On June 10, 2013, 30-year-old Iraq War veteran Daniel Somers killed himself after writing a powerful letter to his family explaining his reasons for doing so.
“My mind is a wasteland filled with visions of incredible horror, unceasing depression, and crippling anxiety, even with all of the medications the doctors dare give,” reads the letter, which Somers’ family allowed Gawker to publish. Somers went on to reveal the source of his pain:
During my first deployment, I was made to participate in things, the enormity of which is hard to describe. War crimes, crimes against humanity. Though I did not participate willingly, and made what I thought was my best effort to stop these events, there are some things that a person simply can not come back from. I take some pride in that, actually, as to move on in life after being part of such a thing would be the mark of a sociopath in my mind. These things go far beyond what most are even aware of.
To force me to do these things and then participate in the ensuing coverup is more than any government has the right to demand. Then, the same government has turned around and abandoned me. They offer no help, and actively block the pursuit of gaining outside help via their corrupt agents at the DEA.
Though he offers no specifics about the abuses he witnessed and/or participated in, we do know that Somers was a part of the Tactical Human-Intelligence Team (THT) intelligence unit in Baghdad “where he ran more than 400 combat missions as a machine gunner in the turret of a Humvee, interviewed countless Iraqis ranging from concerned citizens to community leaders and and government officials, and interrogated dozens of insurgents and terrorist suspects,” the kinds of US operations that ended in torture and murder on more than one occasion. Somers went on to become a senior analyst with the Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC), which is featured extensively in Jeremy Scahill’s book and documentary Dirty Wars, and not in a positive light.
What’s even more heartbreaking is that Somers’ says he tried to use his position to turn things around but the U.S. war machine wouldn’t allow it.
I tried to move into a position of greater power and influence to try and right some of the wrongs. I deployed again, where I put a huge emphasis on saving lives. The fact of the matter, though, is that any new lives saved do not replace those who were murdered. It is an exercise in futility.
Then, I pursued replacing destruction with creation. For a time this provided a distraction, but it could not last. The fact is that any kind of ordinary life is an insult to those who died at my hand. How can I possibly go around like everyone else while the widows and orphans I created continue to struggle? If they could see me sitting here in suburbia, in my comfortable home working on some music project they would be outraged, and rightfully so.
Most recently, Somers started Project Shai to raise funds for a unique documentary film about the Iraq War. “An Iraq War veteran goes back to Baghdad to share tea with and interview former insurgents – especially those with which he personally exchanged gunfire – in order to better understand what motivated both parties to join the sides that they did,” says Project Shai’s donation page. But Somers’ suicide letter suggests that the film wasn’t working out.
I thought perhaps I could make some headway with this film project, maybe even directly appealing to those I had wronged and exposing a greater truth, but that is also now being taken away from me. I fear that, just as with everything else that requires the involvement of people who can not understand by virtue of never having been there, it is going to fall apart as careers get in the way.
Somers struggled with a variety of war-related illnesses and was diagnosed with PTSD and traumatic brain injury as a result of his tours in Iraq. In his letter, he blames the military’s suicide epidemic on the U.S. government’s refusal to fully address and take care of its mentally and physically wounded veterans.
Is it any wonder then that the latest figures show 22 veterans killing themselves each day? That is more veterans than children killed at Sandy Hook, every single day. Where are the huge policy initiatives? Why isn’t the president standing with those families at the state of the union? Perhaps because we were not killed by a single lunatic, but rather by his own system of dehumanization, neglect, and indifference.
It leaves us to where all we have to look forward to is constant pain, misery, poverty, and dishonor. I assure you that, when the numbers do finally drop, it will merely be because those who were pushed the farthest are all already dead.
And for what? Bush’s religious lunacy? Cheney’s ever growing fortune and that of his corporate friends? Is this what we destroy lives for
Somers letter is a reminder that among the soldiers fighting US wars are good people who have been backed into a corner, forced to compromise their morals to fulfill the almost always nefarious operations necessary for American imperialism to flourish. And afterwards they are thrown away, ostracized for being weak and denied the medical care they desperately need to survive.
Meanwhile, the people that sent Somers to war and ordered the war crimes that mentally destroyed him are living in comfort, working cushy jobs at universities and having libraries built in their honor.
“It has been crazy . . . Daniel and I are private people and in the last week things have been ripped open and now everyone knows about how bad it has been,” Somers’ wife, Angeline, told the Phoenix New Times.
“I wish I could believe that if it had gotten out sooner that he would still be here.”
