Wednesday, May 13, 2009

MORE DETAILS EMERGE ON DEADLY SHOOTING AT CAMP LIBERTY, IRAQ. NAVY OFFICER, MARYLAND SOLDIER AND PSYCHIATRIST AMONG THOSE KILLED


Maryland Soldier, North Carolina Navy Officer, Psychiatrist Among 5 Iraq Base Shooting Victims

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,519977,00.html

ANNAPOLIS, Md. — Two men described as dedicated to helping their patients deal with psychological problems and a soldier from Maryland were among five people shot to death at military counseling clinic in Baghdad, officials and family said Tuesday.

Navy Cmdr. Charles Springle, 52, of Wilmington, N.C., Pfc. Michael Edward Yates Jr., 19, of Federalsburg, Md., and Dr. Matthew Houseal, of Amarillo, Texas, have been identified as three of the victims in Monday's shooting. The names of the two others have not been released.
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Yates' mother, Shawna Machlinski, said two Army representatives came to her home on the Eastern Shore and said her son was killed by what they called "friendly fire." Machlinski, who last spoke to her son on Mother's Day, said he had talked about the alleged shooter, 44-year-old Sgt. John M. Russell.

She said he told her Russell was deeply angry at the military after three tours of duty in Iraq.
"He said, 'Man, this guy's got issues,' " said Machlinski. She said her son wasn't more specific about Russell's problems and that he told her he got along with him.


The case, the deadliest of the war involving soldier-on-soldier violence, has cast a spotlight on combat stress and emotional problems resulting from frequent deployments to battle zones in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Full story here: http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,519977,00.html

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

You see, Cork--as these clusterfucks continue, both in MESSOpotamia and AFPAK, you're going to see MORE fraggings, due to the same Vietnam reasons, the "running-it-into-the-ground" mentality of repeated tours/futile missions, revenge for sexual assaults, etc. A, R and R (Akbar, Rodriguez, and Russell) won't be the last. It's time to phase down the empire, as it's one that we can no longer afford. The war machine has gone even more insane, and poor Obama is caught up in it. These missions remind me of Pete Seeger's song "Waist deep in the Big Muddy". I see visions of an insane general up to his chest in quicksand, still swinging a saber while rapidly sinking when I read about these missions. I question the usefulness of stress clinics when the troops are still mired in the mideast quicksand. The stress clinics are needed out of the battlezone and stateside. All I see in these stress clinics are means to repair cars so that they can go back into a demolotion derby. The only cure is to bring the troops home.

Bill Corcoran said...

Anonymous: Thanks for your comment. Your critque on the situation in both Iraq and Afganistan is spot on. The stress clinics are needed state-side and not in the combat zone. However, the best thing would be to bring all our troops home from both countries and let them sort out things for themselves.

Anonymous said...

That's "demolition", Cork; sorry, typo.

Bill Corcoran said...

Thanks for the comment. I do it all the time. Typos are part of the job.