War vet with no legs charged with plot to kill Westboro Baptist Church members

Link

Quote :

In a Wichita case that has captured national attention, a double-amputee war veteran already accused of misdemeanors against a controversial Topeka church now faces a felony charge.

The latest charge — conspiracy to commit aggravated battery — was filed by Sedgwick County prosecutors Friday afternoon. The charge accuses Army veteran Ryan Newell of engaging in a conspiracy in which firearms were obtained and put in his vehicle and taken to a place where church members were located.

Mid-morning Tuesday, detectives arrested Newell. He was backed into a parking spot outside Wichita City Hall with guns and ammunition in his SUV while five Westboro church members met inside with Wichita police officials to discuss protest-safety concerns, sources have said.

I'm not sure if it's right to find the irony in that last sentence morbidly amusing. But, I do.

Quote :

McPherson, Newell's lawyer, said, "I'm hearing that there are other investigations that are pending." He declined to elaborate.

McPherson said he is working to make sure that Newell's medical needs are met while he is in jail. McPherson said he thinks Newell has been placed in the jail clinic because of medications associated with his war injuries.

Newell lost his legs in 2008 when an improvised bomb exploded in Afghanistan. Some of his fellow soldiers died in the explosion.

I think I can understand this guy's motivations, but I can't condone his actions, and it's incredibly sad that his emotions reached such a boiling point that he effectively chose to throw away several years of his life to sit in prison (or in a prison clinic, or in a mental institution) because of these people.

I can't condone it either, but I can understand why. He sacrificed himself for the sake of his country, probably saw others he knew die or be wounded, and then, once he got back home he's faced with a lack of interest by the public and the specter of Fred and his spawn showing up every time there's a military funeral. It sounds like the man needed psychiatric health, as well as help dealing with the loss of his legs, and I hope he gets them. It's just sad things had to deteriorate to the point he was considering committing mass murder before anyone noticed.

Unfortunately, even though the government keeps saying they're going to allot more money to it, the VA Medical Program is barely at a workable level right now. It's not unusual for soldiers who've been mustered out because of injuries to have to wait months before they get help as far as being fitted for prosthesis are concerned. And if you're suffering from PTSD, you sometimes have to wait anywhere from six months to a year to see a psychiatric or therapist because so few of them are available. Add to that the reluctance of a lot of ex-soldiers to ADMIT they suffer from PTSD, and you've got a lot of angry people who feel like they've been abandoned by their country wandering around.

Rabid Badger wrote:

... It sounds like the man needed psychiatric health, as well as help dealing with the loss of his legs, and I hope he gets them. It's just sad things had to deteriorate to the point he was considering committing mass murder before anyone noticed.

... And if you're suffering from PTSD, you sometimes have to wait anywhere from six months to a year to see a psychiatric or therapist because so few of them are available.

Since the waiting lines are that long and the service so (apparently) shitty, can't they see another psychiatrist or therapist for this? Why does the VA need to essentially assign them a therapist? *honestly wondering* Are there so few therapists nationwide who can adequately counsel people with war-related PTSD?

Give the poor man a freakin' medal.

Rabid Badger wrote:

I can't condone it either, but I can understand why. He sacrificed himself for the sake of his country, probably saw others he knew die or be wounded, and then, once he got back home he's faced with a lack of interest by the public and the specter of Fred and his spawn showing up every time there's a military funeral. It sounds like the man needed psychiatric health, as well as help dealing with the loss of his legs, and I hope he gets them. It's just sad things had to deteriorate to the point he was considering committing mass murder before anyone noticed.

Unfortunately, even though the government keeps saying they're going to allot more money to it, the VA Medical Program is barely at a workable level right now. It's not unusual for soldiers who've been mustered out because of injuries to have to wait months before they get help as far as being fitted for prosthesis are concerned. And if you're suffering from PTSD, you sometimes have to wait anywhere from six months to a year to see a psychiatric or therapist because so few of them are available. Add to that the reluctance of a lot of ex-soldiers to ADMIT they suffer from PTSD, and you've got a lot of angry people who feel like they've been abandoned by their country wandering around.

The culture doesn't help. My dad finally admitted that he had a problem and sought treatment for PTSD from Vietnam... in 2007.

I can't condone his actions, but I also can't say I would've shed a tear if he had succeeded.

Also: Great. Just what these guys needed. Someone trying to kill them, to make them feel like even bigger martyrs. You must really be bothering Satan's Armies if they're trying to kill you!

Malganis wrote:

Rabid Badger wrote:

... It sounds like the man needed psychiatric health, as well as help dealing with the loss of his legs, and I hope he gets them. It's just sad things had to deteriorate to the point he was considering committing mass murder before anyone noticed.

... And if you're suffering from PTSD, you sometimes have to wait anywhere from six months to a year to see a psychiatric or therapist because so few of them are available.

Since the waiting lines are that long and the service so (apparently) shitty, can't they see another psychiatrist or therapist for this? Why does the VA need to essentially assign them a therapist? *honestly wondering* Are there so few therapists nationwide who can adequately counsel people with war-related PTSD?

Unfortunately, the way the VA Medical system is set up, the treatment won't be paid for unless you see a VA specialist. Most of the doctors and therapists in their system are military (or retired military) themselves, and I think they have this idea that a regular psychiatrist or therapist wouldn't be capable of treating PTSD. Despite the fact that other people in high-stress, dangerous jobs (policemen, firemen, EMTs) sometimes suffer from it, and generally get their treatment from ordinary psychiatrists and therapists.

And Penguin, that doesn't surprise me. I think my ex suffers from a degree of PTSD, despite the fact he never saw actual combat. During Vietnam, he was on an aircraft carrier as a mechanic. After we were married, he joined the National Guard, and when Desert Storm started, his unit was sent over to Germany to replace a company of actual troops who were being sent to the front line. He was there for six months, and I swear to God, when he came home, it was like he'd turned into a different person. He was supposed to see a VA psychiatrist, but he never did (he lied to me about that-I didn't find out till shortly before we divorced that he'd never gotten the counseling he was supposed to). I don't know if something happened in Germany or what, since he'd never discuss the time he spent over there. I do know his increasingly erratic behavior (combined with his infidelity) is what lead to the break-up of our marriage. And that was probably 15-16 years after he'd been sent to Germany.