Navy contractor Aaron Alexis shot and killed 12 people at the Washington Navy Yard in Southwest D.C. before being killed in a gun-battle with police last Monday. Although facts concerning Alexis’s motivations remain elusive, questions of responsibility abound.
In 2011, after being honorably discharged from the Navy, Alexis went through a protracted period of unemployment. At the time of the shooting, he had been employed and given security clearance by The Experts, a naval defense contractor. Despite showing signs of mental health problems, Alexis’s security clearance was validated in 2007. That clearance granted him access to the Naval Yard a week prior to the shootings.
In 2004 Alexis was arrested for shooting out the tires of a man’s truck in Seattle during an angry blackout, he later claimed. In 2008 he was arrested for disorderly conduct in Georgia, and in 2010 for firing a gun through the ceiling of his apartment. Alexis’s neighbors and roommates noted his angry outbursts and fascination with guns, but did not alert authorities to these tendencies. Alexis’s father claims that his son was suffering from PTSD stemming from rescue attempts during the 9/11 attacks, but staff at the Veterans Health Administration in Rhode Island failed to diagnose any behavioral abnormalities.
The Navy Yard incident demonstrate more than the obvious inadequacy of our gun laws. It serves as a painful reminder of how our healthcare system fails veterans. Though Alexis sought treatment from the Department of Veterans Affairs, he was not declared unfit by the armed services and claimed he was not receiving his full benefits.
This negligence is, regrettably, unsurprising. A 2011 study in The Journal of Traumatic Stress noted that 59 percent of V.A. mental health professionals rarely or never follow guidelines to diagnose PTSD or other psychological after effects in patients.
Better medical treatment for veterans could not only avert tragedy, but also assist veterans in reintegrating into civilian life. In 2011, NPR noted a steady upward trend in unemployment for veterans, largely due to employers’ fears that their applicants might be suffering from PTSD.
Discussing mental illness should not serve to stigmatize veterans, but rather to emphasize a responsibility to treat those who are suffering. The military must serve those who serve our country. Ultimately, last week’s tragedy extends far beyond those 12 lives lost. It reflects a system that failed Aaron Alexis and that without significant change, will fail others in the future.
