A Sad Death

[Belinda Barfield]

In the early '80s I attended a small rural church. One of the toddlers who ran around and about our legs after church services grew up to become a Marine. He recently returned from duty and was suffering from PTSD. A couple of weeks ago, after several hundred rounds of ammo we fired in his small community, he suffered an episode that subsequently lead to him barricading himself in his home aftering firing shots at a neighbor's home. Police and SWAT responded. After several hours they convinced this young man to come out, but he did so carrying a weapon. Why he was killed, instead of wounded, I'm sure we will never know (and I'm not questioning the action taken.) If you feel so inclinded, please take a moment to go to the link below and share. This is not an attempt to start a debate over who should or should receive a Purple Heart, just an attempt to increase awareness of the prevalence of PTSD. RIP Rooster.

http://thesoldiersload.com/2012/03/06/a-legion-of-shadows/

[Greg Peterson]

Sorry for your loss Belinda. This is a tragic loss in so many ways. These men and women, and their family and friends, carry this burden long after the conflicts that created the condition have ceased. Making our returning vets whole again after serving in theater may be beyond our abilities at present, but we can certainly do much more.

[Brian Kent]

Thank you Belinda.

We are about to start a "Military Family Support Fellowship", mostly because we have so many fine individuals and families in our area (mostly Marines, Navy, and Air Force) who are stationed here and need to get that community of trusted friends instantly. We want to support families whose spouses are overseas. A lot of retired military here remember the support systems that worked when everyone lived on base, that is thinned out when they are spread out. A place of worship is a great place for that community to happen. After reading your linked article I will ask our chaplain to share about PTSD and what difference we may be able to make.

Thank you for your post and I am so sorry about your young friend.

Brian

[Dan Hintz]

Why he was killed, instead of wounded, I'm sure we will never know
Without starting a firestorm... officers are not taught to wound, they're taught to protect the safety of themselves and those around them. A wounded person can be more dangerous than in any other state (adrenaline, flight-or-flight reactions, etc.). An assailant carrying a weapon shows a direct threat, so to remove that threat officers will take the shot.

This is a sad state of affairs, for sure, but I do feel it could not have proceeded any other way.

EDIT: missing the "not" above...

[Robert McGowen]

.....he did so carrying a weapon. Why he was killed, instead of wounded, I'm sure we will never know

This is a very sad chain of events, but you completely lost me here......

[Belinda Barfield]

This is a very sad chain of events, but you completely lost me here......

First, I should specify that while I do feel the loss of a good Marine, it is not spefically my loss as I knew him only as a child. Thank you, though, for your condolences.

Robert, I understand your position (and yours as well, Dan) and hope you do not take offense. He came out with hands raised, but with weapon in hand. By all accounts he was not instructed to drop the weapon (yes, I know, a "given" and he should not have exited carrying it). From a non-law enforcement point of view many in the community do not understand why he was not given more of a chance given his training and the situation. I do understand that in the situation described giving someone an opportunity to comply with commands may lead to the death of many as opposed to the death of one.

[Rich Engelhardt]

My condolences.

PTSD can lay hidden for years.
My brother was in Viet Nam in 1970/1971.
I'd rather not share the details in an open forum - but - it was nearly 7 years after he returned that it hit him.


From a non-law enforcement point of view many in the community do not understand why he was not given more of a chance given his training and the situationJudgement call on someone's part.
Given that this is all long distance speculation and none of use were there - someone looked the young man in the eye and saw something.

In a twist of irony, now the same demon (PTSD) is going to haunt someone else.

[Dan Hintz]

He came out with hands raised, but with weapon in hand. By all accounts he was not instructed to drop the weapon (yes, I know, a "given" and he should not have exited carrying it).
Well, these are points not originally mentioned, nor are they in the linked article... those facts would certainly make a difference in my view of the situation, but it makes me wonder how many other bits and pieces we are not privy to. Rich's point is appropriate... we weren't there, and one of the officer's may have seen movement indicating he was not going to go so easily. In the eyes of the officers, "better safe than sorry" means shooting first in situations like that, not "let's see if he pulls the trigger".

