School Gunman Upset Over GI Treatment

School Gunman Upset Over GI Treatment

www.military.com

November 11, 2009
Associated Press

PINE PLAINS, N.Y. -- Upset by the treatment of U.S. military personnel, a 42-year-old father of an Army veteran sneaked a disassembled shotgun into a middle school just after classes began Tuesday, put it together in a bathroom, then held the principal hostage for more than two hours before surrendering without firing a shot, police said.

At 7:45 a.m., minutes after the bell signaled a start to the school day at Stissing Mountain Middle School, Christopher Craft Sr. loaded a single round into the shotgun, walked into the main office and confronted Prin

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Related News Links:
www.abovetopsecret.com

Another disturbing and potentially deadly incident involving an emotionally distraught U.S. Soldier on the heels of last week’s tragic Ft. Hood Shootings.

This time a soldier has invaded a public school taking the school’s principal hostage and demanding he arrange to have the media read his statements about the mistreatment of U.S. Soldiers in the military.

Thankfully the local police where able to end the standoff with out violence, bloodshed or loss of life. There is no denying though that military suicides and soldiers required to deploy to combat zones again and again for lengthy periods are undergoing a strain that is beginning to more and more impact their mental health and well being.

While we await the details of the tragic Ft. Hood shootings and whether it was a similar case of another wise good soldier reaching a mental breaking point or a premeditated act of religious extremism no such religious issues cloud the air in regards to this case.

This Veterans Day maybe it is time for Americans to start considering what 8 long years of war without end in multiple theatres of combat operations are truly doing to the brave men and women who have been forced to leave their families and home time and time again to risk all in these wars fought for vague reasons with out clear objectives.


www.military.com
(visit the link for the full news article)

Craft ordered Hess at gunpoint into an inner office where he restrained him and threatened to kill him to try to compel school officials and police to talk to media about his message "concerning the wrongful treatment of United States Military personnel," court documents said.

Students and staff were locked in other rooms, part of the school's safety procedures.

Craft surrendered peacefully at 9:52 a.m. and was taken from the school in handcuffs. Officials said they negotiated constantly with Craft but did not say what finally persuaded him to surrender.

Police then began going room to room to clear out about 700 students from the combined middle and high schools, who were taken to the district bus garage to assemble. They returned to the school and were dismissed shortly after 2 p.m., about the time they are normally released.

No one was injured.

Craft, wearing black jeans and a black T-shirt with an image of a pirate ship on the back at his arraignment, told a judge he was depressed and needed psychiatric care.

"Jail is not the place I need to be," Craft told Pine Plains Town Justice Louis Imperato. The judge didn't respond to his request for psychiatric care.

Clearly many of our troops are suffering from the extraordinary pressures of multiple deployments, the loss of fallen comrades, the sights and sounds of horrific wounds that thanks to modern battlefield medicine allow for gravely injured soldiers to recover but slowly as they have to face years of painful rehabilitation, prosthetics and pain killer drug regimens.

Quality veteran’s care lacks and lags in many cities and rural regions of the country where all to often both the physically and mentally maimed and impaired are all but forgotten after their sacrifices to the nation have been made.

While many people rush to speculate for both noble and not so noble purposes what might have caused the Ft. Hood shootings are we doing our nation’s soldiers a service or disservice by wanting to chalk up that case to religious fundamentalism when he in fact was a psychiatrist dealing with the tales of the fallen and the tragically injured day in and day out from fellow soldiers exposed to the lunacy we call war?

look at this:
www.abovetopsecret.com...

it's an important topic, but as you can see the number of replies in that thread it's not a hot topic.

for this guy however.... it was!

Of course i'm not advocating his approach
But to think people like him won't get to a boiling point is delusional
still nobody talks about it

A wise man once said it's easier to fear than to understand!

reply to post by ModernAcademia


Thank you ModernAvademia I visited that thread as requested and was shocked to see over 22,000 American Veterans have called suicide prevention hotlines!

That number is staggering and could represent as many as 1 out of 10 soldiers who have fought in Afghanitsan and Iraq having suicidal thoughts.

It's amazing that the government, media and the citizens aren't more concerned about this and don't give it more attention.

