• Two Articles: War veterans and domestic violence - One vet kills several homeless while overall viol
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[B][U]Iraq war vet charged with first-degree murder in 4 homeless men's deaths[/U][/B] [QUOTE]Santa Ana, California (CNN) -- Prosecutors have yet to decide whether they will seek the death penalty in their murder case against Itzcoatl Ocampo, a 23-year-old Iraq war veteran accused of stabbing four homeless men to death in California, Orange County District Attorney Tony Rackauckas said Tuesday. Ocampo was charged Tuesday with four counts of first-degree murder and those charges carry the special circumstances of multiple murders, lying in wait and use of a deadly weapon, the prosecutor said. The minimum sentence for the four murder charges is life imprisonment without the possibility of parole, and the maximum penalty is death, prosecutors said. Prosecutors will be considering whether to seek a death sentence, Rackauckas said. Ocampo's arraignment is scheduled for Wednesday, he added. "I'm not prepared to discuss a possible motive," Rackauckas said. "We know he had selected others" to kill, he said. "The fact that the violence was escalating and it was becoming more brazen suggested to me he wasn't done. He appeared to me he liked the press coverage," the prosecutor told reporters. "This 23-year-old was a vicious killer. He had on his mind to kill people, and he followed through on that, and he was a monster, and he was a terrible threat, particularly to the homeless people in our county," Rackauckas said. "We have no indication whatsoever that he was mentally ill," the prosecutor said. The first victim was stabbed more than 40 times, Rackauckas said, and "in each of these cases, the violence, the number of stabbing wounds of each victim, increased." The murder weapon was a 7-inch, heavy-gauge Ka-Bar Bull Dozier knife, "which went through bone without chipping or breaking the blade," the prosecutor said, showing the knife to reporters. "It looks like a military kind," he added about the knife. Ocampo was arrested Friday night after he allegedly stabbed a transient to death, Anaheim Police Sgt. Bob Dunn said. The arrest left those who know Ocampo confused. A friend said Monday that "something happened" to Ocampo after he came back from serving in the Marines in Iraq. Attached to the 1st Marine Logistics Group at Camp Pendleton, California, Ocampo was a corporal and a motor vehicle operator, serving in the Marines from July 2006 until July 2010, and was deployed to Iraq for six months in 2008, according to Marine service records. He received an Iraq campaign medal with one star, a Global War on Terrorism Service Medal and a National Defense Service Medal, records showed. When Ocampo returned from Iraq, "he was a little bit more serious, it seemed like there was something on his mind," said Brian, who lived a few doors down from Ocampo and asked to be identified only by his first name. "He seemed really depressed and down, and things in his life weren't looking that well." The suspect's father, Refugio Ocampo, himself homeless, told the Orange County Register that his son worried about his safety. Refugio Ocampo, who lost his home in 2008 and now lives in the cab of a semi-trailer parked in Fullerton, said it was hard to believe his son could be involved in the killings. "I saw him so many times giving the last money he had in his pocket ... to the homeless, to the people that (are) asking for some help. ... My son's always been a role model," Refugio Ocampo said in a video interview posted on the newspaper's website. Refugio Ocampo, 50, told the Register that his son, worried about his father's safety, had recently pointed out an FBI warning about homeless men being killed in the area. Refugio Ocampo said his son returned from serving in Iraq a changed man. He started talking about things that "didn't make any sense," like the end of the world. "They killed the person he was," the father told the Orange County Register. "And that's the only possibility I can think of that he would do something like that." Brian, the neighbor, described Itzcoatl Ocampo as a "fun ... ordinary kid" when they grew up together in Southern California, adding "he was really looking forward to the service" after graduating from high school. "When you were around him, you had fun," the suspect's high school classmate said. But like Ocampo's father, Brian said he noticed some recent changes in the young man, including when the two met up a few times last summer. "I knew he wanted to see (combat) action, and I knew he enjoyed it," Brian told CNN, noting he'd lent his friend a self-help book. "Then something happened, and I just don't know what." Brian added that he had a hard time believing that his friend could be responsible for the killings. "I would never have guessed this," he said. Norberto Martinez, a family