[Belinda Barfield]

Dan, the only other information I have, and I did not include it as was given by family members who could, understandably, be biased. Apparently the neighbor on whose house he fired had been taunting him and making derogatory remarks about his mental health. No one knows for sure but it is suspected that the several hundred rounds of ammo were fired by the neighbor. Hearing gunfire in this rural community is not that unusual as target practice can take place in the back yard. Apparently this triggered a flashback (I'm not sure if this is the current terminology) for Rooster and he went into combat mode. In this instance, being a well trained Marine and having served several tours, it is speculated that he was not comfortable leaving his weapon behind. Again, speculation as no one will ever know what was going on in his head. As the original link did not discuss his military career, here is a link that does. He was the recipient of many medals and commendations.

http://www.baxleynewsbanner.com/archives/2375-Corporal-James-M.-Dixon-III.html

[Rick Potter]

During WWII most soldiers were in 'for the duration'. When they came home it was en mass and took weeks or even months to get here on ships, and be processed before going home. They had time to decompress with their buddies, and adjust somewhat to normal life. Even so, many still had 'Battle Fatigue', but it was a small percentage compared to today.

When My brother was released from Viet Nam, he went from a fire base in the jungle to home, by himself in just a week. Now, it is sometimes even faster, with some soldiers going from being 'in country' to ordering a taco in just a few days. It's no wonder that so many suffer from PTSD.

I have no idea what could be done differently, I guess it is just one of the penalties of modern times, but it sucks. What a waste. My heart and prayers go out to his family.

Rick Potter

[Dave Anderson NH]

PTSD is unfortunately the gift that keeps on giving. It is impossible to describe in any meaningful way what infantry combat is like. Even the best efforts by authors who have been there fall far short. No one can describe and convey an experience that touches every sense. I can't help the reader feel the ground and the air shake, smell the exploding munitions and rent flesh mixed with the sweat of fear, nor hear and see the explosions, cries of the wounded and dying, nor the confused mix of emotions. Only those who have experienced it and lived through it understand.
In addition to the warrior culture induced inhibitions and the stigma laid on by an woefuly ignorant society, combat veterans feel comfortable talking only to each other and sometimes not even to their peers. It is therefore hard to open up and expose ones self to dismissal, pity, rejection, or ridicule. To those who have faced it, combat changes you forever no matter how well you adjust.

I will shift you back some 43 years to the fall of 1969 when I went from a morning firefight on August 23 to a college classrom on Sept 7th. I was fortunate that I reentered the college I had left to enlist in the Marine Corps and my old classmates were now seniors. I had friends, and while I did make many new ones, the old ones were willing to help me adjust and get over the rough spots. In spite of this I was soon prescribed valium, I requested a transfer from a double room to a single, and when we went north to the mountains for the weekend slept far away from everyone else. One night very late a couple of Freshmen were fooling around and dropped a string of firecrackers onto the ground beneath the window to my room. Within seconds I had my boots and trousers on and was headed down the hall with a knife in my hands. I became conscious of where I was about the same time the 2 jokers saw me coming at them and ran away. I went back to my room shaking and couldn't sleep for the rest of the night. Within a relatively short time I became "normal" thanks mainly to good friends who would put up with me. A friend commented a couple of years later that when I went to the student union I always chose a table in a corner with my back to the wall and whenever an oriental student came into the area my eyes never left him or her even though I continued to carry on the conversation uninterrupted. My point here is simple, all real infantry combat veterans will to a greater or lesser extent exhibit some of all of the same symptoms in varying degrees. To the civilian world they are strange and un-nerving... to the infantryman active or veteran, they are survival skills honed and guided by experience. I was glad to see that upon the return of 3rd BN 5th Marines from Helmud Province Afghanistan last May the Marine Corps decided to keep the unit together without transfering people for a guaranteed 6 months. This type of action is a major move toward allowing grunts to decompress and work out their issues.

Sorry for this long rant Belinda, but this hit a hot button for me. We are doing a lot better for our veterans now than we were 10 years ago, but we are still a long way from where we need to be.

[Belinda Barfield]

During WWII most soldiers were in 'for the duration'. When they came home it was en mass and took weeks or even months to get here on ships, and be processed before going home. They had time to decompress with their buddies, and adjust somewhat to normal life. Even so, many still had 'Battle Fatigue', but it was a small percentage compared to today.
Rick Potter

A good friend lost an arm when his armored vehicle encountered a roadside bomb. His neck was also broken. One year prior to that his best friend, also a friend of mine, committed suicide just 3 days prior to another deployment. He left behind two young daughters. At that time my friend and I discussed the need for a decompression/reassimilation period before returning to everyday life. WWI vets, even up through Vietnam vets, also weren't subjected to the sensory overload that we have today. Walk into your local large retail store . . . there is music, the PA system, point of sale videos and audios that are motion activated, cell phones ringing, coversations, and everything seems to echo. It's overwhelming to me sometimes and I didn't just return from a war zone. I can't imagine spending a year or 18 months in a war zone and then trying to reassimilate to home life. In our area we see a lot of domestic violence in military families and I wonder is a decompression period might lessen that.

