Another horrible war atrocity. 16 Afghan civilians (including 9 children) were brutally killed, allegedly by a lone Army Staff Sergeant (now identified as SSG Robert Bales), who for some unknown reason went on a murderous rampage. The guy had no history of being a serial killer. In fact he is married, with 2 children - the epitome of a stable American family life. The shock, hand-wringing, and “What could have possessed the guy?” questions in the media have begun.
There seems to be an American disconnect about what an Army is. And what the Military is trained to do. It is NOT a Social Services program, nor is it The Peace Corps (although many seem to think it’s supposed to be). Soldiers spend years learning the art of killing and destroying things. The military has a rather intense psychological conditioning program (more intense for combat and Special Ops troops), that trains a soldier or marine to suppress certain feelings (such as empathy, fear, pain, compassion), for the purpose of turning him into an obedient combat killing machine. The mission is to seek out and destroy “The Enemy”. Compassion is weakness. Even non-combat soldiers are exposed to it, although to a much lesser degree. I can still remember a particular marching cadence from when I was in the Army (back in the 1980s-90s):
“Put a baby in a blender, watch it spinning round and round.
Soon you’ll have a bloody dinner, grab a beer and wash it down.
Go into the old folks home now, line em’ up against the wall.
Take an aim with your machete, watch the headless bodies fall.
Go into the local schoolyard, watch the kids come running ‘round,
Slap a belt in your M60, mow them little suckers down.”
Funny, no? Most people just sniggered, shrugged it off, and carried on. It’s a disconnect - not really real after all, so it’s OK. We learned how to shoot rifles, pistols, machine guns, throw grenades, set-up claymore mines all the while learning about the Honor, Duty, Valor, Integrity, Teamwork, Patriotism of defending your country against “The Enemy”. Somehow all these things were connected, but you had to keep them disconnected. It was a kind-of raw machismo, with no sensitive touchy-feely considerations allowed. It was like an Adventure-Game. Today’s soldiers also get to do realistic battle-simulation training (kind of like of being the Hero in in Star Wars) which is meant to increase battle proficiency in the field. Another “Force-Multiplier” in Pentagon lingo. It also de-humanizes “The Enemy” into evil bad guys that must be killed. It’s even OK to urinate on their dead bodies since they’re not really human beings.
BTW, in Iraq and Afghanistan (as in Vietnam), women and children have occasionally been used as decoys or as suicide bombers, so might they also be “The Enemy”? At the very least they need to be watched....with suspicion.
So back to Staff Sergeant Bales - what happened to him? Somewhere he must have crossed that “disconnect” between what the Army has trained him to be, and his humanity, compassion, fear. His conscience has gone missing. After 4 tours-of-duty in Iraq, (which included several injuries) they wore him down bit by bit until he finally had a mental breakdown. When you train people to behave in a certain way, why be surprised when they do what they were trained to do? I’m sure the Pentagon will just call him another “bad apple”, incarcerate him for life in Leavenworth, and continue on with more important matters. It’s all about keeping up the image, you know.
In every war and military conflict there have always been horrific atrocities. Most of them we probably don’t even know about. Did you know that US drones (the Reaper and the Predator) have been responsible for killing somewhere around 500 civilians including 60 children? Will the pilots and commanders of those drones be going to Leavenworth also? Why is killing people from unpiloted planes (which is what drones essentially are) more acceptable than killing them face-to-face like what SSG Bales allegedly did?
Americans have always been coddled and protected from the real Face of War by our news-media (complicit with the Pentagon). They rarely if ever show any up-close pictures of the mutilated and dead. They never show the results of air bombings. Instead we get briefings by Generals who tell us that “Progress is being made”. They always say “Progress is being made”, have you ever heard a General say "We're losing this, it's not worth it to be here, we all need to go home"? All they need is a little more time of course. And a few hundred-thousand more troops. In essence the Pentagon’s real enemy now is NOT the Afghanis or the Taliban; it’s the American public. The lethargic news-media is beginning to wake up and report on things that are making Americans feel “uncomfortable”. There are too many “bad apples”. The Pentagon is losing it’s grip, finally.
Until Iran of course.