Again great job bringing this story fellow bloggers. I’ve heard stories from my mom about my father and his service when he was in Vietnam. This government has always treated their returning soldiers with disgrace in my opinion. Sadly, made to do what other’s could not fathom is a true tragedy. The guilt and shame these soldier’s feel when they take lives must be all consuming. I know my father came back with demons and unfortunately never recovered for he had a drug overdosed and died when I was only four years old. Thanks for letting me share my thoughts and as know that I am praying for the end of all forms of war!
People probably encouraged not to talk about their issues, because of the information that would spew forth about the experience.
this is what i am talking about rania…. the truth hurts, keep writing, the same keystrokes say : FREEDOM
So sad. So very very sad.
Reblogged this on place and poetics.
th other day i saw the movie “rambo I: first blood”, with a more mature vision now i can see the irreversible trauma, social inahability and horrors that holds the minds of who are force to do things that humans naturally are not created for! we are here for great things! for love,creation and evolution. one mind, so if you do harm, you do it to yourself, its simple but so powerfull that can led you even to comit suicide…so at the end, is your choice! so people, wake up and stand against war!! peace for the soldier soul and family, peace in this world.
yes
, I feel sorry for the end of this young man. But I have to say this:
1- Getting in the army in USA is a choice now, not an obligatory draft.. War is business.
2- In the photo with his wife, he seems proud with his uniform.
3- He kept going back to Iraq in tours, while there were US soldiers who refused to do so, and ran to Canada.
4- Before joining the army, did not he read anything about war crimes committed by US army during all previous wars? Did not he heard of Vietnam? Before joining a business, should not anyone read its history first?
5- He put the blame for suicide cases on the Pentagon abandoning them !! Well is not this expected? All you have with the army is a contract you agreed upon in the first place. A contract to kill people in other countries who are not a threat to you.
Sorry, if American readers will consider my comment cruel or offending, but I have to tell you my point of view as an Iraqi.
While what your first line you mentioned is true. We have an all volunteer armed forces.
However, I do have a question for you…Have you never put on a brave face in front of others?
If you haven’t….I’d say you aren’t telling the truth.
You mention servicemen/women running up to Canada. Unfortunately, Canada isn’t a safe haven for those that don’t want to return to Iraq & Afghanistan. I’m surprised that you don’t remember a story that happened fairly recent. A pregnant woman who didn’t want to return to active duty, she went to Canada, and Canada shipped her back to the USA.
I believe that nobody in the Army/Navy/Marines were made to think about War Crimes. In fact if they have remembered things from the past. Most specifically WW II where we saw War Crimes. We brought the offenders to Justice, for those that just followed orders regarding Water Boarding. They were sentenced to 15 years. Americans using it now over 60 years later it’s an approved action. Should the US not apologize to the Japanese who were imprisoned for 15 years for using it during WW II?
Yet, we used it at the beginning of this war. After President Bush withdrew the US from the Hague Convention. We began using a practice that was knowingly a War Crime. If I remember correctly the only War Crimes that Americans were aware of was My Lay/Mai Lai massacre.
For which when John Kerry found out threw his medals back across the table.
Yes, War Is Hell…However we are Americans and have taken on a Scottish term to our heart. We take the high road, meaning we (try) should always “Do The Right Thing”. We should NOT have secret (black) prisons around the world. We should not have prisoners (this example really happened at Bagram Prison in the first few years of the war against Afghanistan, where we would pay people US$400 for people turned over to them that were said to be part of the Taliban.
It should be mentioned…Some of these people that were turned over to the US were just picked up from the people that lived on the next streets where the US wasn’t privy yet. The prisoners were made to not only do the American thing of Bob for Apples. The thing that the Americans came up with was reach for a bottle cap, in a bucket of sewage/fecal material and urine. Then they would shove cattle prods up their ass and zap them. They would also zap the genitals of their prisoners. Of course these poor schmucks didn’t know a damn thing. But the Americans didn’t stop there. They used the blaring of music a la Panamanian Noriega. With periods of freezing water being sprayed upon these people that didn’t know anything. As well as any many more things that are War Crimes.
The American people have entrusted the Military of the USA that they would use legal means in the wars that we are ensnared with to the Pentagon. When they are ordered to commit what some soldiers know are War Crimes. They are the ones that are having problems. The US Army has started taking in gang members that have no respect for life. So I can just see when they return home.
I now need to say to this Iraqi…Americans usually have “taken the high road”, we are appalled that Abu Ghraib happened. POW’s should never be treated this way. Sorry, most of us/Americans were horrified at what some in our military did. While you may say that we weren’t as bad as Saddam’s son Uday Most Americans are appalled that places such as Guantanamo, Cuba aka Gitmo have been used to house prisoners. Many are totally innocent.
