Army Sgt. Robert Bales is accused of killing 16 people in south Afghanistan. Now it is being reported that the 38-year old military man killed the men, women, and young children while he was also using steroids and under the influence of alcohol.
Bales is also charged with burning the bodies of those he killed. He reportedly even attempted to destroy a computer used in the investigation into the acts.
The soldier is being charged on counts of attempted murder, assault, and now the use of alcohol and steroids, which are not allowed for soldiers on duty.
Why de did it
Some speculate that the alcohol led to the attacks. However, Bales has no record of alcohol abuse nor is he known to be a heavy drinker.
The amount of alcohol he is reported to have consumed is not a lot. There is essentially no chance he was drunk and was not aware of what he was doing.
Steroid use and abuse
Many people would like to point to steroids as the problem. The media and many uninformed individuals are quick to point to roid rage. Many like to think that people who use steroids are immediately uncontrollably angry and are violent.
However, when the science is truly analyzed and all of the cases of steroids users are examined, not only is roid rage not nearly as common as many in the media would like you to believe, but it is in fact so uncommon that the few cases of aggressive individuals cannot really be linked to steroid use. How could steroids lead Bales to kill so many people when roid rage doesn’t exist?
Personal problems
Some in the media have pointed to the fact that right before Bales committed the murders, his wife put their home on the market for sale due to financial problems.
Lawyer Emma Scanlan claims that his personal problems had nothing to do with the matter. She says that Bales “doesn’t have any domestic issues outside of what happens in an ordinary marriage where one person is deployed multiple times.” This was Bales fourth deployment overseas.
So what caused Bales to do this?
As Bales sits in a Fort Leavenworth, Kansas military prison thinking about the total of 23 counts charged against him, many are speculating why he killed all those innocent people.
The few sips of alcohol he had could not have been enough to cause him to go out and kill 16 people in the middle of the night. And surely if he was having financial problems at home, what kind of man would use that as an excuse to go kill 16 people and leave his wife at home alone to deal with the fallout?
Many will likely point to steroids. The last time we heard of a murderer who was
on steroids, it was the double murder and suicide of Chris Benoit. The former professional wrestler and WWE Champion killed his wife Nancy and son Daniel on a weekend in June of 2007 before he hung himself. As soon as it was reported Benoit took steroids, everyone decided the mystery was over and steroids were the reason.
But it’s not
We can confidently name numerous open steroid users. Hulk Hogan, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Jose Canseco, Alex Rodriguez, and countless more. How many murders have those men committed? How many stories have you heard of those men senselessly beating others to the brink of death?
It’s no joke that steroids are as common as apple pie and you personally know more users than you think, as the average gym has many regular Joe’s and Jane’s who use the stuff.
What Bales did was not the result of any substance or current personal situation. Much like Benoit, it takes years of personal, mental problems to lead a man to kill 16 innocent people. To truly understand what led Bales to do what he did, you would need to get inside his head. You would need to perform extensive psychological evaluations with him being 100% open and honest to even maybe figure out what led a respected soldier to become a disgraced man.
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