Posted on Sep 27, 2015
Do you agree that War Is Hell, and the Hell Rubs Off?
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Do you agree that War Is Hell, and the Hell Rubs Off?
PTSD contributes to violence. Pretending it doesn’t is no way to support the troops.
In the picture above a soldier gets emotional during President Obama's remarks at a memorial service at Fort Hood in Killeen, Texas, on April 9, 2014. Earlier this month Army Spc. Ivan A. Lopez killed three and injured 16 others at Fort Hood before taking his own life.
http://www.slate.com/articles/health_and_science/medical_examiner/2014/04/ptsd_and_violence_by_veterans_increased_murder_rates_related_to_war_experience.html
In September 2007, at the height of the Iraq surge, I spent two weeks with the Army’s 2nd Battalion, 12th Infantry in Dora, one of the deadliest neighborhoods in Baghdad. By that point in the war, I had embedded with a dozen-odd infantry units, and 2-12, the “Lethal Warriors” from Fort Carson in Colorado, was one of the best I’d seen. Cocky, aggressive, and competent in all the right ways, they exuded an indifference toward death that was hard not to admire. The dangers they lived with for months are impossible to describe with any justice, but one image stays with me, the thing I saw the first time I walked into 2-12’s command post. On the wall in front of me were 16 framed photographs, one for each soldier killed in-country.
At the end of their 15-month tour in Iraq, the Lethal Warriors returned to Fort Carson with an impressive battlefield record, having cleared one of the worst parts of Baghdad, in some cases digging up IEDs with little more than screwdrivers and tire irons. Unfortunately, the Lethal Warriors achieved a kind of notoriety that was less for their battlefield exploits than for the battalion’s connection to a string of murders. In December 2007 two soldiers from the unit, Robert James and Kevin Shields, were killed, and three fellow soldiers were charged with murder. The killings were part of a larger pattern of violence extending back to 2005, including 11 murders, in what was the largest killing spree involving a single army base in modern U.S. history.
PTSD contributes to violence. Pretending it doesn’t is no way to support the troops.
In the picture above a soldier gets emotional during President Obama's remarks at a memorial service at Fort Hood in Killeen, Texas, on April 9, 2014. Earlier this month Army Spc. Ivan A. Lopez killed three and injured 16 others at Fort Hood before taking his own life.
http://www.slate.com/articles/health_and_science/medical_examiner/2014/04/ptsd_and_violence_by_veterans_increased_murder_rates_related_to_war_experience.html
In September 2007, at the height of the Iraq surge, I spent two weeks with the Army’s 2nd Battalion, 12th Infantry in Dora, one of the deadliest neighborhoods in Baghdad. By that point in the war, I had embedded with a dozen-odd infantry units, and 2-12, the “Lethal Warriors” from Fort Carson in Colorado, was one of the best I’d seen. Cocky, aggressive, and competent in all the right ways, they exuded an indifference toward death that was hard not to admire. The dangers they lived with for months are impossible to describe with any justice, but one image stays with me, the thing I saw the first time I walked into 2-12’s command post. On the wall in front of me were 16 framed photographs, one for each soldier killed in-country.
At the end of their 15-month tour in Iraq, the Lethal Warriors returned to Fort Carson with an impressive battlefield record, having cleared one of the worst parts of Baghdad, in some cases digging up IEDs with little more than screwdrivers and tire irons. Unfortunately, the Lethal Warriors achieved a kind of notoriety that was less for their battlefield exploits than for the battalion’s connection to a string of murders. In December 2007 two soldiers from the unit, Robert James and Kevin Shields, were killed, and three fellow soldiers were charged with murder. The killings were part of a larger pattern of violence extending back to 2005, including 11 murders, in what was the largest killing spree involving a single army base in modern U.S. history.