friend who lives with the veteran's uncle, mother and two siblings in Yorba Linda, California, described the former Marine as mild mannered, but the friend avoided talking about the war because it upset Ocampo. Martinez and Ocampo watched ball games on television and held conversations during walks, Martinez said. "He was never angry or furious," Martinez said. "We were surprised" to learn that he was a suspect in the four murders." "I wouldn't talk to him about Iraq," Martinez said. "Whenever he talked with me, he was normal." Authorities had been searching for a serial killer after three homeless men were stabbed to death over 10 days last month in the Orange County cities of Anaheim, Brea and Placentia. Police had released a surveillance camera image of the suspect taken December 20. It shows the suspect standing a few feet from the victim, who appears to be lying on the ground next to a strip mall, according to police. Investigators urged the homeless to stay in groups and avoid sleeping in dark and secluded areas. The four slaying victims are James McGillivray, 50, who was killed December 20; Lloyd "Jimmy" Middaugh, 42, who died December 27; Paulus "Dutch" Smit, 57, killed on December 30; and John Berry, 64, who was stabbed to death January 13.[/QUOTE] Source: [url]http://www.cnn.com/2012/01/17/justice/california-homeless-killings/index.html?hpt=hp_t3[/url] --- [U][B]Experts: Vets' PTSD, violence a growing problem[/B][/U] [QUOTE](CNN) -- A man opens fire in a national park, killing a ranger who was attempting to stop him after he blew through a vehicle checkpoint. A second man is suspected in the stabbing deaths of four homeless men in Southern California. Both men, U.S. military veterans, served in Iraq -- and both, according to authorities and those who knew them, returned home changed men after their combat service. A coincidence -- two recent high-profile cases? Or a sign of an increase in hostile behavior as U.S. troops complete their withdrawal from Iraq, similar to that seen when U.S. troops returned home from the Vietnam War? "You're going to see this more and more over the next 10 years," said Shad Meshad, founder of the National Veterans Foundation, who has been working with veterans since 1970. "... There's a percentage that come back, depending on how much trauma and how much killing they're involved in, they're going to act out." Margaret Anderson, a ranger at Washington state's Mount Rainier National Park, was shot to death on New Year's Day. Police believe Benjamin Colton Barnes, who served in Iraq from 2007 to 2009, was responsible for the shooting. After a manhunt, authorities found Barnes' body face down in a creek in the park. According to court documents obtained by CNN affiliate KIRO, the woman with whom Barnes was in a custody dispute said she believed he suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder resulting from his deployment. Barnes was emotionally unstable, vindictive and anger-prone, the woman said, and owned many knives and guns. The woman said she was frightened to be in the same state with him, the documents said. In California, former Marine Cpl. Itzcoatl Campo is accused of stabbing four homeless men to death. According to the military, Campo was deployed to Iraq during 2008. A friend of his, who asked to be identified only as Brian, told CNN Monday that "something happened" after Campo returned from Iraq. "He was a little bit more serious. It seemed like there was something on his mind," Brian said. "He seemed really depressed and down, and things in his life weren't looking that well." His father, Refugio Campo, told the Orange County Register that upon his return, his son began talking about things that "didn't make any sense," like the end of the world. It's important to note, experts said, that the two cases represent the extreme end of a spectrum of behavior signifying difficulties faced by returning troops, and some experience little difficulty, if any. "What we don't want to do is stigmatize veterans by saying they're walking time bombs," said Elspeth Ritchie, chief clinical officer for the Washington, D.C., Department of Mental Health and a former U.S. Army colonel. "They're not." But study after study has highlighted the struggles faced by troops returning home, including substance abuse, relationship problems, aggression or depression, she and others noted. Some may have trouble sitting still in college classes, Ritchie said. Others may react with aggression at a perceived threat, such as being pulled over for a traffic violation, Meshad said. Still others have trouble riding in or driving vehicles because they are used to the threat of IEDs (improvised explosive devices), or may react aggressively to a sudden move, even one by their spouse, he said. "It's embedded in (the service member) to do that," Meshad said. "It looks brutal, it is brutal, it's horrible, it's heinous, but