Thursday, August 28, 2014

Ferguson coverage ignoring Beavercreek Ohio and long term solutions



The coverage of the excessive force by police against minorities surrounding Ferguson is long overdue; however it isn't covering the full extent of the problem including a similar incident in Beavercreek Ohio and at least five incidents total where police killed minorities in the last month under questionable circumstances. Nor is it covering the root social causes that precede these conflicts and the most effective long term solutions to them.

Mother Jones was one of the few news outlets that reported on five black men killed in the last month by police, adding the fifth after an update, 4 Unarmed Black Men Have Been Killed By Police in the Last Month, 08/13/2014, In addition to that there was another incident where Police in Forney, Texas, apologize to mom and kids pulled over at gunpoint after a 911 caller got two vehicles mixed up and the California Highway Patrol officer in Brutal Roadside Beating Could finally Face Felony Charges after an enormous amount of coverage and grass roots pressure.

In the case of Beavercreek Ohio the entire incident was on video so if the shooting is justified as the police say then they could easily disclose the video to the public and let them see for themselves; but they refuse to do so. This took place at Wal-Mart and the shooting victim apparently had a BB gun that he picked up from a display. The initial reports implied that he was armed but it quickly became clear that the person who called it in may have jumped to conclusions.

After an enormous amount of protest they finally let a few people see part of the tape but not all; and the family and their lawyer claim that it is clearly unjustified, as indicated in the following excerpt.

Family 'appalled' officer in Walmart shooting back on job 08/21/2014

According to Wright, the surveillance video shows that Crawford was not armed and not threatening anyone, but was standing in the back of an aisle talking on the phone with no other shoppers near him.

"Crawford never approached the officers, never aimed the BB gun at them, or otherwise was aggressive in any way," Wright stated. Complete article


This incident has hardly received much if any attention from the national media. I haven't seen anything about it through the television even though they have been providing an enormous amount of coverage on Ferguson, nor have I heard anything about two of the other stories cited by Mother Jones. Even Democracy Now didn't provide much coverage of it; while watching the show I didn't see it mentioned once but apparently they did mention it in two of their headlines that I was able to find with a search including one that said The mother of Crawford’s two infant children told the local paper she was on the phone with Crawford and heard him say, "It’s not real," before police opened fire. This is consistent with the excerpt cited above.

Apparently on one other incident where the police were accused of excessive force in a South Carolina Wal-Mart, Walmart suspect earlier charged with officer assault 08/25/2014, Wal-Mart and the police were much quicker to release the video; possibly because they thought it would do more to justify the actions of the police. This article doesn't mention it, but it was also featured on Headline News nationally repeatedly over the last few days; but so far as I can see even though a Prosecutor was finally named in deadly officer involved shooting at Beavercreek Ohio Wal-Mart I still ahven't seen any news on the traditional national media about it. Hopefully Democracy Now and other alternative media outlets will cover this as I write this.

Thanks to the enormous amount of coverage of the militarization of the police displayed in Ferguson Obama called for a review of this.

If Barack Obama wanted to know about this, for all practical purposes this review has already been done and he could make major changes or draw additional attention to it without waiting for a new review if he actually wanted to, which raises doubts about his sincerity.

Several researchers ahve looked into this, perhaps Radley Balko, author of "Rise of the Warrior Cop" (which I attempted to either confirm or refute) is the most thorough. In a repost of an old interview with Radley Balko Rob Kall claims that Obama is Behind the Militarization of America's Police Forces; Radley Balko Intvw Transcript Part 2 (or at least some of the most recent activities that added to it) and the ACLU also provided their report, War Comes Home: The Excessive Militarization of American Police - Report

It would be understandable if some of the people that don't rely on traditional media and are familiar with at least some of this might consider Obama's call for a review highly insincere, if not a bad joke.

This is all part of a pattern of behavior of stonewalling at every step. Whether it is the government, the local police forces involved in any given incident, or in this case Wal-Mart who also refuses to release their video and even digs in their heals and declines to stop keeping their BB guns on the shelves to avoid another misunderstanding and panic again. The media also declined to cover the full extent of the problem Wal-Mart has with shooting incidents at their stores across the country. They average one somewhere in the country every five days or less; and their have been statistical studies showing that they have more crime than even other big-box stores which are also more than small businesses, as reviewed in Wal-Mart’s crime problem, Rolling Back Safety more than prices?

More importantly they do little or nothing to cover the background of economic and educational opportunities, or lack of them, that are available to most African Americans, especially those that live in abandoned inner cities that hold some of the largest populations of African Americans in the country. Without this background it is too easy for many white people to quickly come to the conclusion that Michael Brown and John Crawford might be thugs or at least appear to be that way therefore the officers actions might be justified to defend the rest of us; and more importantly without this background it will be easier for many people to focus on trying to find the immediate causes to these problems without looking at the long term causes that also have to be prevented if these racial tensions are going to be solved.

The bigger problem is that our economic and educational system doesn't provide early educational or economic opportunities for many people and it is worse for minorities. One simple example of how unjustified our economic system is should be that people in the advertising industry often make an enormous amount of money; but they do absolutely nothing to add to the quality of the products they promote; instead they add an enormous amount of hype to convince the public they're getting their moneys worth even when they aren't, or more accurately, especially when they aren't. While the workers that produce their products are forced to compete for declining wages and the quality gets steadily worse.

One of the most effective researchers into some of the background that makes this even worse for minorities in abandoned inner cities is Jonathan Kozol author of Savage Inequalities; The Shame of the Nation; Amazing Grace (full text) and Rachel and Her Children. These books explain how in many cases the government spends more money or programs that don't actually protect the poor or help them get out of poverty than programs that do. In Rachel and her Children he describes how the government pays outrageous amounts of money to put homeless people in hotels that have rats and don't allow cooking while other programs cost less and do a better job returning people to regular homes and find employment.

Most of his books focus primarily on education though, and in this case there are numerous examples where they spend much more money lobbying to avoid financing education and prisons and police forces than they do on education. After reading all the details it might not be easy to find a simple direct connection to higher crimes and prison populations in inner cities, especially if some of the defenders of the status quo have ample opportunity to spin it; but it should be clear that spending more on education is far more effective than spending more on police and prisons. And even if many white people remain in denial it is obvious to those who actually have a minimum of first hand experience that it is a major reason why there is more crime and less economic opportunities in these abandoned inner cities.

This creates a hostile environment where conflict with police may be much more likely and when this escalates then people on both sides are much more likely to escalate tensions instead of learning how to reverse this trend of escalating violence.

The same decisions makers that cut funds for education are increasing funds that cause the militarization of police and trains them to be moire intimidating and violent.

Even if they do find cause to prosecute the police assuming the evidence indicates it is justified, which in at least some cases it clearly does, then that still does little or nothing to change the long term root causes that precede these conflicts. Nor does that do much if anything to hold the political leadership accountable for their part in choosing policies that will inevitably lead to one kind of conflict or another. They're the ones that are actually more responsible in the long run, yet there is little or no accountability for them.



Instead of educating children and providing economic opportunity for adults in these inner cities and perhaps other parts of the country the government is implementing policies where the only opportunities involve either welfare drugs or other illegal activities and, in some cases, corporations that provide incompetent services for either handling the homeless or education are making an enormous profit for doing a terrible job.



For those of you who haven't heard much if anything about the Beavercreek incident here are a series of articles on the subject that have apparently been making a lot of local news and is available for those that know to look for it on the internet. One other thing that is worth more consideration is that apparently at least one or two of these articles has been changed after the fact without explaining it to the public. On one example that I was able to spot I managed to find the original article and it wasn't hiding anything especially important; but this should raise doubts about whether it might in other cases. Fortunately someone appears to have anticipated this and saved it, intentionally or not. If there isn't major reform of the media, which often changes it's stories or withdraws them for one reason or another it would be helpful if more people saved controversial articles that might be inclined to disappear.

Police shoot, kill 21-year-old man inside Beavercreek Ohio Walmart 08/06/2014

Source: Walmart gunman had realistic-looking toy 08/06/2014

Man police shot in Walmart killed over fake gun, family says 07/06/2014

Shooting Suspect's Girlfriend: He Wasn't Armed When We Entered Walmart 08/06/2014

DeWine Says Walmart Suspect Carrying MK-177 BB/Pellet Rifle 08/11/2014 This article was originally titled "Shooting Suspect's Girlfriend: He Wasn't Armed When We Entered Walmart," on August 6 and changed to an updated version later.

