Sgt Bales: Army Sacrifice of a Good Soldier

Irrationality and irresponsibility...

Enterprise News and Pictures Courtesy: newspano.com

(MOLALLA, OR) - In Army command philosophy, it is always the lowest ranking person who is at fault and gets the blame. In this case, commanders up to the rank of regimental colonels are guilty of irrationality and irresponsibility. Just remember it was all Sgt Bale's fault...

From WWII medical experience, the Army medical service knew that about 150 days of combat was all that a combat soldier could tolerate- before acquiring the 'thousand yard stare' of the burned-out PTSD (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder) soldier. With this knowledge, (ha ha ha) why was Sgt Bales sent to one of that war's hottest hot spots? It could have taken much less than that posting to set him off on a temporary insanity binge. His walking out of a relatively safe heavily defended outpost in the middle of the night in one of the most dangerous and lethal spots, is totally irrational. No soldier in his right mind would even consider it. He did it twice!

It is likewise totally irrational that all of his immediate superiors; sgt's or looeys (Lieutenants) did not see telltale signs of stress. The Army and everyone in it knows that about 350,000 Middle east Veterans do have treatable PTSD and should never be placed in a hazardous, lethal zone with loaded weapons. Stuff like this has happened before.

It has not been said that Sgt Bales has had stress counseling or medication but he certainly has had both, neither which really helps. A doctor prescribing anti-depressants or Valium, and saying "You'll be over it in a few days or weeks", gives a sentence of death by suicide, overdose of painkillers, or even the anti-depressants themselves. PTSD victims in their despair, do many irrational things.

We also have a whole bunch of Army doctors and other medical providers who don't seem to have a clue about diagnosing or caring for PTSD victims. If you don't believe it, consider that we have about 1000 PTSD suicides per year and about 200,000 are homeless because of inadequate care by the Army and the VA.

We have had a whole passel of former Army doctors pontificating and trivializing PTSD and TBI. They don't know anything about PTSD unless they have it themselves, small chance, most never even heard gunfire, mortar or artillery barrages. It would clear their minds of a lot of BS.

Sgt Bales' wife, Carilyn, when interviewed about this unfortunate tragedy, said, "This is not him". This is not a surprise. He was a real macho dude and would do anything and everything to conceal his anguish about what was happening to him. The Army didn't "see it either", which doesn't say much for Army medics.

If ever there was a case of "temporary insanity" this is it! It also shows temporary insanity in those who sent him three times to Iraq and finally to the killing fields of Afghanistan.

More information on the history of Dr. Leveque can be found in his book, General Patton's Dogface Soldier of WWII about his own experiences "from a foxhole".
Order the book by mail by following this link: Dogface Soldier

If you are a World War II history buff, you don't want to miss it.

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