Beyond PTSD Part 2:

Camillo “Mac” Bica has an entry at his blog that should be read by many as to a better understanding of War and the results of.

The Moral Casualties of War Programming our Children to Kill

'Mac' is a Ph.D., and a professor of philosophy at the School of Visual Arts in New York City. His focus is in Ethics, particularly as it applies to war and warriors. As a veteran recovering from his experiences as a United States Marine Corps Officer during the Vietnam War, he founded, and coordinated for five years, the Veterans Self-Help Initiative, a therapeutic community of veterans suffering from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. He is a long-time activist for peace and justice, a member of the Vietnam Veterans Against the War, and a founding member of the Long Island Chapter of Veterans for Peace.

Actually he has two, Beyond PTSD: The Moral Casualties of War, Part One

As he describes:

I argued that the readjustment difficulties suffered by active duty military and veterans because of their experiences in Iraq are not exhausted by references to trauma and Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. To correctly diagnose and adequately treat our returning servicemen and women, we must appreciate the relevancy of moral values and norms to the war experience and recognize that soldiers suffer not only the effects of trauma – PTSD – but what I termed “moral injuries.”
In this essay, I will argue that moral injuries are primarily the consequence of late adolescents/young adults having undergone the sophisticated psychological and emotional conditioning regimen of basic training/boot camp – being programmed to kill – and then, upon experiencing the horror and insanity – the reality – of war, suffering the realization of the moral gravity of their actions on the battlefield.

He breaks it down in a series of his own, and endnotes of other sources, to explain.

The first:

Moral Foundations
Starts out with:

Whatever their source and however the process occurs, humankind has accepted and internalized a set of values and norms through which we define ourselves as persons, structure our world, and render our relationship to it, and to other human beings, comprehensible.

What were you taught, or observed, from childhood that shaped your own being, and what do you try to teach, or set by example, to your own children or any new generation coming to be, as the responsible adult that you are?

He goes on with this:

A Reluctance to Kill

New Guinean tribesmen are excellent marksmen with their bows during hunting, when they go to war, the warriors remove the feathers from their arrows rendering their weapons relatively ineffective keeping casualties low.

If, in fact, humankind is biologically predisposed to respond, using violence, to certain external stimuli, such a predisposition has been effectively offset by the societal mores and ethical values instilled in us {and we have internalized} during childhood.

So what are Societies left to do in order to keep the policies, towards others, they choose to follow, or protect themselves from others doing the same:

Solving the “Problem”: Programming Soldiers Who Will Kill

Human beings, then, are not killers by nature. Political leaders, including our own, whose aim it is to further their political goals through violence, have recognized that this reluctance to kill, this foundational aspect of a human being’s moral identity, jeopardizes their ability to wage war effectively. Consequently, following the Second World War, warrior preparation – basic training/boot camp – was modified to shift its focus from acquainting soldiers with tactics and weaponry to rather sophisticated techniques of value manipulation, moral desensitization, and psychological conditioning, aimed at destroying/overriding the recruits’ moral aversion to killing.

Now depending on how one was brought up, or learned through observing, this can be easily done or a total reframing of ones mindset, the complete opposite of what was taught, or observed, in ones developement towards adulthood.

Thing is, having served in the military and sent to one of this countries misadventures of failed policies, like so many others, you realize within that you haven't become exactly what they were seeking. That goes for the majority that serve even in theaters of war. This is also realized by those that lead, civilian and military, and is used as a tactic of war, or at least attempted, called 'Winning hearts and minds of the invaded populace'. Trouble is no matter how much good, an invading force, through their own individual internal ideologies they may hold, single actions of atrosties, killing of innocents, destroying their homes and lives, wipes out All the good that was attempted. Even those that act like they support you, from the invaded populace, can quickly become ones enemy depending on what happens in the Hell of War.

'Mac' goes on:

Confronting War’s Existential Reality and a Crumbling Warrior Mythology

Upon completing basic training, most soldiers view themselves as part of a select group of courageous knights with a noble and chivalrous tradition willing {programmed} to kill the demonic agents of evil and selflessly to sacrifice their lives, if need be, for right and justice.

Consequently, as the warriors’ mythology begins to crumble, ideology, and the lofty and abstract ideals of chivalry and patriotism become irrelevant, war becomes a struggle for personal survival and revenge.

I don't completely understand, myself included, why most can come back from War theaters and not suffer the extreme's from those theaters, wether they participated in the many actions of combat or knew exactly what was happening in those theaters.

I do know that everyones minds are altered from their experiances, wether that means everyones minds experiance PTSD but handles it differantly is why Combat PTSD must be better understood, for the results of what happens to an individuals mind effects the society they live in wether it be from the trauma of Wars or Extreme trauma that many experiance in their lives.

I do understand what PTSD can do to many and why some experiance their nightmares of. I also feel that a few, and you only need a few to create extreme negative actions towards those around them and others, give in to their nightmares and start living them. One reason we have always had those that become the Mercenaries of our own and others conflicts. I'm not an expert but I've always felt that since knowing a few, from Vietnam, that took that route in their lives.

Moral Injuries

It may be true that because of either a previous psychological abnormality or some uncanny ability for rationalization and pretense, some soldiers have “enjoyed” a lust for killing with little subsequent remorse or guilt. Many, perhaps most, however, were (and are) profoundly affected by their participation in war. Consider an expanded excerpt of the poem, The Warrior’s Dance {Tai Chi Chuan}, cited in Part One, written during the author’s experience in Vietnam.

Conclusion

Whether we act rightly or wrongly, i.e., according to or in violation of our moral identity, will affect whether we perceive ourselves as true to our personal convictions and to others who share our values and ideals.

There is one item that we, and other societies, seem to readily ignore, as we've ignored the Trauma of PTSD, and that is what happens within the societies we, or others, invade!

You might put this, if you really are a responsible adult, article Iraq conflict 'will create a violent generation' into the forefront of this century as we go forward.

warning that the violence there was causing widespread emotional and behavioural damage - and could lead to spiralling violence in the future.

For the game hasn't changed, it will just become more Intense! As we've had Criminal Terrorism, on a Worldwide stage, for a long time. These Criminal acts will become more numorous and much more extreme! The overwelming hatreds that are being set forth will become the leading norm for this planets future!

Related

Daniel Zwerdling's Continued Report on PTSD
Pentagon Report Cites Mental Health Concerns
by Renee Montagne and Daniel Zwerdling

Morning Edition, June 15, 2007 · A Pentagon report decries the status of mental health care in the military. As many as one in four who serve have symptoms. Some are suicidal. But there are too few mental health specialists to provide needed help.
Listen Here

And This

from Ilona Meagher who's book Moving A Nation to Care: Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder and America's Returning Troops is now out and she's making a tour talking about it. She has posted up a recent Radio Interview at her site

Moving a Nation to Care: Words from the Road
Listen to Tuesday's show
June 12, 2007 - Veterans and Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder
A discussion with Ilona Meagher about her book detailing the incidence of post-traumatic stress disorder among American Veterans.