Mom died at Walmart, trying to save kids after shooting 08/06/2014

Walmart Shooting Suspect's Criminal Past, Officer's Personnel File Released 08/07/2014

UPDATE: Walmart sticks to policy on air guns 08/08/2014

Group holds signs to protest Walmart shooting 08/09/2014

Family of man killed by cops at Wal-Mart demands video 08/13/2014

Protesters Demanding Answers in Deadly Shooting at the Beavercreek Ohio Walmart 08/16/2014

Attorney says video shows police shooting at Walmart was unjustified 08/20/2014

Grand Jury to Convene in Officer-Involved Walmart Shooting, Family Calls it Murder 08/19/2014

NAACP to Investigate Officer-Involved Shooting at Walmart 08/20/2014

Records in Walmart shooting released by police 08/21/2014

Family 'appalled' officer in Walmart shooting back on job 08/21/2014

1 officer in Ohio Wal-Mart shooting still on leave, was involved in 2010 fatal shooting 08/21/2014

Grass roots group calls for DOJ to look at Walmart shooting 08/25/2014

Prosecutor named in deadly officer involved shooting at Wal-Mart 08/25/2014


Friday, August 22, 2014

Teach a soldier to kill and he just might



In my previous post States with high murder rates have larger veteran populations I reviewed statistics about an increase in murders by veterans reported previously in several articles including Across America, Deadly Echoes of Foreign Battles and Wash. Post: Sharp Rise in Violent Crimes Cited Among Returning Iraq Veterans in Colo. Unit. The statistics are not always easy to sort out but they seem to indicate that although veterans have lower rates of incarceration than non-veterans this is partly due to their recruiting in areas where crime rates are lower. If they didn't include the high rates of crimes from inner cities where they recruit much less than they would almost certainly be much closer.

However the statistics also showed that veterans were more likely to be incarcerated for violent crimes than non-veterans and it is almost certainly easier to determine why by looking at different types of research to understand why including some of the research that was done by the reported that investigated the previous articles or research that explains how violence escalates in general. This may also include research into training methods for the military. Most of these stories are about veterans that didn't have a previous history of violence or criminal activity but they all went through military training and many of them were involved in combat. The leading stories following the recent wars are mostly about those who may have PTSD from war related combat but many of the veterans that have been incarcerated for one reason or another, often murder, haven't been in combat, although they still went through military training and indoctrination.

Serious consideration should be given to the possibility that a leading cause of this problem is the training they went through and that the leading amount of responsibility might belong with those that controlled that training and started wars based on misleading information, if not outright lies; yet when these incidents happen the leading response by some people is to often blame the veteran, without considering the background and what needs to be done to reduce future incidents. If a major contributing cause of this problem is their training then this needs to be reviewed and changed, especially since the wars we've been fighting are based on lies.

Military training isn't known for trying to teach creative thinking, in most cases; instead they're more concerned about teaching obedience to authority. This often involves recruiting people that were raised in an Authoritarian manner and escalating that method starting with boot camp.

Most of the discussion about the root causes of these shootings focuses primarily on PTSD related to combat related trauma but this doesn't account for all the recruits that have gone on shooting sprees and it almost certainly isn't the beginning of what may have made them more predisposed to violence. There is an enormous amount of research that indicates that violence often starts at an early age and escalates from there although if some of the later steps aren't taken like encounters with traumatic stress during combat then people may be less inclined to turn to excessive violence. In previous posts including Does child abuse and bullying lead to more violence? and Child abuse and bullying link in study long over due I explained why some of this research indicates that early child abuse including corporal punishment often escalates to bullying, hazing and additional violence later in life.

The military has worked with psychologists that understand this to some degree, or at least they should understand this; if they don't it is probably for ideological reasons that involve denying the research that doesn't suit their purposes. The Office of Navel Research has supported numerous research projects dating back decades about psychology including some about obedience to authority and research that clearly seems to have helped them develop their training practices for boot camp. This includes Stanley Milgram's research into Obedience to Authority, which was financed by the National Science Foundation with the support of the Office of Naval Research. It also includes Philip Zimbardo's Stanford Prison Experiment which was supposed to be about prison research. However as I explained in the post about his work, and Milgram's experiments as well in the same post, the claims they made about their work is almost certainly misleading.

Stanley Milgram claimed that he wanted to do research to understand why the Nazi's all blindly obeyed orders, clearly implying that he wanted to learn how to avoid doing the same thing again. However, if he wanted to do that he could have done a much better job teaching the public about when they should stand up to authority. Instead the military seems to have used this research to learn how to convince their recruits to obey authority without question more effectively, which is what the military has been trying to do for centuries. A close look at the Stanford Prison Experiment indicates that it might be an extension of the obedience to Authority experiments, which would explain why those two are often mentioned together and the researchers that did the two experiments both studied together from an early age at the instruction of Professor Irving Janis, who researched "Groupthink" in the fifties.

I went into more detail into this in the post about Zimbardo but there is an enormous amount of evidence including a lot from Zimbardo himself as well as some research from other professors including Professor Philip Greven, who researched how childhood corporal punishment leads to escalating violence and authoritarianism and Professor Alfred McCoy who researched the CIA's psychological research into torture programs and indicated that Irving Janis and Stanley Milgram were almost certainly involved in this.

There is also almost certainly a lot of research into propaganda about how they train their recruits to hate the enemy and this includes stereo types about how they're evil and it only shows one side of the issue which often ignores many of the most important facts including many of the lies that get us into these wars in the first place like the Weapons of mass destruction that weren't there in the second Gulf War and were only there in the first because the U.S. sold them to Saddam Hussein before the war, as well as the Gulf of Tonkin incident which was proven to be faked and many other lies that soldiers are trained not to scrutinize.

But they can't convince them to believe everything which is why some of this comes out in some of the articles including the following excerpts; even if they could indoctrinate them to believe everything there would still have major problems since many of the most important decisions they would be making would be based on lies.

Casualties of War, Part I: The hell of war comes home

Before the murders started, Anthony Marquez’s mom dialed his sergeant at Fort Carson to warn that her son was poised to kill.

It was February 2006, and the 21-year-old soldier had not been the same since being wounded and coming home from Iraq eight months before. He had violent outbursts and thrashing nightmares. He was devouring pain pills and drinking too much. He always packed a gun.

“It was a dangerous combination. I told them he was a walking time bomb,” said his mother, Teresa Hernandez.

His sergeant told her there was nothing he could do. Then, she said, he started taunting her son, saying things like, “Your mommy called. She says you are going crazy.”

Eight months later, the time bomb exploded when her son used a stun gun to repeatedly shock a small-time drug dealer in Widefield over an ounce of marijuana, then shot him through the heart. ....

“The Army trains you to be this way. In bayonet training, the sergeant would yell, ‘What makes the grass grow?’ and we would yell, ‘Blood! Blood! Blood!’ as we stabbed the dummy. The Army pounds it into your head until it is instinct: Kill everybody, kill everybody. And you do. Then they just think you can just come home and turn it off. ... If they don’t figure out how to take care of the soldiers they trained to kill, this is just going to keep happening.” .....

The Colorado Springs Police Department doesn’t track the crime statistics of individual units, but according to the El Paso County Sheriff’s Office, jail bookings of military personnel as a whole increased 66 percent in the 12 months after the brigade returned.

The “Kumbaya period” lasted about six months, soldiers said.

Eastridge said he blew through almost $27,000, mostly drinking at bars, but the first thing he did was buy guns: pistols, shotguns and an assault rifle similar to the one he carried in Iraq.

“After being in Iraq, it feels like everyone is the enemy,” he said. “You feel like you need a gun so they don’t come to get you.” .....

This spring, Eastridge said it was funny that sex and drugs were what got him court-martialed, considering the things he did in Iraq, “Things that can never be told, but that everybody knew about and approved of — basically war crimes.” Complete article


There are numerous stories of the military denying to acknowledge the problems of PTSD and even ridiculing those that might be subject to it making many people reluctant to report it which is virtually guaranteed to make the problem worse. This is part of a culture of hazing that is designed to keep people in line and encourage recruits to follow orders and go along with the crowd without question. It is virtually guaranteed to increase the paranoia which war also seems to escalate.

