stage 8- final blog

I am responding to my fellow classmate's blog titled Crime Rate in Killeen. Robert was going to move to Killeen but then changed his mind due to the high crime rate of the town. He then explains there are many questions without answers about the crime rate. This is where I become a bit confused. "...Fort Hood Army Base near Killeen and many service personnel and their families living in Killeen, could this have an effect on the high crime rate?" At this point, I felt like my classmate was connecting the high crime rate with the fact that there are soldiers living in and near Killeen. "Soldiers are young and kill the “enemy” while at war and again they are expected to return to life as though nothing had happened to them while they were at war." And this is where I begin to disagree with him. Yes, soldiers are trained to survive, meaning doing what is necessary to keep themselves as well as their comrades alive. And, yes, post traumatic stress disorder is something that many soldiers face after coming home from war, but this does not mean it is a cause of high crime. He then implies the soldiers are still in the war mindset without a chance to have a smooth transition back into society and this is a direct correlation to the crime rate. I adamantly disagree with this. For example, I come from the small mountain town of Ruidoso, NM. There hasn't been a solved murder there in years, honestly I don't even know if there has ever, besides a confession. Yet, there is not a military base near there. Crime is not a correlation with military bases, it is a correlation with people's morals, environments, and mental status. I think it is absurd and insulting to blame Killeen's crime rate on the soldiers that come home from protecting our rights.