"They Broke Him," Accused GI's Dad Says

Soldier Who Allegedly Killed 5 Comrades Had Been "Harassed" And "Threatened" By Superiors, According To Father

(CBS/AP)  The father of Sgt. John Russell, the U.S. soldier who allegedly killed five of his comrades during a rampage at a base clinic, said his son was driven to violence after two superior officers "harassed him and threatened him."

Wilburn Russell, appearing on CBS' The Early Show, said his son was receiving treatment at the mental health clinic at Camp Liberty because his superiors "overloaded" him.

"Somehow they overloaded him. They broke him," he said.

In Baghdad, Maj. Gen. David Perkins told reporters that Russell, a communications specialist assigned to the 54th Engineer Battalion from Bamberg, Germany, was sent to the mental health clinic by his superiors, presumably because of concern over his emotional state.

Russell, 44, of Sherman, Texas, was taken into custody following Monday's shooting and charged with five counts of murder and one of aggravated assault, Perkins said.

The case, the deadliest of the war involving soldier-on-soldier violence, has cast a spotlight on combat stress and emotional problems resulting from frequent deployments to battle zones in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Up to one-fifth of the more than 1.7 million who have served in the two conflicts are believed to have symptoms of anxiety, depression and other emotional problems. Some studies show that about half of those who need help do not seek it.

Russell's father said his son, who joined the Army in 1994 after a divorce and minor scrapes with the law, said his son "would not have lost his temper."

"John was thoroughly happy with being in the service … he loved it," Wilburn Russell told Early Show co-anchor Harry Smith.

Russell showed no signs of stress to his family until sending an e-mail to his wife last week describing the "worst two days of his life," his father said.

"It doesn't make sense if a man is really showing signs of stress, you would not want to harass him and threaten him for two days straight," he said.

According to Perkins, the commander had ordered Russell's weapon taken away from him but somehow he got a new weapon, entered the clinic and opened fire.

Perkins declined to give a detailed account of the shooting, saying the matter was under investigation.

However, a Pentagon official said in Washington that Russell had been escorted to the clinic, but once inside argued with the staff and was asked to leave.

After he drove away, Russell apparently seized his escort's weapon and returned to the clinic, the official said on condition of anonymity because the investigation was ongoing.

The clinic was operated by the 55th Medical Company, a Reserve unit headquartered in Indianapolis. Two of the victims were officers assigned to the clinic and the three others were enlisted soldiers, Perkins said.

The Pentagon identified Cmdr. Charles Springle, 52, of Wilmington, North Carolina, as one of the victims of the shooting. The mother of Michael Edward Yates Jr. said two men from the Army came to her Federalsburg, Maryland, home early Tuesday to tell say her 19-year-old son was killed.

A psychiatrist from Amarillo, Texas, Dr. Matthew Houseal, also was confirmed among the dead, according to the director of a Texas mental health clinic where Houseal worked. Bud Schertler said Houseal's wife told him Tuesday that her husband was among the dead.

In addition to the ongoing criminal investigation, Perkins said the U.S. command had opened a formal inquiry into the "general availability" of health care for American service personnel in Iraq, "specifically the policies and procedures surrounding behavioral health services."

He gave no further details and did not say how the investigation was being conducted.

The U.S. military has become increasingly concerned about mental health in the ranks following a steady rise in suicides - which the Army says have increased worldwide from at least 102 in 2006 to 140 last year. As of April, the Army had reported at least 48 suicides.

Thousands of other veterans are believed to suffer flashbacks, nightmares or fits of anger as they attempt to readjust to civilian life.

"One thing if we've learned from this war, we learned from World War II, Korea, Vietnam, the previous wars, is not all injuries are physical," said Maj. Gen. Daniel P. Bolger, commander of Multi-National Division-Baghdad.

The younger Russell was six weeks away from completing his third tour in Iraq before Monday's shootings, the father told reporters Tuesday in front of the two-story suburban home his son is buying with his wife.

Wilburn Russell, at left, said his son was treated poorly at the military stress center.

"Evidently, he was so distraught that he thought his life was over," he told Smith.

John Russell began his active military service after a divorce and a series of minor criminal scrapes in his hometown, according to records in Grayson County, Texas.

His ex-wife obtained a temporary restraining order against him and an order withholding earnings for child support. In February 1993, a month after the divorce decree was issued, Russell was charged with misdemeanor assault but the matter was dropped, the records show.

A Pentagon official said Russell previously served two one-year tours of duty in Iraq, one from April 2003 and another beginning November 2005. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he wasn't authorized to speak on the record.

Russell, who had also served in the Balkans, was due to leave Iraq within weeks, he confirmed. During his current tour, Russell was assigned to a command in charge of security south of Baghdad.

To cope with the stress, the Army has set up clinics on most major bases in Iraq, staffing them with psychologists, psychiatrists, social workers and other specialists.