Philip Greven's research in Spare the Child demonstrates how paranoia often starts in early childhood when children are abused. It is hard to tell if specific recruits went through this without further research but there are numerous examples where the paranoia that may begin in early childhood could escalate as a result of bullying or hazing later in life including in the military.

One of the leading military spokespeople to refute this and perhaps provide additional propaganda that attempts to distract the public is Lt. Col. Dave Grossman author of The “Myth” of our Returning Veterans and Violent Crime which seems to refute the "lethal Warriors" series as well as the New York Times series and many other stories. He refers to someone that tells him that "Over a hundred veterans have come home and committed murder!" which clearly seems to refer to the New York Times story. In this series they indicate that this isn't a complete list and they also refer to another 349 over a six year period that includes all veterans that they were able to find newspaper articles.

Dave Grossman seems to make the assumption that these are all the murders that are taking place; then he goes on to cite selective statistics from The Federal Bureau of Justice Statistics and does his own math the come to the conclusion that the murder rate for "is less than a tenth of that for other citizens of the same age." However the Federal Bureau of Justice Statistics provides numerous statistics that contradict that. As I indicated in the previous post which cites the same source they claim that the rate of imprisonment for veterans is less than half for veterans but the rate of violent crime for veterans is higher than non-veterans. This is a much smaller difference than Dave Grossman indicates; but as I explained in the previous post, it would be even smaller if they considered the fact that a large portion of the highest crime areas are in cities where the military doesn't recruit as much.

My previous post also cites some of the same sources but it includes links to those sources so that they can be confirmed or refuted and I have no doubt that it is far closer to the truth than Grossman's statistics. Grossman isn't the only one that seems to be presenting selective use of statistics to support their claims so when considering statistics it may not be helpful without some background to determine if they're out of context. 

Grossman also expresses shock that when Vietnam veterans returned they were accused of being "baby killers" as if there was no justification for this, which in some cases there wasn't; however there were a lot of examples where there was some justification for it. The most famous example is of course the My Lai massacre where evidence indicated that there was a large amount of killing of innocent civilians. There were many more of these incidents which didn't receive as much attention. And even when it wasn't taking place up close and personal bombing raids routinely kill large numbers of civilians.

This is generally refereed to as "collateral damage."

When Timothy McVeigh used the same language he learned in the military to refer to the American children he killed as "collateral damage" everyone was outraged.

If it is unjustifiable for McVeigh to use that term when talking about American children how can it be justified when our military does it?

What ever reason Grossman comes up with can anyone expect the opposing side to accept this double standard?

On top of that there are even several examples recently where returning veterans struck out in rage and killed their own children when they couldn't control their own emotions. That doesn't mean that stereotyping all veterans as being "baby killers" is justified but the self righteous indignation at the suggestion that members of the military have killed babies isn't justified either.

David Grossman's argument doesn't stand up to simple reviews which could make it a far better argument in support of the assumption that there is a big problem with soldiers turning to violence when they don't get treatment, or at least those that really need it. If he was right about his claims then shouldn't he be able to come up with a better argument that stands up to scrutiny?

Perhaps this indicates that it is very bad propaganda; or is it?

The quality of propaganda is often not how good it is when it is held up to scrutiny but whether they manage to prevent it from being scrutinized in the first place by their target audience. This propaganda isn't fooling many people that actually scrutinize it but there are a lot of people that are discouraged from checking different sources at all. The New York Times cites one of the soldiers who plead guilty to manslaughter who devours books by David Grossman’s “On Killing: The Psychological Cost of Learning to Kill in War and Society.”

Many people in the military may only be inclined to read material that supports the ideology that they're trained to believe in during training or that other soldiers might be inclined to read. If some of them do read only certain types of books that support their ideology and don't rad material like the New York Times article or David Phillips "Lethal Warriors" series then this is when propaganda is most successful because it means some of these people amy not get both sides of the story.

Fortunately that clearly doesn't appear to be the case for all military men, including many that ahve become involved in Iraq veterans against the war or done more to address PTSD but those that don't might be more at risk, since they might be less inclined to acknowledge possible problems or get treatment if necessary.

Apparently in this book Grossman blames media violence for our problem with mass shootings, which is almost certainly at least partially true. He also indicates that the defenders of the media are biased because they get their money from the media which is also almost certainly true; however the same could just as easily be said for him and that he gets his money from the military. He claims that media violence teaches the public the same way the military does only without the safeguards.

The large volume of veterans that are involved in mass shootings or other kinds of violence clearly raises some doubts about whether these so called safeguards are actually working.

The real myth isn't that many veterans have problem with PTSD or that there might be a problem with the way the military trains veterans; it is that the military has been "fighting for our freedom" for decades. The war in Vietnam, which Grossman doesn't seem to question at all in his article was based on lies; the Vietnamese never supported the military government that the U.S. propped up; instead they provided more support for the opposing side. The war in Iraq was also based on lies about weapons of mass destruction that didn't exist although during the first one Saddam did have weapons of mass destruction including chemical weapons since the U.S. sold them to him.

This is typical of our military activities for decades the CIA conducted coups in Iran and Guatemala; they armed both sides of the Iran/Iraq war they helped create the Mujaheddin which became the Taliban and AL-Qaeda and they armed many of our other enemies before they became enemies. Environmentalists Against War created an extensive list of wars that were fought based on misleading information or outright lies in 'Fighting for Freedom' -- America's Abiding Myth; and this can also be confirmed in numerous books that the traditional media rarely if ever mention. In many cases the traditional media even acknowledge many of the lies; but they do so briefly then quickly forget about them while repeating the propaganda that contradicts the truth over and over again.

Both the attacks on 9/11 and the Boston bombings were blowback from people that were angry about U.S. activities abroad. Rather than protecting the country the military has been inciting those that have been fighting us. it is only an enormous amount of propaganda that makes it seem as if the U.S. has been "fighting for freedom."

This propaganda is coming from both the so-called left and the right, including Rachel Maddow, who many people on the left seem to consider more reliable than most media spokespeople since she occasionally does a better job covering some subjects, or at least she seems to. She attempted to dismiss any claim that PTSD or military training might have something to do with the Fort Hood shooting with the following statements:

Rachel Maddow Rebukes 'Lazy Civilian Media' On Fort Hood Coverage 04/04/2014

Maddow said Thursday that the coverage seemed to suggest "that the most important deciding factor on what explains the [shooting] must be the fact that the suspected perpetrator is an Iraq War veteran. As if veterans are uniquely dangerous. As if knowing the suspected shooter served in Iraq explains why this happened." ....

"If we think of every other mass shooting in America as somehow particular to the circumstances of that shooting but this one as explained away as 'Oh he was an Iraq vet'... not only does that not help us understand what happened here, it is an offense against every other veteran who right now is getting that stigma shoveled onto them by a lazy civilian world and a lazy civilian media who find this dangerous veteran stereotype to be an easier thing to point to than America has a bad mass shooting problem." Complete article


I have to agree that in most cases we certainly do have a big problem with "a lazy civilian media;" however when a member of the civilian media makes that accusation they might want to think twice about fact checking the details behind their claims. There are some reporters that did look into this subject more than others David Phillips and the NYT reporters aren't the only ones that did a more thorough job checking the details; and I can't help but wonder if she even read their work.

By dismissing their military record as a potential contributing cause that should be looked at she is passing up an opportunity to at least try to understand why we have a problem with mass shootings. This doesn't mean that all mass shootings are the result of veterans of course, but they had two of them at Fort Hood and one at the Navy Yard in Washington D.C. as well as an enormous number of other stories about veterans who resort to violence when they come back.

She might have some legitimate points and clearly not all veterans deserve to be stereotyped but by declining to put things in better perspective she has demonstrated who one member of the "lazy civilian media" is.

And on top of that she counted on other members of the "lazy civilian media" to abstain from thoroughly refuting her claims and for the most part they have complied; which isn't surprising since they do far more to support the war propaganda than they do to investigate it. The good reporting didn't actually reach the majority of the public despite claims that it was widely reported. It may have been widely reported to those that seek out some of the best news sources, or at least the best the traditional news provides like the New York Times; but the majority of the public is more likely to rely on TV or local news papers which didn't cover it nearly as much and quickly forgot about it with a few exceptions like the Colorado Springs Gazette, which is where one of the largest concentrations of these incidents were occurring.

