CNN is reporting that the Army Major was a mental health professional

[Solly Mack]

AP article

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/ap/top/all/6705820.html

[Ilsa]

1. On Big Ed's Show now, too. Wow. nt

[SoCalDem]

2. Odder and odder. n/t

[frazzled]

3. He was a psychiatrist

Major, medical corps.

Jeebus. He was a DOCTOR and an OFFICER.

[qazplm]

13. Docs get promoted quickly

so if he was only a Major, odds are high he hasn't been in very long.

[dgibby]

29. He trained at the Uniformed Services facility at Bethesda Navy Hospital.

He would have graduated as a Captain, was promoted to Major in May, then transferred to Ft. Hood around that same time frame. His speciality was traumatic stress. He was scheduled to deploy to Iraq, but didn't want to go.

Source: MSNBC, Col. Jack Jacobs on the Big Ed show.

[qazplm]

I saw that too so

odds are he spent a year or two at Bethesda interning and then shipped out to Hood for his first "real" assignment.

[spanone]

4. msnbc too...

[nonconformist]

5. I just heard this on MSNBC too. HOLY SHIT.

[slackmaster]

6. Mental health professionals are not immune from mental illness

:-(

[Solly Mack]

9. I know. I'm wondering if he was treating the other 2 suspects.

[EFerrari]

26. That's right and in fact, given that some talent for empathy is involved,

I'd say they are more susceptible than not. :(

[kestrel91316]

27. Not only are they not immune, people in the human mental health field

at various levels seem more likely to be "off" in some way than the average person. Just my personal observation.

"Off" frequently equates to batshit insane.

[foxfeet]

30. Yes, and veterinarians are prone to bestiality. I'm just sayin'.

:sarcasm:

[nolabear]

31. I don't agree with you. Among the many colleagues I've trained and worked with

there have been a few that I thought shouldn't be in practice, a number that had what I'd think of as odd but in no way dangerous or irresponsible personalities, and mostly earnest people who believe that what they do helps. I don't always agree with them, but you've found quite the random sample. We might wait until we know before deciding what happened and why.

[slackmaster]

32. I agree completely - My initial career ambition was clinical psychology

I tried working on a crisis intervention hotline, which is a common entry point for that career path.

I'm glad I had that experience. It took about six weeks for me to realize that I don't want to deal with people and their stupid problems.

I work mostly with machines now. And a few people who have problems.

[tinrobot]

34. I totally agree.

This is not a blanket statement, but a lot of people choose mental health as a field because they need it themselves. What better way to prove you're not crazy than to become the person who 'cures' other crazy people. Kind of like how a lot of drug and addiction counselors have had addiction problems themselves.

I have quite a few friends in mental health field, they're probably the most neurotic people I know.

[jwirr]

28. Or burnout.

[Kadie]

7. Wow.

What a heartbreaking day.

[AndyA]

8. ***THIS STORY BROUGHT TO YOU BY GEORGE W. BUSH,

DICK CHENEY, AND THE REPUBLICAN PARTY***

Just a reminder. You may now return to your regular programming.

[blondeatlast]

10. This is getting very dark. {{shudder}} nt

[Mari333]

11. bet he has heard and seen a lot.

and he cracked.

[Solly Mack]

12. I wouldn't be surprised if that was the case.

[aint_no_life_nowhere]

14. He supposedly had a pistol - not an automatic rifle

It looks like he wanted to get up close and personal. If this was the act of terrorists and general terrorism, wouldn't they have used something with more killing power?

[Solly Mack]

15. Probably his personal sidearm(s)

[qazplm]

16. if by personal you mean non-issue

then you are correct, military personnel are only going to have access to their assigned weapon in theater, or on the firing range. He might have had his weapon if he was literally deploying today, but he wouldn't get his ammo until he got in theater.

[Solly Mack]

18. Psst. I live on an army post.

That's why I said personal sidearm ...I know the difference.

[qazplm]

20. Well you know not everyone does

so instead of taking something personally, you might consider that it was informative for folks who dont.

But hey don't let me interrupt your indignation.

[Solly Mack]

22. LOL Yeah..OK.

[qazplm]

24. I'll take that as the sarcasm you intended

and go ahead and mark you down as someone to ignore in the future.

[Robb]

23. Two pistols, according to one report. nt

[aint_no_life_nowhere]

17. Reporting that he was just reassigned from Walter Reed Medical Center

where I guess he was practicing psychiatry and treating returning vets.

[TornadoTN]

19. Tragic.

While I think what he did was horrific, I can't help but wonder if he had heard and seen so much that even he couldn't take it anymore.

[Solly Mack]

21. Thanks! for the update

[cascadiance]

33. MSNBC is also reporting that he was recently promoted too...

So the stories that he was complaining about being deployed to Iraq are now theorized to have taken place very recently since his promotion, since they likely wouldn't have promoted him if he was complaining about being deployed.

[nonconformist]

25. msnbc: He specialized in TRAUMATIC STRESS