PTSD or Methamphetamine?
The New York Times is running an epic length story on murders by returning Iraq Vets. Its a sad and brilliant chronicle and here are the key paragraphs:
The New York Times found 121 cases in which veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan committed a killing in this country, or were charged with one, after their return from war. In many of those cases, combat trauma and the stress of deployment — along with alcohol abuse, family discord and other attendant problems — appear to have set the stage for a tragedy that was part destruction, part self-destruction.
Three-quarters of these veterans were still in the military at the time of the killing. More than half the killings involved guns, and the rest were stabbings, beatings, strangulations and bathtub drownings. Twenty-five offenders faced murder, manslaughter or homicide charges for fatal car crashes resulting from drunken, reckless or suicidal driving.
This brought to mind a story I was told about an embedded photographer on the first run into Baghdad who said that the medics were handing out so much speed (“go pills”) that you could hear teeth grinding from outside the Bradley Fighting Vehicles. How many of these kids were introduced to amphetamine by the Army during their tour of Iraq? When you read the description of some of the crimes, the paranoia and aggression associated with Meth just jumps out at you:
When Archie O’Neil, a gunnery sergeant in the Marines, returned from a job handling dead bodies in Iraq, he became increasingly paranoid, jumpy and fearful — moving into his garage, eating M.R.E.’s, wearing his camouflage uniform, drinking heavily and carrying a gun at all times, even to answer the doorbell.
“It was like I put one person on a ship and sent him over there, and they sent me a totally different person back,” Monique O’Neil, his wife, testified.
On the eve of his second deployment to Iraq in 2004, Sergeant O’Neil fatally shot his mistress, Kimberly O’Neal, after she threatened to kill his family while he was gone.
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On New Year’s Eve, (Sgt. Seth) Strasburg, accompanied by his brother, consumed vodka cocktails for hours at Jim’s Bar and Package in Arnold. Toward evening’s end, he engaged in an intense conversation with a Vietnam veteran, after which, he said, he inexplicably holstered his gun and headed to a party. Outside the party, he drunkenly approached a Chevrolet Suburban crowded with young people, got upset and thrust his gun inside the car.
Mr. Strasburg said he did not remember what provoked him. According to one account, a young man — not the victim — set him off by calling him a paid killer. Mr. Strasburg, according to the prosecutor, stuck his gun under the young man’s chin. (The man died from Gunshot wounds).
The Army’s explanation of all this is PTSD, and the Times make only passing reference to many of the vets being in substance abuse programs. However it might be worth asking the Army Surgeon General about Amphetamine consumption in Iraq.
I agree with your premise — if you’ve ever been around someone on meth, they can look and act quite insane. And the fact that these drugs are given out like candy great aggravates the situation — the battle stress is actually worse, because meth (and a lot of other drugs) significantly disrupt the body’s normal stress regulators, such as B vitamin levels.
I hope that that the VA is doing tox screenings on these guys before giving them an incorrect diagnosis and loading them up with more drugs (psychotropics can also lead to violent behaviour).
Meth could also explain some of the conduct on the night shift at Abu Ghraib
Abu Ghraib would just be a drop in the bucket. If it’s meth that’s having this effect, and not simply PTS, then troops stationed all over the place are likely similarly insane and dangerous while in the field–not just those in Abu Ghraib. How terrifying…
This may be off on a tangent here, but why did the first gentleman, his wife and his mistress all share the same last name? Was he sleeping with his sister in law? If so, she was willing to kill her own sister and nieces/nephews.?
Sounds like a fun situation just waiting to happen.
O’Neil and O’Neal. Reading comprehension. It’s apparently a good thing.
As an added thought:
This tradition of giving meth to soldiers goes was back at least to 1966 (previously, it was very popular with the German army during WW II). Under the auspices of the US Navy, there was an experiment being conducted in Austin, Texas on the UT campus by a psychiatrist being paid by Uncle Sam.
Charles Whitman, now known as “the Texas Tower sniper” was one of the test subjects. He was being prescribed amphetamines by the psychiatrist and the according to secret testimony to the coroner’s jury in the case and later released under an FOIA request by the local newspaper, the FBI testified that Whitman had been “eating amphetamines like popcorn.”
He murdered his wife and mother the night before and shot 45 people from the tower in the morning.
Publicly, the FBI and others maintained that Whitman had a “small tumor in his brain” that “may have been responsible for his rampage.” Never mind that there is no other case in the history of man having such a tumor causing such a crime.
Today’s soldiers are on combinations of chemicals, prescribed, handed out, self administered, legal and illegal.
It is the negligent and irresponsible prescription and consumption of drugs and other chemicals that is responsible for this carnage.
Those responsible are creating an American version of suicide bombers.
Unfortunately, the NYTimes article fails to note that the rate of murder per returning soldier (121 in 6 yrs) is equal to the regular rate of murder by males (ages 18 to 24) in the US.
Moon-That’s not the issue. Its simply a question of –Did the Army supply speed (or Provigil or Ritalin) to the troops in Iraq?
[...] 16, 2008 · No Comments Our concern earlier in the week that the PTSD-caused murders by returning Iraq Vets were exacerbated by Amphetamine ran smack into the Baseball hearings yesterday, where it was [...]
My Question would be, Have any of you served in Iraq? I have, and I can tell you that the “the medics were handing out so much speed (”go pills”) that you could hear teeth grinding from outside the Bradley Fighting Vehicles.” quote is just plain ludicrous. Drugs of any sort are VERY TIGHTLY CONTROLLED, so much so that to get a couple of Motrin (an over the counter medicine) you have to see 2 Medics and an actual Doctor before they give you any. Please. That quote, and the “statistics” that accompany your rants, have no resemblance to truth.
[...] while back I posted about the possibility of amphetamine use in Iraq. Last night, watching the Lakers victory, there was a commercial for a new video war game called [...]
Re drugging the troops, here’s a selection of articles on the “re-abling” medications being used to keep walking-wounded suffering from the “thousand yard stare” in the skinny ranks of the Army and Marines. In my war, the meds were fewer and the choice of recreational substitutes was much wider and widely resorted to. I don’t hear much about toking or snorting or shooting up, especially with the end products of the poppy production “we” are facilitating to keep favored warlords in business and “in line.”
http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1811858,00.html
http://www.veteransforcommonsense.org/index.cfm/Page/Article/ID/2894
http://www.inthesetimes.com/article/2670/
http://www.pharmalot.com/2008/06/a-weapon-in-the-war-in-iraq-antidepressants/
http://www.americanchronicle.com/articles/11079
http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/military/20060319-9999-1n19mental.html
http://psychcentral.com/blog/archives/2008/06/07/how-soliders-cope-with-modern-warfare-antidepressants/
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/tony-newman/americas-medicated-army-p_b_106344.html
http://articles.latimes.com/2006/may/14/world/fg-soldier14
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2008/06/10/earlyshow/main4168696.shtml
I am surprised that so many self-proclaimed “experts” do not realize that methamphetamine is dramatically different from amphetamine (aka, racemic amphetamine, dextroamphetamine).