and screaming and throwing things at each other, that she ended up going to the domestic violence shelter.

Staff at the shelter told her that they didn't have programs for wives of veterans, and that her husband made too much money for her to stay there, anyway.

Meanwhile, Mark was staying with friends, or sleeping in his office. 

After several days of silence, they began talking, but she hasn't seen him since that night, and at times, she's wondered if she even wants to. "I miss him, I do," she said. "We've already been apart way too much, but I am so angry, and hurt."

Today, Kristi says that Mark's trying to get help, but it's not easy.

He called a domestic violence hotline, and the person he talked to discouraged him from going to the men's group because he doesn't fit the abuser profile. "It's not like he can make a lot of calls about this when he works for 10 hours every day,"

Kristi says. "His insurance won't pay for him go to a private therapist at night. They said he can only see someone at the base medical center, and he's not doing that. He can't really sneak off for three hours in the middle of the day and drive down to the VA, either."

Most family victims of veteran violence don't file reports with the police or their husband's command.

The military is stepping up domestic violence programs and education at military instillations, but the pressure on spouses within the active duty and retired military culture and much of the civilian population to remain silent is especially intense during a time a war.

Speaking out about veteran violence at home seems to be perceived as more of a betrayal than the violence itself.

Even so, since 2003, there has been a 75 percent increase in reports of domestic violence in and around Ft. Hood, where the number of soldiers diagnosed with PTSD rose from 310 in 2004 to 2,445 in 2009.

Equally telling is the 2010 Military Family Lifestyle Survey, the second annual poll conducted by Blue Star Families (BSF) of military families with a loved one currently in the service.

This year's survey included a ream of questions about returning-veteran violence. I don't think there was a single question on that topic last year.

When I last spoke to Kristi, she said that she had quit praying that she and Mark "would get their old lives back. That's gone." Now, she just prays that the last deployment was, in fact, the last, and that someday, the war will end for them, too.

About 63,000 soldiers will return from combat tours between July and December. 

According to military statistics, nearly half of active-duty National Guard members, 38 percent of Army soldiers, and 31 percent of Marines report mental health problems upon return from Middle East deployments.

If just 20 percent of them have post-combat stress, then it can reasonably be projected that roughly half of those veterans will commit at least one act of severe domestic abuse or interpersonal violence in the coming year.

That's approximately 6,300 veterans' wives and kids who are at risk.

President Obama declared that major combat operations in Iraq are over.

They may just be starting for thousands of America's military family members.

Sources: CNN, Daily Beast NY Times, TMZ, Youtube

Veterans Suicide Numbers Increase, Yet Congress Ignores This Epidemic: PTSD (Videos)

The V.A.’s Shameful Betrayal

THE Department of Veterans Affairs, already under enormous strain from the aging of the Vietnam generation, the end of the Iraq war and the continuing return of combat troops from Afghanistan, announced in April that it would increase its mental health staff by about 10 percent. But too many veterans waging a lonely and emotional struggle to resume a normal life continue to find the agency a source of disappointment rather than healing.

The new hiring is intended to address the infuriating delay veterans face in getting appointments. The V.A. says it tries to complete full mental health evaluations within 14 days of an initial screening. But a review by the department’s inspector general found that schedulers were entering misleading information into their computer system. They were recording the next available appointment date as the patient’s desired appointment date. As a result, a veteran who might have had to wait weeks for an appointment would appear in the computer system as having been seen “without a wait.” That allowed the agency to claim that the two-week target was being reached in 95 percent of cases, when the real rate was 49 percent. The rest waited an average of 50 days.

As a veteran of both Iraq and Afghanistan, I found that news maddening. While the schedulers played games with the numbers, veterans were dealing with mental wounds so serious that getting proper attention at the right time might have made the difference between life and death. Even worse was that the V.A. had failed twice before to change; the inspector general found similar problems in 2005 and in 2007. This suggests a systematic misrepresentation of data and an unwillingness to stop it.

Unfortunately, the problem goes even deeper. There are potentially hundreds of thousands of veterans who are struggling with post-combat mental health issues who never ask the V.A. for help. Some, hamstrung by fear of stigma, are too proud or too ashamed to ask for help. Others don’t ask because they’ve heard too many stories from peers who have received poor care or been ignored.

I have close friends who could no longer drive because of their lingering fears of roadside bombs. Others had gone to the V.A. because they had suicidal thoughts, only to receive a preliminary screening, a pat on the back, a prescription for antidepressants — and a follow-up appointment for several months later.