If the civilian media wasn't so lazy they could have reviewed the amount of intimidation used in the military, starting with boot camp, and found out if it was necessary to maintain the myth that our soldiers are fighting for our freedom. Ivan Gomez was apparently arguing among other soldiers and this is far more common than they let on and it precedes many of these incidents where soldiers fight each other.

If they made a comprehensive list of all the incidents like US soldiers 'killed Afghan civilians for sport and collected fingers as trophies' or Abu Ghraib it would be clear that this is far more common than they let on and it shouldn't be any surprise that a lot of them are coming home and conducting more acts of violence.

Hazing and other intimidation is common place in the military and so are cover ups of many of their scandals including sexual abuse and many of the illegal activities that they have been involved in during wars for one reason or another. There are numerous reports of intimidation to keep people from reporting these events including a least one of the incidents listed below where they suspect a veteran was killed by other veterans because he might have been threatening to report a rape in Iraq.

Their hazing tactics are very similar to tactics used to haze gang members and ensure that they're loyal to their own gang and will not abandon them inform on them. It isn't as blatant, of course but it does have a lot in common which is almost certainly part of the reason why many veterans might be more inclined to believe the propaganda about fighting wars for freedom and other lies that the military and government routinely claim are their justification.

This is almost certainly part of the reason why Gang Members recruit their young members who don't yet have criminal records to join the military. According to FBI gang investigator Jennifer Simon 1-2% of the U.S. military belongs to gangs. This has been a major problem that has gone back decades, perhaps especially when it comes to white supremacists, who have been reported in the military over and over again and the military has a long history of sweeping it under the rug although it makes the news once in a while when high profile shootings happen by white supremacists like Frazier Glenn Miller or Wade Page.

These high profile news stories routinely instigate high profile attempts to screen out white supremacists, or at least appear to address them but they rarely if ever succeed which becomes apparent the next time a high profile white supremacist make the news. The reason for this might be that they need people susceptible to extreme views when they're trying to indoctrinate people to hate their enemies.

If we spent most if not all the money that is used on foreign military invasions on restoring a functioning educational and economic system in the abandoned inner cities that clearly do have higher crime rates than veterans then instead if contributing to higher violence the government would be reducing it. If more people knew about the lack of educational and economic opportunities in these inner cities they would understand much better why they have such high murder rates but the media doesn't do a good job reporting on that anymore than they report on foreign affairs or the escalating of violence by some returning veterans.

Before he died Chris Kyle's military motto was "despite what your momma told you violence does solve problems." It didn't work out to well for him in the end though, or a lot of other veterans, or people who have had to deal with them. Former Marine Arrested in ex-Navy SEAL Sniper’s Death Chris Kyle plus one other vet in Tx. 02/03/2013

This includes a lot of police who are also trained to be overly authoritarian and aggressive. A search for more incidents will turn up many more that happened after the New York Times did their search. The following isn't as many as they found but it is clear that given enough time there are almost certainly even more than the NYT found if enough effort is made to search for them and they often include examples where soldiers kill each other their family members or wind up confronting police in violent standoffs sometimes with overly aggressive SWAT teams and at least one example where one of these SWAT teams was involved in a no-knock raid.

This is part of a series of posts exploring the root causes of violent crime and ways to recognize and prevent them. Past posts on the subject include Ignored evidence linking corporal punishment, poverty and crime grows; Does lack of education increase violent crime? Religion?; Politics, not technology, caused botched executions States with high murder rates have larger veteran populations and Wal-Mart crime: Rolling Back Safety more than prices?

When focusing on only the stories that get a lot of attention it seems as if this is the majority which is false. Despite all the stories about these violent outbreaks they're still a relatively small minority; however it is still a serious problem especially for those involved in them. Also it appears as if a much bigger problem is actually suicides according to several statistical reports however these rarely make as much news so the vast majority of them won't turn up in a search of news articles.

Vet charged with trying to kill wife in Alaska 08/22/2006 Date of attempted Murder: Aug. 6 2006

Serving at Eielson Air Force Base in Fairbanks Alaska, Thomas Richard Bunday allegedly killed five woman Date of Murder: 1979-81 VMS

Drunken Russian roulette kills Burlington County Iraq war vet at Alaskan home; comrade charged with murder 03/08/2011 Date of Murder: March 6, 2011 VKV

Alaskan Man shot dead by Iraq war veteran drinking buddy friends say he was trying to help as he struggled with PTSD 01/12/2014 Date of Murder: Dec 5 2013

Vermillion murder trial of Alaskan Iraq veteran pushed back 04/16/2014 Date of Murder: Dec 5 2013

Alaska soldier charged in death of son, 3 04/09/2014 Date of Murder: April 4, 2014 VKB

Iraq war vet charged in shooting death of fellow airman in Montana 05/07/2008 Date of Murder: May 05, 2008 VKV

Christopher Ryan Gross a Disabled Montana veteran pleads not guilty to shooting girlfriend 08/07/2014 Date of shooting: July 30 2014

Montana Man killed in argument over military branches; William Earl Cunningham charged 08/05/2014 Date of Murder: 08/02/2014 VKV "Then I cut him . I did what the Army taught me to do."
Guardian of valor: Army Vs Marines Argument Ends In Murder, Suspect Says He Was Doing What The Army Taught Him He did serve in the Army from 1971 through 1978 as a Construction and Utilities Specialist, Construction worker(51A and 51B back in the 1970’s), and a 64C(Light Vehicle Driver) at the end of his enlistment. Horn's record inconclusive but RT claims they "previously argued about their military service."
Argument over ‘best military branch’ ends in Montana murder 08/06/2014 Date of Murder: 08/02/2014

Crime lab delay pushes Wyoming strip club murder trial of John Knospler Jr., a war veteran and Pennsylvania resident until September 04/15/2014 Date of Murder: Oct. 4 2013

James Allen Gregg an Iraq combat veteran was sentenced to 21 years for murder in SD after following someone from a bar fight Date of Murder: July 3, 2004

Delano Eagle a Troubled veteran battles PTSD, faces possible prison term in SD 03/14/2012 Date of aggravated assault on police officer: Feb. 26 2012 State’s Attorney Glenn Brenner said Eagle is being charged with aggravated assault for trying to strangle a police officer during a DUI stop. Both the DUI charge, his third, and the assault charge are felonies.
SD Marine with PTSD gets jail, not prison, for attack on officer 11/14/2012 Date of aggravated assault on police officer: Feb. 26 2012

Iraq War Veteran Murder Trial Continues in SD 01/19/2014 Date of Murder: July 4, 2004
Judge refuses to vacate James Allen Gregg's murder conviction 08/11/2010 Date of Murder: July 4, 2004

White Supremacist Family including Iraq veteran Moves To North Dakota Town, Site Of Aryan Enclave Plan 10/14/2013

South Dakota judge says James Allen Gregg an Iraqi war veteran deserves new trial 07/21/2009 Date of Murder: July 4, 2004

Matthew Sepi shot two gang members, one of them fatally, in Las Vegas Nevada. The shootings were judged to have been committed in self-defense and he was instead given counseling. Date of killing: July 31, 2005

Nathan Paet Murder: Police Arrest 3 in Iraq War Veteran's Death in Las Vegas (murderers not vets) 12/09/2010 Date of Murder: Dec. 1 2010

20-Year-Old Waylon Hicks Charged In New Town Murder of North Dakota Iraq veteran 07/26/2012 Date of Murder: July 20, 2012
Nevada Man Sentenced for Voluntary Manslaughter 01/24/2014 Date of Murder: July 20, 2012

Jessie Bratcher an Iraq veteran sentenced to state hospital in PTSD murder case in Oregon 12/07/2009 Date of Murder: Aug. 16, 2008

Nine Mile Washington state Homicide Follow: PTSD Linked To Suspects In Other Violent Crimes 06/05/2013 Date of Murder: June 3 2013 includes additional citations from other vets

'Breaking Bad killer' pleads guilty to murder In Washington State 09/30/2014 Date of Murder: June 3 2013 VKFM

Benjamin Colton Barnes, Iraq War Veteran Suspected Of Killing Park Ranger, Reportedly Found Dead in Washington State; four others shot two critically 01/03/2012 Date of Murder: 01/01/2012
Suspect's downward spiral ended with killing at Rainier Washington 01/03/2012 Date of Murder: 01/01/2012

