Posted on Oct 22, 2015
Robert Bales claims his massacre of 16 civilians in Afghanistan is uniquely different from those mass shootings in the US. Agree?
144K
791
171
8
8
0
“I was so angry at these [Afghani] guys for putting their families in harm's way like that,” he said. “So I blamed them, but I took it out on [the women and children]. I was just raging.” Bales was an army staff sergeant aged 39 on his fourth deployment to a combat zone in 2012.
Military officials said he had been drinking before creeping away from base in the Panjwayi district of southern Kandahar, armed with a pistol, a rifle and a grenade launcher. Witnesses said he opened fire on sleeping families before burning some of dead bodies.
At one point he returned to tell a fellow soldier, “I just shot up some people.”
In the interview he said he been suffering from stress, non-stop anger – caused by guilt at failing to prevent an attack that maimed a friend when Bales was on sentry duty - and was using steroids, when he went into “autopilot” and launched his murderous raid. He said he thinks about his actions again and again.
“I can't take it back,” he said. “If I could, I would. Not just because I'm gonna be in prison for the rest of my life. Because of the cost. No conscious person wants war. No conscious person wants to kill people.”
But he also said he feels he let down his fellow troops.
“I want to say to those guys that I hurt—my guys, the patriot brotherhood—I want them to know I'm sorry,” he said. “I don't want nothing but good things for my soldiers. I hope that in some way they can understand how sorry I am. They're my family, and I love them.”
He also tried to distance himself from other American mass shooters such as James Holmes, who murdered 12 people at midnight screening of Batman film The Dark Knight Rises.
“It wasn't like I was looking to go into a school and open up on a bunch of kids,” he said. “That doesn't make it right. I'm not trying to make it right. I can't make it right. The difference between a soldier and a thug is authority, and I didn't have authority. But it's not the same as walking into a movie theatre and opening up on a bunch of people in a Batman movie.”
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/afghanistan/11947019/Robert-Bales-says-he-was-on-autopilot-when-he-massacred-16-Afghan-civilians.html
Military officials said he had been drinking before creeping away from base in the Panjwayi district of southern Kandahar, armed with a pistol, a rifle and a grenade launcher. Witnesses said he opened fire on sleeping families before burning some of dead bodies.
At one point he returned to tell a fellow soldier, “I just shot up some people.”
In the interview he said he been suffering from stress, non-stop anger – caused by guilt at failing to prevent an attack that maimed a friend when Bales was on sentry duty - and was using steroids, when he went into “autopilot” and launched his murderous raid. He said he thinks about his actions again and again.
“I can't take it back,” he said. “If I could, I would. Not just because I'm gonna be in prison for the rest of my life. Because of the cost. No conscious person wants war. No conscious person wants to kill people.”
But he also said he feels he let down his fellow troops.
“I want to say to those guys that I hurt—my guys, the patriot brotherhood—I want them to know I'm sorry,” he said. “I don't want nothing but good things for my soldiers. I hope that in some way they can understand how sorry I am. They're my family, and I love them.”
He also tried to distance himself from other American mass shooters such as James Holmes, who murdered 12 people at midnight screening of Batman film The Dark Knight Rises.
“It wasn't like I was looking to go into a school and open up on a bunch of kids,” he said. “That doesn't make it right. I'm not trying to make it right. I can't make it right. The difference between a soldier and a thug is authority, and I didn't have authority. But it's not the same as walking into a movie theatre and opening up on a bunch of people in a Batman movie.”
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/afghanistan/11947019/Robert-Bales-says-he-was-on-autopilot-when-he-massacred-16-Afghan-civilians.html
Warfare
Crime
Posted 9 y ago
Responses: 42
4
4
0
He was in Afghanistan AND he was drinking AND was on steroids... Well, damn... o_O
(4)
(0)
MSgt Curtis Ellis
CPO Andy Carrillo, MS - "...a drunken-driving arrest in 2005, a hit-and-run accident in 2008, a head injury suffered when his Humvee overturned in Iraq..." This is the part I don't understand... After the incident, there are numerous areas in this individuals life, looking back, were extremely questionable, but no one said anything... and the ones who did, get dismissed... The cycle is always the same, yet no one says anything until after its over...
(2)
(0)
CPO Andy Carrillo, MS
Hero Charles Ramsey melodically recounts the day he heroically helped rescue 3 kidnapped Cleveland women, now on iTunes: https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/de...
Yes, it's always "we eat ribs wit dis dude, but we didn't have a clue!"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nZcRU0Op5P4
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nZcRU0Op5P4
(0)
(0)
3
3
0
This is a tough one. Don't know that I can answer this. 4 deployments, endless day and weeks being shot at and seeing Soldiers maimed. I understand how a person could snap. But he snapped way before he killed those people. The alcohol and steroid use could have been an indicator.