I’ve had my own struggle: in 2001 I was part of the initial force of Marines who landed in Afghanistan, and in 2003 took part in the heavy fighting of the first wave of the invasion of Iraq. Since coming home, I’ve had my mind hijacked by visions of the corpses of children, their eyes blackened, at the side of the road. I recall carrying the coffins of fallen brothers. I remember losing friends who probably knew exactly what was happening to them, as they bled out on the side of a dusty road in Iraq.

And I’ve felt the shame of having suicidal feelings. Like many others, I chose to hide them. Yet, even in the darkest days of my own post-traumatic stress, when I was considering choosing between making my suicide look like an accident or taking a swan dive off some beautiful bridge, I never considered going to the V.A. for help.

My image of the V.A., formed while I was on active duty, was of an ineffective, uncaring institution. Tales circulated among my fellow Marines of its institutional indifference, and those impressions were confirmed when I left Iraq for home. At Camp Pendleton, Calif., a woman with a cold, unfeeling manner assembled us for a PowerPoint presentation and pointed us to brochures — nothing more, no welcoming sign of warmth or empathy for the jumble of emotions we were feeling. Her remoteness spoke volumes to me of what I might expect at home.

To regain veterans’ trust, the V.A. must change its organization and culture, not just hire more people. First, its leadership must be held accountable for employees’ behavior, and anyone caught entering misleading data should be fired. The agency must reach out, with public awareness campaigns and with warmth, to veterans who may be suffering in silence. It must help reduce the social stigma that attaches to the mental health issues the veterans face.

Dedicated V.A. personnel run a suicide-prevention hot line, but it is only a temporary salve for emergencies. One impressive and highly effective alternative to the V.A.’s traditional treatment process is the Wounded Warrior Project’s Combat Stress Recovery Program, which emphasizes the importance of interpersonal relationships, goal-setting and outdoor, rehabilitative retreats and seeks to avoid the stigma associated with traditional treatment.

What this generation of veterans needs from the V.A. is a recognition that when the color of life has faded to gray, you need to talk to someone about it today, not weeks or months from now. We need America to acknowledge what war does to the young men and women who fight it and to share the message that dragged me out of the darkness: It’s O.K. if you’re not O.K.



U.S. must address suicides by Military Veterans

As we recall those who gave their lives for our freedoms on this Memorial Day, here’s something to consider: More veterans of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars have died by their own hand than died from enemy fire.

The shocking statistic comes straight from the Department of Veterans Affairs: 18 military veterans commit suicide every day. The youngest, between the ages of 17 and 24, are four times more likely to kill themselves than older veterans. To make the numbers even more agonizing, the men and women who fight for our freedoms have never been more isolated from their countrymen: less than 1 percent of the population has served in the armed forces in Iraq and Afghanistan.

It’s an unacceptable state of affairs. “We don’t do a good job of understanding the reality of their lives and connecting them to services they need,” said Rep. Rob Andrews (D-1st Dist.), a member of the House Armed Services Committee. More than half the people who have fought in Iraq and Afghanistan have been part-time warriors, returning to jobs as teachers, construction workers, police and firefighters.

“You’re plucked from civilian life, go into war zone, then you get a 30-day transition back to your regular job,” Andrews said. “That’s not a lot of time to find out about programs to deal with problems, like stress. We need to figure out better ways to get them plugged into services.”

About 17 percent of homeless people are veterans. Others have returned home and devolved into drug addiction or erupted into violence. You’d think the Veterans Administration would figure out how to deliver the best mental health care to these veterans, and fast.

But just last month, a report by the administration’s inspector general revealed disarray and disorganization in exactly this department: The VA did not provide timely mental health evaluations and existing patients often waited more than two weeks for treatment. VA officials say they are hiring 1,900 more mental health specialists and support staff to strengthen its mental health network.

But local initiatives and outreach are crucial, too. Gov. Chris Christie already has announced that the recently closed Hagedorn Psychiatric Hospital will be transformed into a 100-bed transitional facility for homeless veterans. Andrews said county offices in New Jersey, most of which have a veterans office, distribute information at street fairs and other local events. “Stand Downs” — where veterans volunteer to help connect other veterans to drug rehab, jobs and housing — also have been effective. But more needs to be done.

