The Other 1 Percent

The yellow banners, the halftime tributes, the bloviating by politicians of both parties — it’s so easy for the 99 percent of us who aren’t serving in the military to act like we support them. We all love the troops, blah, blah, blah.

And then, you see an Army lieutenant colonel accused this week of plotting to blow up the Washington State Capitol and kill his commanding officer. You see, two months ago, a man not long out of his Army uniform gunning down a park ranger in her uniform. You hear of the massacre of children and women in Afghanistan — civilians all — allegedly by an Army sergeant who served four tours of duty.

All of those incidents came from people connected to Joint Base Lewis-McChord, south of Tacoma, Wash., the largest military installation on the West Coast. And all of the suspects had completed combat tours in Iraq or Afghanistan. Is it the base, or the service, or the wars? Who’s failing these soldiers?

more at : http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/03/15/the-other-1-percent/?ref=global

March 15, 2012, 9:00 pm
By TIMOTHY EGAN ©2012 ALL RIGHTS RESERVED THE AUTHOR(S) AND THE PUBLISHER