Many think Bales case reflects a military pushed to the limit [View all]

[unhappycamper]

http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2012/03/28/143390/many-think-bales-case-reflects.html



In this Aug. 23, 2011, Defense Video & Imagery Distribution System photo, Staff Sgt. Robert Bales participates in an exercise at Fort Irwin, Calif.


Many think Bales case reflects a military pushed to the limit
Scott Canon and Dawn Bormann | McClatchy Newspapers
Posted on Wednesday, March 28, 2012

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — American soldiers in Afghanistan aren't supposed to drink booze. They're not supposed to stray "outside the wire" of their fortifications on their own.

~snip~

A country numb to the tragic frequency of suicide among combat veterans and climbing divorce rates among military families now must take notice of atrocity.

"One country can't keep an occupying force in another country for 10 years and not expect for things now and again to go wrong," said Cindy Williams, a defense analyst and personnel specialist at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Run enough troops through enough bloody combat tours, said Williams, and "you can't expect otherwise. That's the problem."