A fitting Memorial Day tribute will be honoring those who died for their country and recommitting ourselves to the well-being of those veterans who, invisibly, struggle quietly among us.



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Sources: AP, CBS News, CNN, NJ.com, NY Times, Russia Today, Youtube, Google Maps

Robert Bales Charged With 17 Counts Of Murder: PTSD & The U.C.M.J. ("War On Trial")

Staff Sgt. Robert Bales is being Charged with 17 Counts of Murder on Friday.
Before everyone gets all riled up please remember Bales is Still a Soldier under UCMJ Law (Uniform Military Code Of Justice).
The Legal System is completely different under the UCMJ.
First there is a Court Martial, then he still has the right to Legal Counsel & an Investigation.
Next where is the Evidence?
There were NO Autopsies because the Alleged Victims were Buried Immediately according to Muslim Law.
on top of all that, Bales had PTSD, Serious Mental Health Issues yet the Army continued to Deploy him to a Combat Zone, thus Bales can't even be Discharged right now.
Higher Standard My Foot!
The Man had a Brain Injury, was Mentally & Physically Stressed Out!
The Army knew this Man had Serious Mental & Health Issues yet they continued to Deploy him to a War that America should have been out of long ago.
So Even if its Fast-Tracked it may take Years to Prosecute because this is NOT a Civilian Case!
So everyone needs to Calm Down.
The U.S. Military does NOT treat its Soldiers like Trash when they get into Legal Trouble.
Especially when they have Served for Several Years as a Good Soldier when On-Duty.
His Military Record is Outstanding even if his Personal life was a little messed up.
So everyone needs to just calm down.
Let's focus on getting Out of Afghanistan NOW to prevent other Tragedies like this from occurring.



Bales to be charged with murder in Afghan killings


Army Staff Sgt. Robert Bales will be charged with 17 counts of murder in connection with a shooting spree in an Afghan village that left women and children dead and severely tested U.S.-Afghan relations, a U.S. official said.

The official declined to be identified because the charges have not been publicly released yet.

Bales will also face six counts of attempted murder and six counts of aggravated assault, as well as dereliction of duty and other violations of military law, the Associated Press reported, citing an unidentified U.S official.

Bales is being held in a solitary cell in the military prison at Fort Leavenworth in Kansas. The charges are to be read to him today.

Bales, who was on his fourth combat tour, allegedly sneaked from his military outpost in Kandahar province at 3 a.m. March 11 and walked to two villages where he shot, stabbed and burned villagers, including nine children.

The military originally said Bales was suspected in the killing of 16 Afghan villagers, but changed that Thursday to 17, raising the number of adults by one but without explaining why.

The massacre followed the accidental burnings of Qurans at a U.S. base in Afghanistan, which touched off waves of deadly rioting. No one has suggested a motive for the shootings, but the massacre has highlighted the issues of combat stress and frequent deployments.

Bales, 38, joined the Army on Nov. 8, 2001, two months after the 9/11 terrorist attacks. Friends say he was driven by patriotism, but Bales' financial businesses had gone bust, and regulators were investigating him for allegedly bilking an Ohio couple of their retirement savings.

He deployed three times to Iraq before Afghanistan. During his second deployment, he fought in Najaf to recover a downed helicopter. His platoon leader praised him, and in a newspaper article, Bales recalled it as one of his proudest moments. He arrived in Afghanistan in December. His unit provided security at a small outpost.

Two days before the killings, one of Bales' fellow soldiers lost a leg after stepping on a mine, said John Henry Browne, Bales' civilian attorney. Bales also suffered a minor head injury in 2010 as a passenger in a Humvee that flipped, Browne said. "I'm not putting the war on trial, but the war is on trial," Browne said.


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Sources: AP, CNN, USA Today, Google Maps

John McCain Wants Afghanistan War To Continue Even After Bin Laden's Death; War Profiteering!

As long as some members of Congress such as John McCain & Mitch McConnell, have a Vested Financial Interest in War i.e., Government Contractors, our Men & Women in Uniform will continue engaging in Tribal Conflicts we can NOT Win.

The Afghan War is a Tribal War.

It has NOTHING to do with Al-Qaeda because even after Bin Laden's Death, the Taliban's presence still rules that region of the Middle East.

And since President Karzai is a Willing Partner in that Scheme, why are we Wasting Billion$ of U.S. Dollars annually in Resources & Human Lives?

Remaining in Afghanistan for another 3 mos, 6 mos or 12 mos will NOT make a difference!

