Monday, December 27, 2010

Teaching Lessons to the World

I just watched the tail end of an excellent story about Post Traumatic Stress Disorder called "Wartorn" on HBO. There were many stories, but perhaps the last was most articulate. The soldier in question was a platoon leader who, in his words, "Brought all his soldiers home, and 'Did a good job' supposedly because of it." He asked, "What did I do that was good? Was my job to kill people?" There were pictures of him holding a wounded little boy's nose, the boy was laid out in the back of a pickup truck, bleeding profusely from his torso and head. If I were guessing (and I am), I'd be guessing that he was holding his nose because the boy's face had been so mangled that they had to do a tracheotomy to allow him to breath, and attempting to breath through his nose was comprimising his breathing with blood. It's a horrid, haunting image. The pain that man experienced at dealing with that, whether fighting he was involved in caused it or not, I'm sure is excruciating.

After World War II, many soldiers returned home with undoubtedly similar, difficult, haunting images. We hold them in esteem (or certanly some do) because they "toughed it out" and recognized it's just part of war. They "didn't talk about it" and they held it in. While I admire the men for their selflessness, I question whether we admire them or whether instead we are taking shelter for our psyches by feeling that their toughness is right, and that the cost of war is what "tough men" bear. We build up images of supermen who are strong enough to bear up under this "inhumanity", which implies those who do not or cannot, are (as George C. Scott's character claimed in "Patton") "cowards" and/or lacking in "intestinal fortitude" (e.g. 'guts').

Contrasting with this are analyses of members of organized crime, especially those who are engaged as contract killers. There was a particular show on HBO called "Conversations with the Ice Man", which had one of these killers on camera, talking about his actions. He killed without compunction or remorse. He had been terribly scarred by his upbringing, beaten and abused as a child, he relished in torturing animals (a strong predictor of sociopathic behavior fyi). He had no regard for inflicting pain or for his victims. He certainly seemed to have few regrets at the "cost" inflicted on his soul at becoming "comfortable" with killing.

We have learned that those who deal "successfully" with their experiences in war, what they are compelled to do, either finally confront it, which is anguishing in it's own right, or they compartmentalize it, walling it off in a place in their mind where it lurks, causing nightmares, anger and even stress, and even among the strongest of us. Damned few men are born who can watch a young boy die in their arms and not be affected, not have such a memory linger, for the rest of their lives. So, the only thing to do is to "lock it away." This is what many who fought in World War II were told/taught to do. Talking about the ugliness was "needless bringng up the terror", hurtful, stupid.


I never fought in a war. Unlike some of my fellow soldiers of my time, I am not at all saddened by this. I suppose a very small part of me wonders how I might have equitted myself. But the larger, more rational part of me thanks God every day that I did not have to kill someone, or many someone's as my particular military specialty would have given me the power to do. I thank God every day that I didn't have to witness the twisted limbs of some small girl, or beautiful young woman whom I had scattered all over their lawn by mistakenly dropping artillery shells into their yard. Professional soldiers whom I greatly respected said to me that a real solider understand it his his job to prepare his best for war, and to hope like hell he NEVER has to fight in one because war is horrible, brutal, ugly, inhuman, indecent. It is the last act of failed policy, it is the final gasp of a failed diplomacy. We must be prepared to resist those who care little for the human cost they will inflict on their own people when they start a war, but that does not mean we can be so callous. The cost isn't something "tough men" bear while weak ones crumble. They all bear it, it eats and and can destroy their souls. Before we EVER think about starting a war, we must be damned sure we need to do so. Violence isn't the act of proving how tough you are, it is the releasing of an inner evil which we all can exhibit, and regret the rest of our lives.

5 comments:

  1. I hope we all consider the price of war, and the most important costs are not those we can deal with in $.

    (Although those do matter also.)

    We need to look at why it is that our military, despite good faith efforts are not bringing down the suiciced rates which are significantly higher than civilian equivalents.

    Even the military (at least some parts of it) acknowledge that repeated deployments are a factor.

    A relatively small part of our population is bearing the greatest part of the burden of this war. This differs from some past conflicts in which there was greater active support and sacrifice as part of a nation-wide unity in facing the challenges of wartime, in combat, and in support of those in combat.

