Humphrey Bogart said:
Doesn't matter how you cut it, a murderer is a murderer. We should not be victimizing people who commit heinous acts just because they happened to be Veterans. It actually hurts every other Veteran out there. I say this because you know what the General Public thinks:
"Just another FUBARed soldier!"
There you go again: You are starting from the point of view that it is a heinous - planned - executed in cold blood
murder.
I take it you served in the sandbox, and as a combat soldier, so you likely
killed some enemies. Are you a murderer? No, that is
not what a murder is. Did Gerald Stanley kill Colten Bushie? Yes, he even admitted so. Was it murder? No, a court who heard ALL the evidence decided it was not.
So you are jumping to conclusion without knowing all the facts. And what is your basis to do so? Apparently it is because you believe that we both know that the General Public thinks "just another FUBARed soldier!" Well, this event took place around New Year's day (BTW, this is of some significance to people in the medical field - perhaps Mariomike can confirm from personal experience - but the Holiday Season seem to actually see a peek in suicides and grave depressions in Northern latitudes countries) and so far you are the only person and place where I have seen anyone take that attitude of "scumbag/piece of shit/FUBARed soldier.
And BTW, we (the military) are not special in that way. There are a lot more events unfortunately called "murder-suicides" in the public at large than in the military/retired military community. These event create sadness in the General Public, even anger or feelings of helplessness in the said public as they usually have to do with some form of mental breakdown or uncontrolled anger/depression by the suicidal person - but very, very seldom if ever are these people considered by the public as "scumbags or pieces of shit". That is not the case for gang members shooting one another in large crowds downtown TO without any regards for bystanders: Those are appropriately called by those monikers.
What you have in this case, and many other similar ones, is not victimization, it is an attempt by the population to reconcile what happened with society's norms in a way they can understand, and to to both bereave and come to terms with how to avoid repeats. I, for one, firmly believes that our human nature makes it very difficult for those of us who never suffered from mental illness to understand mental illnesses and their effects. We can all understand how someone who lost an arm cannot grab something on that side of him, but it is near impossible to figure out how someone with all limbs in perfect condition can be paralyzed from using these limbs by depression, or how one can actually fail to find the courage to go on living.
All kindly submitted for your consideration.
:cheers: