War Exposure, Mind Upheaval

"We discriminated between the bad guys and the noncombatants and then afterward we ended up helping the people that three or four hours before were trying to kill us. I think that's the real difference between being an American as opposed to being a bad guy, someone who puts his family in harm's way like that."

Staff Sgt. Robert Bales suffered a minor traumatic brain injury in 2010, toward the end of his third deployment in Iraq. Photograph by: Spc. Ryan Hallock, AFP, Getty Images , The Sunday Telegraph

That's the quintessential American talking. Proud of his country, proud of his military affiliation, and the work that's done in foreign countries to maintain peace and stability and security. Knowing the limits, recognizing the humanity in us all, striving to comport himself with the dignity of one who knows better, who wishes for justice to take place.

He was a good soldier, was Staff Sgt. Robert Bales. He had a lot of combat experience, no fewer than three deployments in Iraq, not exactly the bastion of good fellowship, Iraqi to Iraqi; the tribal and sectarian conflicts were hideous and continual bloodletting on a scale certain to drive anyone crazy. Perhaps it wasn't that, perhaps it was the 'minor traumatic brain injury' he suffered in a vehicle rollover.

He was cited time and again for bravery and outstanding conduct under pressure. He was decorated no fewer than a dozen times during three tours of duty in Iraq. And although yet young he felt his experience and those commendations would certainly hold great promotions in store for him. But he was bypassed. And he had money problems at home. And he began drinking.

And then he was deployed again, had to leave his two young children and his wife to go back out again, this time to Afghanistan. This loving father and husband, this "life of the party" who'd undergone an anger management assessment after an assault charge.

"Bales is still, hands down, one of the best soldiers I ever worked with. There has to be very severe post-traumatic stress disorder involved in this. I just don't want him seen as some psychopath, because he is not", stressed Capt. Chris Alexander, his platoon leader in Iraq.

What, then, is this man? He loves his four- and three-year-old sons. And, of course, his wife. He has a genial personality, and a sense of personal responsibility to behave in the best of all possible ways as an American soldier tasked with protecting the lives of others. His lawyer claims Bales had witnessed one of his fellow soldiers lose a leg in an explosion. That occurred just hours before Bales set off on a night-time mission of his own.

In Panjwai District, Kandahar, he went hunting in a small rural village, where he entered homes in the wee hours of the dark morning and committed his own little atrocity, killing 16 Afghan villagers, nine of whom were children. So, what is it that creates a monster out of a normal, intelligent and caring person?