Washington Post on the Ramrod Five.

A U.S. Army staff sergeant dreamed up a plan for fellow soldiers to kill three Afghan civilians this year because he was motivated by “pure hatred,” another soldier accused in the slayings has told investigators

Here’s a News Tribune piece on “The Stryker Brigade” or “Ramrod Five.”

The charges stacked up against five soldiers from Joint Base Lewis-McChord sound as if they rank among the worst war crimes in the past nine years of combat in the Middle East: killing Afghan civilians and keeping gruesome souvenirs from the attacks.

There are some comparisons with previous cases.

FayObserver reports:

A man accused of multiple rapes in the Fayetteville-Fort Bragg community is scheduled to face a court-martial Dec. 8, a military judge announced Monday. Spc. Aaron M. Pernell of Tulsa, Okla., is charged by military authorities with attempted rape, two counts of rape, assault, two counts of burglary and one count of housebreaking on Fort Bragg. The charges stem from two home break-ins on Fort Bragg and the assault on one woman.

Military.com reports a potential court-martial case under the UCMJ:

The director of the Pentagon office overseeing the treatment of troops suffering from brain injuries and post-traumatic stress disorder is under investigation for allegedly making unwanted sexual advances and creating a hostile work environment, The Associated Press has learned.

Military.com reports:

Hawaii State Rep. Rida Cabanilla Arakawa, an Army Reservist who beat a Democratic opponent in Saturday’s primary election, may have violated Pentagon policy on campaigning in uniform. Violations of the policy have occurred across the country, but an Army Reserve lawyer here said little can be done to political candidates who are part-time soldiers.

The drug Ecstasy shows positive results in the majority of patients when used to treat post-traumatic stress disorder, according to a report coming out Monday in the Journal of Psychopharmacology.

Moved by a huge tide of troops returning from Iraq and Afghanistan with post-traumatic stress, Congress has pressured the Department of Veterans Affairs to settle their disability claims — quickly, humanely and mostly in the vets’ favor. This 1969 photo shows Keith Roberts in Navy uniform. Starting in 1987, Roberts filed a string of disability claims with the Veterans Affairs, eventually blaming PTSD for everything from smoking addiction to arthritis. In 1999, Roberts was declared 100 percent disabled and got a lump sum payment, retroactive to August 1993. He was convicted of wire fraud, sentenced to 48 months in prison and ordered to pay $262,943.52 in restitution. Marine Corps Times The problem: The system is dysfunctional, an open invitation to fraud. And the VA has proposed changes that could make deception even easier. PTSD’s real but invisible scars can mark clerks and cooks just as easily as they can infantrymen fighting a faceless enemy in these wars without front lines. The VA is seeking to ease the burden of proof to ensure that their claims are processed swiftly.

An Army prosecutor Tuesday opened the trial of an Iraq war veteran by accusing him of the “ultimate betrayal” — raping a comrade’s wife. Spc. Philip C. Vermeiren, 28, is accused of assaulting the woman early Oct. 31 during an alcohol-fueled party at the Fort Carson apartment she shared with her husband. Defense attorneys countered that Vermeiren is guilty only of poor judgment — sharing a brief, consensual sexual encounter with the woman after other revelers had passed out drunk and her husband had stepped out to buy cigarettes.

tdtnews.com reports that:

A Fort Hood soldier who failed to deploy with his unit to Iraq in December 2007 will spend at least 27 days in the Bell County jail.

Navy Times reports that:

A senior chief from Carrier Strike Group 8 will serve 18 months in the brig after pleading guilty to possessing child pornography.

The military will formally discipline at least six officers, mostly from Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, for failing to take action against the officer accused of carrying out last year’s deadly shooting rampage at Fort Hood, according to people familiar with the matter. In announcing the findings, Defense Secretary Robert Gates said he had directed Army Secretary John McHugh to take “appropriate action” against Maj. Hasan’s past supervisors. Mr. McHugh, in turn, appointed Gen. Ham to investigate whether specific officers should be punished for failing to raise the alarm about Maj. Hasan.

