I'm taking temperature readings from vets and soldiers across the country and the one consistent remark is "tragic, but no one should be surprised." More of this coming your way if McChrystal gets his way and he gets a troop escalation. War is a big sewer of pointless carnage and destruction and sooner or later it's like any other sewer. It gets to a point where it gets backed up and starts coming back out at you.
All of us here busier with getting the kids to soccer practice and making partner at the firm think our apathy will never come back to haunt us, but that's against all the laws of Karma.
I call Major Hasan a victim the same as all the rest. His job was to listening to blood and guts and soldiers with shattered minds 12 hours a day, and he knew he was going next. Following is one of the more eloquent posts I have found in soldiers' discussions. This is from a Ft. Hood Facebook blog.
[name deleted]
Let's see. A competent physician and Army psychiatrist with a good service record, promoted to Major, tasked with providing care to desperately depressed, enraged, suicidal or homicidal kids back from Iraq and Afghanistan.
Stuck on a Army post in Texas with the highest suicide rate among military personnel since the Iraq war began - after dealing with some of the worst cases of PTSD at Walter Reed Army Hospital for years. Day in, day out listening to and processing the horror stories and nightmares from Iraq and Afghanistan-- which he can't share, divulge, or openly discuss because of patient confidentiality and military protocol. Blood curdling stuff. Because of his ethnic and religious background, he's treated with contempt and suspicion by his colleagues in the Army. But here's the real kicker. Despite his medical training, he also knows that his real job is not to be genuinely therapeutic for his patients, but to work to ready these soldiers for more combat in an illegal and immoral war. Unlike civilian PTSD programs, where the therapists's primary concern is the welfare and future of their clients, the Army PTSD program at Fort Hood is aimed at returning soldiers suffering from this disorder to combat effective status as quickly as possible . He is, in effect helping to reload the weapons.
Stilll, Major Hasan tries to tough it out, and play by all the rules, seeking a legal way out of the military, to no avail. The Army is having none of it - no conflict of interest allowed. Instead, the harassment by his fellow officers intensifies as he expresses his misgivings about the war. He's called a camel jockey, has his car vandalized, Finally, he's assigned to duty at the scene of the expanding war crime he feels complicit in. And something snaps. But unlike other victims of PSTD , he doesn't act this out against the helpless civilians of Fallujah or Khandahar, or a wife, girlfriend, or family, He doesn't shoot up the local KFC, but opens up instead on US combat soldiers preparing to return to the carnage.
While we don't know all the facts or details yet -- and if the DoD has it's way, we probably never will, it looks like guilt, betrayal complicity and rage produced a toxic, psychotic mix - with tragic consequences. Brought to all of us by the US Army and two imperialist wars.
UPDATE:
The following is a joint statement by the Ft. Hood Chapter of Iraq Veterans Against the War and the anti-war soldiers' cafe The Under the Hood Cafe:
Joint Statement from Under the Hood Café and the Fort Hood Chapter of Iraq Veterans Against the Wa
by Victor Agosto | Fri, 11/06/2009 - 2:28pm
Joint Statement from Under the Hood Café and the Fort Hood Chapter of Iraq Veterans Against the War
Our community is distraught by the tragic shooting at Fort Hood yesterday. We extend our condolences to the families and friends of the victims.
As upset as we are about this incident, this shooting does not come as a shock. Eight years of senseless wars have taken a huge toll on our troops and their families. It’s time to admit that the wars in southwest Asia are in no one’s best interests. Bring the troops home now!
The Army has also repeatedly demonstrated that it is more interested in making soldiers "deployable" than it is in helping them fully recover from PTSD and other mental health issues. This often leaves soldiers with few options other than to self-medicate with drugs and alcohol. The Army routinely deploys soldiers who are clearly suicidal and homicidal. Yesterday was a gruesome reminder of the possible violent consequences of this policy. We hope the Army now takes its duty to take care of soldiers more seriously.
We demand transparency from the Army and other federal agencies involved with this investigation.
Under the Hood Café provides military service members support with referrals to legal, financial, and medical services. It is a space for troops to freely express their views on the wars and the military. It also offers GI rights counseling. Iraq Veterans Against the War calls for the immediate withdrawal of all occupying forces in Iraq, reparations for the human and structural damages Iraq has suffered, and full benefits for returning military.