Deadly Washington 'hate crime' revealed as soldier-on-soldier killing: cops 10/07/2013 Date of Murder: 10/05/2013 VKV

Washington State Army veteran dies after years of huffing 12/29/2013 Date of death: Aug. 23 2013

Conner Schierman not a veteran but his Washington State victims were Date of Murder: 07/17/2006

Israel Keyes an Army veteran killed 3 to 8 or more people in Washington, Vermont, New York and Alaska committed suicide in jail Date of Murder: late nineties to 2012

Idaho Coast Guardsman sought in Wash. death found dead 08/12/2014 Date of Murder: 08/03/2014

Vietnam veteran and construction worker David Knotek aged 51 and his wife Michelle Knotek aged 49 killed 3 people in Washington State Date of Murder: 1994-2002

Cynthia Sommer convicted of killing her marine husband in San Diego, California for insurance money some of which she used to have her breasts enlarged conviction later overturned Date of Murder: 02/18/2002

Gerald Parker former marine convicted of five murders in Orange County, California. Kevin Lee Green another marine was wrongfully convicted of his wife one of Parker's victims and spent 17 years in jail Date of Murder: 1978 - 1979

Charles Chi-Tat Ng marine killed 11-15 victims in Calaveras County, California Date of Murder: 1983 - 1985 Ng was born in Hong Kong in 1960, the son of a wealthy company executive. As a child, he was harshly disciplined and abused by his father. As a teenager, Ng was described as a troubled loner and was expelled from several schools. When he was arrested for shoplifting at age 15, his father sent him to Bentham Grammar boarding school in Yorkshire, England. Not long after arriving, he was expelled for stealing from other students and returned to Hong Kong.

Ng finally moved to the United States, where he entered Notre Dame de Namur University. However, he dropped out after only one semester.

U.S. Marine Corps

Ng enlisted in the United States Marine Corps in early 1980, but after serving less than a year he was dishonorably discharged for theft of heavy weaponry and machine guns from MCAS Kaneohe Bay. He was further charged with escape from confinement and attempted desertion, though the desertion charge was dropped. Ng was convicted on the remaining charges and was sentenced to 14 years in a military prison. He was released in late 1982, when his sentence was commuted.

Sgt. Jared Terrasas a Ca. Iraq war veteran pleads guilty in death of infant son 06/08/2007 Date of death: Oct. 4, 2005 VKB

Trial Opens For Steven Matthew LeClaire Jr. a Soldier Accused In Cypress Ca. Hotel Killing 07/16/2014 Date of Murder: Feb. 24, 2011
Steven Matthew LeClaire Jr. Guilty of Murder, Attempted Murder in Cypress Lodge Shootings 08/04/2014 Date of Murder: Feb. 24, 2011

Iraq War Vet Gets 3 Life Terms in Ca. Slaying Attempts 11/07/2012 Date of attempted Murder and hostage taking: 07/16/2009

Gilroy Ca. police: Abel Gutierrez Iraq War veteran killed sister, 11, then himself 03/16/2012 Date of Murder: 03/14/2012 VMS

Man Shoots Daughters: Anthony Alvarez, Vietnam War Vet, Shoots Adult Children, Himself On Memorial Day in Ca. [VIDEO] 05/28/2013 Date of Murder: May 27 2013 VMS

Judge orders psychiatric evaluation of Ricardo Tapia a California veteran accused of murder 02/19/2014 Date of Murder: December 20 2013

John Wylie Needham a 'Mentally unstable' Iraq veteran arrested in death of girlfriend, 19 09/03/2008 Date of Murder: Sept. 1, 2008
Was PTSD to blame? Mystery over troubled Iraq veteran who killed girlfriend and was found dead after overdosing 18 months later 11/14/2011 Date of Murder: Sept. 1, 2008

Body found, arrest of Christopher Brandon Lee made in case of Ca. Marine's missing wife 08/19/2014 Date of Murder: June 28 2014 VKFM

Michael Bixby a Calif. Marine Arrested After Death of Baby Boy 02/23/2010 Date of death: 02/18/2010 VKB
Michael Bixby a Calif. Marine who shook infant son gets 20-year sentence 01/31/2011 Date of death: 02/18/2010

Shooting Of Parminder Shergill a Sikh Army Veteran by California Police Divides California Community 5/29/2014 Date of shooting: Jan. 25 2014 CKV

Robert Quiroz, an Iraq Veteran Arrested on Suspicion of Murdering Newborn Son in California 11/21/2006 Date of death: fall 2006

Tommy Yancy a US veteran killed by California Highway Police officers 05/24/2014 Date of death: May 11 2014 CKV

William George Bonin, AKA "The Freeway Killer", a 32-year-old Vietnam veteran allegedly killed 14-44 people in California. Date of Murder: 1972-80

Tymarc Warren an Iraq war veteran sentenced in stabbing death of girlfriend, 22 in California 12/19/2013 Date of Murder: January 2011

Emrys John and Tyrone Miller two Ex-Marines sentenced to death in California after they raped Iraq vet's wife in front of him and then shot couple in the head A third ex-Marine, Kevin Cox, 25, was sentenced to life in prison without parole. 06/21/2013 Date of Murder: October 15, 2008 VKV
Murder of Jan Pawel and Quiana Jenkins Pietrzak by fellow marines 10/15/2008

Ex-roommate Kwang Chol Joy suspected in death of missing Army veteran in California 05/19/2014 Date of Murder: May 2 2013
KC Joy gets 15 years to life in prison for Maribel Ramos murder 09/12/2014 Date of Murder: May 2 2013

David Settle a Vietnam War veteran, 68, 'beats to death resident and caregiver with hammer at assisted-living home' in Las Vegas Nev. 01/02/2013 Date of Murder: 12/30/2012

Matthew Mahaffey a Reno Nevada Iraq War vet arrested in friend's killing 04/03/2012 Date of involuntary manslaughter: July 3 2011
Matthew Mahaffey a Reno Iraq War vet sentenced in friend's killing 05/29/2013 Date of involuntary manslaughter: July 3 2011

Lance Cpl. Walter Rollo Smith plead guilty to killing Nicole Speirs and was sentenced to 1–15 years for 2nd degree manslaughter in Utah Date of Murder: March 25, 2006 VKFM

A Colorado Springs veteran charged with killing his girlfriend, Robert Walters also put a hit on his wife, say police 07/11/2011 Date of Murder: Nov. 17, 2009 VKV
Boyfriend gets life without parole in airman's death, staged crash 10/24/2011 Date of Murder: Nov. 17, 2009

A Colorado Military Spouse’s Tale: Criminalizing PTSD 05/31/2013

Army Spc. Thomas Delgado an Iraq Veteran Suffering From PTSD Charged With Attempted Murder of his wife in Colorado 09/06/2010 Date of attempted Murder: September 24, 2008

Jose Guerena’s family gets settlement, but his killers still wear badges in Ariz. 09/19/2014 Date of Murder: May 5 2011 CKV
Jose Guerena an Iraq War veteran shot by SWAT team during a raid in Ariz. 03/03/2013 Date of Murder: May 5 2011

Why “In the Crosshairs” Is a Triumph of Storytelling: Eddie Ray Routh killed Chris Kyle and Chad Littlefield 05/28/2013 Date of Murder: 02/02/2013 VKV

Cleve Foster Texas 21 year army veteran Date of Murder: 12/18/2001 and 02/14/2002

Luis Ramirez Texas veteran Date of Murder: 04/8/1998

When Strains on Military Families Turn Deadly: Sgt. William Edwards violated restraining order and killed his wife Sgt. Erin Edwards near Fort Hood Texas 02/15/2008 Date of Murder: July 22, 2004 VKV VKFM

Nidal Malik Hasan Texas Date of Murder: 11/05/2009

Louis Jones Jr. Texas Iraq veteran Date of Murder: 02/18/1995

U.S. soldiers accepting cash, drugs for Mexican drug cartel contract hits: PFC Michael Apodaca was sentenced to life in prison for assassinating an informant for the Juarez Cartel. 09/13/2013 Date of Murder: 2009

Iraq Veteran Gets Illegally Disarmed and Arrested While Hiking in Texas 03/16/2013

