Deconstructing the US Military: America's Global War against Planet Earth

Holy #! The military turns soldiers into military drones that won't question there authority. It sounds exactly like what the Nazi's do. I guess humans are just as vulnerable as robots at being programmed without noticing that they are not free. #! This makes you wonder how many people in our country are mind control consider the racism and hate and economy, we all seemed to be indoctrinated into the system. Just ask an economist, they think they are free too.

In the mid-1960s, political scientist Hannah Arendt published a book-length study of how some of the great evils of history, such as slavery and the Holocaust, managed to occur. Her book, Eichmann in Jerusalem: A Report on the Banality of Evil, concluded that generally such crimes are not carried out by fanatics or sociopaths, but rather by ordinary people who accepted the premises of their superiors and their state and therefore do what they are told to do, and participate with the view that their actions are normal. The word “banal” is defined as “something that is trite, normal, and commonplace.” The root of the word comes from the Old French word ban, referring to feudal military service, which was compulsory and thus commonly accepted. Thus, military culture is by definition synonymous with banal, which my acquaintances at Camp Eggers demonstrated as they strove to find orders to follow and avoid responsibility for their actions.

Most members of the military establishment receive extensive training in combat techniques, including of course how to kill other human beings. One common drill at boot camp is to have recruits lunge repeatedly at mock human targets with mounted bayonets, shouting “Kill! Kill!” as they stab their imaginary victims. After months of such training, killing itself becomes banal, something normal and commonplace. The military culture of thoughtless submission to authority combined with heavy conditioning to snuff out human life creates a wide path towards the “great evils” that Hannah Arendt addressed.

Examples of what a sane society would call evil acts abound in the annuals of our current wars. For example, in 2010 a group of five American soldiers murdered a number of Afghan civilians “for sport,” and collected fingers of their victims as trophies. Killing for them had become normal and banal; it was in fact what the soldiers were trained to do.

On March 25, 2003, Marine Sgt. Eric Schrumpf was participating in the U.S. invasion of Iraq when he spotted an Iraqi soldier in his field of view behind a female Iraqi citizen. He couldn’t get a clear shot with the woman blocking his line of sight, so he shot her to get her out of the line of fire. “I’m sorry, but the chick was in the way,” Schrumpf explained. Later he elaborated, “We had a great day. We killed a lot of people.”

Over the long term, most soldiers committing such murders become victims of their own lack of judgment, unable to live with the profoundly antisocial acts they have committed. Sergeant Schrumpf is himself now debilitated by PTSD, and can scarcely function in civilian society. He has attacked people in movie theaters because he mistakes their cans of Coke for military weapons. "I'll never be the same again," says Schrumpf, who seems somehow mystified by the etiology of his emotional dysfunction.

Similar stories of the fruits of combat duty are limited only by time available to tell them. After serving in the Marines during the 2003 invasion of Iraq , Lance Cpl. Walter Rollo Smith returned home and soon killed his wife, Nicole Marie Speirs, the 22-year-old mother of his twin children. He drowned her in a bathtub without any evident provocation or reason. In reflecting on his heinous crime, Smith said, “I know for a fact that before I went to Iraq , there’s no way I would have taken somebody else’s life.”

You have raised a big cultural challenge to the horrors of war. War has a long history going back thousands of years, in more recent times programs like MK Ultra and Monarch have gotten even deeper in mind control. Advertising is a whole industry trying to change how we think and new developments into melding the mind / machine barrier are emerging. At least Donald Trump has the honesty to say war is about oil, but the US population still wants it. Don't mind the fact that alternate energy sources are available. It is a sad pathetic ending seeing the way things are going with so much potential just cut down. With some of the discussion on these boards and in the media it is easy to see how people fail to consider the situation, consequences and just take orders. Perhaps the world is better off with all this ignorance delegated to cannon fodder?

reply to post by MIDNIGHTSUN


I believe that you may be cherry picking just to justify how you feel toward a certain establishment within our society. I can do the same. All teenage boys are cold-hearted killers, look at Columbine. Mothers are deranged child murders, just look at the recent incident of the mother drowning her kids after a domestic fight. Hollywood stars are drug addled narcissists…well there is probably a grain of truth to that one. I can go on and on.

Seeing a can of Coke as a military weapon…really? I think he may have already been unhinged to begin with. His leadership failed him and the system, he probably exhibited signs prior to even being deployed and should have had a Psych eval, but kept being passed down the chain because of all the paperwork involved. A cowardly thing that I have personally seen before, tried to correct and was told to shut up. They usually pass the Soldier to another section or unit and now he/she is their problem.

People are people, both good and bad. We see more bad than good today because of today’s 24 hour media. “If it bleeds, it leads” mentality and ratings war. I know that PTSD is real but I believe that a majority of PTSD “victims” is due to a weak mind and refusing to accept the reality of what has happened to them, or in a Soldiers case, a situation they volunteered for by raising their hand and taking the oath. I personally have knowledge of Soldiers who claimed PTSD just for the VA disability check, they told me so. Now they have that in their file and are having difficulties finding jobs. Didn’t think that one through, did they?

