Rise in homicides by US Iraq war vets -NY Times

[ZombieHorde]

NEW YORK, Jan 12 (Reuters) - A survey of public records by The New York Times found at least 121 U.S. veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan committed a killing or were charged with one after returning home from duty, the newspaper reported on Saturday.

The Times said the numbers indicated a nearly 90 percent increase in homicides involving active-duty military personnel and new veterans for the six-year period since the 2001 invasion of Afghanistan. Neither the Pentagon nor the Justice Department tracks such killings, which are handled by civilian courts. An Army spokesman said the report did not offer a complete picture.

Saying its research likely uncovered only the minimum number of such cases, the Times found three-quarters of the veterans charged were still in the military at the time of the killings, more than half of which involved guns.

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The overwhelming majority had no prior criminal records, the Times said, but it added that in some of the cases, "the fact that the suspect went to war bears no apparent relationship to the crime committed."

The Times said about one-third of the victims were spouses, girlfriends, children or other relatives, while some 25 percent were fellow service members.

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Interviews with relatives of the veterans brought a common refrain of "He came back (from war) different," the Times said, with references to substance abuse and mental instability such as paranoia.

Few of the 121 veterans received more than cursory mental health screening at the end of their deployments, the veterans, their lawyers, relatives and prosecutors said. While many showed signs of combat trauma, they were not evaluated for or diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder until after the homicides, according to the interviews.

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More to this disturbing story at link:
http://www.reuters.com/article/asiaCrisis/idUSB398610

Shouldn't soldiers receive free mental health care for life?