Wall Street Journal reports.

The Army said Monday it has appointed an investigating officer for an Article 32 hearing, which will determine if there is sufficient evidence to proceed with a court-martial for Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan, who’s charged with 13 counts of premeditated murder in the deadly shooting rampage on Nov. 5 at Fort Hood’s Soldier Readiness Center.

KWTX.com reports.

Note the article incorrectly reports an Article 32, UCMJ, investigation as the equivalent of a civilian grand jury. It is not! It is closer to a preliminary probable cause hearing that some states have as an option to the grand jury, for example in Virginia. The 32 is way better than a grand jury.

Judge Pohl been appointed the IO, so we know it will be done right.

As noted previously on this blog, there have been some notable recent examples of judges reducing a sentence based on the hardships a defendant previously suffered as a result of military service. Now, as detailed in this local article from Kansas, this concept is getting some legislative attention: Judges would be able to reduce sentences for defendants who are combat veterans and have post-traumatic stress disorder, under a bill being considered by the Kansas Legislature.

Sentencing Law & Policy reports.

Army officials agreed to delay a mental evaluation for the man suspected of going on a shooting spree at Fort Hood until after a military court hearing that will determine if he will stand trial, his attorney said Wednesday. Houston Chronicle.com reports. Lamb denied a request for civilian mental health experts to be on the panel, Galligan said, adding that “we will continue to fight that.” Lamb approved Galligan’s request for more documents — including academic and performance evaluations, records indicating Hasan was at risk of psychosis and minutes of meetings in which Hasan allegedly discussed his religious concerns. Lamb also will allow a forensic psychologist on the defense team to be present for Hasan’s evaluation, Galligan said.

A Texas man accused of saying he legally represented alleged Fort Hood shooter Nidal Malik Hasan is bipolar and was off his medication, his lawyer said. Senan Kahtan Abrahem of San Antonio was released Monday on unsecured bond after his lawyer told a federal magistrate Abrahem had resumed his medication and was not a flight risk, the San Antonio Express-News reported Tuesday.

U.S. News reports.

An attorney for the Army psychiatrist accused of going on a shooting rampage at Fort Hood said Monday he wants his client’s mental evaluation delayed, citing a potential conflict of interest with the exam panel. Army officials previously appointed a three-member board of military mental health professionals to determine whether Maj. Nidal Hasan is competent to stand trial and his mental status the day of the November shooting, which left 13 dead and dozens wounded on the Texas Army post.

Military.com reports.

…Galligan said one panel member taught at the medical school Hasan attended, although Galligan was unsure if that doctor directly taught or knew Hasan. Galligan declined to release any board members’ identities. In his motion to Army officials last week, Galligan said he also requested an all-civilian board, saying doctors with no military ties likely would be more objective and not worried about repercussions if their diagnosis was considered favorable to Hasan.

Eight years of war in Afghanistan and Iraq have etched indelible scars on the psyches of many of the nation’s service members, and the U.S. military is losing a battle to stem an epidemic of suicides in its ranks. Despite calls by top Pentagon officials for a sea change in attitudes about mental health, millions of dollars in new suicide-prevention programming and thousands of hours spent helping soldiers suffering from what often are euphemistically dubbed “invisible wounds,” the military is losing ground. The Department of Defense Friday reported that there were 160 reported active-duty Army suicides in 2009, up from 140 in 2008. Of these, 114 have been confirmed, while the manner of death in the remaining 46 remains to be determined. “I look at the numbers of each service, and that rate has gone up at the same rate across the services,” Adm. Mike Mullen, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told a gathering of military mental health professionals and advocates last week. An increasing number are female soldiers, who rarely committed suicide before but now are killing themselves at a much higher rate.

Stars & Stripes reports.

Last year was the worst for suicides among active-duty soldiers since the Army began tracking those deaths in 1980.

