I think your instincts are right on about this. A man with a sterling record going berserk in such an odd fashion doesn't make sense. Still, its not surprising a man with previous head injuries and years of almost continuous combat tours could snap unexpectedly.

Still, the reaction of the Afghanis is perfectly understandable, even if it is deliberately fanned by the bad guys. They simply don't want us there any more.

The hidden story here is why are we sending a man with this much combat in so short a time, and with a part of his foot missing (from a previous injury) into combat? Don't soldiers, more than anything, need to be able to march?

BY itself, an incident like this means little, in context with all the reports of abuse of civilians, PTSD cases, multiple duty tours, breakup of military families, suicides, high unemployment for returning vets, and rape of female soldiers, suggests we are pushing the armed forces too hard and they are starting to unravel.

This is not a war of national survival. We need to get out of there now. I realize we have to disentangle ourselves gradually so we don't "lose face", but this essentially political consideration is rapidly becoming unacceptable.