Before the murders started, Anthony Marquez’s mom dialed his sergeant at Fort Carson to warn that her son was poised to kill.
It was February 2006, and the 21-year-old soldier had not been the same since being wounded and coming home from Iraq eight months before. He had violent outbursts and thrashing nightmares. He was devouring pain pills and drinking too much. He always packed a gun.
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Thorough. Philipps presents the ugly effect of war upon the young soldiers sent into the invasion and occupation.
It's disturbing, horrific and astounding; as a read, it would have benefited from some editing -- at times it seems to go on and on (it is a very long piece) but it does "get you where you live".
The Army trains you to be this way. In bayonet training, the sergeant would yell, ‘What makes the grass grow?’ and we would yell, ‘Blood! Blood! Blood!’ as we ... More »
Stunning article. Dave Phillips deserves much credit for the depth and breadth of this article. Sadly, its length along will be daunting to most Americans. If there is any Journalistic justice Phillips series, of which this is Part 1, will receive enough recognition that more than the few who believe wars have consequences will be compelled to read and contemplate what he has documented about these latest Casualties of War. Well done Dave.
War changes people. I was a combat infantryman in Vietnam in 1968-69 with the 1st Air Cavalry. The most amazing thing was the realization, many years after the fact, that I was so changed, so different, and so completely oblivious of what life without the ever present, imminent threat of violence, was like. I never felt with any certanty that I would live through any given day. I knew to the core of my being that if I were attacked, threatened, pushed too far, I would fight to ... More »
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