He is paying for his crime but I believe it's harsh for folks to pass judgement on him without having experienced what he did. Every man has a breaking point. His was obviously lower than others. The chain of command had a responsibility in this as well.
Just my two pennies.
He is paying for his crime but I believe it's harsh for folks to pass judgement on him without having experienced what he did. Every man has a breaking point. His was obviously lower than others. The chain of command had a responsibility in this as well.
Just my two pennies.
(3)
(0)
2
2
0
What he did was so wrong. He was a coward for going after defenseless villagers while they slept. That is just like someone stateside walking into a school and killing kids. Trying to blame the steroids, PTSD, or going on autopilot is just the way a coward tries to justify what he did and move the blame for his action somewhere else. If he was feeling so overwhelmed, he should have talked to someone about it. I know being an NCO it is hard to take care of yourself because your main concern is for the troops.
Besides taking steroids, why was he drinking alcohol. Last I checked that was not allowed by SMs while deployed to a combat zone.
His explanations are just his way to try and make himself feel better about his murderous acts.
Besides taking steroids, why was he drinking alcohol. Last I checked that was not allowed by SMs while deployed to a combat zone.
His explanations are just his way to try and make himself feel better about his murderous acts.
(2)
(0)
CPO Andy Carrillo, MS
Confronting oneself as being a monster who destroys men, women, and children while asleep in the presumed safety of one's home is mental territory few dare tread and remain sane. Perhaps rationalization is his only remaining thread to sanity?
(1)
(0)
2
2
0
Agree. He is paying for his crime that's for Sure but there is a huge difference in the things that led to this event and the petty bs that leads to movie shootings. On one hand we send these guys to do the nations bidding and when they break they are shunned. On the other hand we can't understand it because few of you have been in his shoes to even try to understand the pressure and effects of actual combat versus what some of you experienced being deployed. There is no excuse for his actions but there should be a better understanding of why it went down.
(2)
(0)
CPO Andy Carrillo, MS
True, understanding a heinous crime doesn't condone it. His mounting unresolved anger and resentments, something he shares with all mass murderers, also fueled his choices to kill innocents in their sleep. Consider also that he volunteered to soldier.
(0)
(0)
2
2
0
The authority thing is total BS. He was a Staff Sgt. He was trusted as a leader of men. He is an authority figure himself. This guy deserves to rot in prison the rest of his life. We were all under extreme stress over there. This guy was on the Kandahar Air Base in 2012?!?!? It was like a normal base!!! The had restaurants and electronic stores!! There was a Ruby Tuesdays!! You weren't on a tiny, 15 man patrol base going out on 2-3 patrols a day. Have fun dying in prison... You don't deserve to be called a soldier, marine, sailor or airman.
(2)
(0)
2
2
0
I served in all US theatre's of combat from Panama 89' to 2012. At no point as infantry or SF did I ever have the urge to indiscriminately kill unarmed citizens. His story is BS, I volunteer to stick the needle in him. He betrayed every brother in arms.
(2)
(0)
SPC (Join to see)
Im sorry but I disagree; WE failed him by not identifying the signs and getting him the help he needed. It was in all acounts wrong in what he did but we need to look at ourselves and ask how did we let this happen.
(0)
(0)
2
2
0
The common factor with him and the other mass murders is that most are on SSRI'S. (Prozac, Depecote, etc.)
He is wrong but he lost most of his feet on an IED attack, and other heath issues he should not have been back in a combat zone so soon if at all.
He is wrong but he lost most of his feet on an IED attack, and other heath issues he should not have been back in a combat zone so soon if at all.
(2)
(0)
2
2
0
Everyone has a breaking point and this man's chain of command failed him by allowing this to happen what ever happened to evaluation of troops daily to insure they are physically and mentally fit for duty haven't heard anyone say anything about that how many veterans are lost every day because someone didn't follow up when they ets. What he did was wrong and should never happened if proper supervision was in place chances are this soldier would have gotten proper treatment and pulled from duty and people would still be alive .
(2)
(0)
2
2
0
SSG Bales - I get it. Point is you went after those that couldn't defend themselves. OPFOR - got it, - combatants, but non-combatants - no bueno. As a society...we are better than that. So are you...
(2)
(0)
2
2
0
(0)
(0)
1SG (Join to see)
Bullets are a lot cheaper, SSG Todd Halverson. So is a hangman's noose and we could be all green and recycle and stuff.
(2)
(0)
Read This Next
Continue with Facebook 
Continue with Google