Robert Bales...Personal Details Emerge..Leading to Massacre

Bales on the left

Sergeant Robert Bales was selling his house, missed a promotion before alleged Afghanistan rampage :  
US Army officer, Sergeant Robert Bales, was a much-decorated soldier and devoted father of two who is now accused of killing up to 16 Afghani civilians - along with many children.  Friends and colleagues are reportedly struggling to comprehend the atrocity of his alleged massacre in Kandahar, Afghanistan.

The 38-year-old soldier, on his fourth combat tour, is accused of leaving his base in the early hours of March 11 and going on a shooting and stabbing rampage through two villages. Nine children and seven adults were killed, with some victims being dragged into a room and set on fire.

Personal details about the life of the alleged killer are becoming public, with reports just three days before the shooting rampage the sergeant had put his family home up for sale, with the asking price of $50,000 ($47,200 less than he paid for it.)

Media reports also suggest he was overlooked for a promotion in the year before the slayings, which would have helped him get in control of his finances. His wife of seven years, Karilyn, wrote on her blog they were deeply disappointed on his deployment location “after all of the work Bob has done and all the sacrifices he has made for his love of his country, family and friends”.

Friends believe the sergeant was particularly upset about being sent to Afghanistan, after being deeply scarred by previous tours to Iraq. His wife said last year she dreamed of a more stable future with her husband, writing on her blog she hoped the family would be stationed in Hawaii instead.

Questions have now been raised about the strain of multiple deployments and whether more attention should be paid to soldiers' mental stability. Although his deployments were not out of the ordinary.

''Lots of soldiers have four deployments, and they're not accused of things like this,'' a US army spokesman, Colonel Thomas Collins, said.

Bales is a former stockbroker, who was patriotically inspired to join the army after the September 11 terrorist attacks. His colleagues have described him as a model soldier, who was calm under pressure and gentle with children. Platoon leader on one of his tours, Captain Chris Alexander, said he was "one of the best soldiers I ever worked with".

Bales could face the death penalty.
An attorney retained to defend the 38-year-old soldier prepared to meet with him Monday after he was brought to the military prison at Fort Leavenworth, Kan., to await the charges, which military officials said could come this week.

Prosecutors have said nothing publicly about the case, but President Obama said he has instructed the military to prosecute the case aggressively and Defense Secretary Leon Panetta said the suspect could face the death penalty.

The killings have stoked Afghan anger toward the US, especially coming after incidents in which US personnel burned the Koran and urinated on the corpses of Taliban fighters. Bales' lawyers haven't denied the charges against the married, Washington state-based father of two, but have said they would comb through his military history to determine what factors were involved. That suggests a possible defense based on mental health problems that may have been out of his control.
They point out that he served three tours in Iraq and a tour in Afghanistan, and suffered traumatic brain injury as well as a severe foot injury.

"It is too early to determine what factors may have played into this incident and the defense team looks forward to reviewing the evidence, examining all of Sergeant Bales' medical and personnel records, and interviewing witnesses," said a statement by the lawyers, led by Seattle attorney John Henry Browne.

Survivors of the Afghan attack, meanwhile, met late last week with Afghan leaders in Kabul, and were flown back to Kandahar province. Afghans have demanded a trial in their country for Bales, although American officials are moving ahead with a case based on US policy.

Military officials have said alcohol was likely involved in the killing spree, and Bales has had minor skirmishes with the law over the past 10 years, according to records.
Records and interviews reflect the family's financial stress, a recent decision to sell their Lake Tapps, Wash., home at a loss, and professional disappointment, first at missing out on a promotion after a tour in Iraq and then being sent to Afghanistan after believing his overseas assignments were finished.