The guilt of killing for your country..
When I see war on youtube or documentaries i see, mostly, men that are proud to fight for their country, but what is it they are fighting for ?..Do they actually know or are they brain washed to fight.Young men high on testosterone are flown into countries that they need not be in, I believe and army is to defend your country form being invaded, yet the cannon fodder of your men and women seem happy to go and kill a few whom their masters have said are a risk
As these men return to their families, many reflect on what they have done and why.If soldiers felt nothing about taking the life of another human being, that would be indicative of sociopathy.
The transgression that bothered one soldier I read about from Iraq most wasn’t the carnage in the mosque that he and his fellow fighters had done, but another, even more disturbing incident, an accidental killing at a vehicle checkpoint in Iraq. The vague description this guy gave to a local television reporter is horrifying: ‘A vehicle came through that hadn’t been cleared.‘The lieutenant says: “Take them out.” He took them out. They went to the van – it was a bunch of little kids. And he had to take their bodies back to the family.’Instead of killing an armed enemy, he had, through the orders of an officer, killed several children. Accidental killing of civilians in the Iraq War, as in all wars, are much more common than you can imagine. Numbers are so high it wouldn’t benefit the military to keep accurate tabs; rigorous documentation would just fan the public relations nightmare and boost the propaganda value of the deaths for the other side.
He, like many combatants, were able to contain their guilt while still in Iraq. But when he returned home, he brought the Trojan horse with him. It was there, in the calm of these ‘safe’ surroundings, that his guilt and shame overwhelmed him.
Why is it not explained to to these new soldiers, from past soldiers what you can expect ? many returns with PTSD.
And veterans PTSD statistics get revised over time. The findings from the NVVR Study (National Vietnam Veterans' Readjustment Study, in Four Volumes) commissioned by the government in the 1980s initially found that for "Vietnam theater veterans" 15% of men had PTSD at the time of the study and 30% of men had PTSD at some point in their life. But a 2003 re-analysis found that "contrary to the initial analysis of the NVVRS data, a large majority of Vietnam Veterans struggled with chronic PTSD symptoms, with four out of five reporting recent symptoms when interviewed 20-25 years after Vietnam.
As of September 2014, there are about 2.7 million American veterans of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars (compared to 2.6 million Vietnam veterans who fought in Vietnam; there are 8.2 million "Vietnam Era Veterans" (personnel who served anywhere during any time of the Vietnam War)
According to RAND, at least 20% of Iraq and Afghanistan veterans have PTSD and/or Depression. (Military counselors who have been interviewed state that, in their opinion, the percentage of veterans with PTSD is much higher.
Some 8000 US veteran commit suicide each year !
Comments (27)
Armies are run like a machine. Don't think; just follow orders.
Civilians are seen as collateral damage to the powers that be. So are soldiers who have done their 'duty'.
There's a reason why they get them in when they are young and stupid.
Even if you put them in front of a 6 feet screen and make them watch platoon over and over again....
50% will still sign up
But even if humankind left, there would still be animal wars. Even they fight for territory and women just like men.
But at least with animals, the leader of the group actually physically goes out himself and leads his troops. Not sit behind a safe desk and send the young ones out to fight and die.
you have started writing lengthy blogs
It is known that both German and Japanese and even some Soviet soldiers also had problems in civilian life after WWII was over. Presumably the English, Irish and Italians were immune because we here nothing of problems with their vets.
Good news is that now more and more countries are inducting women into their armed services, so life should be interesting for a child growing up with two stressed parents. LoL
The purpose of an army/navy et al is to both defend your country from invaders and also accomplish National objectives as determined by the leaders. In Russia, China, England and many other places the common folk have very little say in who those leaders are. At least in the US there is some say. We should all trust that if our government says, kill them, then that is what shoulld be done. Those who do not feel such will soon be worm food. Such is life.. There is nothing like seeing dogs or rats feeding on a corpse to make one realize we really all are just food. The goal, as Patton said, is to make the other guy (or gal or child) be the one who dies today, not you.
For the most part the determination of who is a sociopath is determined by religious upbringing. LoL, if we all worshipped Crom (like Conan) then no one would be a sociopath.
War is the great maturer. Once you realize from seeing and smelling it that we all are just mobile food the perspective of death and killing changes. This terrifies those who hide from wars.
No wars are avoided by talk, not until thousands have been killed
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Not every soldier joins forces because of being bored or unhappy.
How many old timers left today have only now talked of experiences long ago when no rules of war existed.
They came home lived a life had families etc and only now with PSD and mental problems being brought to surface do they talk, they have lived a whole life with this inside them, sorrow at lost comrades, pride in what they did for king and country and you demolish this with verbal tosh.
shame on you.
Yes we now know how and understand things better, but some people do not go to war and have mental problems, it's in the genes, or nature, or nurture they would always be poor souls no matter what they did. The horrors of war would make their condition very visible.
this world is not perfect, neither are people and rules that govern humankind, so do not demolish the deaths of thousands of soldiers and people no matter what stupid war they were in.
I totally get, as I would, serve my country if it's being invaded , and there is a threat to my family, but to invade counties believing these people are bad, collateral damage is inevitable,, they need to understand what's right and wrong, before they start, be prepared.
Anyone that signs up, it's their Choice, their risk, and I'm sure many if not all never really know what's ahead.
I have given this some thought too...about killing for your country. I suspect, like I think Molly mentioned, some may have not realized what they were signing on for, especially in peace time.
But, once put in battle. I would think at that time, it is a matter of kill or be killed. Since it is human nature to survive, they decide to kill. I was just talking the other night to somebody who was in the Vietnam war, he was in tears telling me about some of the horrific things he was "forced" to do, by order and for survival purposes.
I had a friend who was in Vietnam and could not talk about it, I also went to Vietnam in Dec 2015..shocking to see what really happened, from their perspective to.