Iraq War vet, 32, 'attacks two elderly veterans during drunk rampage at his wedding reception'

What's wrong with the young American vets ??
There seem to be more U.S soldiers "loosing it" lately.
Now attacking an elderly Korean vet. Wow

Be proud of the military !

An Iraq War veteran spent his wedding night behind bars after allegedly attacking two older veterans and one of their wives at his reception.

Philips Brooks, 32, stumbled from his party at the North Andover Veterans of Foreign Wars hall in Massachusetts on Saturday and confronted patrons sitting in the downstairs bar, police said.

He began shouting, 'No one here is a veteran!' before making a beeline for a woman. Her husband, 62, stepped in and Brooks punched him in the eye then broke his wife's $500 glasses, police said.

Brooks then allegedly turned on great-grandfather Allen Strassel and bashed his head against the bar, knocking out the 79-year-old Korean War vet and leaving him with a bruised and swollen eye.

'This defendant comes up, grabs him by the back of the head and slams his face onto the solid wood bar resulting in injuries,' prosecutor Kimberly Gillespie said at Brooks' court appearance on Monday.

link

Wow! what a disgusting human being, he is a total disgrace to all who wear the uniform. My grandpa is a decorated Korean war vet, and I couldn't imaging disrespecting him in any way. The guy should have the book thrown at him.

Why is anyone surprised?? The big green suck machine has sucked these men dry, physically and mentally. Some of them, as many as 6 combat tours or more and among those, some with enemy contact on a regular basis across all those years. World War II had squat for combat time compared to this. Nothing like it. They spent most of their time on ships, in trucks or just one foot in front of the other getting 'there' from somewhere else.

Even Vietnam was 12 months that seem damn short compared to some of this madness and I know from what that damn place did to my father, 12 months can be a lifetime or forever change one.

End the wars...end them before there is nothing left to bring home inside those friggen uniforms they're replacing all over again.

reply to post by VikingWarlord


I have Gulf War Illness, officially diagnosed by the VA (yes it is real), one of the first symptoms is anger and anxiety issues. Who knows what the troops now have been given that is effecting their mental state?

Point is, don't judge something you know nothing about. Find and blame the cause, not the symptoms. That soldier needs help, not your judgmental anger.

reply to post by Wrabbit2000


Agreed. War takes a mental toll on people. It's hard. It's cruel and unforgiving. And this isn't conventional warfare either. How long have the troops been deployed since 9/11?

Originally posted by ANOK
reply to post by VikingWarlord

 

I have Gulf War Illness, officially diagnosed by the VA (yes it is real), one of the first symptoms is anger and anxiety issues. Who knows what the troops now have been given that is effecting their mental state?

Point is, don't judge something you know nothing about. Find and blame the cause, not the symptoms. That soldier needs help, not your judgmental anger.

Hi ANOK,

Sorry to hear that you have that bloody awful condition,I too was diagnosed with "Gulf war syndrome" shortly after returning home from GW 1,The worst part of it,for me ,was the irrational anger and need to do serious damage to someone(thank the stars I never went that far),as you say this veteran needs sympathetic treatment,not censure,certainly not from those who have never experienced a combat situation.

Originally posted by ANOK
reply to post by VikingWarlord

 

I have Gulf War Illness, officially diagnosed by the VA (yes it is real), one of the first symptoms is anger and anxiety issues. Who knows what the troops now have been given that is effecting their mental state?

Point is, don't judge something you know nothing about. Find and blame the cause, not the symptoms. That soldier needs help, not your judgmental anger.

You can't defend this guy like that.
He had some sense of control and awareness, being drunk is no excuse, and on top of that the mental illness?
He shouldn't have been drinking in the first place. He chose to become angry at those specific people.

reply to post by ANOK

He may need help, but he flew off the handle and assaulted people. Punish him, then get him help.

Originally posted by nake13
Sorry to hear that you have that bloody awful condition,I too was diagnosed with "Gulf war syndrome" shortly after returning home from GW 1,The worst part of it,for me ,was the irrational anger and need to do serious damage to someone(thank the stars I never went that far),as you say this veteran needs sympathetic treatment,not censure,certainly not from those who have never experienced a combat situation.

Yeah back at ya mate! I had to seriously learn how to deal with anger issues I'd never had before. It was overwhelming. Feels like your emotions are out of control. Yeah luckily I never hurt anyone either, but I did break a few things lol. I still have to watch myself, and avoid confrontation.

www.publichealth.va.gov...

reply to post by samsamm9


Hmmm... I was hoping for a comment from his wife lmao .. I imagine he's probably feeling safer in jail than anywhere near her.

But you can't say all vets are like this jerk, he's just one imbecile, there are many good vets (most are good people and would never do this).

I do think we are seeing a rash of "crazies" now because 4-6 years ago the US Armed Forces were taking every person they could get, when usually they aim for the better candidates they were scraping the bottom of the barrel. So people with obvious mental issues, anger issues, drug problems, criminal records etc were all admitted into the military where some got even crazier.

Originally posted by yourmaker
He chose to become angry at those specific people.

But you can't say that, you have no idea what was going on.

I know from my own experience that you can go from being completely normal one minute, to completely losing the plot the next, you have no control over it, you don't choose it, or who, or what, you take you anger out on. It's not an anger at someone or something, it's just anger. Uncontrollable and overwhelming.

