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Fix this broken system

The shootings that left five dead at Camp Liberty in Baghdad last May could have been avoided.

That’s the clear conclusion of a 325-page investigative report of the incident, in which a stressed-out Sgt. John Russell allegedly grabbed a loaded M-16, stormed into the combat stress clinic and opened fire.

The report cites several failures behind the tragedy, including inadequate security at the clinic, a lack of procedures in Russell’s unit for handling troubled soldiers and military police who, though alerted that he was armed and on the loose, never alerted the clinic.

This is a tragedy that could have been avoided. That it wasn’t underscores that after eight years of combat, the Army still does not know how to fully deal with the impact of the relentless pace of deployments on its war-weary troops.

The op tempo and combat stress are key factors behind the record numbers of soldier suicides, spikes in domestic violence cases and divorces.

War-zone combat stress clinics are supposed to be one piece of a solution. It did not work that way in Russell’s case. In the final month of a 12-month deployment, his third war tour, his superiors put him on suicide watch after he expressed intent to kill himself. He was sent to the Camp Liberty clinic, yet was inexplicably kicked out — because he showed signs of extreme anger. Shouldn’t such behavior be anticipated and addressed at a combat stress clinic?

In the end, the shooter bears sole responsibility for the deaths of the five Camp Liberty victims and must be held accountable. But the system broke down in Russell’s case and the Army has a responsibility to see to it that soldiers suffering combat stress in the war zone are properly treated and that all others are protected in the process.