A soldier on leave from Iraq shot his wife five times and then killed himself in their Larimer County home Wednesday, apparently because their marriage was crumbling, investigators said Friday.

Pfc. Stephen S. Sherwood, 35, used a handgun to shoot his wife, 30-year-old Sara Sherwood, in the head and neck, according to the Larimer County coroner.

Sherwood then used a shotgun to shoot himself in the head.

The incident has officially been termed a murder/suicide. Both victims died within seconds of receiving their wounds.

Neighbors told investigators that Sara Sherwood said she had been in a relationship with another man over the past several weeks. When the couple's 15-month-old daughter was brought to a neighbor's house about 1 p.m. Wednesday, Sara Sherwood "stated that she and her husband were going to discuss this and other marital issues," said Larimer County sheriff's spokeswoman Eloise Campanella.

A neighbor reported to dispatchers that he had heard gunshots from the home, north of Fort Collins, at 3:48 p.m. Deputies arrived shortly thereafter, followed by a SWAT team.

After evacuating the neighborhood and ensuring that there were no more shooters in the area, SWAT team members entered the house and found the couple.

Many soldiers who have experienced combat have some level of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). The military is very aware of the results of combat experience on soldiers' emotions and behavior, but does nothing to educate families or soldiers on ways to deal with PTSD. Wives and girlfriends are told the best response to give returning soldiers is to greet them as "heroes," leaving many wives and girlfriends unprepared for the changes in their partners. Explosive anger, erratic sleeping habits, violent outbursts, continual nightmares, and emotional withdrawal are all symptoms of PTSD that wives, girlfriends, partners, and families must deal with alone with no sympathy from the military. The wife of a soldier who returned to Fort Lewis this fall from Iraq recently confided that her husband has violent verbal outbursts towards her, a trend that has only surfaced since his return from the battle lines.

Lynn Jeffries is a single mother from Lubbock, Texas, whose son Nathan was deployed to Iraq in late 2003. A registered nurse who worked for years in an emergency room at a Lubbock hospital, Jeffries says that shortly after her son was deployed, she found herself unable to take care of trauma patients and left the emergency room for work as a hospice nurse. "I just started crying at everything," she says. "I was so angry about this war, but at the same time I felt like I couldn't fight against it without betraying my son. It just ate at me every day, more and more."

Jeffries' depression grew until, she says "at one point I thought of taking my own life in order to get my son home. It's just made me a little crazy. I've never felt so helpless in my life--there are days I could not even leave the house."

Jeffries' son was home on leave when she spoke with this reporter, and she said she was feeling a little better--but having difficulty facing that her son is scheduled for redeployment to Iraq early in 2005. "What will happen the day I have to put him back on the plane to go back? I would do anything to have him go to Canada, but he says his friends need him and he can't leave them."

Teri Wills Allison of Austin, is a mother of two boys--one of whom is deployed in Iraq. She says that the depressions she began to have after her son left for Iraq got so bad that "though I'd never taken pills before I've needed Xanax just to get through the day since my son's deployment."

Jeffries and Wills Allison are not unique. They are part of a growing number of military families who find themselves dealing with what psychologists are beginning to recognize as Secondary Traumatic Stress Disorder. Like the better-known Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, Secondary TSD can clearly be debilitating.

Says Wills Allison: "We, the mothers and fathers of the boys in Iraq--we're getting by, but barely. Some of them tell me they need a six-pack before bed to fall asleep. Others can't leave the house for fear they'll come home to have that call from the military waiting on the machine. Some families are just torn apart by this."

Some more than others. In late November, Marine Lance Cpl. Charles Hanson Jr., was killed in a roadside bombing of his convoy in Iraq. One week later, on Nov. 30, his stepdad, 39-year-old Mike Barwick, entertained guests at his Crawfordville, FL, home with stories of the stepson he loved so much. Three days later, just hours before guests were coming for a viewing at the home Barwick shared with Hanson's mother, Dana Hanson, Barwick shot and killed himself. Family members were quoted in the local newspapers as saying it was clear he simply couldn't live with the pain.

Misha ben-David, a drug and trauma counsellor in Austin, says he remembers his family being torn apart when his father went to Vietnam, and is beginning to fear the same thing will happen now that his son is being deployed to Iraq. "The stress on the family is unbearable," he says. "I can already hear my ex-wife starting to freak out, retreating into a 'rah-rah, do you love your son or not?' frame of mind. We've got so much pressure on us from people like the Fox network to see this as a black-and-white issue--either you're for the war and a patriot or you're a no good, liberal, anti-American. Add to that stress that it's your child that might be killed, or wounded, or permanently maimed and you've got a lot of family members going crazy out there."

George Bush said speaking about the dreadful loss of life in Iraq in August: (08/03/05): "We have to honor the sacrifices of the fallen by completing the mission." "The families of the fallen can be assured that they died for a noble cause."

In reaction to these two assinine and hurtful statements, members of Gold Star Families for Peace (GSFP) are going to George's vacation home in Crawford, Tx this Saturday, August 6th at 11:00 am to confront him on these two statements.

1) We want our loved ones sacrifices to be honored by bringing our nation's sons and daughters home from the travesty that is Iraq IMMEDIATELY, since this war is based on horrendous lies and deceptions. Just because our children are dead, why would we want any more families to suffer the same pain and devastation that we are.

2) We would like for him to explain this "noble cause" to us and ask him why Jenna and Barbara are not in harm's way, if the cause is so noble.

3) If George is not ready to send the twins, then he should bring our troops home immediately. We will demand a speedy withdrawal.

GSFP will be joined by members of Veteran's for Peace (VFP), Military Families Speak Out (MFSO), Iraq Veterans Against the War (IVAW), Code Pink, and Crawford Peace House.

We GSFP members will not leave until we get answers from George Bush. We deserve and expect him to welcome us with answers to as why our loved ones are dead.

Every worker for peace, every worker for justice, every person who wants our country back are welcomed to join us on Saturday. Show George Bush that we mean business. Be there to support us family members who have already been through so much. We are fighting for our country, our world, especially the children.

Crawford is about 2 hours from Dallas where the VFP Convention is being held this weekend. There will be car pools from the convention.

HONOR OUR LOVED ONE'S SACRIFICES: BRING OUR TROOPS HOME NOW!!!!

Bring water and hats...we plan on staying until we are arrested or satisfied with the answers. (I am betting on jail).

Please pass this email on to your friends, lists, and media.
For more info: call
Cindy Sheehan
707-365-7750