The US soldier held for shooting dead 16 Afghan villagers at the weekend was stationed at a military base south of Seattle which has been plagued by scandal and tragedy.
Joint Base Lewis-McChord (JBLM), which could in theory host a court martial for the unidentified serviceman, has only just held a series of military trials over a “kill team” accused of the gruesome deaths of Afghan civilians in 2010.
The sprawling base also saw a spike in suicides last year with 12 people taking their lives, amid questions about how it cares for victims of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD).
Home to over 40,000 servicemen, civilians and their families who live on the base and in surrounding communities, it was dubbed the “most troubled base in the military” by the Stars and Stripes newspaper in 2010.
Jorge Gonzalez, the head of a veteran-run resource centre called Coffee Strong near the base, said he was not surprised at the shooting.
“This was not just a rogue soldier: JBLM is a rogue base, with a severe leadership problem. If Fort Lewis was a college campus, it would have been closed down years ago,” he alleged in an online statement.
The US soldier behind the latest massacre − reportedly a 38-year-old father of two − left the base in December for his first deployment to Afghanistan after three tours in Iraq, according to US defence officials.
Spokesmen for the base have declined to comment on the accused serviceman but media reports say his family has been moved onto the base in the northwestern state of Washington for their own protection.
He belongs to the 2nd Infantry Division, 3rd Stryker Brigade, according to media reports. Pentagon spokesman George Little said he is “in his 30s”, but insisted his name will be withheld until charges are brought. The soldier − whose alleged deeds have sparked warnings of a surge in anti-American violence − was diagnosed with a traumatic brain injury (TBI) after a non-combat-related vehicle roll-over in Iraq in 2010, according to a defence official, who requested anonymity.
Links have been found between TBI and PTSD, but it is not known if he suffers or suffered from PTSD.But that has not stopped the re-emergence of questions about the treatment of soldiers for the disorder.