To be honest there is another report (looking through all the garbage I subscribe to) that says it is much higher in accordance to the number of tours a soldier does - as high as 43% (higher for Marines) for those that go back a 3rd time. Personally, I do not find it either comforting or rellevent - it is simply the way it is. Ask anyone that was in 'nam as a grunt for more than 7 months and (if they are honest) they'll tell you torture is cool, murder can be justified, (like the helicopter interrigation - toss one suspect out and you can't get the other to stop talking), and having a Zippo cleansing (lighting up a village that was close to one's patrol being shot at.

In 'nam it took about 7 months for a trooper to become acclamated to the brutality of the saddists and survivors in their group and either become believers (of one side or the other), as the old timers were or go nuts - it is simply a matter of time and the elements of the situations to dissuade the sain to go insain. It's why the public spit on us when we came home - it was a matter that some of us had committed crimes that our populace considered unAmerican - but, wtf did they know?

A story my cousin told me (after he informed me that human life was equal to that of a fly's -1971 - at SIU - Ill.) about his being picked up at the repo-depo is an illustration. Here one has a fng sitting in the back of a truck when suddenly two of the old guys open up with their M-16s. He leaps to his feet thinking with his newly issued M16 (that was dirty as hell, and he had been cleaning) to return fire ... he sees nothing going on so he asks, "what's going on?" The old guys reply, "Out there man." What cuz sees is an old man plowing a field with his grandson on the back of an oxen. "What are you doing?", asks cuz. "Trying to take out the kid with out hitting the Ox", is the reply. My Cuz turned his weapon on them and told them to stop. They did, but made a note that the fng needed to be educated ... within a few months he was (and the old guys that picked him up? They died in the next engagement of the Americal Div. - as did 23% of their grunts in the battalion).

Thing is, a person rearranges his philosphy (s) of life in accordance with the deaths of their friends and their own need to survive. When one gets past the need to survive they either turn into fatalists, or survivalists. The latter will do anything to survive and justify it by turning everyone they don't recognizes as a friend as being an enemy. It's real simple, if you have ever been there. If you haven't? Don't judge.

Personally, I know where the saddists come from - but, I find it sad that we haven't done anything for these souls - like keeping them home or getting them psychological help. Then again, we haven't done anything for many of the men that served 40 years ago (you know the 27% of the homeless that are Vietnam vets).