I agree he needs help, however diagnosing concussion and brain damage is the opposite of easy. Even if he has an obvious pathology, alcohol changes everything. That is, it affects most of the numerous brain chemicals into what amounts to a “52 card pick-up”.
Nothing is quite so unnerving as real mental illness. Often it seems like they are logical and rational, but they are absolutely not.
Out of a thousand cases like his, maybe a few dozen develop a psychiatric problem unique to that injury. In the short term. Many more, in their later years will develop Parkinson’s disease, or become “punchy” like old boxers.
And doctors often can’t tell who will and who will not until they do.
Yes and no. I agree that concusion can be difficult, but brain injury, such as SSG Bales has been described as having, might actually be easier to diagnose. X-rays and MRIs can tell a doctor a great deal about an injury.
To the best of my knowledge, the type and extent of his brain injury has not been revealed. Nonetheless, back in "the olden days", had someone been diagnosed with a brain injury, it would have meant either a medical discharge or the individual would not have been deployed. Today, with a sharply reduced military that has been deployed again and again and again, there simply isn't the manpower available to either medically discharge Bales or keep him home.
All things being equal, it remains, in my mind, that the practices of the "olden days" should still be used today. Even if Bales had ben allowed to remain in the Army but not deploy, he would not be charged with 17 counts of murder and 17 Afghani civilians would still be alive.
The nature of a brain injury, as you noted in your post, is that the individual becomes unpredictable in the best of circumstances. Sending that same individual back to a stresful, presure-cooker environment such as a battle zone is is nothing short of madness.