The comment below is so sad, in truth the whole story is sad and my prayers go out to the family of the Officer Stauffer's widow and the rest of his family as well as anyone who was injured during Garnett's crime spree, but my prayers also go out to his family. Garnett himself served 4 years in the United States Army serving his country and though it doesn't say so, I imagine he also served in Afghanistan which in all probability screwed him up. Garnett committed the worst crime a human being can commit, and that is murder and worse yet murder of a person who swore to protect the rest of us so I do not feel sorry for him personally but for his family. I have seen no interview with Garnett's family but because I myself spent 20 years in the US military I have seen the same story repeated over and over.
That story is usually about a young man (sometimes a young lady) who in high school was your normal teenager, one who loved his family and enjoyed spending time with his friends, playing sports and video games. AS this young person's senior year arrives and adult hood is right around the corner they find that it is time for them to decide what they are going to do when they grow up.
For many of these young people their choices are limited, especially with the economy of today when college isn't a option. Many times the follow someone in their families footsteps and because they themselves love their country they enlist in one of the branches of the military. Their choices include US Army, US Air Force, US Navy, US Marine Corps or US Coast Guard, but here too the choice isn't always so cut and dry.
Each branch of the United States military have their own specific requirements for enlistment. A young man or woman who does investigate the branches of the military have to start by taking what is a ASVAB or Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery test .
Now the ASVAB test tells recruiters two things by the test takers score, first and foremost what branch of the military the young person qualifies for. Each branch of the armed forces have their own cut offs and the lower the score the less technical jobs they qualify for. Normally the US Air Force requires the highest scores with the US Army and Marine Corps requires the lowest.
This is not to say that the Army and Marine Corp has less technical jobs, the actual reason is because those two branches have a large component of infantry jobs which means they have a higher quota for lower scoring recruits.
This takes us back to the young person, who grew up in mine and your home town, the kid every person liked, the star of the football team, your little brother, my little sister. They have grown up and joined one of the branches of the military and go off to war. They become hero's in the eye of the community in the small town they grew up in, let's say Scott City, KS. for example (my home town).
The young person completes boot camp and is soon sent to Afghanistan and sees and experiences things a human being should never see or experience, completes his or her four year enlistment and returns to Scott City and begin acting in ways that family and friends had never seen before they went off to war, family members become confused when he/she begin drinking alcohol heavily or using drugs and begin to either avoid him or her, or try to fix them not realizing the veteran is suffering from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.
Soon this veteran is shunned and many times either having a hard time holding a job or already homeless and don't know where to turn and because of the combination of the alcohol and drug abuse turn to crime such as in this case they turn to crime to continue to afford the substance they are addicted to and without the proper help spin out of control. Many times it's sad to say people loose their lives, sadly many times it ends with the suicide of the veteran or even worse as in this case it ends with the death of innocent people as well as the veteran.
Now I don't know the true story behind this young man, all I do know is he was a veteran, he robbed banks and a police officer and Garnett both lost their lives and I wish people who have family members in the armed forces would learn what these young men and women have gone through, watch for the signs of PTSD so hopefully they may get help, because although the number of veterans suffering from PTSD the US Government continues to fall down on the job and despite more public attention to PTSD many veterans are confused and ashamed by their feelings and nightmares they experience and fail to seek help, help that could save the veterans lives and those of innocents like Officer Stauffer.
Suspect accused of killing MS officer, convicted of threatening - WLOX.com - The News for South Mississippi
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