What is the reason so many Serial Killers are ex- Military?
Military training links string of serial killers
By DOUG SAUNDERS\
Toronto Globe & Mail
Some time after he was discharged from the army, his life turned sour, he got angry and delusional and he snapped. Wielding his gun in a suburban neighbourhood, he killed again and again: women, children, complete strangers, with military precision but without an evident motive…
This describes what police say about John Allen Muhammad, who was arrested yesterday in the Washington sniper-killing rampage. But it is also a precise description of Howard Unruh, a 28-year-old Second World War veteran who shot 13 of his New Jersey neighbours one day in 1949. His military firearms training made his "walk of death" the first modern serial-killer case.
In the 53 years that separate Mr. Unruh from Mr. Muhammad, hundreds of Americans have lost their minds and used guns to cause multiple deaths. One thing unites almost all of them: military training.
Mr. Muhammad served in the Persian Gulf war, as did Timothy McVeigh, the Oklahoma City bomber. Both received weapons training and basic military training designed to psychologically condition soldiers to kill. They are far from alone.
Serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer received military training in Texas and Alabama. David Berkowitz, the "Son of Sam" killer, was an army veteran. Charles Whitman, who killed 16 people and injured 31 in a 1961 sniper-shooting rampage from the top of a tower in Austin, Tex., had just been discharged from the U.S. Marines. Arthur Shawcross, who killed 12 people, was a Vietnam veteran.
In an overwhelming number of cases, serial killers and other mass murderers learned to kill in the military. Experts disagree whether this means that the army turns ordinary people into unfeeling killers, or the military simply attracts a large number of psychologically fragile people who are prone to become murderers.
David Grossman, a former U.S. military psychologist who helped develop programs to train new recruits to become more effective killers, said that the key to military training lies in breaking down the natural human aversion to killing in a process he calls "disengagement." Once this aversion has been removed, it never comes back, and can make it easier for former soldiers to become murderers.
"The ability to watch a human being’s head explode and to do it again and again — that takes a kind of desensitization to human suffering that has to be learned," Mr. Grossman said yesterday.
In earlier wars, many soldiers were psychologically unable to shoot anyone. In order to increase the "trigger-pull ratio," the United States changed the basic training offered to all recruits and draftees so they would be aggressively desensitized to killing.
Some observers believe this may be why mass murders have become far more common in the past 50 years.
In the 1970s, some observers believed that the humiliation and social opprobrium caused by the Vietnam War, led many former soldiers to become mentally unstable, and potentially to become killers.
The Persian Gulf war of 1991 showed that this might not have been the case. Their war was popular domestically, and Persian Gulf veterans were welcomed as heroes upon return.
Yet their conflict has produced more than its share of killers. Mr. McVeigh was a decorated tank commander. His case is strikingly similar to that of Mr. Muhammad.
Both seem to have gradually developed anti-American or antigovernment beliefs while serving in the Persian Gulf war; both seem to have left disillusioned. And both seem to have used their military training to commit grave crimes.
Posted in military firearms
January 20th, 2010 at 10:20 pm
l like tina’s answer.
these "serial killers" were treated to too many boxes of cheerios?
January 20th, 2010 at 10:20 pm
*ponders if this is "draft dodger"’s many clones*
January 20th, 2010 at 10:20 pm
Many suffer from mental problems after war, so quite a few i’d say.
January 20th, 2010 at 10:20 pm
Like who douche
January 20th, 2010 at 10:20 pm
Hogwash. This has been debunked many times.
January 20th, 2010 at 10:20 pm
Interesting. MILLIONS of men and women have served in our armed forces over the years and you have a hand full of examples? Moron.
January 20th, 2010 at 10:20 pm
So what is your solution to this problem? Or is the military a necessary evil? Would you rather have a bunch of terrorists invading the country?
January 20th, 2010 at 10:20 pm
All pedophiles have a mother…wonder if she caused it? All lawyers went to school…All limo drivers expect a tip…
January 20th, 2010 at 10:20 pm
McVeigh was not a decorated anything…he was kicked out for being unstable as were most of the people mentioned.
William Ayers wasnt in the military and neither Charles Manson
the DC area snipers were muslim and not military
January 20th, 2010 at 10:20 pm
To all veterans
I would like to thank each and every veteran for their service and sacrifics that allows morons to say what every they like however stupid it may be!
Thank You
January 20th, 2010 at 10:20 pm
They aren’t. The press happily reports stories about murderers who were in the military, and implies that former military people are more likely to be killers. It isn’t true. Statistically, a former military person is less likely to commit a murder than a person of the same gender and age who never served in the military. Same is true of serial killers. Muhammed was a former military guy who was a serial killer. McVeigh was a former military guy who became a mass murderer. However, Ted Bundy, Ted Kaczynski, Charles Manson, Juan Corona, Richard Ramirez, Angelo Buono, Jeffrey Dahmer, Coral Watts and John Wayne Gacy never served in the military. The notion that military people are more likely to become murderers is a myth, perpetuated by nonsensical stories like the one you quote.
January 20th, 2010 at 10:20 pm
First of all,MY assessment of Adult personalities is,that ones Basic persona is Formed by age 6.For instance,I’ve actually run into men I’ve known SINCE they were 6,and saw NO difference in their basic character. On self analysis to Support My theory,is..try to remember What females you were attracted to as a youth…I Guarantee they are the SAME types you are attracted to as an adult,same with music,movies etc. The point is,that War/Military can and IS hell on the human spirit/mind..however,if you agree with my "6 year old kid" theory,you’d also agree that The same guys who are discharged from the military and go off the deep end,I’m SURE if they didn’t serve,but worked in a grocery store..the same defecits would have occured.
But,war CAN and Does effectuate that catalyst,that may NOT have EVER been pushed to "Joe grocery clerk". Also The Military has always been financial partners with Hollywood and go 50/50 on funding war movies that are essentially "recruiting films".Films dating back to the DAY Thomas Edison invented the motion picture camera..and covering ALL wars from that time. So the young Kid sees this and wants HIS dose of ego,but when he gets separated from the service realizes just HOW he was raked over the coals…and perhaps flips out..ONE way or the other,Hence:"Jaded City" !