Crooked in Canada II

So I’m sitting in the waiting room of my shrink’s office and in walks this guy in uniform. He isn’t armed, and doesn’t appear to be frustrated or anything like that, but security stops him anyway, gives him a pat down, and then until I head into my shrinks office, security keeps a close eye on that guy. I wondered what was up, but I felt safe, and nobody in that waiting room, not an effin’ soul, was shot dead by a madman in fatigues. Lucky for them and me huh?

I bet you’re wondering what my point is, where this story is headed, aren’t you?

In a few seconds, if not immediately after reading the next paragraph, you’ll be able to figure it out.

A U.S. soldier serving his country in Iraq has been charged with five counts of murder.

Yeah the story goes, and its a good one in a tragic kind of way, that Sgt. John M. Russell, after fatally shooting five of his fellow soldiers inside a mental health clinic at Camp Liberty, has been charged with murder and aggravated assault. This after having his weapon taken away from him at the clinic.

Shocking story man. Not the part that he shot five of his fellow soldiers, but the part where soldiers are allowed into the clinic, armed in the first place. That, and the fact that when Russell was relieved of his weapon, he wasn’t immediately locked up in a padded room.

At the very least he should have been immediately placed under armed guard, and/or locked in a room until mental health workers could figure out what to do with him. Know what I mean man.

I can’t believe that after disarming Russell, mental health workers let him leave the clinic unsupervised, to wander around a heavily armed camp where firearms, grenades and rocket launchers can be found in almost every barracks. Somebody really effed up in that clinic, and as far as I’m concerned they have ‘a whole lot of splainin to do’ Lucy.

I definitely think that what went down at Camp Liberty could have been avoided if there was such a thing as common sense in place.

Uh-huh, nothing like the murder of 5 soldiers by one of their whacked out own to bring people to their senses when it comes to handling soldiers, suffering from mental anguish and frustration in a war where soldiers are witness to some pretty serious brutality man.

Don’t get me wrong, Sgt. Russell is a bad kind of soldier and he deserves to be punished for the murder, but I don’t think he should be the only one going down for this.  A lot of blame for what happened can be spread around the chain of command, and with military mental health officials, who for whatever reason weren’t able to prevent Russell from becoming the killer he became.

Surely, in the 21 years Russell served his country, there would have been recognizable signs that something was not right about Russell. Don’t soldiers get a mental health check up once they return home from duty, and before they leave for a second tour of duty?

The reason I ask is because not only did Russell do two tours in Iraq, but he did a couple of tours in Bosnia-Herzegovina too. After the first tours of Iraq and Bosnia-Herzegovina, wouldn’t there have been a mandatory mental health assessment, and wouldn’t there have been another one shortly before he shipped out for his second tour of duty? Surely, health officials would have picked up that something might be wrong with Russell then, right?

Something is wrong with this picture, and whatever went down with mental health observers and practitioners (when it comes to Sgt. Russell), is really effed up man. Somebody failed Sgt. Russell and his five dead brothers, but that person or persons will never be held accountable for his or her failure of duty of care.

Now about that clinic at Camp Liberty. What the hell is wrong with the people posted there, and how could they have been so stupid?

Common sense tells me that if Sgt. Russell had to have his weapon taken away from him because of safety concerns for himself and others, he should have been immediately put into lockdown and under armed guard. He definitely shouldn’t have been allowed to leave the building to walk around a camp unsupervised where he has easy access to pretty much any weapon he wants.

This horrible incident could have been a lot worse than it was, but it definitely could have been prevented, if the people treating Sgt. Russell were more on the ball.

As much as I agree that Sgt. Russell needs to be held accountable for his murderous actions, others should go down with him, if only because they failed Sgt. Russell and the 5 soldiers he shot dead while having a mental breakdown.

Bottom line here, I think Sgt. Russell was eligible for a Section 8 a long, long time ago, but for whatever reason, the officials who make that call decided against it.

There is no doubt in my mind that somebody working in mental health didn’t see this coming.

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