This guy seems a bit disturbed to me. Given all the issues with non-treatment of post active duty military for things like PTSD and depression, etc, they may have either saved his life or someone else's... Or... They may find he's just a bit angry about his situation and let him go.
You can't expect everyone on earth to know that those were the lyrics to a song. I certainly didn't.
The sad thing is we just dump our troops back into daily life instead of caring for them on their return. There should be many more resources and treatment options available for veterans.
There is a lot that happens in folks minds when they have been to war, in a small unit, always expecting death could be right around a corner. Crazy ideas can fester and grow in closed, irrational conditions like that and then we just bring em back and say, "There ya go pal, good luck and enjoy that civilian job hunt!"
My brother came back from two tours as a Marine and let me tell you. He is a fundamentally different person. That's strange in psychology terms because it's much like a mental break. At his core, he is not the same man he was.
Anyway, I hope this man gets some help and we don't see him disappear down the rabbit hole some are imagining or worse yet turn up having harmed himself or someone else.
macintosh man
Since I was the one who posted the second statement. It was intended to correct what I thought was an biased version of the story. I chose the Fox story from among several very similar stores on multiple outlets, precisely because I felt the Fox was likely to be perceived as more sympathetic to his views, not because of any views I hold. In fact I think the Fox story was either based on an AP story or was picked up by AP because so many of the other reports are so similar.
In any event yesterday a judge ordered the Brandon J Raub to be released immediately, so I assume he is home or with family by now.
I wish him well.
X2 - I had a political science professor in college who was from Bulgaria, spoke 5 languages fluently, and had lived and taught in several different countries. During one of our first lectures he drew a line from one end of a 6' whiteboard to the other and asked us to mark where we thought Democrats and Republicans were on the left/liberal to right/conservative continuum. I think we had them a foot or two apart when he erased both of them and drew them about an inch apart in roughly the middle of the board (and then proceeded to add communists, socialists, religious fundamentalists, etc further apart). He then proceeded to explain to us how the rest of the world (and Europe in particular) is amused at what a big deal we make out of our (relatively) minor disagreements.
I understand the slippery slope argument but sometimes I wonder if growing up in such a free and open country hasn't made us hyper-sensitive to even the most minor incursions. After all, the Declaration of Independence lists "life" and "the pursuit of happiness" alongside liberty as unalienable rights. If we uphold liberty at the expense of the other two are we not missing the point?
That was the catch though, you say your comment was intended to correct "what you thought was a biased version of the story".....But like the rest of us, you also didn't know what the actual story even was, and was the reason I suggested that a person choosing their sources wisely may serve to nip these debates in the bud from getting off topic in the first place...not to mention the fact that the source you chose would have by proven nature been saying the exact same thing as what was being implied in the first post you say you were trying to correct.
If that was simply a statement of support, an not an effort to spin the judges order into an implication that the guy was being held by the "government" for no legitimate reason, I'm sure we would all agree.
Well said. The current time frames being experienced (some being close to a year in length) by MANY veterans for merely hearing whether their claims for treatment are going to be accepted by local veterans administrations (let alone how long it may then take to get the treatment itself) is a current national disgrace, and that's coming from someone who has never served in the military. I was considering the Air Force when I came of age, but my dad (an Army veteran) suggested that my particular talents would be better utilized elsewhere.
Rachel Maddows' book Drift - The Unmooring of American Military Power is an informative look into just how far away the people who run our current military have strayed from the original concepts for a militia, and the responsibilities we should have towards that militia, that our founding fathers had in mind.