The hero’s of the two wars are Joe Darby who was the whistle-blower about torture and abuse at Abu Ghraib, as well as Bradley Manning and Edward Snowden who have shown to the US as well as the world the War Crimes that the US is committing this time.
These people would be equivalent to a person reporting to the regular German populace about the things that were done in their name, the 100 death camps in Germany & Poland. The easily extermination of Jews in the Baltic States.
We Americans should have not started either war. Afghanistan was invaded for one reason. An Oil Pipeline that would have come through Afghanistan that originated in Kazakhstan. The Taliban had turned down the deal that was offered to them.
We Americans invaded Iraq for Oil. Our present friend Saudi Arabia only has oil for another 81 years at their export rate, whereas Iraq has 163 years of reserves. The US did follow the requests from Saudi Arabia and didn’t depose Saddam Hussein after the first Gulf War. They as well as a few of the other Gulf States would have rather had a strongman that kept a big boarder between the Iranian Shi’a and almost all of the other Sunni ruled Gulf States. Then Bush Jr, who decided that we needed to build up the Military after the Peace Dividend gave us years of prosperity that gave us years that we had kept our National Debt down. What Bush Jr did was to not raise taxes for a War, then start a second one without raising taxes. Killing about 1,000,000 Iraqis, a War Crime since we use Kerosene Napalm and also White Phosphorus, as well as Depleted Uranium which will cause birth defects for eons to come. On a war that was based on lies which had false information most likely produced by the Bush Administration to goad the US into a second war. It should be mentioned that there was plans for a war against Iraq that BushCo had planned years before he was even elected.
( While you may say that we weren’t as bad as Saddam’s son Uday)
No, US army and warmongers are worst than any other living or dead creatures..
The USA use to have the reputation as being the, “The Good Guys.” But those days are gone. And that’s a shame..
Ishtar, I wrote this a while back on another site to answer why so many of us end up in such situations.
“A while back I was asked how I, an ardent opponent of capitalism and all its venomous progeny (militarism, colonialism, misogyny, racism, slavery, genocide and injustice in so many other forms), ended up in the US Army and how I stayed in for so long. Here’s the story behind that:
There’s a lot of brainwashing in American culture and it can take a lot to break free of it. It just gets even harder once you end up in that environment, as it’s even DEEPER indoctrination. Economic realities lead a lot of otherwise good people to make bad choices, too, and then get locked into a self-sabotaging mindset that’s continually reinforced everywhere they look.
The beginning of my story isn’t as unusual as one would hope and the ending isn’t as common as we would wish. I grew up in a small town, raised by a working-poor single mother. By the time I graduated from high school conservation programs (which I appreciate now) had eliminated all of the lumber mills in my town. That had been our only dependable living-wage industry at the time. After that all that was available to a recent grad in that area who couldn’t afford a car were minimum wage jobs at the gas stations, grocery store or Dairy Queen. My grades were not good enough to qualify for any scholarship and I honestly had no idea that I could get financial aid for college. Nobody in my family had gone to college before, so I had no knowledge pool to draw from in that respect. There were vets in the family, though. I HAD heard of the GI Bill and Army College Fund (ACF), and they seemed like the only option for making anything of myself at the time.
I did a three year initial hitch in the Infantry and got out after a nerve-wracking peace-keeping deployment. I met my now-ex-wife and started school, but couldn’t concentrate in class due to anxiety attacks when in crowds. My first son was born and the meager allowance from the GI Bill at the time wasn’t enough to support my family in a way I thought that they deserved. It turned out that I wasn’t eligible for the ACF, after all, and school expenses ate up the entirety of my financial aid and GI Bill. I dropped out and tried to find work, but again there were few options that paid a living wage, so we continued to struggle.
After three years of living in tiny apartments in buildings where transients used the halls and walkways as toilets, I received a postcard from the Army reminding me to update my contact information with them. You see, the first time you enlist you sign up for eight years. You might only spend 3, 4 or 6 of those years in uniform, but until that eighth year is up they can call you back in at any time. I saw that postcard and remembered that the guys in my unit who had families had been able to afford fairly decent accommodations (even though we were in notoriously expensive Hawaii) and didn’t have to take their kids to a charity clinic or the ER for routine medical care. As loathe as I was to put myself back under the thumb of arbitrary authority I re-enlisted in order to get health insurance and housing for my wife and son.
I’d initially planned on just doing one more hitch, to get a marketable skill, and get back out. I’d been in the Infantry the first time and the only civilian jobs that really feeds into are security and SWAT. I wanted nothing to do with either. Once I’d got retraining in an aviation repair and maintenance job I felt pretty confident that I’d do alright. Unfortunately, while I was in I watched more and more airlines switch their maintenance operations to overseas facilities, where they could get cheaper labor. Eventually the domestic market for my occupation became prohibitively competitive for the wages that were offered. Though I’d grown to loathe what my job in the Army supported I stayed in simply because it was easier and I felt trapped.
