Blake Hall
Technical Sgt. Steven D. Bellino, the Lackland AFB gunman who killed his commanding officer and then himself last week, showed signs of mental distress when he want AWOL last summer.
Bellino vanished from the pararescue training base on Aug. 3. He spent two weeks with his family in Ohio before returning to the base and surrendering himself. Bellino was set to be courtmartialed on April 27, but his attorney was working to secure an administrative discharge instead.
Bellino had first enlisted in the military right out of high school in 1992. For a decade, he served as an Army Ranger and then as a Green Beret, completing tours in Iraq, Afghanistan, Kosovo and Kuwait. He left the Army in 2002 to join the Army National Guard, and then left the military entirely to work for the FBI in 2013.
It was in early 2015 that Bellino sought to reenlist in the military. After failing to get back into the Army or enter the Navy, Bellino joined the Air Force using a special program that placed veterans in ‘tough-to-fill’ jobs.
It was during his Air Force training that Bellino’s outer facade began to crack.
But shortly after Bellino arrived at Joint Base San Antonio on June 30, trainers found he had “physical problems,” especially swimming, said a source who asked not to be identified because he is not authorized to speak about the case.
“There was a little bit of a shame culture down there,” the source said. “There were members of the staff there that were belittling him in a way that was borderline appropriate.”
On Aug. 3, the day he went absent without leave, Bellino’s troubles seemed to come to a head. During a water endurance test, the source said, an instructor made him repeat an underwater swim, saying he had failed. Later, the source said, the trainer ordered him to say — while being videotaped — that he had quit the training program.
Based on what we know, it looks like the pressure to succeed in a new military role compromised Bellino’s mental state. Though the veteran did submit to a mental health examination after returning to the base, its results haven’t been made public.