PTSD
Violence
Domestic Violence
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Posted 9 y ago
Responses: 28
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WAR IS HELL. Does it rub off? Maybe to a point, but myself, it will be a part of me until I leave this earth. The struggles that arise after experiencing combat can be very harsh, and for some too overbearing. Unfortunately, I have lost just about as many friends to PTSD as I lost in combat. I was part of the surge in 2006-2007 which placed me and my battles outside the walls of FOB liberty and into a Joint Security Station smack in the middle of Baghdad (Ghazaliyah). The things that are seen, experienced and done in places like that, can just be imagined as an absolute nightmare. My favorite quote regarding war "War is a b@*th, wear a helmet".
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Our usual sense of morality is turned on its head with war, and what makes sense in wartime—maybe even is essential in wartime to survive— most often wont make little or any sense once removed from the battle field. While the war is won it may be pyrrhic in nature for many struggling to regain a sense of well being. Yes I do agree that war is hell and that it has a sustaining effect on all that survive.
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There needs to be more effective and increase psychological screening on individuals in "combat zones". There also need to be more serious enlistment screening to and higher standards to weed out borderline and defective individuals..
As to "WAR", realize it is often statistically safer to be in the combat zones of the GWOT, than for units to be in CONUS. Drugs , alcohol , training , and crime, are serious dangers. Yes , some really bad shit is seen in combat zone. What they need is "Better" soldiers, even if personnel levels are unsustainable. That hints toward a bigger problem than PTSD, like the GWOT is a joke the military and US Gov is playing on its citizen soldiers, that is the real psychological/PTSD killer, IMO. Vietnam repeat, without a draft and lower standards.
As to "WAR", realize it is often statistically safer to be in the combat zones of the GWOT, than for units to be in CONUS. Drugs , alcohol , training , and crime, are serious dangers. Yes , some really bad shit is seen in combat zone. What they need is "Better" soldiers, even if personnel levels are unsustainable. That hints toward a bigger problem than PTSD, like the GWOT is a joke the military and US Gov is playing on its citizen soldiers, that is the real psychological/PTSD killer, IMO. Vietnam repeat, without a draft and lower standards.
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NOPE sorry but Hell is a Real place that is mentioned in Scripture. War, as bad as it is, it isn't Forever. The Real place called Hell or the Lake of Fire in Scriptures is FOREVER, ETERNAL.
Military "leaders" like to and have a fondness for using and parroting the word "hell" here, there, everywhere and all over the place as some sort of a "Bravado". That's because it makes them look, sound or feel so mucho macho and tough in front of those who by duty have to follow and obey them or else.
Otherwise unlike the Military, in civilian life use that word more than once and more than one subordinate will soon tell you where to go with it.
Military "leaders" like to and have a fondness for using and parroting the word "hell" here, there, everywhere and all over the place as some sort of a "Bravado". That's because it makes them look, sound or feel so mucho macho and tough in front of those who by duty have to follow and obey them or else.
Otherwise unlike the Military, in civilian life use that word more than once and more than one subordinate will soon tell you where to go with it.
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COL Mikel J. Burroughs Most of what I got from the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq was positive. A great sense of accomplishment, a new family of brothers, and frankly, a lot of fun.
It's not as popular to say, but given that war is defining for those that participate; it is overwhelmingly positive for a lot of us.
It's not as popular to say, but given that war is defining for those that participate; it is overwhelmingly positive for a lot of us.
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Yep, It leaves scars, of that I am sure. Some Externally, Some Internally.
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War is Hell. Humans are wired psychologically to regret killing. Problem is the only way to get over that is to kill. So when you kill repetitively or witness death repetitively it changes how you think and feel towards human life.
Why do you think the Military likes the gamer generation? It is easier than ever to train soldiers to kill since they have been practicing it since they were 12.
Yes, violence creates violence. War is Hell. War Never Changes.
Why do you think the Military likes the gamer generation? It is easier than ever to train soldiers to kill since they have been practicing it since they were 12.
Yes, violence creates violence. War is Hell. War Never Changes.
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