Gary G. Kohls, MD

Given the sobering realities of horrific war crimes over in Iraq followed by rapes, murders and suicides in Colorado Springs, CO, by members of the U S Army’s Fourth Infantry Division, Fourth Brigade www.gazette.com it is well to re-examine an old case of a similar nature perpetrated by an unfortunate ex-Marine who was also trained to kill without mercy or remorse.

What happened in St. Paul MN in August of 1994 should have been a premonition of things to come and proof that the Pentagon hasn’t really learned anything since Vietnam. The Dept of Defense’s recent promises to “provide the best behavioral health care for our soldiers and their families” are just lip service and delaying tactics for a problem that has no known solution – and never has - unless true, primary prevention is considered.

Legal violence committed by military professionals in the war zone that continues on in illegal activities at home when those professionals re-enter civilian life should come as no surprise. It happens after every war, in every culture, in every era of history. (see http://www.ivaw.org/wintersoldier.) The Army’s promises to “take this soldier violence seriously” are an attempt to divert attention from these crimes, especially when these soldiers are sent home after multiple deployments, treated inhumanely in the war zone, made crazy and then given brain-altering, dependency-inducing and even brain-damaging prescription drugs – that, tragically, is considered “psychiatric treatment”.

15 years ago, on August 26, 1994, a US Marine combat veteran (from Gulf War I), Guy Harvey Baker, murdered two St. Paul policemen in cold blood. Virtually all of the coverage by the major media at the time made it appear that these murders could not be rationalized (the usual media comments, “senseless violence” and “we’ll probably never understand what actually happened,” were used by various journalists and commentators, especially the Pentagon spokesmen). However, if attention were to be paid to the multiple underlying realities of the murders, most of which were un-investigated and/or unreported, many sobering and unwelcome lessons for our militarized culture could be learned.

According to the earliest press clippings (comments never repeated, as far as I could tell) in the Minneapolis Star-Tribune, Baker had been, in his childhood and adolescence, the proverbial fun-loving kid down the block. He was popular in his Iowa hometown; his respected father had a well-paying job teaching in the public schools; he dated the best-looking girls; he was close to his family; and he hung out with the “cool crowd.” In 1987 he joined the US Marine Corps, every patriotic American boy’s dream, but in Baker’s case it was the top of the slippery slope that ended tragically in St. Paul.

“The Change is Forever” (Marine Corps Advertising Slogan)

Somewhere between basic training in 1987 (where he had been a standout, breaking records in the obstacle course) and August 26, 1994 Baker became a “remorseless killer, very cool, very calm, very chilling.” (That quote came from his jailers, but could just as easily have been from his proud drill sergeant or commanding officers.) Friends said that he was dramatically changed by his experiences as a Marine, especially in the war, where he served as a forward air controller, working in the battlefield under dangerous conditions. He had been decorated for exemplary service more than once.

But Baker also had combat-induced posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and, obviously, antisocial (sociopathic) personality disorder, both virtually incurable conditions with multiple manifestations caused by a combination of exposure to psychological traumas, the experience of cruelty on the battlefield (with the need to “numb-down” emotionally), chronic stress, sleep deprivation, exposure to various military-related neurotoxins, malnutrition and, all-too-frequently, traumatic brain injuries (TBI).

The prototype of combat-induced PTSD is the Vietnam combat veteran who “came home crazy”, having been subjected to 12-13 months of severe psychological, spiritual and physical stress related to jungle warfare against unseen enemies. The Vietnam combat soldier had been trained to kill those who were fingered as enemies, training that wasn’t easily unlearned when he returned to civil society. He had found himself fearing for his life constantly in an insane environment, ready to point and shoot at anything that moved, usually asking questions only after the reflex killing was over. He had been immersed in a 24/7 kill-or-be-killed situation for months, often experiencing the aforementioned constant fear, sleep–deprivation, toxic food, and contaminated water – a crazy-making environment with little or no respite save for drugs and discharge, neither of which, they would soon find out, would give them permanent relief.

Soldiers in all wars are expected to unquestioningly obey legal and illegal orders to kill suspected enemies, including innocent and defenseless civilians that may be impossible to discern as either combatants or noncombatants, and therefore they often participate in, or witness, torture, grotesque death, horrifying sights, smells and sounds – indelible memories that would haunt them in the form of unwanted daytime flashbacks, nocturnal nightmares, feelings of guilt and suicidal urges that often would last for the rest of their lives.