Capital murder suspect accused of shooting Iraq war vet in custody in Texas 10/25/2012 Date of Murder: Aug. 6, 2012

Ex-football standout, Leonard Roundtree III, guilty in murder-for-hire plot in Texas 04/28/2014 Date of Murder: June 10 2013
San Antonio Army Veteran, Alvin Roundtree, sentenced to 20 years in Fort Sam Houston Tx. shooting 09/12/2014 Date of Murder: June 10 2013 VKV (attempted)

Spc. Patrick Edward Myers a Fort Hood Soldier allegedly kills pal who had hiccups at Fort Hood Tx. 09/25/2012 Date of Murder: 09/23/2012 VKV
Spc. Patrick Edward Myers a Fort Hood soldier admits shooting friend while trying to cure hiccups; pleaded guilty Thursday to involuntary manslaughter 02/01/2013 Date of Murder: 09/23/2012

A military contractor was arrested in San Antonio Tx. on charges that she hired a hit man was an undercover FBI agent to kill her estranged husband 07/24/2012

Texas Cops Defend Hot Car Murder Charge Against Russel Lindstrom an Iraq war veteran and Dad Family Says Is Innocent 07/10/2014 Date of death: June 11 2014

Michael Crawford a Soldier arrested in murder-for-hire plot to collect a $250,000 life insurance policy and get married in Oklahoma 11/26/2008
Michael Crawford a Man on Active Duty with the U.S. Army Sentenced for Role in Murder-for-Hire Scheme July 17, 2009 Date of plot: 2008

Authorities arrest Maxx Tate Robinson a war-hero veteran a second time in Wagoner County Oklahoma homicide 06/11/2014 Date of Murder: 04.02/2014

Amber Hilberling pushed her husband an Air Force veteran, out the window of their 17th-story Oklahoma apartment Date of Murder: 06/07/2011

Perry Edward Smith a decorated WWII and Korean War veteran killed 4 in Kansas Date of Murder: 11/14/1959

Dennis Rader Kansas serial killer spent four years (1966–1970) in the United States Air Force, Date of Murder: 1974-91

Sgt. Castulo J. Salas an Iraq war veteran arrested in shooting death of fellow soldier in Kansas 07/31/2007 Date of Murder: July 28 2007 VKV
Sgt. Castulo J. Salas a Ft. Riley Kansas sergeant gets six months jail for soldier's death 12/19/2007 Date of Murder: July 28 2007

Army Spc. Justin Cannon is sentenced to 50 years for Kansas murder 05/20/2014 Date of Murder: Aug. 1, 2011

Seth Strasburg an Iraq war vet offers no excuses for killing Thomas T. Varney V in Nebraska 03/29/2008 Date of Murder: New Year’s Day 2006

Ronald Gene Simmons, Sr. (15 July 1940 – 25 June 1990) was a retired United States Air Force sergeant who killed sixteen people, fourteen of whom were members of his family, and wounded four others in Arkansas. Date of Murder: Dec. 1987

Sgt. Jon Trevino a Missouri Air Force Medic Left Note in Murder-Suicide 02/20/2006 Date of Murder: 02/13/2006 VMS
Sergeant Trevino, who had endured childhood sexual abuse and a difficult first marriage, suffered psychiatric problems long before he was dispatched to war zones to perform the highly stressful job of evacuating the wounded. And the Air Force knew it. NYT 02/15/2008 Date of Murder: 02/13/2006

Family: Sgt. Isaac Shawn Sims a Kansas City Missouri Vet killed in weekend standoff with police sought medical care and was turned away. 05/27/2014 Date of Murder: 05/24/2014 CKV

Fort Campbell soldier charged with sexual battery in Tenn. 07/21/2014

Wikipedia: Barry Winchell Date of Murder: July 6, 1999 VKV Winchell was killed in Kentucky by Calvin Glover after being taunted by fellow soldier, Spc. Justin Fisher for being beat by "'a fucking faggot' like Winchell"

Brad Edward Jeansonne, a Louisiana National Guard soldier arrested for murder 06/11/2014 Date of Murder: June 1 2014

Allen Wayne "Big Dad" Morgan an Iraq veteran from Munford Alabama tried to hire KKK hit men to kill black neighbor, FBI officials said 08/27/2013

Iraq combat veteran's wife, another man, arrested for his 2011 Alabama slaying 03/27/2014 Date of Murder: Oct. 12, 2011
New Details in Murder Plot of Remano Campbell 04/24/2014 Date of Murder: Oct. 12, 2011 Detectives testified that Remano's wife Eugenia Campbell, plotted to have him killed to gain access to a life insurance policy worth 200 thousand dollars.

David Eugene Smith a Vet Who Suffers From PTSD in Custody, after stand-off with SWAT team in Tennassee; Suspected of Killing 3 in Fla. 05/27/2014 Date of Murder: 05/26/2014 VKFM
Delusional former soldier who was on the run after 'slaying three including his sister and her lesbian lover' is caught after police stand-off 05/27/2014 Date of Murder: 05/26/2014

Adam Brown: Police say an Iraq War Veteran with PTSD shot his wife with an AK 47 in Fla. 07/22/2013 Date of shooting: 07/20/2013

Jason Simione a Defense Contractor and Obama Hater Arrested in Murder-For-Hire Plot; Arsenal Seized in Fla. 08/13/2013

Fla. Air Force sergeant gets death in double murder 08/16/2014 Date of Murder: July 2007

Parker Schenecker testifies for hours in ex-wife Julie Schenecker's Fla. murder trial 05/13/2014 Date of Murder: Jan. 28, 2011 VKFM
Julie Powers Schenecker killed her two teenage children for being "mouthy" Date of Murder: 01/28/2011

Back from Iraq, Army Spc. Richard Davis a Ft. Benning Ga. Soldier Slain 12/01/2003 Date of Murder: July 15, 2003 VKV Richard T. Davis Unnamed sources have suggested that Davis was killed because he had planned to make a complaint about a rape of an Iraqi woman by US troops. Mario Navarette, Jacob Burgoyne and Alberto Martinez were charged with participation in either killing him or covering it up.

New murder trial for soldier who claims anti-smoking drug made him psychotic: Army Pfc. George MacDonald killed a fellow soldier at Fort Benning, Ga. Date of Murder: May 18, 2008 VKV
Convicted of murder, soldier blames anti-smoking drug 05/04/2014 Date of Murder: May 18, 2008

Jeffery Bradley an Iraq War vet in SC gets 32 years for killing baby 07/07/2014 Date of death: September 2014 VKB

Deployments delayed child abuse case: Jose Aguilar, a Marine Corps sergeant at Camp Lejeune in North Carolina was charged with killing his 2-year-old son 04/26/2006 Date of death: April 2006 VKB

AUTOPSY: Baby's Death Confirmed As Homicide Marine Sgt. Jordan King a NC Marine charged with murder 02/19/2013 Date of death: 02/13/2013 VKB

Cesar Laurean killed pregnant woman accusing him of rape in NC Date of Murder: 12/15/2007

Wisconsin Sikh Temple Killer Wade Michael Page Radicalized in Army Date of Murder: 08/05/2012

Anthony J. Klecker an Iraq war veteran and Shoreview man given prison time for DUI and vehicular homicide in Minn. after getting into a couple fights with another veteran, including one where he admits displaying a switchblade and being ejected from treatment program 02/23/2008 Date of vehicular homicide: October 2006

Ben Sebena, Iraq War Veteran, Due In Court For Alleged Murder Of Wife Jennifer Sebena, A Police Officer in Minn. 01/03/2013 Date of Murder: 12/31/2012 VKFM
Ben Sebena receives sentence for killing police officer wife 08/10/2013 Date of Murder: 12/31/2012

Guardsman accused of stealing military IDs for militia in Minnesota 12/12/2013

BREAKING: Cordelrow D. Brown a Maywood Ill. gang member Sentenced to Natural Life for Murder of Iraq Vet and innocent bystander to a shooting that followed a bar brawl 12/10/2013 Date of Murder: Nov. 24, 2007

Charles Simkins an Iraq War Vet Faces Hearing, Charged With Murder In Neighbor’s Death In Dispute Over Dog in Mich. 04/23/2014 Date of Murder: December 17 2013 VKV
Real threat or just odd behavior? Tough call for police who snatched the handgun out of his holster and told him they were confiscating it. But they did not arrest him that day, the 16th, on the gun charge and instead left the scene. Nor did they run a background check that would have showed he had an additional 22 registered handguns stored in his trash-filled home in Walled Lake, Mich. 06/09/2014 Date of Murder: December 17 2013