What I’d be interested in knowing is how many suicides, attempted suicides, or “gestures,” are military justice related. Anecdotally, I know of two suicides (one an appellate client, and one a pre-Article 32 client), and several others with actual attempts, and a number with acts labeled gestures. My sense is that most of these particular cases are of officers and senior enlisted.

Many units appear to deal with people in the military justice process reasonably fairly. But there are enough units that basically cut the person off from all support, they are labeled and isolated. The Marines seem to be the best in taking the attitude that, “He’s still a Marine until convicted.” And after trial the Marines as a group seem better in handling the Marine.

So my question is how many of the suicidal gestures, attempted suicides, and suicides are of people within the military justice process.

With the question goes a reminder to defense counsel, and to trial counsel. You have to be ever conscious that your client may be one of those who is at risk. You don’t have to break the officer-enlisted barrier and become their best friend and get to first name basis, you don’t have to get all warm and fuzzy. You have to treat clients with the respect and courtesy due any human, and be alert to signs. This requires you to observe and listen to your client or the accused. You should be doing that anyway, but keep their mental state in mind.

A lieutenant colonel said because he suffers from kleptomania he should not be court-martialed for shoplifting last year at Fort Benning, Ga. Lt. Col. Rodney Page, a 28-year Army veteran, admits to stealing $37 worth of challenge coins at the post exchange, but he blames the Army for mistakenly reducing medication he takes to curb his urge to steal. “That impulse is so strong that it just overrides your common sense,” said Page, 58, recalling the theft. “I am ethical, even though I have this problem. I’ve never taken anything from anyone I know. You can leave money on the table; I’m never going to touch it.” Army medical records supplied by Page’s attorney confirm that the incident led to the diagnosis that Page was a kleptomaniac. Kleptomania is a rare and embarrassing impulse control disorder characterized by the theft of items regardless of value, with little or no premeditation. There is a sense of guilt or shame associated with the thefts.

Army Times reports.

I have posted before about honest people who shoplift and why they might do that. I’m not sure the prior blog would explain this particular case, but here is a link back to it anyway — shoplifting. For me this has come up recently with a couple of “inquiries.” Here is an article about PTSD and shoplifting, Did Iraq veteran’s PTSD spark his shoplifting charge? In the post I referenced a resource I have used in the past in shoplifting cases.

Will Cupchik, Why Honest People Shoplift or Commit Crimes of Theft (Revised), Tagami Comms., 2002. Here is a link to The Cupchik Center for the Assessment and Treatment of Atypical Theft Offenders.

A Hohenfels-based soldier was sentenced to 8½ years in prison Thursday in a knife attack on a German family last summer. Racine, assigned to the 1st Battalion, 4th Infantry Regiment, was originally charged with one count of attempted premeditated murder, along with several lesser charges, according to the official Army charge sheet. But after the three-day trial before a military judge, Racine was convicted of aggravated assault with the intent to inflict grievous bodily harm. But the defense argued that Racine thought he was in a war zone, and that he attacked the German family as he sought shelter in their apartment. “He was afraid because in his mind at the moment of the offense, he was in an enemy zone,” defense attorney Capt. Benjamin Wright said in his closing arguments. “In short, he was out of his mind.” Paul Montalbano, a psychologist from Walter Reed Army Medical Center, testified for the defense that Racine suffered from PTSD and was an alcoholic.

The sentence included RIR to E1, TF, and a DD.

Stars & Stripes reports.

Reporting from Washington – Between five and eight Army officers are expected to face discipline for failing to take action against the accused Ft. Hood shooter, Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan, over a series of behavioral and professional problems in the years leading up to the November rampage.

Reports the LA Times. No word on the status of the R.C.M. 706 proceedings, when an Article 32, UCMJ, hearing might be scheduled, or a court-martial held in the Fort Hood slayings.

