not an excuse - but he's probably stressed the fuck out by being in Iraq away from his family for longer than a year, getting shot at daily, losing friends to IED's, fighting a war that Congress and the American people dont support, trying to bring democracy to people who dont want it, eating MRE's instead of home-cooked meals, being hot/cold in extreme temperatures depending on season, sleeping in a small room with 12 other guys when he can get the chance to sleep, dealing with the fact that someone he knows got his face burned off or lost a limb, patrolling areas where teenagers are trained by their fathers to snipe at them, knowing he cant separate from the military because of STOP-LOSS, knowing that if he could separate tomorrow he would feel guilty leaving his brothers behind to fight without him and knowing he could never actually do it, wondering if today will be the day he meets his maker, having to clean sand from his weapon, his food, his uniform, and his vehicle daily, knowing that the war has caused America to be less safe, wondering when/if his wife is going to give up on him and cheat/leave him, wondering why in the flying car fuck the Pres. is sending 20,000 more troops instead of solving this politically and bringing him home, wondering if these kids are really there to be friendly or there to count soldiers and movements and then report back, and knowing that hes doing all this for less than 3,000/month. I'm not saying that what he's doing is correct, but I understand.
