I’d like to change the subject from the upcoming election and focus for a moment on another issue. I’m going to draw from the tragic events, that occurred in Minnesota 14 years ago, to illustrate the importance of this issue that should be a major national concern.
August 26, 1994 was a day that most people in the city of St. Paul will never forget. I never will. On that morning, I was stuck in traffic at an intersection blocked by police cars. When I finally made it to work, everyone was crowded in front of the breakroom television watching a horrific event unfold.
As you read, ask yourself, "Were the events of that day preventable?"
First, a little background on Guy Harvey Baker
According to the earliest press clippings (never repeated, as far as I could tell) in the Minneapolis Star-Tribune, Baker had been, in his childhood and adolescence, the proverbial fun-loving kid down the block.
In 1987 he joined the US Marine Corps, every patriotic American boy’s dream, but in Baker’s case it was the top of the slippery slope that ended tragically in St. Paul.
Somewhere between basic training in 1987 (where he had been a standout, breaking course records in the obstacle course) and August 26, 1994, Baker became a "remorseless killer, very cool, very calm, very chilling." (That quote came from his jailers, but could just as easily have been from his proud Marine Corps superiors.) Friends say he was changed by his experiences in the Marines and specifically by his experience in the war, where he served as a forward air controller, working in the battlefield under dangerous conditions. He had been decorated for exemplary service more than once.
But Baker also had posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and, obviously, antisocial personality disorder, both virtually incurable conditions with multiple manifestations caused by a combination of exposure to psychological traumas, cruelty, chronic stress, sleep deprivation, neurotoxins and malnutrition.
He had been immersed in a 24/7 kill or be killed situation for months, often sleep-deprived, irritable, eating toxic food, drinking contaminated water – a crazy-making environment that offered little or no respite from the constant crises.
He learned his soldiering trade well and became an obedient, unthinking, paid professional killer. He suffered – and died (mentally and spiritually) in ways that we civilians can’t appreciate and which even Baker and his loved ones may not have understood. He was one of the "few good men" but was imbued with serious anti-social traits that are thought to be necessary in combat but, in civilian life, are a menace to society. He was discarded by the war machine that recruited him and is now disavowed by the Marine Corps that trained him to be what he became.
August, 26, 1994 (I am quoting an article from the St. Paul Pioneer Press. As this articles has been archived, I cannot post a direct link. The publication date was August 27, 1994.)
A rookie St. Paul cop was shot and killed Friday in a church parking lot, and a veteran cop was gunned down tracking the killer.
The fatal shootings of officers Ronald Michael Ryan Jr. and Timothy Jones, allegedly by a 26-year old Persian Gulf War veteran, marked the first killings of St. Paul cops in 24 years and horrified a city.
The chain of events started at 7 a.m. when Ryan, 26, was shot to death as he was checking on a man reportedly sleeping in a car parked at Sacred Heart Church at Sixth and Hope streets on the East Side.
The shooting touched off a massive search for the man, who was wanted in Mason City, Iowa, for a parole violation.
While searching for the man, veteran K-9 officer Tim Jones and his dog, Laser, approached a fish house behind a house about 10 a.m. A man in the fish house shot Jones, 36, and the dog, killing both of them, police said.
The shooter escaped a return barrage of police gunfire. But police captured the suspect just before 1 p.m., hiding under a woodpile, within blocks of the sites where Ryan and Jones were shot. The suspect was identified as Guy Harvey Baker, 26, of Mason City.
St. Paul Police Chief Bill Finney said Baker, reportedly a Marine Corps veteran, had covered his face with camouflage paint and was hiding beneath camouflage netting.
``He was not armed,'' said Finney, whose eyes filled with tears at a press conference. But nearby, police found three pistols, two service weapons apparently taken from the dead officers and a .38-caliber handgun police believed belonged to the suspect.
Baker was wanted on probation violation for a conviction of illegal possession of firearms, according to Iowa police.
Baker was described by people who knew him as a loner who was angry because he believed he was dying from gulf war syndrome.
Again, I have to ask, could these events have been prevented? Did our government fail a soldier who, because of his military service, had become so mentally ill he was homicidal?
I'm not trying to imply that other soldiers with PTSD will act out in the way that Guy Harvey Baker did. And in no way am I shifting the blame away from him. However, I am trying to point out that the tragedy was preventable. Our government has a responsibility to our troops.
Have we learned anything since then? Are our current military service men and women being adequately screened and treated for PTSD?
As you can see here and here and here, we are still not adequately helping our returning soldiers.
The RAND Corp. has released a massive study suggesting that as many as 300,000 U.S. troops who have served in Iraq or Afghanistan may be suffering from severe depression or post-traumatic stress disorder. Another 320,000 may have suffered traumatic brain injury, although that total includes about 21,000 of those suffering from depression or PTSD.
Why are the numbers so high? Experts say it’s the nature of the fighting, particularly in Iraq. "We call it ‘360-365’ combat," Paul Sullivan, director of Veterans for Common Sense, told The Los Angeles Times. "What that means is that veterans are completely surrounded by combat for one year. Nearly all of our soldiers are under fire, or being subjected to mortar rounds or roadside bombs, or witnessing the deaths of civilians or fellow soldiers."
The fact that as many as two in five of the 1.64 million Americans sent to Iraq and Afghanistan have returned with serious mental problems and/or potentially disabling brain injuries should be a major national concern.
We must demand that our soldiers receive the care they need and deserve!
The citizens of Minnesota will forever remember Officers Ron Ryan, Jr, Tim Jones, and Laser.