We've killed Osama Bin Laden so the U.S. Mission in Afghanistan is Complete!

Let's just get out & let Karzai govern his Own Country!


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Sources: CNN, White House.gov, Youtube, Google Maps

Afghanistan War To Continue! Gen. John Allen, John McCain & Condi Rice Say No Early Withdrawal

As long as some members of Congress such as John McCain & Mitch McConnell, have a Vested Financial Interest in War i.e., Government Contractors, our Men & Women in Uniform will continue engaging in Tribal Conflicts we can NOT Win.

The Afghan War is a Tribal War.

It has NOTHING to do with Al-Qaeda because even after Bin Laden's Death, the Taliban's presence still rules that region of the Middle East.

And since President Karzai is a Willing Partner in that Scheme, why are we Wasting Billion$ of U.S. Dollars annually in Resources & Human Lives?

Remaining in Afghanistan for another 3 mos, 6 mos or 12 mos will NOT make a difference!

We've killed Osama Bin Laden so the U.S. Mission is Complete!

Let's just get out & let Karzai govern his Own Country!






U.S. General Sees No Sudden Afghan Drawdown


The top allied commander in Afghanistan told Congress on Tuesday that he had no intention of recommending further American troop reductions until late this year, after the departure of the current “surge” forces and the end of the summer fighting season.

That timetable would defer one of the thorniest military decisions facing President Obama — how quickly to get out of Afghanistan — until after the November elections.

Gen. John R. Allen, a Marine who commands the American-led allied force in Afghanistan, said that he remained optimistic about eventual success there but that it was too early to begin shifting forces. He also acknowledged the deep sensitivities, especially given the current diplomatic crisis with Afghanistan, of handing over complete security control to Afghan forces — including over the commando night raids that American commanders say are critical to the war effort. These are the subject of intense negotiation, he testified.

General Allen said that only after reviewing the results of the next six months of fighting — at the end of which there will be 68,000 American troops remaining there — would he turn his attention to the pace of further reductions in the force.

But he repeatedly said that by the end of next year, Afghan forces would have taken over full responsibility for the fight, allowing NATO’s combat role to be finished by the end of 2014, as currently scheduled.

His testimony came after a troubling, violent period on the ground, beginning with public protests — and a series of murders of American troops by Afghan security forces — following the burning of Islamic holy books by United States military personnel. That was followed by an American soldier’s rampage that left 16 civilians dead, most of them children.

General Allen said that in addition to the criminal inquiry into the massacre, there would be an administrative investigation into the command climate and headquarters organization of the soldier’s unit.

In his opening statement, he did not stray from the line taken by the White House and the Pentagon in recent weeks: that the progress toward what the Obama administration calls and “orderly and responsible” transfer of the fight against insurgents from the American-led alliance to the fledgling Afghan Army is going smoothly and that the schedule should not be altered.

He said he recognized the challenges, and deplored the Koran-burnings and the massacre. But he and members of the committee both described those events as isolated, if unfortunate, and there was little discussion of them at the hearing.

Instead, it focused on the schedule and the mechanics of the withdrawal that lies ahead, a subject that is being reviewed by NATO, whose member states are assembling their leadership in May in Chicago, and in talks between the Karzai government and Washington.

On one sensitive subject, the night raids carried out by Special Operations forces that have unsettled the Afghans but are credited with weakening the Taliban’s command structure, General Allen said the Afghans would be taking over control of them, too, eventually. Twelve Afghan teams are being trained for that purpose, he testified.

But he refused to discuss, when asked, a report in the Wall Street Journal that in negotiations with the Kabul government, the United States was considering subjecting American operations to review by some kind of Afghan tribunal.

He said it was important not to rob the surprise raids of “their momentum, which gives them their effectiveness.” And he said it was “very premature” to say what would be the outcome of the talks.

Ultimately, he said, as the Afghans take control of operations, the requirements of the Afghan constitution would need to be respected.

“Throughout history, insurgencies have seldom been defeated by foreign forces,” General Allen said. “Instead, they have been ultimately beaten by indigenous forces. In the long run, our goals can only be achieved and then secured by Afghan forces. Transition, then, is the linchpin of our strategy, not merely the ‘way out.’ ”

The possibility of an accelerated withdrawal order by President Obama has angered senior Republicans on the House Armed Services Committee. The chairman, Rep. Howard McKeon of California, said, “With our eyes at the exits, I am uncertain whether we will be able to achieve the key tenets of president’s own strategy, due to the constraints that the president, himself, has put in place.”

