I remember hearing about it during discussions of Manning's psych profile I think. Here is an article from two years ago that mentions it: http://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2011/07/bradle.../Manning had lost his "emotional support channels" and was stuck "with a bunch of hyper-masculine trigger happy ignorant rednecks as neighbors." That was particularly bad because Manning was struggling with another revelation about himself: he was transsexual. As he told Lamo, "the only safe place i seem to have is this satellite internet connection."
It's like the Smashing Pumpkins said in their song, Bullet With Butterfly Wings: "The world is a satire, sent to change . . . " I mean, what is a vampire really, but a caricature of the most common evils of humanity?