Shooting in NJ
At about 4 am, some guy opened up with what ABC News is calling an AK-47, and killed two people. I guess there were other victims who haven’t died yet. And, of course, to make the shooting seem worse, the Associated Press counts the gunman, who apparently shot himself before police arrived, among the dead. However, the AP isn’t speculating that the shooter was a Marine like ABC news is doing. Good on them.
Since they haven’t released the shooter’s name, we’re not sure if he’s a Marine or not. But what we can be sure of is that it’s not a result of PTS since people who suffer from PTS don’t act like this, except in the movies. Hell, we can’t even trust the media to identify the type of weapon, so how can we trust them to make a psychological diagnosis?
Category: Veterans Issues
http://www.foxnews.com/us/2012/08/31/3-dead-including-gunman-in-new-jersey-supermarket-shooting/?test=latestnews
Terence Tyler, 23. “Not speculating if he was honorably discharged or not.”
Can one of you Marines check on MOL for us? He was only 23-years-old so he must be a recent discharge or still in the Reserves if he had any service.
It absolutely disgusts me that, not only the media, but the majority of the civilian populace holds such a stigma against veterans because of a false perception of PTS. I believe that it stems from the ever widening gap between the “general” civilian populace and the military community. Since I don’t feel that this perception of honorable (for the most part) vets won’t change any time soon with out a significant catalyst, what do the members of this forum think of my opinion? Further, how can we jump start the education of society that we’re one of our nations greatest resources rather than a detrimental minority?
“…people who suffer from PTS don’t act like this, except in the movies.” Bravo! So glad you wrote that. I’m sooooo sick of how the media and shows like Dr. Phil jump to paint a picture of those of us who struggle(d) with PTSD as ‘monsters’ or other horrible creatures. We’re human, just like everyone else. The majority of violent crimes are not committed solely as a factor of PTSD. I wish that the media didn’t take the easy way out and suggest that they are.
What the media is doing is using the lowest common denominator to generate fear of veterans, not because there is a basis for it, but because they can. You get more ‘hits’ for writing sensationalist stuff than you do for feel-good things, unless it’s a cat with a pet mouse.
What we may see down the road is “don’t join up because you’ll become mentally ill”, or something like that.
Just saying.
People measure others by their own yardstick. The media is generating fear of veterans, because THEY fear veterans. They generate ignorance of veterans, because of THEIR ignorance of veterans. PTSD — the same.
@3 I would disagree that the ‘majority’ of the civilian population holds a stigma against veterans. A lot? Sure. Too many? Again, sure. But not hardly a majority.
As for the catalyst to change this, my opinion is an unpopular one here – patiently educate people, with respect, rather than mock them for being ‘idiots’ or lumping them in to some sort of ill-regarded generalization. Any time one group tries to portray a person as part of a group they hold in disrepute, the individual is likely to argue against that notion and then you’ve got someone who is being defiant. Instead, calmly express your thought, treat them like a human who simply needs to hear a different perspective, and, over time, win.
Now, one of the reasons this isn’t liked is that it puts the initiative on to the veterans, who frankly do enough and shouldn’t also have to shoulder that burden. But if you want results faster, that’s how it gets done. As a civilian (and a liberal-leaning one at that), I do my part to educate people, too, but the more people we have doing it, the faster it gets done. And the less insults that get tossed around, the easier it is.
From the AP:
Tyler, an infantryman, never served overseas, said Marine spokeswoman Capt. Kendra Motz. She wouldn’t comment on the circumstances of his discharge. Tyler’s home of record was Brooklyn.
Oh, they’ll be sorry.
The day will come when they want us back because someone was mean to them and broke something, and they’ll be all over us like sawmill gravy on mashed potatoes.
The part that pisses me off, and why I sent you the story I did, was that the “news” reporter stated that police told them that he came back armed with an AK-47 and an “automatic pistol” and that 16 shots were fired. Now, either the cops told the news reporter “automatic pistol”, which means the cops don’t have a fucking clue, or the reporter embellished to make it sound scary. 16 shots? I don’t need to carry an AK-47 to get off 16 shots. I can do that with my SEMI-automatic pistol, which just happens to hold 16 rounds in the mag and 1 in the pipe.
I checked MOL for Terence Tyler, both as first name and last name, and found nothing on him. He doesn’t seem to have been in the Marine Corps.
Like I said before some people in the military themselves have to shoulder the blame for the never ending stereotypes of “damaged” veterans with PTSD.
Troops that have never set foot in theater, or never been outside the wire doing missions, are automatically claiming PTSD and getting benefits for it. To me it seems like every time I read an article about a veteran in my local papers, it is about the veteran overcoming PTSD and he/she struggles to adjust back to civilian life. And some of those veterans never even saw any combat or been in harm’s way or in theater. And then of course there are those who blame PTSD for their own criminal actions, like the one Air Force veteran who blamed PTSD for him running over and killing someone on the freeway.
It’s like a chicken and egg question, which came first, the media influencing many people in the military to automatically claim PTSD as a ‘crutch’ and excuse, the other way around, or both having influence on each other.
ABC news said he also had an “automatic handgun.” I haven’t seen that kind of fuckery in a while
NBC news from NYC made it seem like he was deployed overseas. Even people interviewed from Old Bridge were under the impression he was in either Iraq or Afghan.
OT, I spent years talking to the media, print and TV, and they never got a story right. Every reporter I’ve known, but one, has no clue on the difference between a revolver, semi-auto hand gun and all those scary “automatic” hand guns. It may have been the reporter trying to enhance the story, or ignorance.
@10 You might be able to get off 16 shots Old Trooper but I doubt you would hit anything.