Commanders, chaplains and others in leadership positions are also trained to watch for signs of stress and refer soldiers to mental health professionals if needed.

However, some officials believe soldiers are reluctant to take advantage of the facilities because of the stigma attached to counseling in a military culture that promotes mental and physical toughness.

Last November, Army Secretary Pete Geren said combating the stigma "is a challenge" throughout American society, especially in the Army "where we have a premium on strength, physically, mentally, emotionally."

However, Bolger said the command was encouraging soldiers to take advantage of clinics if they feel under stress.

"We've encouraged people to do self-referral," Bolger said. "We've actually encouraged them to say, `hey, we're not going to hold this against you, we'd rather have you self-refer ... than have an incident that would be tragic."

Officials noted, however, that procedures had been followed in the Russell case, with the commander removing his weapon and referring him to mental health professionals.

[number1GI]

I served in Nam I learned in Nam All wounds are not visible

[mljohns00]

Seems like there are as many deaths by "accidental" bombing of civilians, by shootings by our "allies", and by our own soldiers killing each other as there are deaths caused by the enemy?

[nofoolling]

Wilburn Russell, NEEDS TO GO TO PRISON FOR RAISING A MURDEROUS LOW LIFE SON
Posted by mrshoward73

Curious...do you feel the same about George HW Bush? Should he go to prison for raising a low life murderous son? Tell me, would this guy have gone nuts if he wasn't sent to a fake war, with no goal, no plan, poorly run, and no exit strategy? Would he have gone nuts if he were sitting on his couch eating cheetos?
Posted by texasbeta

And about a million humans would still be alive if the Bush/Cheney crime syndicate had not lied 962 times publicly to drag us into their war for bloodmoney profit.

[dixxson]

They have lowered the standards recently numerous times, for the Military and police!
It is inevitable when you lower intelligence requirements to near mildly retarded you will get a lot of mentally ill & insane recruits!
Like Donald Trump's Miss America!
In Vietnam we had the occasional marine that decided it would be nice to pitch a grenade into a crowd of his comrades!
And we had the Mylai Massacre and others!
But I don't see how this Dad can blame his superiors!
He was obviously a mentally ill recruit!
He hasn't shown where it was his superiors fault!
They didn't lower the standards!
And they were not psychiatrist!
The only thing they've shown here, where the officers went wrong, is when they didn't put him in shackles!

[texasbeta]

Wilburn Russell, NEEDS TO GO TO PRISON FOR RAISING A MURDEROUS LOW LIFE SON
Posted by mrshoward73

Curious...do you feel the same about George HW Bush? Should he go to prison for raising a low life murderous son? Tell me, would this guy have gone nuts if he wasn't sent to a fake war, with no goal, no plan, poorly run, and no exit strategy? Would he have gone nuts if he were sitting on his couch eating cheetos?

[nofoolling]

sorry ass, sad-sak just can't handle the WAR.........W.BUSH was a better soldier then any of those dopers in vietnam,he had the right stuff.........these mercenarys just can't hold their **** together,they are payed big bucks,have great equipment,the NATION behind them,what's the deal?,I WOULD DO THIS FOR FREE...for the good of the nation....that is just the type of stuff I'M made of..........
Posted by decotoguy

Did you read this before you posted it?

Bush escaped or was awol from duty, basically a soldier only in the very loosest definition of the term as is quite well documented, and probably an insult to those who actually did honorably serve.

And the nation is fairly solidly opposed to the war for profit going on, even if we understand the predicament the government has placed our soldiers into with often times very inadequate equipment as has been attested to numerous times by the soldiers themselves.

And as far as Iraq is concerned, it wouldn't be for the good of the country that you would kill people for. It would be for bloodmoney profit, as Iraq was never a danger to us or maybe you haven't heard, WMD was a big lie.

Would you die for their profit?

[erb0087]

There have been a number of these well publicized spree shootings in the United States.

They tend to be contagious.

I may be wrong, but I don't think these killings in Iraq would have occurred, if the USA killings had not occurred first.

The Virginia Tech killer has a lot on his conscience.

[decotoguy]

sorry ass, sad-sak just can't handle the WAR.........W.BUSH was a better soldier then any of those dopers in vietnam,he had the right stuff.........these mercenarys just can't hold their **** together,they are payed big bucks,have great equipment,the NATION behind them,what's the deal?,I WOULD DO THIS FOR FREE...for the good of the nation....that is just the type of stuff I'M made of..........

[nofoolling]

CBS providing forums for folks to spout off, only when it furthers their agenda of fulfilling the wet-dream fantasies of the masses enquiring minds, thus gaining viewership, is certainly disgusting and devoid of any moral reasoning.

That said, war is big business for the media, and like the bloodthirsty military industrial complex corporations that helped lie us into this genocidal madness in the first place, they will stop at nothing to improve the bottom line.

