US soldiers 'killed Afghan civilians for sport and collected fingers as trophies

[medicineman]

Nemo, you can go do the recruiting medicals and psych evals...see if you get more than one or two done a day.

BTW, I've picked up some real wackjobs doing those by just talking to them and watching what they do...

MM

 

[Container]

There is Hare's Psychopath Checklist. But I think it is crap.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hare_Psychopathy_Checklist

http://www.arkancide.com/psychopathy.htm

Generally speaking you've answered your own suggestion. You cant spend the time required to screen out these traits becuase most people at one time or another exhibit several of them. The diagnosis take tonnes of interviewing and studying of personal history before one doctor makes the call.....which is followed by several doctors disputing it.

So they do a general psych test, even with police work, and see that you generally operate within normal. Smart wiley cons like socios and psychos answer the way they believe everyone answers and they generally get through. The people who dont have other ills- the tests arent to catch these guys because generally you cant say that they are socio/psycho until they have proved it and been caught not by a multiple choice test and a few questions about headaches or voices.

 

[JAWS228]

Ref the screening for psychopaths/sociopaths, I was reading an article in Macleans magazine recently concerning the CF investigation of Col Williams.  They wanted to see if there was any method to screen for psychopathic/sociopathic tendencies, and the reality is thus:  There is no way, short of reviewing an individuals past actions, that a CF recruiter could determine whether or not said person is a psychopath.  Interestingly enough, the same study also said that an estimated 1% of society are clinical psychopaths (although not all psychopaths are murderers).  The top 4 tendencies of a psychopathic personality, according to the Canadian Psychiatric Association,  are callousness, superficiality, remorselessness, and being manipulative.

If the 1% stat is right, it is no wonder that at least a few of the vast population that makes up the US Army are psychopaths.  I guess we saw here what happens when one slipped through the cracks to be in a position of authority over a rifle platoon. 

Interestingly enough though, the same study offered one alternative to testing for sexual sadism:  a "Phallometric test".  The subject sits down, has an elastic band attached to some sort of sensor (not sure exactly about how that part worked) and then said elastic band is wrapped around the subjects D**K, whereupon the subject is then shown a series of disturbing images.  The sensor then measures any changes attached to the elastic band.  :crybaby: 

Edited to add:  Mercifully the CF rejected this testing method as intrusive and unethical.....can you just imagine???

 

[Loachman]

[

Col Russel Williams is a perfect example.

Yes - a perfect example of how somebody can easily slip past screening attempts.

There were many people who were very close to him yet saw no indication whatsoever of anything abnormal. I know his WCWO, who was one of those. Ex-Col (not "Col"), and now Prisoner Williams, gave no clue. "Possible psychopath" apparently never appeared on any of his PERs either.

Future behaviour is not predictable by any means, hence "innocent until proven guilty".

I was too short in my original response and it was easily misunderstood.

Indeed. You might benefit from spending a little more time proofreading before posting, looking for and correcting ways in which you may be easily misunderstood.

 

[Bruce Monkhouse]

http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/World/2012/02/03/19337431.html
Charges dismissed against U.S. soldier in Afghan case

By Bill Rigby, Reuters
 
SEATTLE -- The U.S. Army dismissed all charges against the last of five soldiers to face court-martial in the slaying of unarmed Afghan civilians, according to a statement issued on Friday by his home base near Tacoma, Washington.
Army Specialist Michael Wagnon, who was released from military detention and placed under home confinement in April, had been charged with premeditated murder in the death of a villager in Afghanistan during a tour of duty in February 2010.

“As of right now, he’s pretty much a free man,” said Lieutenant Colonel Gary Dangerfield, a spokesman for Joint Base Lewis-McChord. “He is still in the Army but a free man.”
The dismissal of the case against Wagnon brought to an abrupt end the Army’s prosecution of the most egregious atrocities that U.S. military personnel have been accused of committing during a decade of war in Afghanistan.

Five members of the infantry unit formerly known as the 5th Stryker Brigade were charged with killing Afghan civilians in cold blood in attacks that were staged to look like legitimate combat engagements. Seven others were charged with lesser offenses in a case that began as an investigation into rampant hashish abuse in the unit.
Wagnon was the last to face court-martial.

Dangerfield would not say why the charges were dropped, and a statement from the base said only that the move was “in the interest of justice.”