Bob Herbert had a heartbreaking Op-Ed piece in the NYT this morning. He wrote of the incredible and overwhelming number of young men and women who are suffering serious mental and psychological problems due to repeated tours in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Just last week John Russell, a 44-year old Army sergeant who had been recognized as deeply troubled and was on his third tour in Iraq, went into the counseling center on the afternoon of May 11 and opened fire -- killing an Army officer, a Navy officer and three enlisted soldiers. The three enlistees were 19, 20 and 25 years old.
As Herbert says, this is what happens in wars. Wars are about killing and once the killing is unleashed it takes many, many forms. Which is why it's so sick to fight unnecessary wars and so immoral to send other people's children off to wars -- psychic as well as physical -- from which one's own children are carefully protected.
The destructive effects of war in Iraq and Afghanistan should not have surprised anyone. Speaking of Iraq back in 2004, Dr. Stephen C. Joseph, who had been an assistant secretary of defense during the Clinton administration, said, "I have a very strong sense that the mental health consequences are going to be the medical story of the war."
Because we have chosen not to share the sacrifices of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, the terrible burden of these conflicts is being shouldered by an obscenely small portion of the population. Since this warrior class is so small, the same troops have to be sent into the war zones for tour after harrowing tour.
As the tours mount up, so do the mental health problems. Combat is crazy-making to start with. Multiple tours are recipes for complete meltdowns, Herbert writes and I couldn't agree more.
The RAND Corporation reported in a study released last year, that not only is a higher proportion of the armed forces being deployed, but deployments have been longer, redeployment to combat has been common, and breaks between deployments have been infrequent. Recent attempts by the military to deal with aspects of deployment policies have amounted to much too little, much too late. The same Rand study found that approximately 300,000 men and women who had served in Iraq and Afghanistan were already suffering from P.T.S.D. or major depression. That's nearly one in every five returning veterans. Many of these stories of violence, drunkenness, broken homes and suicides never make there way into print. The public that professes such admiration and support for our fighting men and women really aren't that interested in the dirty details.
We are brutally and cold-bloodedly sacrificing the psychological well-being of these men and women, which should be a scandal. If these wars are so important to our national security, we should all be engaging in some form of serious sacrifice and many more of us should be serving.
But as Herbert says, the country soothes its conscience and tamps down it's guilt with the cowardly invocation: "Oh, they're volunteers. They knew what they were getting into."
Sylvia's world in thoughts and pictures
I miss you Sam!!
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I'm interested in almost everything. Use to like to travel, but it's too expensive now. I take Tai Chi classes, swim, volunteer in a Jump-start program for pre-schoolers. I'm an avid reader and like nearly everyone these days I follow politics avidly. I'm a former teacher and Special Projects Coordinator for a Telecommunications company, Assistant to the President of a Japanese silicon wafer manufacturing company. Am now enjoying retirement -- most of the time. I have two daughters, one son-in-law and two sons scattered all over the country. No grandchildren.
15 comments:
How stupid a remark! My son joined up in 1993 to be a peacekeeper and that's what he was in Bosnia.
And it's horrifying that Post Traumatic Stress Disorder has been treated so casually by the government. Obama wants that changed and I hope he succeeds.
Wonderfully expressed, thoughtful and thought provoking, as usual Sylvia. NPR often covers these issues but the popular media does not.
I'm not a political man, but I'm a proud man. Proud of our soldiers and their families for their unrelenting service to our great country. I pray for an end to all this VERY SOON. I support our troops, not war...
JJ
You've touched on a subject that needs much more attenton and swift action!!
I keep track of US deaths in Iran (4296) and Afghanistan (685) so far. But no one will ever know how many other lives are destroyed in this way. I too hope that Obama succeeds in helping this situation in some way. But it will never be able to go back and help what has already happened, not to mention what is still to come.
Is it truly a volunteer military when many of those who join up do so out of economic need, even desperation? How many children of lawyers, investment bankers, senators, and surgeons are in the military? There may be a few, but most of kids join for the education and benefits. If we had an egalitarian and just society, we would not be able to rely on volunteers to serve as cannon fodder. We would have to return to the draft. Then maybe people would care that our soldiers are serving three tours of duty, have decrepit equipment, and don't get the mental health care they need when they come home.
The harrowing story from a few days ago of soldiers dying at the hands of a troubled colleague served to highlight this issue. One redeeming factor of a tragedy.
The last administration who sent these young people in harm's way did their best to keep the horrors of war out of the spotlight. It is time to shed light on the true cost of that insane and fruitless Iraq war.
These young people and their families should be considered the true heroes of this debacle.
I read Hebert's article and I agree with you completely. Putting all of the burden on a few is just wrong.
Since Vietnam when we had such an increase in violence at home, I have said that pathetic argument that we fight them there to not fight them here is nuts. The blood comes home in many ways but mankind has always seemed to believe war is the solution and for all the talk of more developed peoples, we haven't come far at all
There was this mother on TV a few days back whose 19 year old son had died in Iraq. She said if it became mandatory for every politician favoring war to send one of their family members to the army then we would have many such issues solved by diplomatic negotiations rather than via guns! She is so right!
As I have been moved to recall in my last three posts about the Vietnam War, the refugees and the survivors are always with us, even today. I still see aging veterans on the street, ill, homeless and hungry. Why is this, I wonder, as Memorial Day weekend approaches.
Our country has not experienced prolonged war on our own soil since 1865. This combined with mass entertainment that essentially depicts war as an extension of the Fourth of July has led too many Americans to perceive war as a video game.
The jokes about France at the onset of the Iraq war revealed a gigantic historic ignorance in the part of the American public, media, and politicians. French losses in WWI were appalling: Something 50% of their mobilized were killed or wounded. No wonder they didn't want to have any party of the Bush Doctrine.
K. said it right. We have no experiences with the ravages of war up close and personal. War needs to be abolished!
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