The wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have had many casualties. Some soldiers bring tragedy home with them due to battle stress.

Back on November 6, 2005, the British Times Online reported:

The wife of one officer based in Germany told friends he was “an aggressive wreck” after returning from Iraq, shouting at the children and suffering from what she thought was a nervous disorder. He declined medical help and a month after returning from Basra was sent to Kabul.

In 2007, Marine Corps research reported that Marines were prone to increasingly worsening behavior due to battle stress.

In the first four years of the Iraq war, 1,019 Marines were dismissed with less-than-honorable discharges for misconduct committed after overseas deployments, said Navy Capt. William Nash, who coordinates the Marines' combat stress program. At least 326 of the discharged Marines showed evidence of mental health problems, possibly from combat stress, according to the Marine study.

Suicide rates in the military have skyrocketed. So much so that the U.S. Army is spending $50 million to fund the largest scale study of suicide and mental health among military personnel.

Now it appears that post-traumatic stress may have found some new victims.

The Army says seven people were killed and 20 wounded in a pair of shootings at the Fort Hood Army base in Texas. An Army spokesman at the Pentagon says the shootings began about 1:30 p.m. Thursday at a personnel and medical processing center at Fort Hood.

The spokesman, Lieutenant Colonel Nathan Banks, says two shooters were apparently involved. There is no word yet on who they were, nor on identities of the dead.

Banks says the second incident took place at a theater on the sprawling base.

He says it is too soon to tell whether there is any link to battle stress or repeated deployments. The Army is suffering a record high suicide rate and other signs of stress from fighting two wars.

Something like these events in Texas are just painfully sad and tragic.

There are a few charities out there that assist veterans in need. Two that I am aware of are Wounded Warrior Project and Veterans First.

If you have the means, please think about donating to these organizations and help some soldiers get the care they need.


Update


The official report is that the shooters are soldiers.

The U.S. Army says 12 people have been killed and 31 wounded in a shooting rampage on the Fort Hood Army base in Texas. Lt. Gen Bob Cone said at a news conference that one shooter has been killed and two suspects were apprehended on Thursday. He says they are all U.S. soldiers.

Just plain tragic.