Iraq War Veteran Accused Of Raping 10-Year-Old Girl Jailed On $1M Bond in Mich. 05/14/2014

Nathan Gale marine and mass murderer of four at Ohio concert killed by police Date of Murder: 12/08/2004 CKV

Ohio Army Veteran Recalls the Unforgettable Moment When a Judge Told Him: ‘Your Time in Iraq Makes You a Threat to Society’ 11/12/2013

West Virginia Iraq Vet Lands In Jail On Terrorist Charges After Jogging With Toy Rifle 08/24/2012

Iraq War Vet Arrested On Felony Terrorist Charges For Jogging With Toy Gun West Virginia (message board) 07/0/2012

Iraq War veteran talks about Virginia Beach mob attack 07/10/2014

Iraq war veteran killed on the streets of Arlington Virgina 10/21/2011 Date of Murder: June 29, 2006

James Wenneker von Brunn WWII veteran, the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum shooting of Museum Special Police Officer Stephen Tyrone Johns in Washington, D.C. Date of Murder: 06/10/2009 VKC

Delaware Afghan vet's war hits family hard 06/23/2014

Search intensifies for Baltimore Maryland police officer in Mt. Vernon shooting of Iraq veteran 06/12/2010 Date of Murder: June 5 2010 CKV
Gahiji Tshamba a Baltimore Maryland police officer gets 15 years in fatal shooting of Tyrone Brown a Marine veteran 08/16/2011 Date of Murder: June 5 2010

Gary Smith a former Army Ranger convicted of Md. manslaughter of his roommate, who served with him in Afghanistan 09/19/2012 Date of Murder: Sept. 2006

Brian Patrick O'Callaghan an NSA agent in Md. charged with beating his 3-year-old son to death only months after adopted him from South Korea 02/19/2014 Date of Murder: Feb. 3 2014

Brandon Daniel Thomas a Former Hilton Head resident and Army veteran jailed in Pa. to face murder trial in May 03/09/2014 Date of Murder: October 18 2012

Michael Lapaglia a Young veteran charged with killing aunt's fiance in Kennedy Township Pa. jewelry robbery 08/15/2014 Date of Murder: July 21 2014

Iraq vet charged with murder in Fort Drum killings of two fellow veterans in NY 12/04/2009 Date of Murder: 12/01/2009 VKV
NEW INFO: Spc. Joshua Hunter an Iraq Vet from Cabell County Sentenced to 45 Years 10/29/2010 Date of Murder: 12/04/2009
Fort Drum NY Soldier Convicted Of Killing Two Friends Tells This Reporter Why 01/26/2011 Date of Murder: 12/04/2009

Ryan Krieger an Iraq war veteran arrested in connection with fatal heroin overdose Death and cover–up in NJ 08/09/2012 Date of death: July 2, 2011 VKV (overdose)

John Heath a 'Disturbed' Vietnam veteran arrested for murder of his wife 28 years ago and two years after her bones were found in Connecticut 05/01/2012 Date of Murder: April 1984

Iraq War Veteran Spends Night Of Wedding Reception In Mass. Jail 08/1/2014

District attorney rubber-stamps slaying of Denis Reynoso, an Iraq veteran, by Lynn Mass. police 02/02/2014 Date of Murder: 09/05/2013 CKV

$5,000 Murder Reward – MARINE VETERAN Mass. Date of Murder: Jan. 29, 2013

After husband's death, at the hands of his own child Vermont widow takes on PTSD 05/14/2014 Date of death: April 26, 2014

Daniel Porter a Jackson Maine man pleads guilty to manslaughter in drug related death of Florida firefighter and Iraq veteran 04/03/2013 Date of Murder: Feb. 16, 2012

Master Sgt. Nathaniel Cosby a Marine's life sentence upheld in Hawaii prostitute murder 08/21/2014 Date of Murder: May 16, 2013
Military jury: Life in prison and dishonorable discharge for Master Sgt. Cosby 04/28/2014 Date of Murder: May 16, 2013

Gulf War veteran remanded in custody after murder of family in Newcastle U.K. 08/22/2014

Sailor, allegedly strangled to death in Germany by Staff Sgt. Sean Oliver an airman, remembered as caring 08/19/2014 Date of Murder: Dec. 14 2013 VKV Prosecutors have said Oliver was having an affair with Chepusov’s wife at the time of the murder. Chepusov’s wife, Karla Alejandra Zolezzi, stood to receive $400,000 upon her husband’s death.
More charges against two army soldiers in sailor's death in Germany 08/29/2014 Date of Murder: Dec. 14 2013
Spc. Cody Kramer Gets 6 Months for False Testimony in AFN Murder 10/17/2014 Date of Murder: Dec. 14 2013

Out of prison, for killing an unarmed Iraqi man, Afghanistan vet works as ranch helper 08/04/2014 Date of Murder: 05/16/2008

Soldiers recall Iraq rape and murders, aftermath at Army ethics conference 07/31/2014 Date of Murder: 2006

Al-Jazeera: US contractors arrested in Iraq: Detained workers could become first US citizens to face Iraqi law under new rules. 06/07/2009 Date of Murder: May 21 2009 VKV ?
FBI searches for murderer of contractor James Kitterman 03/24/2014 Date of Murder: May 21 2009
Wikipedia: Jim Kitterman
Who killed Jim Kitterman at the Missing Man

Daniel Fitzsimons a British contractor arrested after two shot dead in Baghdad Iraq Green Zone 08/10/2009 Date of Murder: 08/09/2009 VKV
Briton Danny Fitzsimons jailed for 20 years in Iraq for contractors' murders 02/28/2011 Date of Murder: 08/09/2009

Military charges 8 with murder of Iraqi civilians 06/23/2006 Date of Murder: April 26 2006
Marine Sgt. Lawrence Hutchins a Marine convicted in Iraq murder gets conviction overturned in Ca. 08/02/2013 Date of Murder: April 26 2006
Marine Sgt. Lawrence Hutchins to be retried for Iraq murder in California 01/27/2014 Date of Murder: April 26 2006
No Time in Prison for Cpl. Trent D. Thomas a Marine Convicted of Kidnapping Iraqi 07/21/2007 Date of Murder: April 26 2006
Navy Hospital Corpsman 3rd Class Melson J. Bacos in Iraq killing case released after serving less than one year and agreeing to testify 03/08/2007 Date of Murder: April 26 2006
Marine Pfc. John J. Jodka gets 18 months in Iraqi's death 11/15/2006 Date of Murder: April 26 2006
Lance Cpl. Tyler A. Jackson is the 2nd Marine Sentenced In Iraqi Killing to 21 months 11/16/2006 Date of Murder: April 26 2006
Lance Cpl. Jerry E. Shumate Jr. A third Marine pleads guilty was sentenced to 21 months in the brig 11/22/2006 Date of Murder: April 26 2006
Marine Lance Cpl. Robert B. Pennington takes plea deal in Iraq death 02/14/2007 Date of Murder: April 26 2006
2 juries, 2 sentences for Iraqi man's death; Marine Cpl. Marshall L. Magincalda released with time served; Marine Sgt. Lawrence Hutchins sentenced to 15 years, which was later overturned after he served almost half of that 08/04/2007 Date of Murder: April 26 2006
Wikipedia: Hamdania incident April 26 2006

Defense: Government suppressed evidence in Blackwater 07/28/2014 Date of Murder: September 16, 2007
All Four Blackwater guards found guilty in Iraq shootings Date of Murder: September 16, 2007 The jury in Washington found Nicholas Slatten guilty of first-degree murder, and the three other three guards — Paul Slough, Evan Liberty and Dustin Heard — guilty of at least three counts of voluntary manslaughter. More than 30 were killed although the trial focused on only 14.
Wikipedia: Blackwater Baghdad shootings Date of Murder: September 16, 2007 Jeremy Ridgeway also pleaded guilty to voluntary manslaughter and attempted manslaughter; and Donald W. Ball had charges dismissed.