Please, this is in no way critical of the military, or those serving - just a very humble opinion.

[Belinda Barfield]

No need to apologize Dave, your rant gives me a better understanding of things. My post about decompression was being typed when you posted, so it was not in any way a comment on your post, if it come across that way.

[Dave Anderson NH]

Not to worry Belinda I don't take offense. Decompression time is necessary and is not a luxury but rather an absolute necessity. Unfortunately none of us from the Vietnam era had that opportunity. By and large we went over by the planeload and were dispersed to assorted units as replacements and came home in a similar fashion. Things are slowly improving as the military has started to deal with PTSD induced domestic violence, marital issues, depression, suicide, and the whole gamut of combat stress induced behaviors. We are no where near where we need to be yet as a society, but there is progress. This is not a problem that will magically go way anytime soon. I have friends of my era in their 60s who are only now showing sign of PTSD some 40+ years after the fact. It either just took the right set of circumstances to trigger the PTSD or they suddenly failed in their efforts that had enabled them to suppress it for 40+ years. This of course means that the combat vets from next year will keep the VA busy until at least 2060 or later. This is why many military vets feel that no one should be commander-in-chief unless they have served and preferably in combat. Politicians rarely think of the long term consequences of their actions. War is an abomination.

[Michael Weber]

I was going to recall a story to justify this but decided to just come out and say it. Sometimes, there is just too much testostrone around SWAT teams.

[Robert McGowen]

I was going to recall a story to justify this but decided to just come out and say it. Sometimes, there is just too much testostrone around SWAT teams.

Seriously. That is what you come away with after reading this thread?

[Belinda Barfield]

Please folks, I never meant to imply that the SWAT team did anything other than what they thought best to do at the time. Friends and family just wish it could have been handled differently.

[ray hampton]

I am sad about this service man death, your earlier post about him laying his weapon down is what I were thinking about, we think that nobody got the problems that bothers us which is because we are unable to talk about it

[Larry Edgerton]

Meanwhile, McCain is trying his best to start a whole new round of senseless cases of PTSD.....

I have friends that did not do so well when they came back from Nam, sad to see and frusterating to know that there is nothing that you can do other than be there.

Larry

[Van Huskey]

PTSD is often more deadly than the guns of the enemy. The military does far too little to re-acclimate troops that have been in combat situations. I saw it often in my unit. I remember being shot at one day and less than 96 hours later being released into the "wilds" of civilization. The very tip of the iceberg is the rage and often alcohol filled soldiers roaming local bars, just a powerder keg waiting for a spark. I hope the military is better now, but from what I see they are not.

I mourn the death of this Marine and just thank goodness nobody else was an ultimate victim of his PTSD. We need to do more to prevent this senseless sort of tragedy, dying in the line of duty is horrible but dying later as a result of their performance of their duties is inexcusable. Even though I was a Soldier and not a Marine and harbor the inter-branch rivalry I have a lot of respect for this young man as I know what kind of cloth he must have been cut from. RIP Marine.

[Jim Matthews]

Seriously. That is what you come away with after reading this thread?
You said it first. By the time the black trucks rollup, it's already bad. It was REALLY bad around here, in the 1950's and 1960's when the Navy discharged thousands...

The other 1%... (http://battleland.blogs.time.com/2011/11/10/an-army-apart-the-widening-military-civilian-gap/)

[Steven Green]

I still sit with my back to the wall facing the door. I've gotten past most of the issues that I brought home from Vietnam but I figured out a long time ago that some will be with me till the day I die. It's one of the prices combat charges for living through it I guess. As Dave said you can't describe it and I'm very glad most will never have to experience it. May Rooster rest in peace.

[Ken Fitzgerald]

Steven,

You are not alone. I have a family member who suffered and still suffers with PTSD from his experiences in Vietnam.......and he's had treatment......

I served in the Vietnam era but by the grace of God, I never served there.

Rest In Peace Rooster.

[Kevin W Johnson]

Seriously. That is what you come away with after reading this thread?

I think what he is trying to say is that the manner in which authorities respond to a situation, makes/can make a situation worse than it otherwise would be. How a situation is reacted too is very important to how it will end.

Beyond that we weren't there, and it's difficult to say what the correct action should have been. It's easy to say after the fact what should have been done, when as it was happening it may have required split second descisions. With that said, I still would question whether there were non-lethal alternatives that could have been used. That answer however, will most likely never come.

One thing for sure, this young man served his country in it's time of need, but his country didn't serve him in his. Sad.