Marine Corps Under Fire
Marine Sniper Claims PTSD Caused Unlawful Behavior
As if we don't have enough to worry about while fighting a war on two fronts, Iraq and Afghanistan, the Marines have another kind of trouble brewing in Iraq other than just figuring out who the enemy is. According to the November 2, 2006 issue of the USA Today there are "troubled troops in no-win plight." This is partly a story about Chris Packley a top marksman on a Marine sniper team that returned from Fallujah in 2004 who had had enough of killing and wanted out. He eventually got his wish although not in the manner he would have chosen. He was "expelled" from the Corps and now claims that PTSD was the cause of the unlawful behavior that got him into trouble.
An Interesting And Original Defense But Will The Marines Buy It?
As a consequence of his "less-than -honorable" discharge he lost access to the free counseling and medication he needed to "treat the mental wounds left from combat." He now basically is accusing the Marine Corps of "punishing" him for the behavior that led to his discharge. It gets a bit confusing as military matters have a tendancy to be but according to one Lt. Colonel Colby Vokey, the Marine officer who supervises the legal defense of Marines in the western USA, he blames the Marine Corps for these men not being eligible to get treatment from the VA - because they did not receive the proper treatment and counseling at the time they needed it.
Had the Marine Corps provided this assistance the man would have kept on killing until either he or a lot of rag heads would be dead. "The Marine Corps has created these mental health issues in combat veterans and then we just kind of kick them out into the streets" Vokey goes on to say. Who is this guy?
Who's side is this Colonel on anyway? The Marine Corps contends that stress disorder isn't a legal defense for misconduct and I would have to agree. What I don't understand is if they feel this way why is a Marine Col. defending a position against it. If the Marine Corps takes a position on something isn't a Marine colonel supposed to, publicly at least, support it? Yet, he tosses out these goofy comparisons to "Catch-22" and talks like a civilian tort lawyer.
There is a classic military dis-connect here and I haven't figured it out yet. However, you can't blame the Colonel for those in the Corps who don't have the guts to take responsibility for their actions. (and I am not suggesting that Packley is one of them.) Nothing is anyone's fault any more. If you murder 30 people in an Amish schoolhouse, why, that was because your grandmother drank crack-laced coffee for breakfast and your Mom smoked it all day. It surely can't be your fault.
But if you are a combat soldier you have to act like one. You can't fake it in combat. That's why our government spent all that money to train you and get you ready to face our enemies - not to fall apart at the first sign of blood. Soldiers, especially Marines have to gird their loins for battle. If you are going to talk the talk you better walk the walk. Somewhere I read that some of us Americans have been accused of becoming a want-it-now kind of society but instant PTSD? It used to take years for those feelings to eat away at you until something snapped and if you were smart, sought help from the VA. Now, it seems you don't have to wait at all, you can get it while you are in combat.
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March 29th, 2007 at 11:22 pm
Diagnosing 'mental disorders' is NOT an exact science. That's what makes it dangerous sometimes. I worked with 'autistic' kids in a hospital setting, and the 'Psychiatrist' had intense psychotropic ordered for 'acting out behaviors.' WBR LeoP