When Corporal Christian McEachern returned to Edmonton in 1996 after peacekeeping missions in Croatia and Uganda, he felt awful. He couldn’t sleep, had a racing heart-rate and severe chest pains. A doctor prescribed pills, but nothing worked. Over the next four years, McEachern’s symptoms escalated: he suffered memory loss, crying spells, nightmares, and was constantly fighting off panic attacks. “I started to get a real feeling of despair,” he told reporters. “I think if I’d had a gun in the house I would have committed suicide.”
Early one morning in March 2001, McEachern snapped. He rammed his Nissan Xterra through the front doors of the garrison headquarters and drove the SUV around the empty military offices, demolishing ...