It took me until I was only three years from retirement before I could finally turn my back on that life, so I don’t look too harshly on the young people who are just starting into it. They’ve also had to spend a lot of time in the last decade just concerning themselves with day to day survival, and that has a way of very effectively distracting one from deeper analysis of one’s situation. Once you’re in that hole it can be very hard to see a way out.
Look up “learned helplessness” some time. It’s insidious and absolutely awful.”
I hope you’re also saying these things to anyone left in your country who served under Saddam’s regime, busily violating and torturing their fellow Iraqis for the sake of a madman.
No, I don’t buy Bush’s excuse for the war and I believe the war was totally illegal; furthermore, two wrongs do not make a right. But if it’s as easy as you imply it is to fight back against an unjust government, it shouldn’t have been us taking down Saddam’s statue and capturing him.
Just saying.
Dana,
Reading your comment, after GodlessK’s, I can see how the brainwashing he referred to, works. In Saddam’s time, every one had the opportunity to go to university without paying a dollar.. Health care was free to every body. Getting loans to build a house was easy and available.to all. There was security. Life was pleasant. Food was very cheap. Women were unveiled and emancipated. . All this of course before imposing the harshest sanctions in history for 10 years by your government. During those years, a decade, every beautiful thing was destroyed, even pencils and aspirins were forbidden. Iraq did go back to the pre-industrial ages as Bush the first and Clinton promised. Then came the invasion and more destruction. Now if you ask any Iraqi, even people who were against Saddam: which is better: life under Saddam or life after Saddam? Their answer will be the obvious. You can not imagine what your government has done to Iraq. Saddam was a dictator, and although there was no free speech, but life otherwise was wonderful. Everything was available to the ordinary man. Who wants free speech when a child dies of lack of medicine or of hunger? Who needs free speech when there is no security in the streets and if you go out of your home you can not be sure you will return alive or whole. This is the Iraq which America has created.. It has destroyed a secular regime to install a sectarian one. Is this democracy? No it is the old imperial “divide and rule”, to enable oil corporations to steal nations.
Dear Ishtar Enana,
We Americans live in a society that accepts an economic system that creates huge inequality between the majority of people (poor and working class) and the capitalist class that reaps the rewards. This economic system has created a military empire to project itself across the globe. Any country that does not bow down to Western capitalism is a potential (eventual) target.
We also live in a society that has been brainwashed and propagandized into thinking that we have freedom and liberty, because we allow the wealthy to run roughshod over the poor and working class, the natural environment and those other countries that might disagree with this system.
I am a Vietnam war veteran. I was an air traffic controller at a remote radar site in Vietnam. As such I personally killed no one, nor witnessed any war crimes. I had accepted what my society told me that the North Vietnamese were trying to take the freedom away from the South Vietnamese and that was why the U.S. was fighting there. I did not question this official narrative, although others in my society were starting to do so. Years later in retrospect I accept the guilt of the war in which 3 million Vietnamese died because the U.S. was attempting to keep North and South Vietnam from reuniting as a people according to the peace treaty signed after the Viet Cong had defeated both the occupying Japanese army and the French who had returned to reoccupy after WWII. (The current U.S. government would today call the Viet Cong and those that supported reunification without a colonial occupier terrorists.)
Your assessment of what the U.S. has done to your country is correct. I ask no forgiveness for my country’s actions. I have none myself. What I would like to tell you about is that some Vietnam vets have returned to Vietnam with groups such as Veterans For Peace and Vietnam Veterans Against the War. It amazes me to hear their accounts after returning. The Vietnamese people do not hate us. They are still dying and having children with grotesque birth defects from the Agent Orange defoliant we sprayed on 10% of their entire country and they don’t hate us. The only difference in the wars being that the Vietnamese won, the U.S left and the poor country of Vietnam was able to rebuild without U.S. capitalist interference.
I hope that somehow the people in the U.S. will be able to wake up and take our government back from the capitalist Wall Street economic interests. The Occupy Movement was a breath of fresh air in this regard, only to be brutally attacked by the Obama Administration. I also hope that the Iraqi people will be able to rebuild your country some day and that you will be able to find some level of inner peace.
