GIs dying on motorcycles after combat

FORT RUCKER, Ala., Feb. 19 (UPI) -- The military has started a counseling program after 350 U.S. service members who had returned from combat died in motorcycle crashes.

"It is the returning soldier's mentality," said Cliff Capps, of the Army Combat Readiness Center at Fort Rucker, Ala., which monitors accidents of service members. "You spend a year in combat, getting shot at, escaping death. When you get back, you've got a pocketful of money. So you get a fast car or motorcycle."

The military has ordered soldiers to undertake counseling on how to adjust to the slower pace of life in the United States and has provided free road safety courses, the Sunday Telegraph reported.

Service chiefs blame the motorcycle deaths on the mix of "adrenaline, testosterone and boredom" that soldiers encounter after returning from a war zone.