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Killings Weigh on Army Post
Satday, July 27, 2002
By Peter Smolowitz
Charlotte (N.C.) Observer

The Associated Press contributed to this article



Military officials said the fact that three soldiers had returned from Afghanistan was a "tragic coincidence," but deployments can be stressful. "It's about deployments, not necessarily about being deployed to Afghanistan," said Fort Bragg spokeswoman Jan Northstar. "If a problem exists in a marriage before they're deployed, when a soldier comes back, it will still be there, and it might even be magnified."

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Fort Bragg officials said Friday they're shocked by an unprecedented string of slayings in which four soldiers were accused of killing their wives.

Three of the soldiers were Special Operations troops who had recently returned from Afghanistan; the fourth was from the 18th Airborne Corps and had not been deployed. Two of the soldiers killed themselves.

Army officials, military psychologists and Fayetteville detectives said that while stress is common among soldiers returning from war, such an increase in domestic violence is unparalleled. Fort Bragg officials said Friday they will review their family counseling programs, some of which are already mandatory for soldiers and families dealing with deployments.

"It's mind-boggling," said Henry Berry, manager of family advocacy programs at Fort Bragg. "To be absolutely honest, I was completely caught off guard. We're going to look at these cases ... to prevent them from happening in the future."

Fayetteville, located about 140 miles east of Charlotte, is considered the Carolinas' consummate military town. In war, the nation's first troops are often sent from Fort Bragg -- the Army's headquarters for Special Forces and Special Operations soldiers, as well as the elite 82nd Airborne Division.

Before June, only one Fort Bragg soldier had been charged with murder in the past two years.
(More: Ledger-Enquirer.com News Source)
2002 © The Charlotte (N.C.) Observer.

Dan