Nick Egnatz
OccupyNick@yahoo.com
Both Ishtar Enana & Nick Egnatz have valid points. In the 50s & 60’s NSA managers, of which my father was one, war counselors from the Dept. of Defense, CIA directors and presidents themselves saw threats everywhere: dangers of Communism everywhere, Cuba, Korea, Berlin, Chile, Haiti, Iran,Vietnam, et al, because, primarily, wherever they saw these “threats” was a way for them to also see also a way to uphold “American global interests” there and everywhere else, meaning that their form of government Capitalism, would capture these countries one way or the other so that they could spread their “assets” throughout the world. We, America, have backed anyone and everyone, including ruthless dictators, if only they would say they were not “Communists” but Capitalists and believed in: “the free market system<" which, of course, in reality, is a way for the minority of billionaires to continue their rule by way of wealth & power and using such branches of government as the CIA to assassinate such democratically-elected people as Salvador Allende, the president of Chile and install a ruthless military dictator the general Augosto Pinochet. And, all because Allende wanted to "redistribute the wealth so that starving people could actually have a better survival rate. America is, and always has been, a brutal Capitalist society where union activity has many times bee rewarded by businessmen buying private policemen to kill the strikers. America needs to stop proclaiming themselves as a democracy and then bathing itself in secrecy and continue ruling the world through promoting propagating and instituting wars around the globe all the while showing their hypocrisy by proclaiming themselves to be a "Christian Society." If Jesus Christ, himself, were to come back today the last thing he would be is a "Christian," by these standards.
Also, I was baffled by the goal of his project “An Iraq War veteran goes back to Baghdad to share tea with and interview former insurgents – especially those with which he personally exchanged gunfire – in order to better understand what motivated both parties to join the sides that they did,”
“to better understand”?? after all he saw and did?
OMG!! Wasn’t it so obvious? one party is an invader and the other party is a defender of his invaded home?
“What motivated both parties to join the sides that they did”? Well the Iraqis defended their land against unprovoked foreign invasion, what was the US soldiers’ motivation?
It only shows that to the end he -RIP – did not understand what it was all about.
one of the primary movers of american power and culture is violence. from manifest destiny to slavery to “spreading democracy by force” to casino and then disaster economics, when we speak of peace it is when others fight back. i remember as a girl in high school that asking probing questions was considered at the very least ungrateful if not unpatriotic. i can imagine this young man, along with many other young people, learning these jarring truths the hardest of ways. we can only hope that someone (s) among us begin to implement ways to build societies around a desire for peace and community.
The insurgents were not the only people who opposed the American invasion. Maybe that’s what he meant–what is it that makes someone be an insurgent versus an ordinary civilian who hopes he can just duck out of the way?
I do understand your general point though. I frequently anger veterans (I’m former Army, but not a war veteran) when I point out that they all chose to sign up and we have been invading other people’s countries and that if that were done to us, of course we would fight back by any means necessary. They don’t like to hear that. Wonder why.
I can say from my brief term of service that there is a culture of dehumanization of foreigners in the U.S. military. Not everyone subscribes to it, but if enough people agree with an idea, they will sway the rest. But dehumanizing the other guy is what it takes to shoot him, and of course the military’s primary job is to kill people and break things. I would be very surprised if no other military on earth behaves this way. Which is why we should be questioning the premise of war in the first place, not trying to find “better” ways to fight wars. There is no “better.” War equals failure.
I agree. There are no “better” ways to fight wars. There are no “good” or “bad” wars. But unfortunately it is part of man’s basic instincts.
I strongly disagree with your comment, “There are no “good” or “bad” wars. But unfortunately it is part of man’s basic instincts.”
War is NOT instinctive to human beings. If it were there, would be no anti-war movements and no hope of ever stopping war. Fortunately, we are not a species of sociopaths.
Over 250,000 years, human beings flourished on this planet because of our unequaled ability to cooperate. There has always been inter-personal conflict. However, prior to class society, people found ways to resolve it.
The advent of private property was accompanied by competition for it – competition that takes economic and military forms. Industrial capitalism elevated war to a prime directive, and imperialism has spawned global, unending war.
The conclusion is not that cooperation is impossible, but that human survival is incompatible with any systemic competition for social resources. Those resources properly belong to us all.
No better invention 4 our RULING ELITES than a VOLUNTEER ARMY – it allows UNJUST wars 2 go on and on and on – BRING BACK THE DRAFT – where if your country forced you to PUT YOUR LIFE ON THE LINE – it better have a DAMN GOOD REASON – and if if didn’t, which was most cases anyway – they had to END THE INJUSTICE QUICKLY –
In WW2 we kicked Italy, Germany, & Japan’s asses in 4 years! A few clowns in gowns on camels and it’s 12+ years? Please what PROFIT MAKING SCAM!
But, those clowns in gowns happen to have hydrocarbons. It does take 12+ years to finish building oil and gas pipelines.
One word: Vietnam.