The lives of our own soldiers seem to be no more valued or considered than the many innocent men, women and children killed in these combat zones where vague wars are being fought with vague objectives.

Tis very troubling in deed.

Is this more B.S. What are they doing in school on a holiday.
I'm confused. Did they really blow this one?
Our boy isn't in school today.

[edit on 11-11-2009 by randyvs]

Originally posted by randyvs
Is this more B.S. What are they doing in school on a holiday.
I'm confused. Did they really blow this one?

[edit on 11-11-2009 by randyvs]

it happened yesterday on the 10th

www.msnbc.msn.com...

reply to post by Harlequin

Damn it. I almost had em pal. Don't think I'm going to let up one bit either.

This was the father of a vet not a soldier, suspect trying to draw attention to the state these poor guys are coming back in.

Maybe his child can now be counted in the 22,000 who feel at the end of the line. Is it worth it for the greed of a few?

Want to defend against terror, close the border.

Originally posted by Bunker or Bust
This was the father of a vet not a soldier, suspect trying to draw attention to the state these poor guys are coming back in.

Maybe his child can now be counted in the 22,000 who feel at the end of the line. Is it worth it for the greed of a few?

Want to defend against terror, close the border.

The amazing thing is, this is what did in the Roman Empire. People wanting to enjoy it's standards of living so much that they were constantly putting pressure on the State to be let into the State to enjoy the State's services.

Same thing here in the U.S. uncontrolled run away illegal immigration all looking to enjoy the State's way of life while pulling the State down from the sheer weight of their numbers.

It's a heck of a thing. We never seem to learn from the past. We seem only condemned to not learn from it and once again thanks to the greed of a few.

As I read the article, I got that the soldier was the son, and the father was distraught over veterans' treatment. Sadly, he is not the only parent who has sent a young son/daughter off to these current wars, only to be distraught at the condition of their child upon return, and finding lack of care/treatment for their veteran.

The ghosts of war always haunt those involved, but, unlike other wars, this current group are continuously returned to the same theatre and made to have less times between deployments. Plus more are surviving with worse and debilitating wounds.

The story of the VietNam soldiers spat upon by civilians pales in comparison to the way this curent group has been misused and spat upon by the very civilian leaders who send them to war. In these times, not only are soldiers still "cannon fodder", but they have been the means by which contractors get rich. Cries of "All in the name of profit!" shout louder than "Allah akbar!"

Originally posted by ProtoplasmicTraveler


Another disturbing and potentially deadly incident involving an emotionally distraught U.S. Soldier on the heels of last week’s tragic Ft. Hood Shootings.

This time a soldier has invaded a public school....

It's always a good idea to read the articles one posts for discussion.

The first sentence of your article reads: "Upset by the treatment of U.S. military personnel, a 42-year-old father of an Army veteran...." [emphasis mine]

But, let's not let the facts get in the way of a good jab at veterans on Veterans' Day.

The demands on our troops in this war are extraordinary because we are depending on volunteers and we are sending them into harm's way repeatedly and this does cause stress.

One might argue that the stress on our veterans is caused as much by those who refuse to serve as it is by the war zones our veterans must occupy.

But, back to the story. I'm not sure that this is representative of anything except a disturbed man.

Maybe his son is not getting the benefits that he thinks he deserves soon enough. The system is currently burdened and these are hard times, but I know for a fact that veterans needs are being addressed at least as well today as they ever have been.

In terms of mental health, treatment and support by the military and the VA are better than ever.

Would a rational man take hostage a school principal in order to raise awareness of veterans' needs?

What could one school principal do about the perceived problem?

What kind of connection would such an act make with the public?

If he's being honest about his motivations, this is hardly the act of a rational man.



[edit on 2009/11/11 by GradyPhilpott]

reply to post by randyvs


Some schools are in session today. My daughter is in 4th grade and she is at school in class. Even though this didn't happen today, it could be possible that if it had, this school might also have had classes in session.

On a more on topic note:
I'm just glad that my husband got out when he did and his reserve time was up before he would have had a possibility of being called back up. I know what kind of red tape and hoops he had to deal with trying to get VA insurance and he finally just gave it up as a lost cause and went to BCBS. I can't imagine how much worse it must be now with our current troops who need help if they have to deal with the same red tape and hoops in a system that is now far more over burdened.