He made the case that “with friend and foe alike knowing that the U.S. is heading for the exits, our silence is likely viewed as a preamble to retreat. And, in warfare, when the mission becomes redeployment, rather than mission success, the outcome can quickly become disorderly.”

But General Allen emphasized that Afghan security forces are growing stronger, having reached 330,000, and that their buildup remains on track. And James N. Miller, Jr., the acting under secretary of defense for policy, testified that attacks initiated by the enemy continued to fall. They were down 22 percent in the first two months of this year compared with last year, he said, after falling 9 percent in 2011.

“We have seriously degraded the Taliban’s ability to mount a spring offensive of their own,” General Allen asserted. “This spring, they will come back to find many of their caches empty, their former strongholds untenable, and a good many of their foot soldiers absent or unwilling to join the fight.”


Sources: CBS News, CNN, NY Times, Youtube, PBS

Robert Bales Does Not Remember Afghan Shootings; Still Deeply Concerned About His Unit

Under the UCMJ, Prosecuting Bales could take Years. Its NO easy process! Especially when a Soldier is Mentally & Physically Diminished.


Lawyer: Bales wasn't drunk and can't remember


The defense of accused murderer Sgt. Robert Bales began Monday when he spent more than seven hours with three of his lawyers, including defense attorney John Henry Browne.

At their meeting, Bales did not confess to the crime.

"He has no memory of ... he has an early memory of that evening and he has a later memory of that, but he doesn't have memory of the evening in between.," Browne said.

Witnesses describe Bales as going deliberately from room to room in several houses while killing people, not in some kind of berserk attack. Browne said that despite the descriptions of his apparently deliberate actions, Bales remembers none of what happened.

Browne also said reports of his being drunk that night were not really true.

"He said he had a couple sips of something but he didn't have a full drink," and therefore he wasn't drunk, Browne said.

Bales told Browne he was in shock.

"He's fixated on the troops left on the ground and what they're accusing him of and how that might have negative ramifications on his friends and compatriots. And he's concerned that there would be retaliation that would be caused by what people think he's done," Browne said.

Bales apparently is eager to get his wife and children on the phone.

"He loves them dearly and he is very interested in talking to them," Browne said.

Browne said he will not seek an insanity defense, rather one of "diminished capacity," like some sort of an emotional breakdown.

Bales is expected to be charged with 16 counts of murder by the end of the week.


The Military Path to Justice Could Be Lengthy


Staff Sgt. Robert Bales has yet to be formally accused of the act that the Army suspects him of committing: the nighttime massacre of 16 Afghan civilians in a village a mile from his post.

But once preliminary charges are announced, as early as this week, the military justice system will proceed deliberately, regardless of the enormity of the charges and the international repercussions of the acts involved.

It is a system devised to be flexible enough to be convened on a battlefield, and broad enough to deal with anything from theft and insubordination to atrocity. Experts agree there will be no quick resolution in this case, especially if the charges carry the death penalty, which Defense Secretary Leon E. Panetta said last week “could be a consideration” in the case.

That, said John Galligan, a military lawyer in private practice in Texas, would mean “it’s going to take several years.”

Many of the early details provided by military sources about the rampage have not been confirmed, and the case could founder in the courtroom on questions of evidence collected under difficult conditions thousands of miles away, potentially with few of the safeguards that courts in both the military and civilian worlds rely on when it comes to building a trustworthy account.

To Eugene R. Fidell, who teaches military justice at Yale Law School, there is still too much to learn for easy conclusions to be drawn. “The narrative has not yet emerged,” he said.

One thing, however, is now certain: Sergeant Bales’s court-martial will be held in the United States. The military on Monday released the transcript of a briefing Sunday with Afghan journalists in which an American official said the case will be heard “somewhere in the United States.” The location, the official said, has not been determined, and witnesses may be flown over from Afghanistan. American service members are not subject to the Afghan criminal justice system, under a longstanding “status of forces agreement” between the United States and the Afghan government.

Sergeant Bales, who is being held at Fort Leavenworth, Kan., met with his defense team for the first time on Monday, in a session lasting several hours. His lawyer, John Henry Browne, told The Associated Press that his client’s recall of that night was patchy.

“He has some memory of some things that happened that night,” Mr. Browne said. “He has some memories of before the incident and he has some memories of after the incident. In between, very little.”

