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Mar-21-2012 12:29printcomments

Sergeant Bayles: Martyr of Medical Malpractice, Officer Arrogance and Irresponsibility, Sequel 2

How he ended up in the “snake pit” of Ft. Lewis and Afghanistan is the basis of my story.

U.S. Army Staff Sergeant Robert Bales stands accused of having murdered 16 Afghan civilians.
U.S. Army Staff Sergeant Robert Bales stands accused of having murdered 16 Afghan civilians.

(MOLALLA, OR) - As a former Private front-line Combat Infantryman with a college degree I am extremely troubled by what appears to be going on now in the Army. It was bad enough for me and my buddies and I in WWII but this sounds toxic with more lethal consequences in present Army camps than we are having in two current wars.

The Oregonian, March 19, 2012, has provided me with information about how toxic things really are. This is in direct opposition to statements by Sgt. Bayles’ former Army mates and friends, one said “that is NOT our Bobby. Something horrible horrible has happened to him”. I can tell them what it is/was; it was three tours in Iraq and the current tour in Afghanistan.

Many bad things have happened to him both in and outside of the Army. He seemed to believe that after 3 combat tours in which his conduct was admirable and exemplary but even with several accidents and inguries he felt he was eligible to be promoted to Sergeant First Class and non-combat duty anyplace. He probably bitched about this lack of promotion. He had excellently earned those stripes. Probably his Commanding Officer thought not and sent him to one of the roughest posts in Afghanistan. It sounds like the Army. All of these were reasons causing severe PTSD. After 11 years in the Army if he had any loose screws, they would have discovered them. No Screws! A former Army Brigadier General Psychiatrist Dr. Stephan Xenakis supports my assessment.

How he ended up in the “snake pit” of Ft. Lewis and Afghanistan is the basis of my story.

The Oregonians reporters, actually from McClatchy Newspapers, were Christian Hill and Adam Ashton. They did a superb job. These were their questions in bold and an abstract of their own answers:


Q. Does Ft. Lewis-McChord have a problem with soldier suicides and PTSD

A. An emphatic yes and a very serious one.

Q. Do record show a disproportionate number of crimes committed by those troops

A. There were 4874 crimes in 2011 compared with 3812 in 2010. About 413 were serious felonies. This is a lot. This is similar to other posts.

Q. Are Ft. Lewis-McChord’s growth and deployment schedule to blame for this

A. The Third Brigade of the Second Infantry division has been deployed 4 times. No other Brigade has served more. This is probably why it is so SNAFUED.

Q. Is Ft. Lewis-McChord leadership to blame

A. They just got rid of their Chief Medical Officer and two Psychiatrists who were downgrading 285 PTSD victims to Personality Disorder which is not Pensionable. Those three were presumably taking orders from military officers rather than medical officers. This is SNAFU.

Lt. General James Dubik formerly commander of the place says it is FUBAR. I AGREE!

SOMETHING MUST BE DONE FROM THE TOP DOWN, THE ARMY IS DESTROYING ITSELF!!

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Anonymous March 21, 2012 3:04 pm (Pacific time)

Courtroom supposition does not fly, but if there is a case for a PTSD defense, this sure appears on it's face to be one. To play the devil's advocate, the prosecutor is going to point out that this was a very rare event, otherwise people who had served as many tours in combat, even more, would also have done this act. I do not buy that arguement, but watch how non-military will be calling for his head as time goes by. Then why have they not called for the head of the Ft. Hood terrorist who made it clear why he was killing these people? The president of Afghanistan recently called our soldiers "demons." So he's setting himself up to be Taliban friedly who will once again take power, and then the real mass killings will take place. Well, it's on them, time to come home and deal with our domestic terrorists.

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