On the other hand, I can't even begin to claim that I understand what the soldiers have dealt with, but I get frustrated with people in the media making it out to always be due to PTSD and presenting anyone who has been diagnosed with that as ready to fly off the deep end at any second. Frankly, I was diagnosed with PTSD for a different reason and I have not once ever had any thought of shooting people or places up or doing random other violence and mayhem. It would be phenomenal if the media would be more responsible than to just portray anyone with PTSD as being a psychopath waiting to happen.

Take care,
Cindi

Originally posted by ProtoplasmicTraveler


Another disturbing and potentially deadly incident involving an emotionally distraught U.S. Soldier on the heels of last week’s tragic Ft. Hood Shootings.

This time a soldier has invaded a public school taking the school’s principal hostage and demanding he arrange to have the media read his statements about the mistreatment of U.S. Soldiers in the military.

All the while not realizing he was himself mistreating people.

Sad how blind the crazy can be.

Originally posted by GradyPhilpott

It's always a good idea to read the articles you post for discussion.

The first sentence of your article reads: "Upset by the treatment of U.S. military personnel, a 42-year-old father of an Army veteran...." [emphasis mine]

But, let's not let the facts get in the way of a good jab at veterans on Veterans' Day.

I don't think this thread was meant to take a "jab" at veterans, as much as it was to point out the detrimental effects our overseas conflicts are having on our vets. These are not the heroic conflicts of days past; our soldiers are being used for profit and they are very much aware of it.

However, I noticed that error in the OP as well, this was the father, not the veteran.

Originally posted by GradyPhilpott
Would a rational man take hostage a school principal in order to raise awareness of veterans' needs?

What could one school principal do about the perceived problem?

What kind of connection would such an act make with the public?

If he's being honest about his motivations, this is hardly the act of a rational man.

This is exactly what I was thinking. The man has obviously got a few screws loose, thank god it didn't escalate further and nobody got hurt.

What does a middle school have to do with the military? It's absurd at best.

An upset and angry man trying to get his voice heard, job done. What's he supposed to do write a strongly worded letter? Not that I condone the action at all but people don't think to clearly when in that state, I don't think he is a psycho otherwise worse would have happened.

I also strongly agree with statement made on PTSD, it does not mean your an automatic danger to yourself or anyone. The media and people in general need to be a bit more compasionate and fair about mental illness. It can happen to anyone given the circumstances..

Originally posted by GradyPhilpott
But, let's not let the facts get in the way of a good jab at veterans on Veterans' Day.

PSHHHHHHH

You know there is a veterans day parade here today
it's very well organized, draws a big crowd, bagpipes, other musical intruments and many other things, and the streets are closed.

it costs money, of course

how many homeless vets get their stomach full out of it?
ZERO!

Enough with the remembering the dead and wearing poppy flowers and singing flandiers field

How about giving vets some food, some help and some care and maybe some shelter?

But noooo, we gotta stick to the facade

I honestly don't care about this holiday i'm sorry
it's useless and doesn't help anybody

it focuses on the dead so much and completely disregards the needy living.

Originally posted by ModernAcademia
how many homeless vets get their stomach full out of it?
ZERO!

Enough with the remembering the dead and wearing poppy flowers and singing flandiers field

How about giving vets some food, some help and some care and maybe some shelter?

But noooo, we gotta stick to the facade

I honestly don't care about this holiday i'm sorry
it's useless and doesn't help anybody

it focuses on the dead so much and completely disregards the needy living.

Bullsh*t. Many of the so called "homeless veterans" are homeless out of choice. All any homless vet has to do is to go to the nearest American Legion or Veteran's of Foreign Wars post for help. There are programs in place to provide food, shelter and medical care for them. I've volunteered a lot of time to this and get really pissed off when the media starts touting the plight of the homeless vet.

Here's a good one for you. According to the US government and my State government, I'm a homeless vet.

reply to post by JIMC5499


Dude I see homeless vets everyday on the streets
homeless vets and homeless deserters

I see both of them daily

reply to post by ModernAcademia


You may see them, but don't go telling me that there is nothing being done to help them. You can't force them to get help.