CBS also interviewed corporate crony liars from the health care industry folks who met recently with the President to supposedly find ways to rein in health care costs. I don't know why they even go through these dog and pony shows, or why CBS and others act as accomplices to it.

As if we'd buy anything those parasites might spew forth.

Tommorow CBS will probably interview the wolves invited to Obama's conference on Hen-House security. (satire)

[gravyboat45]

gravyboat45 said: "If you think this is a blame game...you're blind. "

CBS is helping the father mount a vigorous defense for his son, who just killed five innocent people. THAT is the story here. Now that we've met the father, the son, and the holy ghost (oops I mean the killer), do ya think we might actually meet the actual ghosts?? I realize that they are non-people, and so don't count (/sarcasm). But I suspect they mean something to someone. This is disgusting trailer-trash journalism: the sort CBS and other outlets thrive on.

Don't get me wrong: the guy may very well have been driven mad by multiple postings and a concerted effort to marginalize him by the top brass. But under no circumstances would I be listening to the killer's FATHER for that opinion, except as comic relief. There's a time and place for that determination. This trash journalism just muddies the waters we're supposed to peer through for the truth.

Let the grieving widows and children vent their spleen at the killer next. That should help clear up matters considerably (/sarcasm).
Posted by ubrew12

The families who suffered loss at the hands of this guy will be heard from, I don't think CBS is taking sides here. This is an American tragedy, from all angles.

[ubrew12]

gravyboat45 said: "If you think this is a blame game...you're blind. "

CBS is helping the father mount a vigorous defense for his son, who just killed five innocent people. THAT is the story here. Now that we've met the father, the son, and the holy ghost (oops I mean the killer), do ya think we might actually meet the actual ghosts?? I realize that they are non-people, and so don't count (/sarcasm). But I suspect they mean something to someone. This is disgusting trailer-trash journalism: the sort CBS and other outlets thrive on.

Don't get me wrong: the guy may very well have been driven mad by multiple postings and a concerted effort to marginalize him by the top brass. But under no circumstances would I be listening to the killer's FATHER for that opinion, except as comic relief. There's a time and place for that determination. This trash journalism just muddies the waters we're supposed to peer through for the truth.

Let the grieving widows and children vent their spleen at the killer next. That should help clear up matters considerably (/sarcasm).

[nofoolling]

Well, what do you expect when corporations are demanding the government start these wars for profit using our tax money and sacrificing our young. And then they claim it is for "defense". Don't make me laugh. What is sad is that people buy into this propaganda.

Posted by noloyalisti

How sad that you are right on the money with your comment.

Even worse is that the ex-president of the United States is the number one cheerleader, propaganda artist, and con-man for the endless war for endless profit schemes. Ie, "The sky is falling, the sky is falling, WMD WMD WMD.

War is old men lying and getting rich, and young men suckered into dying for bloodmoney nonsense scams.

[MohatmaJeebus]

Hey dad, your son murdered five innocent people. Stop trying to make excuses for your son's inexcusable and criminal actions.
Posted by credibility2

Yeah - says the doughy blogger from his comfy reclining chair behind the anonymity of his computer. Why don't you pull 36 months of combat among a hostile populace in a foreign land watching your buddies get blown to bits, then spout off sanctimoneously.

[gravyboat45]

The military breaks everyone. It's called basic training. Given the nuts running the military show, I have no reason to doubt that they drove this guy mad.
Posted by Yuri12345

Spreakenzi Shtupid?

[gravyboat45]

Their bodies aren't even cold yet, and CBS is helping the killers family play the blame game?? When did we start jumping over grief and straight into mudslinging?
Posted by ubrew12

The bodies are cold. Oh, that was a metaphor...sorry. Did you mean,"killer" 's? Or are you implying that there was more than one shooter?

And there is no,"blame game", this 20 Veteren snapped.

If you think this is a blame game, or that there is no story here, you're blind.

[ubrew12]

Their bodies aren't even cold yet, and CBS is helping the killers family play the blame game?? When did we start jumping over grief and straight into mudslinging?

[noloyalisti]

Well, what do you expect when corporations are demanding the government start these wars for profit using our tax money and sacrificing our young. And then they claim it is for "defense". Don't make me laugh. What is sad is that people buy into this propaganda.

[Yuri12345]

The military breaks everyone. It's called basic training. Given the nuts running the military show, I have no reason to doubt that they drove this guy mad.

[gravyboat45]

Reminds me of Private Pyle in Full Metal Jacket.
Posted by rickstas

Yeah, except Pyle was in boot camp, and this guy was a 20 veteren sarge who was in his third tour of duty in Iraq.

Other than that, it's exactly the same...

[rickstas]

Reminds me of Private Pyle in Full Metal Jacket.