Iraq Vets Commit PTSD-Fueled Murders in the Wake of Returning Home

Posted by Amanda Marcotte, Pandagon at 5:05 PM on January 15, 2008.

This story about Iraq and Afghanistan veterans who've come back from the war only to commit acts of violence at home is a must-read. The NY Times found 121 cases of murders committed by veterans back from these wars, 1/3 of which were domestic murders, and the reporters suspect this is only a percentage of the actual murders committed, because they got that number by scouring newspapers around the country, not from statistics cultivated by the Pentagon, which, surprise surprise, doesn't collect such data. The numbers are not insignificant.

The Times used the same methods to research homicides involving all active-duty military personnel and new veterans for the six years before and after the present wartime period began with the invasion of Afghanistan in 2001.

This showed an 89 percent increase during the present wartime period, to 349 cases from 184, about three-quarters of which involved Iraq and Afghanistan war veterans. The increase occurred even though there have been fewer troops stationed in the United States in the last six years and the American homicide rate has been, on average, lower.

Unlike the majority of civilians who commit murder, the majority of the 121 veterans documented by the Times reporters had no criminal history. The anecdotal evidence points to a trend of PTSD-fueled overreactions that led to the murders. The opening story of the piece is about a man who shot some guys who confronted him on the street in Las Vegas for violating some gang turf boundaries that the veteran appears not to have cared much about. He shot them with an AK-47, and generally seemed to be confusing the incident with events that he witnessed in Iraq.

While the murders themselves are an important story, the larger story here is that war--and wars that are primarily about shutting down civilian resistance like the Iraq War is--leave many more casualties than the ones officially logged by the government. PTSD is rampant. The irony of mental illness is that much of the time it's the result of being a sane, normal human being in insane circumstances. We have this expectation that healthy people shouldn't be mentally damaged by trauma, but that makes as much sense as expecting healthy people not to suffer gaping wounds when shot.

There's not much to say to this. I just recommend reading the entire article. It's pathetic how this country managed to completely forget the long-term, widespread devastation war brings back home, and now that we're deep in this shit, it's too late for take-backs. And we'll probably forget it again next time someone's rattling the saber and everyone's waving flags and right wingers are starting blogs, sure that this war is going to be the one that makes them forget the anxiety that's plagued them ever since they made the mistake of dropping their pants and pulling out their rulers.

I agree completely with the experts in the article who call for more support for the troops when they come back home, but I can't avoiding pointing out the elephant in the middle of the room--is there reason to believe that PTSD rates are higher not just when the support system at home is lacking, but also when the wars themselves are fought for bullshit reasons? The trauma itself damages, but there's also the back-up damage of knowing that it didn't have to happen this way. I may be off-base, but I feel that for some people, the feeling that the violence you bore witness to was to some greater purpose probably gives some solace, but for veterans of Vietnam and now of Iraq, that solace isn't going to be part of their future.

Tagged as: crime, veterans, ptsd, us military, mental illness, veteran's health

Amanda Marcotte co-writes the popular blog Pandagon.