The Army is behind Fort Hood’s effort to address behavioral health care issues and plans to institute it across the board, the post’s commander said Friday. In response to incidents like the Nov. 5 shooting and an Army-wide increase in suicides, Fort Hood officials implemented the Behavioral Health Care Plan, a two-year process which is set to undergo periodic reviews and leverage the “whole of community” to accomplish tasks in several phases, Cone said. The goal is to make sure everyone who needs behavioral health care is reached and that its capabilities and capacities are right for Fort Hood’s soldiers, families and the civilian workforce. Cone also talked about a Recovery and Resiliency Task Force, part of which includes a comprehensive approach to identify, diagnose and holistically treat those impacted by events like the Nov. 5 shooting at the post’s Soldier Readiness Processing Center where 13 were killed and more than 30 were wounded when a gunman opened fire.

During the briefing apparently the following was said about Major Hasan and his pending court-martial issues.

Cone also talked about the case status for the man arrested and charged with the Nov. 5 shooting, Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan. He explained that a case is examined in multiple levels of the military justice system and it would be inappropriate for him to comment until it reaches his level at the General Court-Martial Convening Authority. That likely won’t happen until after he deploys to Iraq with III Corps, and will then rest upon newly promoted Maj. Gen. William Grimsley, who will lead the corps in Cone’s stead. The case is at the Special Court-Martial Convening Authority level, Cone said, and Col. Morgan Lamb has directed that a sanity board be conducted on Hasan to determine whether he is mentally competent to stand trial.

Not sure if this is a misquote. Normally the R.C.M. 706 sanity board deals with both sanity at the time of the alleged offenses as well as competence for trial.

Fort Sam Houston officials Wednesday named the three medical professionals who will conduct the evaluation, according to a Thursday Herald report. Hasan’s attorney, the Belton-based John P. Galligan, said the board intends to review documents until Feb. 7 and then evaluate his client by the end of February. Cone did say that all but one injured in the shooting were released from hospitals. That man sustained a wound to the head, Cone said, and has lost the use of one arm. He is hospitalized in Austin.

Army Times reports.

Smile, you’re on security cameras. Despite the field overhead of video surveillance at the exchanges aboard Camp Lejeune and Marine Corps Air Station New River, N.C., Marines are betting the odds they won’t get caught stealing. The number of active-duty Marines at those installations who were busted for shoplifting in 2009 is up 59 percent from the year prior, prompting Marine Corps Community Services officials to remind its uniformed clientele that paying for a can of chew will be easier on their wallet and their career.

The Marine Times reports.

I blogged a while back about shoplifting. The point came up with a piece from an Alaska newspaper. Did Iraq veteran’s PTSD spark his shoplifitng charge? By Julia O’Malley | Anchorage Daily News.

A counterterror airstrike in Yemen that may have targeted Anwar al-Awlaki, the extremist cleric linked to Fort Hood shooter Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan, could raise new questions about whether Hasan’s rampage in Killeen, Texas, on Nov. 5 was the act of a lone wolf or part of a conspiracy.

Reports the Christian Science Monitor.

“US: SOLDIERS FORCED TO GO AWOL FOR PTSD CARE.” Inter Press Service English News Wire. 2009. HighBeam Research. (December 23, 2009). http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P1-174196126.html

With a military health care system over-stretched by two ongoing wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, more soldiers are deciding to go absent without leave (AWOL) in order to find treatment for post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

“EGLIN HANDS OUT 18 ARTICLES 15.” US Fed News Service, Including US State News. 2009. HighBeam Research. (December 23, 2009). http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P3-1919598561.html

The U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory Munitions Directorate issued the following press release: In the months of September – November, there were 18 Articles 15 offered here on base.

A former Navy master chief petty officer was sentenced Dec. 11 to four years in prison for stealing nearly $40 million in fuel from the U.S. Army in Iraq, according to the Department of Justice.

Stars & Stripes reports. One suspects he might of received a higher sentence if prosecuted at court-martial under the UCMJ, as a retiree recall.

A wide-ranging Department of Defense survey revealed the rate of servicemembers attempting suicide has doubled in recent years, coinciding with an increase in those reporting symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder and those abusing prescription drugs.

Stars & Stripes reports. These issues seem to come up much more frequently in court-martial cases.