    I find it particularly hypocritical that our conservative fellow-citizens are so unsupportive and express such disunity with our President during war time. They act rather, as if we were not at war (except with each other).

    I think we need a change of focus. A good beginning would be the well being, in every respect, of our armed forces, especially those who face combat.

    Thank God, we are finally not placing an additional burden of secrecy and fear on our troops with the repeal of DADT.

    One step in the right direction; but we have a long march ahead of other steps in sharing the burden of our wars.

    Thank you Pen. Posts like these make it an honor to be your blogging partner.

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  2. I don't think this has anything to do with DADT other than recognizing we have placed unrealistic/puritanical burdens on our soldiers.

    Whether repeated deployments cause issues is of no question, but my point here was more about the fact that some in this country seem to think that we need(ed) to "teach them damned Arabs a lesson." The problem being of course, people are people, reckless killing, lack of concern for collateral damage etc.. has a horrible cost on those who suffer the violence certainly, and many in our nation seem uncaring about that - but as well it has a horrible cost on those who have to fight, who unfortunately are the cause/instrument of those wars of "proving how tough we are." I think those folks who take the attitude of being willing to deploy troops cavallierly should be the first to send THEIR sons and daughters in harms way, then, when their children return home scarred, broken, battered and with the "1000 mile stare", they can ponder whether killing people for vengence accomplished what they hoped.

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  3. If we are addressing the psychological and emotional scarring of our troops, in the course of being at war, both offensive and defensive, then my point in bring up DADT was that it added to that pain and that burden of our armed forces on top of the other stresses that heterosexual soldiers faced. I have been very moved by the expressions of the pain that policy caused some of the veterans, especially decorated combat veterans, who were subsequently separated from the service in disgrace, thrown out like yesterday's garbage. If THAT doesn't add salt to the other wounds, I don't konw what does.

    I would refer you to another cable tv presentation, Semper Fi, the story of gay marine Jeff Key's experiences going to Iraq because he is a very patriotic man, and his crisis of conscience after deployment, and subsequent tour around the U.S. in a one man show, against the war.

    The marine corps has the highest suicide rate (by a lot) of all the armed forces. I believe they are a kind of concentration of the effects you write about.

    Further, if we can accept the differences of sexual orientation, then we can approach other differences with more openenss and understanding.

    Understanding and acceptance, like charity, begins at home, with ourselves, and works outward (imho).

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  4. I don't think this post was about DADT and its repeal. Its about the evils of war, and about evil men who lead us into war through their moral bankruptcy.

    War, as it has been for thousands of years, inevitably causes the death of more than the troops who fight it. It causes civilian casualties, and it causes collateral damage not only to the enemy, but to the nations at war themselves.

    In the case of Iraq, Mr. Bush and his cronies committed acts for which we hanged Nazi leaders at Nuremberg. Yet, the US, including the present administration, is unwilling to admit that we (or our leaders, whom we elected), committed war crimes by beginning a war of aggression. This was not a war of defense.

    The despot, Saddam Hussein, probably needed to be removed. But it wasn't something that the US needed to do. Eventually, his own people would have removed him, without the need for the bloodbath that followed.

    This was an unnecessary war, a war which was launched solely, it appears, to appease some "tough guy" attitude by an uncaring and morally bankrupt president, and the evil and capricious men who were his advisers. I can but home that one day they will stand in the dock to answer for their crimes against humanity, but somehow I doubt it. One day, however, they will stand before a judge whom they can't avoid, and that judgment may indeed be worse than any earthly punishment.

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  5. Yes.

    I know this post was not about the repeal of DADT.

    It is about the emotional and psychological damage done to our military personnel by going to war.

    My point is that those military personnel who have had to lie to serve experience an additional emotional and psychological stress, in addition to those other horrible experiences. There are instances of members of our military being blackmailed over their sexual orientation, for example, by their fellow soldiers.
    I think that ADDS to the trauma of the soldiers in active combat areas - don't you?
    One might hope it is a pain which would make thse soldiers more compassionate, not less. But pain is as likely, more likely to produce hate, fear and anger.

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