Sgt. 1st Class Michael Barbera charged with murder in 2007 Iraq killings 11/19/2013 Date of Murder: March 2007 The soldiers believed Barbera’s actions triggered two reprisal suicide bombings at their combat outpost that killed 10 of their fellow paratroopers in the 5th Squadron of the 73rd Cavalry Airborne Reconnaissance Regiment, 82nd Airborne Division.
Sgt. 1st Class Michael Barbera Accused, But Few Answers In Death Of Iraqi Teens 12/01/2013 Date of Murder: March 2007
No prison time for Army Sgt. Barbera for phone threat against reporter's wife 11/21/2014 Date of Murder: March 2007 The threat charge against Barbera involves one of several calls made to Prine's home phone on Oct. 3, 2011. A male caller told Prine's wife, Deanna, that her husband needed to back away from pursuing a story about something that happened in Iraq in 2007.

“For your personal safety, I suggest you tell him he needs to stop working on this story,” she testified the caller told her. ...

“They're only giving him a pathetic slap on the wrist. I was stunned they took the dishonorable discharge off the table for the plea,” Deanna Prine said after the sentencing. “Without honor, we're all just animals without conscience. The Army that I thought I knew wouldn't have tolerated Barbera and his ilk for a moment. I'd like to think the military upholds an ethos that we all aspire to, but this whole experience has proven me incorrect. I'm not really sure what to think of the Army anymore.”
More stories about Sgt. 1st Class Michael Barbera Date of Murder: March 2007

Private 1st Class Steven Green an Ex-US Soldier Guilty of Rape, Murder in Iraq 05/07/2009 Date of Rape and Murder: March 12, 2006
Steven Green Spared Death Penalty For Iraqi Rape, Murders 06/21/2009 Date of Murder: March 12, 2006
Private 1st Class Steven Green an Ex-soldier convicted of killing Iraqi family dies in prison presumed suicide 02/18/2014 Date of Murder: March 12, 2006
Pfc. Jesse Spielman Gets 110 Years in Rape-Slay Case eligible for parole in 2015 08/05/2007 Date of Murder: March 12, 2006
Sgt. Paul E. Cortez Sentenced for Rape and Death of Iraqi Girl eligible for parole in 2015 02/23/2007 Date of Murder: March 12, 2006
Spc. James P. Barker, 23, sentenced to 90 years for rape-murder in Iraq eligible for parole in 2015 11/16/2006 Date of Murder: March 12, 2006
Kin hope military will support soldier 07/12/2006 Date of Murder: March 12, 2006 A sixth soldier, Sgt. Anthony W. Yribe, is charged with making a false statement, accused of failing to report the crime.
G.I. Tells Why He Testified in Rape-Murder Inquiry and how, once he spoke to military investigators, he feared for his life. 08/07/2006 Date of Murder: March 12, 2006
‘I didn’t think of Iraqis as humans,’ says U.S. soldier who raped 14-year-old girl before killing her and her family Date of Murder: March 12, 2006
Wikipedia: Mahmudiyah killings Date of Murder: March 12, 2006 Army Pfc. Bryan L. Howard was also convicted and is eligible for parole in 2015

2nd Marine Acquitted in Fallujah Killings 04/09/2009 Date of alleged Murder: November 2004
Wikipedia: Ryan G. Weemer Date of alleged Murder: November 2004

Blackwater Founder Linked to Investigators' Murders 08/05/2009
Blackwater: Private Army In The News Again 12/16/2009

Iraqis Attempt to Arrest US Soldiers After Shooting 07/25/2009

Sadistic Brit Soldiers 'Made Iraqis Dance Like Jacko' 07/14/2009

Iraq war veteran from Missouri LaVena Johnson: A Suicide or A Murder Cover-Up? 01/15/2014 Date of suicide or Murder: July 19, 2005 possible or probable VKV
Death of LaVena Johnson Date of Murder: July 19, 2005

'We Were Just Pawns:' Lynndie England 07/29/2009

Sgt. John Russell, Iraq Vet, Pleads Guilty To Killing Fellow Soldiers at the Camp Liberty Combat Stress Center near Baghdad 04/22/2013 Date of Murder: May 11, 2009 VKV

Justin Cannon and Christopher Drotleff, Two Blackwater Guards Arrested on Murder Charges in Afghanistan 12/01/2010 Date of Murder: May 5, 2009
Christopher Drotleff an Ex-Blackwater worker gets 37 months in Afghan's death Date of Murder: May 5, 2009 Drotleff, 31, received an other-than-honorable discharge from the Marine Corps in 2001 after several unauthorized absences and other offenses and has a lengthy record of misdemeanor arrests in Virginia Beach.
Justin Cannon, former Blackwater contractor sentenced for killing Afghan civilian 06/27/2011 Date of Murder: May 5, 2009

Joseph Snodgrass an Air Force officer conspired to kill his wife outside a Philippines air base. Date of Murder: 1991
Recounting US military's last days in the Philippines: Joseph Snodgrass pulled a brazen jail break from his cell on Clark Air Base

US Soldier Arrested in Murder of Panamanian Woman 07/01/2014 Date of Murder: 06/23/2014

Papua New Guinea police arrest and charge two Defense Contractors for murder of Reza Barati 08/19/2014 Date of Murder: February 18 2014 Police say both men worked for the company G4S, which had the Australian Government security contract at the detention centre at the time of the violence.
Manus violence that killed Reza Barati 'eminently foreseeable', parliamentary inquiry finds 12/10/2014 Date of Murder: February 18 2014
Wikipedia: Reza Berati Date of Murder: February 18 2014

Murderers Who Have Served in the U.S. Military: A Database

NYT: Veterans and White Supremacy 04/15/2014

Military battling white supremacists within its own ranks 08/21/2012

Wisconsin gunman's Army base had white supremacists 08/08/2012

NYT: Across America, Deadly Echoes of Foreign Battles

Wash. Post: Sharp Rise in Violent Crimes Cited Among Returning Iraq Veterans in Colo. Unit

Veterans Treatment Court Studies and Statistics

US Veterans and Military Families A July 2010 report found that child abuse in Army families was been three times higher in homes from which a parent was deployed, for example. From 2001 through 2011, alcohol use associated with physical domestic violence in Army families increased by 54%, and with child abuse by 40%.

Veterans Treatment Court Studies and Statistics

Veterans in State and Federal Prison, 2004

Swords to Plowshares

FBI: The Returning Military Veteran

Homicide Trends in the United States, 1980-2008 - Bureau of Justice statistics www.bjs.gov/content/pub/pdf/htus8008.pdf

Huff Post: PTSD and Murder Among Newest Veterans

The Military's Deepening Geographic Divide

War toll is heaviest in poor, rural areas: Research links poor economy to Iraq deaths

NYT War torn series

Stories That Speak for Themselves NYT Op-Ed

Iraq Veterans Crazy Murderers?

Why suicide rate among veterans may be more than 22 a day

‘Kill Team’: The Documentary the Army Doesn’t Want You to See 

Combat Veterans and the Death Penalty: A Forensic Neuropsychiatric Perspective September 2010

Crime at Army Times

Wife blames VA hospital after husband is arrested for trying to steal baby in Va. 07/31/2014

Los Angeles Times stories on Iraq War veterans

Paul Martin Richard Houle Iraq vet accused of molestation, claims PTSD in Minn. 07/14/2014

The Nation: How America’s Wars Came Home With the Troops 04/17/2014

The enemy at home: Veterans addicted and dying from VA pain pills 04/25/2014

"I Am Sorry That It Has Come to This": A Soldier's Last Words (suicide) 06/22/2013

DECORATED MARINE VETERAN BRANDON RAUB WAS ARRESTED BY CHESTERFIELD, VA POLICE, SECRET SERVICE AND THE FBI FOR POSTING “THE TRUTH: FACEBOOK POST BY BRANDON RAUB” ON HIS FACEBOOK PAGE 08/24/2012 ?????

The Hidden Cost of War: Returning Vet PTSD Violence List 2005 10/19/2005

Generals Puzzle Through Surge in Army Suicides 05/23/2009

Newser Iraq War

4 GIs Charged With Hazing Suicide Soldier 08/21/2009

For Many Vietnam Veterans, The War Still Isn’t Over 08/11/2014

Is Itzcoatl Ocampo an example of divide and rule tactics? 02/07/2012

Warnings signs for Aaron Alexis are abundant 09/17/2013