ABSTRACT
The combination of institutional reorganization and the extended wars in Iraq and Afghanistan meant that the Lethal Warriors experienced multiple, long deployments with heavy fighting and casualties and short dwell time. This chapter presents the explanations for the level of violence unleashed on home turf when a battle-weary unit returned to Colorado Springs—baseline, bad-apple theses, and combat stress injuries resulting from combat exposure. As commanders began to recognize a problem of potentially epidemic proportions, Fort Carson officials began to rely more on the "bad apples" thesis, which focused on figures like Kenny Eastridge. Leaders at Fort Carson worked on turning the tide on the worst effects of combat stress injuries, informed by the EPICON report's isolation of risk factors that had to be carefully managed and reduced. A mounting series of reports appeared spanning local and national media, and from print and live news sources: and thus fulfilling one veteran advocate's goal of creating "a media shit storm".