On top of that, many soldiers grew to hate the war and the senseless human slaughter, and began the lifelong mistrust of the military and the government politicians, even their churches that helped get them into the hellhole that killed their souls. Usually the only temporary respite to their intolerable existence was alcohol, tobacco, marijuana, heroin and other addicting non-prescription substances, made readily available in the battlefield by the military. Upon returning to the states, the stressed veteran was not re-programmed, re-humanized or re-spiritualized to fit back into “normal” society. Rather, brain-altering and often addicting psychotropic drugs were often prescribed, which might mask symptoms but can cure nothing and only complicate the course of the illness with innumerable adverse neurologic effects that can mimic mental illnesses.

PTSD, especially the combat-induced variety, is classically manifested by recurrent nightmares (Baker’s were about rats); severe insomnia (which causes chronic fatigue, headaches, irritability, mental dullness and often unemployability); depression, suidicality and anxiety; panic attacks; daytime flashbacks resembling the original traumas; marital dysfunction; hypervigilence and aggression, with violent reactions to what may only be minor threats. Such veterans are often reclusive but also may be unpredictably abusive of those around them with violent reactions ranging from verbal, emotional, physical and/or sexual abuse.

Traumatized vets are much more likely to commit suicide than the average civilian (it is believed that upwards of 200,000 Vietnam veterans committed suicide in the US after the war was over for them, compared to “only” 58,000 killed in action.).

And it probably will be worse for the Iraq War veterans. A report by the Pentagon revealed that there were 900 attempted suicides among Iraq War soldiers just in the calendar year 2006. Combat veterans are more often chemically dependent or abusive of drugs and more likely to commit criminal acts. (At one point in the 1970s, 20% of all US prison inmates were Vietnam vets!). And homelessness is rampant, with a recent survey showing that 30% of the homeless in the US are military veterans.

In addition to Baker’s PTSD, he had become partially deaf as a direct result of his battlefield experience. This service-connected disability certainly contributed to his joblessness, homelessness and disillusionment with society. Baker was an early victim of the Gulf War Syndrome, which caused him to have a chronic rash (similar to Agent Orange dermatitis), numb feet, memory loss, restless nights and night sweats. Baker blamed the anti-nerve gas pills he was given, but of course he also had exposure to toxic residues of all kinds, including neurotoxic fumes from explosives and petroleum products, previously untested mercury- and squalene-containing vaccinations (including Anthrax) and, probably most significantly, exposure to depleted uranium (DU), the armor-piercing rockets and shells that burn on impact, spreading tiny particles of radioactive uranium and plutonium all over the desert and into the air, to be inhaled or ingested by passersby for billions of years whenever the wind blows the desert sands around.

The first Bush administration, a proxy for us American citizens (who, as George W. Bush’s father often reminded us, supported the first Gulf War by a 9 to 1 margin) sent Guy Harvey Baker and many other all-American “boys next-door” to do homicidal duty to ensure American access to Middle Eastern oil.

Many soldiers like Baker were fooled into thinking that they were doing their heroic “duty to God and country” rather than killing and being killed protecting the profitability, prestige and prerogative of conscienceless multinational corporations like Halliburton, Blackwater and Exxon, who have been operating above the law during the Cheney/Bush administrations. Baker learned his soldiering trade very well and gradually became an obedient, unthinking, paid professional killer. He suffered - and died (mentally and spiritually) in ways that we civilians can’t appreciate and which even Baker and his loved ones may not have understood. He was one of the advertised “few good men” but was imbued with serious psychopathic traits starting in basic training that may be necessary in combat but, in civilian life, are a menace to society. He was discarded by the war machine that recruited him and is now disavowed by the Marine Corps that trained him to be what he became.

In 1994, Guy Harvey Baker was one of the most hated humans in the news, but he was any mother’s son.

What the unthinking public and its vengeful politicians have done is to turn a blind eye to the root causes of the Baker and the Colorado Springs veteran’s stories, ignoring what the glorification of war has done to our violence-tolerant society and its unsuspecting military recruits and their families. And therefore we have not seen this truth: our entire culture, not just Guy Harvey Baker and the Colorado Springs suicidal murderers, rapists and felons, has been victimized by America’s reliance on problem-solving by the use of violence, intimidation, bribery, ruthless economic domination and lethal, unaffordable and ultimately morally and financially bankrupting militarism.

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Dr. Kohls is a member of Veterans for Peace and Every Church a Peace Church (www.ecapc.org). Prior to his retirement, he practiced holistic mental health care in Duluth, MN, frequently treating victims of psychological and spiritual trauma, both combat-induced and domestic.