Ranger’s Death: We Must Pay the Price

While the mainstream media largely stayed as far as it could from the veteran angle in the Mt. Rainier ranger death, the social media debated it like a buzzsaw.

Should the former soldier get special treatment after the killing of Park Ranger Margaret Anderson, or should he be burned at the stake.

I can recall during the Vietnam War we journalists were urged to avoid mentioning that criminals were veterans.

These days I can’t imagine a worse approach. We sent Benjamin Colton Barnes, 24, to Iraq. He came back with a violent streak and PTSD.

All that was left of the would-be Rambo on Monday morning was a lifeless body.

He didn’t get very far from the shooting scene,  dying before law officers could track him down in the snow.

Are we not partly responsible for the death of Ranger Anderson, the mother of two, who was just doing her job in a usually tranquil park?
The media is especially responsible because it bought into a phony war and largely has supported two administrations keeping them going even after the truth was discovered.

Suicides are at record levels in the military, including Fort Lewis, which issued a report as the manhunt was continuing. Our country is facing an underfunded military health care system, even without the suicides. And there will more over the years to come.