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Former Army staff sergeant Robert Bales is serving a life sentence for murdering 16 Afghan civilians, including seven children, in a village outside Kandahar in early March 2012. Now he's the accidental new face of National Suicide Prevention and Awareness Month.

  • In a Saturday Facebook post, Army Secretary Mark Esper posted a (now deleted) message reminding soldiers that September marks National Suicide Prevention and Awareness Month. Which would be fine, except the attached photo features Bales with a smirk on his face:

  • Bales, who joined the Army in the aftermath of the September 11th attacks, is considered one of the most notorious war criminals of the Global War on Terror.
  • “In the early morning hours of March 11, 2012, Bales left his base, Camp Belambay, in Kandahar, armed with an M4 carbine and M9 pistol, and headed to a nearby village, where he killed four people, including a child, and assaulted six others,” according to McClatchy. “He returned to base for more ammunition before walking to another village, where he killed a dozen more, mainly women and children, in their beds.”
  • In June, Bales appealed to President Donal Trump to commute his sentence. The status of Bales' appeal to the White House remains unclear at this time.
Army photo
Jared Keller
Jared Keller

Jared Keller is the former managing editor of Task & Purpose. His writing has appeared in Aeon, the Los Angeles Review of Books, the New Republic, Pacific Standard, Smithsonian, and The Washington Post, among other publications. Contact the author here.

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