There goes your “damn good reason for doing so.” See also “sons of Congressmen who were kept out of harm’s way.”
Get over your damn fairy tales and wake up.
The ignorance is astounding. WWII took 4 years because the U.S. and her allies carpet bombed Berlin, dropped two atomic bombs and basically wiped out everything it could on the way through the Axis countries. How many cities did you see carpet bombed in Iraq and Afghanistan? Oh wait, you weren’t there, so none. I was there, and I saw the restraint we showed first hand. Snipers in Mosques or schools, hiding behind children, allowed to fire constantly because the U.S. wasn’t going to willingly harm civilians. The fastest way between two points is a straight line, it can take 12 years when you have to turn thousands of time to prevent unwanted deaths.
Don’t let your bias or obvious hate cloud the truth.
Human Beings can “handle” war? Name me one that “WE” handled?
Scot
For heaven sake. You were there, and it took you 12 years just to avoid killing people? so who killed over one million Iraqi people? who carpet-bombed Falluja? who bombed Tel afar? who bombed a wedding in al Qaem? who killed 23 women and children in Haditha while asleep in their beds? who used DU and white phosphorus? who killed civilians in check points? whose military trucks overrode civilian cars? who gang-raped and burned 13 yrs old Abeer and her whole family in Mahmoudia? and many many other documented crimes. Why are you trying to give us a pure, nice image of war? Are not you ashamed of yourself? instead of saying sorry to Iraqi people?
he volunteered to become a soilder,and what funny its his death note but he dont say what he did or whom made him do it,if this happened why didnt he whislteblow,some ppl cant handle war and its sad if he didnt get help,but i believe he made the army as a excuse to take his own life,
No one who is human can “handle war.”
http://torqueatlanta.wordpress.com/2013/06/21/a-soldiers-concluding-words/
I had two friends who fought in Vietnam. They said we were the bad guys. Our troops did things to the people that a person can’t talk about.
A couple others said we backed the wrong side.
what a fucking idiot to sign up in the first place feel no sorrow for the peice of shit.
So many vets say no-one can understand how it is if they have not been there. I disagree, many of us do understand , at least”enough”.
Understanding is what causes us to be against participating. They have the same understanding after they go, but the experience wasn’t necessary.
Understanding that it’s wrong to kill someone and understanding what it is LIKE to kill someone are two entirely different things. His point stands and you’re making an apples and oranges argument.
I have the same issue with people who think they know what it’s like to raise kids when they have never had one. No, you don’t understand. It is an initiatory experience. If you haven’t done it, you don’t know.
So many vets say no-one can understand how it is if they have not been there. I disagree, many of us do understand , at least”enough”.
Understanding is what causes us to be against participating. They have the same understanding after they go, but the experience wasn’t necessary.
Understanding that it’s wrong to kill someone and understanding what it is LIKE to kill someone are two entirely different things. His point stands and you’re making an apples and oranges argument.
I have the same issue with people who think they know what it’s like to raise kids when they have never had one. No, you don’t understand. It is an initiatory experience. If you haven’t done it, you don’t know.
He reminds me of some Nazi soldiers when they realized they were on the wrong side.
Yes, because the U.S. military and the Nazis are very similar. Jesus, the ignorance on this blog astounds me.
Scot, all armies are similar in their methods and goals. US military and Nazis are very similar in that they fought outside their own lands. What took you to Iraq when we were thousands of miles away and we were not a threat to you and never have been.
I believe there’s an interesting dialogue going on here, but it’s pretty one-sided and as the wife of a Marine I feel compelled to say something, especially because I also worked as a journalist covering Iraq with various Iraqi colleagues.
I’m sure I’m going to get a lot of flack for saying this on this site, but there were some Iraqis who were initially in favor of the invasion because Saddam was awful. Most of my colleagues said they were initially optimistic about the invasion because they thought it would bring about a better system of government and higher quality of life. They said their opinions quickly changed when they saw how things actually were being done. A big turning point was the fall of Baghdad when Americans were providing no law and order. So, when people have asked what the soldier’s motivation was, I would say there were several 1. They thought (however naively or incorrectly) that they were going to liberate a country and provide a better life for people. That’s what their nation’s leaders, media, and most of American society was telling them. 2. They signed up to serve and defend their country, so they went where they were told because that was what they agreed to do when they signed up. A military cannot function if the people in it ignore the orders they don’t like. If you could pick and choose which orders to take, who would take the dangerous jobs? 3. They were afraid of facing everything from ridicule by their friends and family to jail time if they refuse. So I don’t think it’s as simple as saying these were a bunch of evil guys who just wanted to kill Iraqis and pillage their country. In fact, I think that’s every bit as simplistic as saying all Muslims are terrorists just because the people who blew up the twin towers claimed to do so in the name of Islam.