We don't know if this was "normal" anger you would experience, or the anger induced by whatever he was subjected to in service. Be that untested vaccines, depleted uranium or other chemicals.

Originally posted by ANOK

Originally posted by yourmaker
He chose to become angry at those specific people.

But you can't say that, you have no idea what was going on.

I know from my own experience that you can go from being completely normal one minute, to completely losing the plot the next, you have no control over it, you don't choose it, or who, or what, you take you anger out on. It's not an anger at someone or something, it's just anger. Uncontrollable and overwhelming.

We don't know if this was "normal" anger you would experience, or the anger induced by whatever he was subjected to in service. Be that untested vaccines, depleted uranium or other chemicals.

Thank you for making that more clear. You are correct, sorry for my misinterpretation.
I find myself, when i'm angry to still be in clear control, the only thing I can't control is the anger itself because it is usually based off of something worth being angry about.

reply to post by samsamm9


Every person is just that, a person. We all deal with stress in different ways, and react to situations differently.

While I don't condone his actions, it brings to the forefront what I said. I suffer from PTSD but not from a battlefield but from events that have happened in my life.

What he did was wrong, but I hope he gets the help he needs before he hurts the person he married as well.

Originally posted by samsamm9

What's wrong with the young American vets ??
There seem to be more U.S soldiers "loosing it" lately.
Now attacking an elderly Korean vet. Wow

Be proud of the military !

Way to paint with the broadest of brushes..

Originally posted by Rockpuck
reply to post by samsamm9

 

Hmmm... I was hoping for a comment from his wife lmao .. I imagine he's probably feeling safer in jail than anywhere near her.

But you can't say all vets are like this jerk, he's just one imbecile, there are many good vets (most are good people and would never do this).

I do think we are seeing a rash of "crazies" now because 4-6 years ago the US Armed Forces were taking every person they could get, when usually they aim for the better candidates they were scraping the bottom of the barrel. So people with obvious mental issues, anger issues, drug problems, criminal records etc were all admitted into the military where some got even crazier.

I'd just like to reply to this whole post in a way that I hope won't be taken the wrong way. Being in my 50's I have a relationship with a man that was in the Marines during the Viet Nam war. I can't tell you how in a short amount of time I have become aware of the nightmares he has where he kicks me, and hits me in his sleep. He saw many horrible things and still dreams of them to this day. There is no magical cure for a person who has witnessed a war on the frontlines....he's instructed me that the next time this happens while he sleeps that I am to gently jostle his feet and to go nowhere near his upper body to wake him up.

Decades later...the man still suffers.

I wonder if all the mental issues with these vets has to do with the many undisclosed shots they get in the rear end when they join.

I mean come on the military dosent want a bunch of window licking pansy's.

Originally posted by JacKatMtn

Originally posted by samsamm9

What's wrong with the young American vets ??
There seem to be more U.S soldiers "loosing it" lately.
Now attacking an elderly Korean vet. Wow

Be proud of the military !

Way to paint with the broadest of brushes..

Yes, and ?

I don't glorify the military like most Americans do.

reply to post by samsamm9


war is inhuman, and when people finally realize that there will be no military left. ptsd is caused by doing something so against your nature. dont let the elites dupe you into thinking its normal to want to kill.

To be honest, i could go out and have a go at an elderly person, and it would be sheer coincidence that they were also vets like myself. Did the guy purposely pick them out because they were vets? No.

They do seem to have just jumped on the fact that he is a vet, when all thats really happened is he is one of many people who do really stupid things when they are drunk. Some people can handle their drink, some can't.

You can't blame all incidents of drunken aggression on combat.....it happens every day and night of the week to people that have never set foot near the army.

CX.

Originally posted by CX
To be honest, i could go out and have a go at an elderly person, and it would be sheer coincidence that they were also vets like myself. Did the guy purposely pick them out because they were vets? No.

They do seem to have just jumped on the fact that he is a vet, when all thats really happened is he is one of many people who do really stupid things when they are drunk. Some people can handle their drink, some can't.

You can't blame all incidents of drunken aggression on combat.....it happens every day and night of the week to people that have never set foot near the army.

CX.

I just wanted to comment on this and I caught myself to change my whole tone when I noticed on your Mini- that you are from across the pond. The meaning of some of the circumstance here may not be as clear as it would be to someone here. He was at a VFW hall and went at it with these guys at the VFW bar. Now, Mass may be radically different or something..but I'd be shocked if it were so. Up the road we have a VFW post and I've been into it a couple times with my wife. They have Bingo and a couple other functions which welcome the public in for this or that.

Outside of those functions..Well, it's a weird little thing..and I hope a Vet here can explain it better. It's public, but...it's not. I mean, just any 'ol Tom Dick and Harry can't stroll in, evening after evening and get hammered at their bar and bore them in their own Hall. As I had it explained to me when I asked, I could come in regularly if brought in by invitation ...and I could be throw out the door forever...just as quickly and easily. So, public..but..not public.

In suggesting this was somehow happenstance or just luck of the draw that he decked a couple vets is to overlook where he was. Odds are, by how the scene is being described, everyone in the building was a vet, related to a vet or working for the Post....(and likely still a Vet).Please correct me if I'm wrong folks...I'm trying my best by my personal experience with the post here...I'd hate to get a material point totally wrong