Coming Home-Indiana- Three separate incidents with Iraq/Afghanistan war veterans in the past 2 weeks

[sabra]

http://www.wthr.com/global/story.asp?s=11215689

Man surrenders after eight-hour standoff
Posted: Sep 29, 2009 4:23 AM CDT Updated: Oct 08, 2009 10:08 PM CDT


Indianapolis - Police took an Indiana National Guardsman to the hospital following a stand-off with police downtown.

It happened near the IUPUI campus at the Lockefield Gardens Apartments. It happened in the 700 block of West Walnut on the west side of downtown, located between Wishard Hospital and IUPUI. SWAT teams, IMPD and IUPUI campus police were on the scene for several hours.

Police say the man was under an unusual amount of stress since returning from Iraq and that may have led to the SWAT situation.

Sgt. Jason Carrera, 26, held officers at bay for hours. Carrera was armed with a rifle. Police negotiators spoke through a robot sent into his apartment.

...

Sgt. Carrera is an IUPUI student trying to get into nursing school. A former Army Ranger, he just returned eight months ago after serving two tours in Iraq. One of his best friends whom he served with committed suicide recently. His truck was car jacked last week and he was served with divorce papers Monday night.

http://www.policeone.com/news/1953756-Iraq-War-veteran-opens-fire-on-Indy-police

Iraq War veteran opens fire on Indy police

Associated Press


LYNN, Ind. — An ex-Marine who served in Iraq has been charged with three counts of attempted murder of a police officer after firing on police.

Authorities say 26-year-old Andrew Ward of rural Lynn fired four shotgun blasts at three officers Friday night at a rural farm house. No officers were hurt.

After that weapon and another malfunctioned, officers used a stun gun to subdue Ward. He was being held without bond Sunday. He also faces preliminary charges of criminal recklessness, battery and intimidation.

Relatives say Ward was discharged from the Marines last month and is seeking disability veterans benefits for anxiety and post-traumatic-stress disorder. An older brother who also served in Iraq killed himself in 2003.

http://www.thestarpress.com/article/20091013/NEWS06/91013002/1001/NEWS/Veteran-identified-in-movie-theater-shooting

Veteran identified in movie theater shooting

By DOUGLAS WALKER • [e-mail] • October 13, 2009


MUNCIE - The young military veteran who shot and killed himself in a Muncie movie theater late Monday has been identified as Jacob W. Sexton, 21, of Farmland.
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Sexton was on leave from serving in the Afghanistan war, but was set to return, according to the coroner's office.

Sexton was in the movie theater with three companions, two of them his brothers, watching "Zombieland."

...

Sexton had argued with theater employees after being asked to produce an ID to view the R-rated movie, saying he had killed 18 people in the service of his country, witnesses told police.

[sabra]

1. self kick for our vets

:kick:

[ljm2002]

2. So sad...

...it is definitely one of the ongoing costs of war, that are never talked about when there's all the "rah rah!" going in...

[mopinko]

3. as much a cost of war as the price of bullets. np

[gratuitous]

4. War used to be a sober undertaking

One of those "last resort" things when just about every other method had been exhausted. There are a number of good reasons for that, including the outlay from the Treasury, the cost of bullets and bombs, the logistical nightmare of supply lines and support staff, and of course the loss of human life. The Bush Doctrine, however, moved invasion and war considerably up the list of options for dealing with difficulties. Anyone not with us was presumed to be against us, and if they didn't have nuclear weapons, was ripe for invasion. All the nonsense about "weapons of mass destruction" aside, the U.S. would never have invaded Iraq if Saddam had had a nuclear weapon at his disposal. North Korea and Iran learned that lesson very quickly.

The Bush administration was also masterful at hiding away the costs of war. Media correspondents were embedded and co-opted, pictures of the returning remains were forbidden, and the budgeting for the invasions was kept out of the ordinary course of appropriation. Indiana has recently had three exemplary cases of what happens when the populace is disconnected from actions taken on its behalf. Other areas of the country will surely get their chance to deal with some more of the fallout and collateral cost of the Afghanistan and Iraq invasions in the months and years to come.

But how can we hold the Bush administration accountable for its war crimes and crimes against humanity when so much of our country enthusiastically endorsed these illegal invasions? Even so-called progressives supported the occupation of Afghanistan for quite a long time before the outlines of the fiasco resolved themselves into a clear picture.