On Military Mental Breakdowns

The news media has been selective in its reporting of the incident at Ft Hood when an Army psychiatrist went on a killing spree. They've been reasonably fair at identifying him as an overly stressed soldier who flipped. They've also stressed the aspect of the military not separating him from service because of fear they'd look to be attacking a Muslim.

Well, maybe so, but here's an aspect of the story they've ignored: The military has been bending and rules in order to keep itself staffed up in this environment. They've offered thousands as incentives for guys to reenlist. There are signing bonuses for new enlist

Early in this Ft Hood story, the mother told of her son's efforts to get out of the Army. He admitted to being stressed and concerned about how Muslims attacking other Muslims would be a religous affront. His superiors had had serious concerns about hsi behavior. But, for the Army to allow dissatisfied soldiers to get out and avoid deployment, for example, to Afghanistan, would be a serious affront to their efforts to keep guys in the military. After all, if they let guys go simply because they didn't want to serve anymore, they may be left with too little cannon fodder.

The one exception to their policies seems to be the release of gays. The claim to be gay is a sure-fire exit strategy.

So, here we have two agreeing influences coming together: A man wants out and superiors would prefer him out, but I think an unannounced influence in this whole manner is the Army's policy of keeping itself staffed at all costs.