Mr. Browne told CBS News his client said that he had not been drunk, and that he had only had “a couple of sips of something.”

Unless a plea deal is struck, the outcome is anything but certain. The Army prosecuted 44 soldiers for murder or manslaughter of civilians in Iraq or Afghanistan from 2001 to 2011; 30 were convicted of some form of homicide, 6 were convicted of other offenses and 8 were acquitted. No one has been executed under the Uniform Code of Military Justice since 1961.

Gathering evidence and securing the cooperation of witnesses can be bedeviling in far-flung places, and contributed to the collapse of the prosecutions against Marines linked to the killings of 24 men, women and children in the Iraqi city of Haditha. Charges were dropped against most of the Marines who were tried in that case. In another case — the murders of three Afghan civilians in the Maiwand District in Kandahar Province in 2010 by a rogue “kill team” from Sergeant Bales’s base, Lewis-McChord —11 of the 12 soldiers tried were convicted.

The procedures to come are well defined by the Uniform Code of Military Justice and the Manual for Courts-Martial. The rules require a preliminary charging statement to be issued within days of a soldier being put behind bars. That is followed in coming months by a proceeding known as an Article 32 pretrial hearing, where prosecutors will present their evidence for convening a formal court-martial, leading to a recommendation from the presiding officer to higher command authority as to whether to hold a court-martial.

Only after the Article 32 hearing will the determination as to whether to seek the death penalty be announced. The court-martial would then go forward in two stages, one to establish guilt or innocence, and a second to determine sentencing.

Some of the elements of courts-martial differ from trials in the civilian realm. The military justice system does not allow a guilty plea in a death penalty case, but it does allow pleas that will lead to a lesser punishment. A determination of guilt or innocence, and the decision to sentence the defendant to death, must be unanimous.

If the supporting facts that underlie the accusations against Sergeant Bales are borne out and the military seeks the death penalty, much of the work of his legal team will shift to keeping him off death row. In speaking with reporters since the March 11 killings, Mr. Browne has discussed his client’s four combat deployments and suggested that Sergeant Bales could have been suffering from post-traumatic stress and the effects of concussive brain injury.

The military justice system does have the equivalent of the insanity defense, known as lack of mental responsibility, for which the standard of proof is very high. Mr. Fidell said such a defense is rarely successful, though “it could help soften the blow in terms of avoiding the death penalty.”

In the interview with CBS, Mr. Browne said he would not pursue the insanity defense, but would argue that his client had diminished capacity — apparently in an effort to seek mitigation of any punishment.

One issue that could loom large in the case is the risk that statements by those higher in the chain of command can have a prejudicial effect on members of the court-martial, a problem known as unlawful command influence. Among other statements, President Obama has called the killings “tragic and shocking,” and called President Hamid Karzai of Afghanistan last week to pledge that the United States would “get the facts as quickly as possible and to hold accountable anyone responsible.”

Mr. Panetta has called the killings a “criminal act.” When asked whether there was a confession, said, “I suspect that that was the case.”

Jack B. Zimmermann, the co-chairman of the Military Law Committee of the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, said that in high-profile cases, military and civilian leaders were under tremendous pressure to issue statements. “Unfortunately, people in the secretary of defense’s position are caught between the political requirement to make some kind of statement and the danger of what we call unlawful command influence,” said Mr. Zimmermann, a retired Marine colonel. “Somebody should tell him to shut up.”

To James D. Culp, a military lawyer in Austin, Tex., the only question is one of degree. “Is there command influence in the case?” he said. “Undoubtedly. Does it rise to the level of unlawful command influence? We’ll see.” Mr. Fidell, however, noted that while unlawful command influence is often referred to as “the mortal enemy of military justice,” it is “very rare for a case to be set aside” on those grounds.

This court-martial will be closely watched around the world, and that will undoubtedly complicate the prosecution, said Douglas Berman, an expert on sentencing at Moritz College of Law at Ohio State University.

“Every high-profile case, civilian or military,” he said, “takes on dimensions and dynamics that are less familiar and less predictable because there are often interests, both expressed and implied, that transcend resolving this individual case justly. Everything that happens in this case is going to have direct international echoes in terms of the ongoing war effort.”

“Let me put it this way,” he said, “I’m real glad I’m not involved — on either side.”


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Sources: ABC News, CBS News, Daily Mail, NY Times, Google Maps