Next, contrary to what everyone on this site seems to think, it’s quite possible to serve in war zones, even kill people, and not be a sociopath. We can argue about America’s right to be in any given place, but once these men and women are there, they often get attacked. When you’re getting fired on, it’s pretty instinctive to fire back. Now things like torture and unarmed civilians are another matter. But I have many friends who got into firefights with the Taliban in Afghanistan and they aren’t psychos. They aren’t happy about what they had to do, but they were being fired on, and if they didn’t fire back they were going to get shot. Since they felt they would have been killed if they did otherwise, they’ve made their piece with the fact they may have killed people in these firefights. They do have some trouble with the “why are we over here doing this stuff” question. However, they believe that since they signed up to serve they have an obligation to do the duty they signed up to do. As to why they signed up in the first place, they believed they had an obligation to defend their country by joining the military. They believe that our military provides a deterrent against attack and that by giving a few years of their life to this profession, they are doing their part to ensure their country will be safe should there ever be a real threat. They are less than thrilled about what political leaders have deemed a threat, but they don’t believe pacifism is actually realistic and so they feel our country needs a strong military. You may disagree with their assessment about pacifism, duty to one’s country, etc, but to act as though they are all just evil invaders or without conscience is simply not correct.
I agree that war is a failure, but I don’t believe that humans can’t handle war. Over time we’ve shown a remarkable ability to do so. I think the human mind is resilient and I think we can also justify quite a bit. I’ll share with you what my husband said about it once…the gist was that whether or not he thought we had a right to be there, we were. He and his friends were being blown up by IEDs planted by insurgents, and so whether or not we should be there, he was going to do everything in his power to make sure the people he cared about didn’t get killed or hurt. He didn’t expect Afghans or Iraqis not to fight, in fact he said he would do the same in their position, but that the bottom line was they were fighting him and the people he cared about, so he was going to do everything he can to make sure they didn’t succeed. He said he understood where Iraqis and Afghanis were coming from and he would fight people who invaded his country too, but that he also would expect the people who invaded to fight right back. Ultimately, he believes his primary duty is to his country and to serve in the military even when he doesn’t agree with everything that entails. Fundamentally, he believes war is inevitable and so he wants his country to be prepared and to win. Ultimately, he and I disagree in that I think we should strive to find alternatives to war, but so far history seems to be on his side and war does seem to be inevitable.
What a false argument (So I don’t think it’s as simple as saying these were a bunch of evil guys who just wanted to kill Iraqis and pillage their country. In fact, I think that’s every bit as simplistic as saying all Muslims are terrorists just because the people who blew up the twin towers claimed to do so in the name of Islam.). If those people who blew the twin towers (that is if we believe the main stream story) came to your land as an invading army complete with tanks and bombers, and generals, changed your systems, destroyed your agriculture and industry, installed a Moslem in the administration and put up check points where they would kill every one passing by. In other words, they took over your country for ten years, your argument would be correct.
Also, you forgot to mention with the reasons for joining the army the most important reason: to earn a living or to provide for a college or to get the green card.
wow, very powerful
wow, very powerful
Another casualty of war.
God bless this young mans soul <3
God bless this young mans soul <3
Reblogged this on Beacon of Aquarius and commented:
Posted by Beacon of Aquarius June 25 2013
Does war suck? Absolutely it does. Did I enjoy my time in Iraq or Afghanistan? Absolutely not.
I did see great people sacrificing their lives for a mission they believed in. I saw amazing restraint by people in harms way. I saw these ‘evil’ soldiers risking their lives to keep children safe. Does the government have ulterior motives sometimes, possibly. Are there some bad seeds in the military? Of course, just like any other part of society.
But, blatant anti-military stories with quotes like, “…among the soldiers fighting US wars are good people who have been backed into a corner, forced to compromise their morals to fulfill the almost always nefarious operations necessary for American imperialism to flourish,” claiming that all/most Army suicides are caused by soldiers realizing the evil they represented is not only false, it is flat out dangerous. Reasons for military suicides range from PTSD to getting caught cheating on your wife, to bipolar soldiers who never even deployed. Suicide is an epidemic, but NOT because soldiers are having some come-to-Jesus realization that they have been doing the work of the Devil overseas. Implying such is pure ignorance and a slap in the face to the families of these men and women with real mental illnesses.
Does war suck? Absolutely it does. Did I enjoy my time in Iraq or Afghanistan? Absolutely not.
I did see great people sacrificing their lives for a mission they believed in. I saw amazing restraint by people in harms way. I saw these ‘evil’ soldiers risking their lives to keep children safe. Does the government have ulterior motives sometimes, possibly. Are there some bad seeds in the military? Of course, just like any other part of society.
