Army psychiatrist who killed 12 at Fort Hood said to be stressed about deployment

November 5, 7:46 PMBirmingham Family Health ExaminerCarl Lowe

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Major Nidal Malik Hasan, an army psychiatrist shot and killed at least 12 people.
AP/Ctr for Study of Traumatic Stress

Is stress driving some military personnel over the edge? Major Nidal Malik Hasan, an army psychiatrist shot and killed at least 12 people and wounded more than two dozen at Fort Hood after being told he was being sent to Iraq. It was the deadliest mass shooting on a US military base in history.
Does this reflect a military that is increasingly under stress and suffering serious personality disorders? Born in Virginia, Hasan graduated from Virginia Tech and got an MD from Bethesda's Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences.
In addition to this shooting, folks in the military have also recently been committing suicide in record numbers. Troops are killing themselves in the largest numbers since the military started counting in 1980. Last year, at least 128 army personnel committed suicide, as did more than 40 marines.
Obviously our protracted wars in the Middle East are taking their toll. Unless we resolve them soon, it looks like more tragedies may be inevitable. Because when even psychiatrists start to crack… That’s a bad sign.