they switch on like that because they haven't been switched off." Suicide is also a growing problem. The Army reported a record-high number of suicides in July 2011, with the deaths of 33 active- and reserve-component service members categorized as suicides. While homicides by former troops aren't tracked, many of the dynamics leading to suicidal behavior are similar to those seen in murder-suicides or homicides, Ritchie said. The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs and others have made strides in addressing PTSD in veterans, the experts said. Other groups and resources, such as the Wounded Warrior Project, are also available. But many veterans have trouble seeking help, said Paul Ragan, an associate professor of psychiatry at Vanderbilt University who works with returning service members. "Big boys don't cry," he said. Every veteran he works with in his clinic is married, he said. "It's because their wives are the ones who helped bring them in." "I'm not seeing everybody out there," he said. "I'm not seeing a random sampling of all the returning vets. I'm seeing the ones who make it in, and they make it in largely through the auspices of a loved one who helps get them over that hump. ... The heroes in my clinic are the wives who've learned to adjust and adapt." Absent that support, some vets may not take that step, he said. One of PTSD's fundamental features, Ragan noted, is a lack of trust: in one's self, in others, in humans, "that the world will give them a fair shake. ... There is this tremendous hurdle for them to overcome to get treatment." Ragan and Meshad noted that people who are trained killers can have trouble switching out of that role after returning home. They come home "full of war energy ... and it's hard for them to have a relationship with anybody other than somebody in your unit," Meshad said. "Your unit is removed. You're now around a touchy-feely wife or girlfriend that you don't understand." Combat veterans who may have killed or witnessed the deaths of women and children are plagued by guilt, which affects relationships with their own families, he said. Meshad said a significant effort to deprogram soldiers should be made before they leave the military. While the Marines do have a program, he said, many troops don't listen; those who do have said it's "oversimplified." Issues such as employment, education and housing must also be examined as part of an overall effort to support veterans, Ritchie said. "The VA and the military can only do so much," Ritchie said. "It really takes a nationwide effort and a local community effort ... this is an issue that's not going to go away. It's going to be with us for 10, 20, 30 years."[/QUOTE] Source: [url]http://www.cnn.com/2012/01/17/us/veterans-violence/index.html?hpt=hp_t3[/url]
Then why can't we admit that MDMA and LSD may be acceptable treatments to PTSD? Disregard treatments - Imprison innocents.
[QUOTE=teslacoil;34266500]Then why can't we admit that MDMA and LSD may be acceptable treatments to PTSD? Disregard treatments - Imprison innocents.[/QUOTE] Because durgs 're bad m'kay?
[QUOTE=teslacoil;34266500]Then why can't we admit that MDMA and LSD may be acceptable treatments to PTSD? Disregard treatments - Imprison innocents.[/QUOTE] I've actually done extensive research into PTSD for multiple classes in school, then for a certain machinima (HellSoldier knows what I'm talkin about). because LSD or MDMA don't affect PTSD at all. They would probably result in bad trips more than anything. Vets who have it that I have talked to say the best "drugs" persay for treating it are alcohol (resulting in high rates of alcoholism), which is a "depressant" in general it would be bad to stereotype veterans as having it, because a lot in fact, do not. However for those who do, getting it recognized by the VA and getting compensated for it can be struggle, enough so that some vets even try to "game" the system into getting compensation. For those who work as security contractors, compensation does not happen at all, or in very little amounts, because of the unwillingness of the insurance giants (like AIG) to pay out benefits. In fact, I would say it should become more of a "spectrum" disorder, much like how aspergers and autism have become part of Autism Spectrum Disorder in DSM-V. PTSD can occur to various degrees, or so it seems from my conversations with veterans. Some have really shitty experiences, constant paranoia, they [b]literally[/b] have to drink themselves to sleep. Others only have occasional flashbacks. However one thing is true. Combat veterans have a much higher incidence than rear-echelon troops.
[QUOTE=teslacoil;34266500]Then why can't we admit that MDMA and LSD may be acceptable treatments to PTSD? Disregard treatments - Imprison innocents.[/QUOTE] Yeah lets just drug them up instead of actually trying to find the root of their problem and help fix it.