But, blatant anti-military stories with quotes like, “…among the soldiers fighting US wars are good people who have been backed into a corner, forced to compromise their morals to fulfill the almost always nefarious operations necessary for American imperialism to flourish,” claiming that all/most Army suicides are caused by soldiers realizing the evil they represented is not only false, it is flat out dangerous. Reasons for military suicides range from PTSD to getting caught cheating on your wife, to bipolar soldiers who never even deployed. Suicide is an epidemic, but NOT because soldiers are having some come-to-Jesus realization that they have been doing the work of the Devil overseas. Implying such is pure ignorance and a slap in the face to the families of these men and women with real mental illnesses.
[…] See original here: https://raniakhalek.com/2013/06/23/in-suicide-note-iraq-war-veteran-says-he-was-forced-to-participate… […]
Matt -24 Wars & Rumors of War-
Book of Revelation – the 4 horsemen- false religion – famine, war disease- please read – we are in the very last days- seconds- of this evil age of human rule- days of the anti Christ which Christ told 2000 yrs ago – The electronic solider- Military Mind Control- remember – the book Catcher in the Rye’ ?What was the cliff- insanity- ‘ what was it -‘ Mind Control’- 1984, Animal Farm– the bombing of Dresden/ F-451- Military is into -‘Mind Control- Bush the Manchurian Canadate 10 MILLION US CHILDREN ON MIND CONTROL DRUGS- Why do you think they give vaccinations to the US soldiers ?
Do you know what is in vaccines? It’s science fiction or truth?
Your tin foil hat is leaking.
Matt -24 Wars & Rumors of War-
Book of Revelation – the 4 horsemen- false religion – famine, war disease- please read – we are in the very last days- seconds- of this evil age of human rule- days of the anti Christ which Christ told 2000 yrs ago – The electronic solider- Military Mind Control- remember – the book Catcher in the Rye’ ?What was the cliff- insanity- ‘ what was it -‘ Mind Control’- 1984, Animal Farm– the bombing of Dresden/ F-451- Military is into -‘Mind Control- Bush the Manchurian Canadate 10 MILLION US CHILDREN ON MIND CONTROL DRUGS- Why do you think they give vaccinations to the US soldiers ?
Do you know what is in vaccines? It’s science fiction or truth?
Your tin foil hat is leaking.
The suicide of such a good man underscores the urgent need to build a mass movement against US imperialism. Somers did everything he could as an individual, but it wasn’t enough, and he knew it.
Many Vietnam veterans channeled their inner torture into passionate anti-war activism. They could do this only because their disgust for the war was shared by millions of ordinary Americans.
With so little open opposition to the Obama regime, Somers felt isolated. We are all responsible for that.
Somer’s sacrificed his life to preserve his humanity. We need to fight harder for ours.
The problems are appearances; everything appears O.K. The government knows best kind of thing; it’s exactly what caused Vietnam, nobody knew what the hell a Domino Theory’ even was including those that professed it and yet, as always, we sacrificed our youngest men to do the will of those men who would be the farthest away from the actual war. Its these appearances and the fact that all governments want to have their “secrets” and they want to tell us how “THEY” are so much smarter than we, the general population, are and we must listen to them or perish, when, it is, always, actually the other way around.
The suicide of such a good man underscores the urgent need to build a mass movement against US imperialism. Somers did everything he could as an individual, but it wasn’t enough, and he knew it.
Many Vietnam veterans channeled their inner torture into passionate anti-war activism. They could do this only because their disgust for the war was shared by millions of ordinary Americans.
With so little open opposition to the Obama regime, Somers felt isolated. We are all responsible for that.
Somer’s sacrificed his life to preserve his humanity. We need to fight harder for ours.
The problems are appearances; everything appears O.K. The government knows best kind of thing; it’s exactly what caused Vietnam, nobody knew what the hell a Domino Theory’ even was including those that professed it and yet, as always, we sacrificed our youngest men to do the will of those men who would be the farthest away from the actual war. Its these appearances and the fact that all governments want to have their “secrets” and they want to tell us how “THEY” are so much smarter than we, the general population, are and we must listen to them or perish, when, it is, always, actually the other way around.
You had me right up to the point that I realized that you didn’t know that Bush has not been President for six years. If you don’t know who is responsible for the fronts that have opened up since Bush left office, I doubt the veracity of the entire report.
the secret is there never was a change
You had me right up to the point that I realized that you didn’t know that Bush has not been President for six years. If you don’t know who is responsible for the fronts that have opened up since Bush left office, I doubt the veracity of the entire report.
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