This is very sad.  Post-traumatic stress and the general break from reality that returns with some military personal after many tours of duty does horrible things.  It is easy to think of the guy as just a mean abusive father, and maybe that is the case here.  But he was probably someone else before his multiple tours of duty began.  Shooting at people that look like civilians but might not be can fade the mental capacity to delineate between friend and foe.