[QUOTE=MR-X;34266676]Yeah lets just drug them up instead of actually trying to find the root of their problem and help fix it.[/QUOTE] The drug is taken to help find the root of the problem. If you really just thought that I meant giving them powerful hallucinogens and then telling them to go home then what the fuck dude. [editline]17th January 2012[/editline] [QUOTE=trotskygrad;34266660] PTSD can occur to various degrees, or so it seems from my conversations with veterans. Some have really shitty experiences, constant paranoia, they [b]literally[/b] have to drink themselves to sleep. Others only have occasional flashbacks.[/QUOTE] I know this first-hand, by step-father was a Marine Corps. Sniper in Beirut. Alcohol seems to be the only way for him to suppress it, he refuses therapy.
[QUOTE=teslacoil;34266765]The drug is taken to help find the root of the problem. If you really just thought that I meant giving them powerful hallucinogens and then telling them to go home then what the fuck dude. [/quote] I can see possible virtue in that vs. "talk therapy" [QUOTE=teslacoil;34266765] I know this first-hand, by step-father was a Marine Corps. Sniper in Beirut. Alcohol seems to be the only way for him to suppress it, he refuses therapy.[/QUOTE] damn he must be pretty old then.
[QUOTE=trotskygrad;34266866]I can see possible virtue in that vs. "talk therapy" damn he must be pretty old then.[/QUOTE] If you consider 50 year olds to be "pretty old", then yes.
[QUOTE=teslacoil;34266918]If you consider 50 year olds to be "pretty old", then yes.[/QUOTE] yup, I was dead on. also, why is finding the root of the problem used in therapy? just curious if you know
[QUOTE=trotskygrad;34266986]yup, I was dead on. also, why is finding the root of the problem used in therapy? just curious if you know[/QUOTE] I'm no therapist, but I would think that if you try to treat a mental disorder without knowing the root of the problem, you'll end up changing the wrong triggers and you won't have helped at all.
What about meditation
[QUOTE=teslacoil;34266500]Then why can't we admit that MDMA and LSD may be acceptable treatments to PTSD? Disregard treatments - Imprison innocents.[/QUOTE] [url]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psychedelic_therapy[/url]
[QUOTE=Andokool12;34267450]What about meditation[/QUOTE] Meditation's for commies and liberals. Or so I've heard.
PTSD sounds so horrible to have. My uncle was in the Australian SAS during the Vietnam War and they did some pretty hardcore stuff. He still has nightmares and freaks out when anyone runs really fast through his house, which happened a fair bit when we would go there for family gatherings with my 4 little cousins. I do hope they find an effective treatment for PTSD one day.
My pops was in Iraq for 18 months and still has problems, he used to be worse but he has gotten a little better. He turned to alcohol really bad and went to rehab, while he was there he had some sort of epiphany and realized he had problems but they we not that bad as he thought.
[QUOTE=teslacoil;34266500]Then why can't we admit that MDMA and LSD may be acceptable treatments to PTSD? Disregard treatments - Imprison innocents.[/QUOTE]Because, in my experience, they're really not. I suffer from PTSD and I assure you that both of those make things a lot worse. Even to find the root of the trauma, it's a bad idea. We already have methods of therapy and treatment which, if properly applied, really help but ultimately do not cure. Then there's anger and stress management, which definitely help the situation and allow a person to cope with life. It's hard for people who don't know what it's like to understand, because PTSD is more than the symptoms and you go through a whole rainbow of emotions as well. It's not an easy thing to live with, not at all, but you can.[QUOTE=trotskygrad;34266986]yup, I was dead on. also, why is finding the root of the problem used in therapy? just curious if you know[/QUOTE]One of the ways PTSD manifests itself is withdrawing from things that you associate with whatever trauma you went through. It's part of the process of figuring out a way to deal with your trauma, coming to terms with what happened to you and trying to move on.
[QUOTE=MR-X;34266676]Yeah lets just drug them up instead of actually trying to find the root of their problem and help fix it.[/QUOTE] if someone wanted to just "drug them up" I'm pretty sure they'd shoot for benzos or a similar depressant
Damn, I didn't imagine an Iraqi vet would be responsible for the killings.
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