FORT CARSON, Colo.—The military has nearly completed a study looking for common threads among a series of homicides where Iraq war veterans at Fort Carson were suspected or convicted, Army Secretary Pete Geren said Tuesday.
Geren declined to say what the study found. He said the document is under review at the Pentagon and should be released within a few weeks.
The Army is trying to find out whether there are similarities in five killings, all committed in Colorado in 2007 and 2008, allegedly by soldiers from the post’s 4th Brigade Combat Team. A sixth BCT soldier faces an attempted murder charge.
Nationally, at least 121 Iraq and Afghanistan war veterans had committed a killing in the United States or been charged in one.
Former Sen. Ken Salazar, D-Colo., requested the Fort Carson study last year. Geren said earlier that an initial review found no common themes.
Geren visited Fort Carson in Colorado Springs Tuesday to review the post’s programs to ease combat veterans back into life in the U.S., improve the quality of life for military families and to familiarize local emergency responders and other civilians with the Army and the post.
Geren called the Fort Carson programs innovative and called the post’s commanding general, Maj. Gen. Mark Graham, a pioneer in dealing with mental health issues. He said Fort Carson’s programs could become a model for other Army posts.
He said the 7-year-long Iraq war has meant multiple deployments for some soldiers, creating hardships for them and their families.
“As the deployments grow, the challenges increase, and not just arithmetically (but) exponentially,” Geren said.
Geren said the Army is making progress in reducing the stigma attached to seeking mental health care, with surveys of soldiers over the past five years showing a declining number who worry it will hurt their careers. But he said about half of soldiers still carry that concern.
“We are working hard to overcome that,” he said.
Geren denied suggestions by some of Colorado’s congressional delegation that the Army circumvented a congressional moratorium on pursuing land to expand the Pinon Canyon Maneuver Site, a training area in southeast Colorado used by Fort Carson soldiers.
Many landowners near the site oppose the expansion, fearing it will hurt the economy by taking too much land out of agricultural production.
Geren said he still hopes the Army can work with landowners to expand the site.
“It’s a tough issue,” Geren said. “We know that.”