Life happens and it’s rarely fair. Having a strong sense of self, morals, ethics and values goes a long way to helping cope with many adverse times in your life. Blaming others for your actions is immoral and cowardly.

Good topic for discussion.

reply to post by kwakakev


You’ve hit the nail on the head. Wars have always been about resources. To deny that they aren’t is just folly. Almost everything is a form of battle. From your brand loyalty, your dollars, how you entertain yourself, all the way to how you defend yourself. An old saying goes, “When you got ‘em by the balls, their hearts and minds will follow”.

reply to post by TDawgRex


Resources is a big part of it, but in this day and age it is more about profits. There is plenty of resources to go around, but people want more and more as there needs are meet. People associate who they are to what they own rather than what they do, in deconstructing why this is a big reason for the never ending war. I don't know how to turn this around, I don't want to accept mass murder and conflict as normal. It is a sad frustrating situation.

reply to post by TDawgRex


I understand fighting to defend, but the disconnect for me comes in fighting to obliterate while in someone else's country. I wonder what goes through a soldier's mind when he shoots at locals? Does he quickly justify it or dismiss it, and suppress his own morals in favor of what his unit / superiors / TPTB tell him he ought to think or do? And if he does, when he reconnects back to his society, can this inner conflict not manifest itself in PTSD? At some point if he never intended to kill civilians, would he not eventually be angry with himself that he did? (Not saying here that everyone does this, but am trying to understand something.

Research from Harvard concludes that our high school graduates whose brains are not fully formed and do realize the consequences of their actions

Interestingly, the faculty of insight—the ability to judge one's own actions and predict consequences—develops in the frontal lobe in stages: First as the ability to be objective and judge others' actions and later as subjective analysis and to be able to consistently think, 'If I do this, something bad might happen.' "It's fascinating that teens can see their friend about to do the wrong thing and say, 'Don't do that!,' whereas they can't yet recognize their own behavior as dangerous," says Jensen. "They really can—and should—act as each others' keepers."

And whereas we used to think of the ability to think as an adult comes by age 16 or 18, guess again.

Two discoveries prompted much of their scientific interest: that teenagers' brains are only about 80 percent fully developed and that brain development isn't complete until people reach their 20s or even 30s—more than a decade later than experts had thought.

Wars have always been about resources

reply to post by TDawgRex


I disagree that wars are only fought for just resources I am not sure if you meant that wars are mainly fought for just resources alone. No doubt they play a part in war but there is a little more to it then that I think.

reply to post by aboutface


I hear you. Having recently retired, I myself would like to get into counseling returning Vets. I have found that Vets will tell other Vets things they would never tell anybody else. The inner conflict has and will be always be in everyone’s brain in my opinion. It is a matter of can the Soldier accept his actions and move on with life. Not block them out, but to realize that it happened and cannot be taken back. But yes, you have to address it as quickly as possible. Two examples at opposite ends, though both adults.

I knew an Apache pilot who thought running and gunning was cool until he had a malfunction and was forced to land in the middle of a fire fight. War took on a whole new meaning for him then, he saw the results of his actions. It was now personal. Later on bad guys probably got away as he was afraid to engage after that for fear of killing innocents. Upon returning to CONUS he switched over to Blackhawks and got out shortly after. I hear he is a life flight pilot now….good for him. It’s always therapeutic helping someone.

One of my former Soldiers is a total mess. He had to knee cap a couple teenagers who were pushing an IED donkey cart at his TCP. He didn’t want to kill them. Who would? They’re kids. However, when EOD sent the robot to check out the arty shells, they were remotely detonated. He blames himself for this. He knows rationally that he saved lives that day, both Iraqi and American. But it has torn him and his family apart. He waited until getting divorce before getting counseling and I hope and pray he can get it together. He is a good guy inside, I know it.

Everyone reacts differently.

The Army is now instituting a program called Battle mind training in the hopes that it will better prepare Soldiers deploying with the horrors that combat produces. But it just that, hope. Soldiers are being powerpointed to death nowadays and their minds tend to wander and besides brief training session will never prepare you for the reality.

reply to post by TDawgRex


Thanks for your reply, TDawg. Here's wishing you a peaceful and fun retirement.

So while we're on the topic, do you mind one more question? It concerns the best way for people to act towards a returning vet. I worked in a Vet hospital, and it's the last place one would go as a spy, simply because the ground troop Vets never talked about the front. (Pilots from WW2 always seemed to deny any suffering their activities caused such as in Dresden, for instance) That said, would it help or advance things any if we assumed that a returning Vet has killed and has some degree of demons to deal with? By that I mean give them more space? Or include them more in community stuff? Or butt out and let the Legions deal with that?

Originally posted by TDawgRex
reply to post by MIDNIGHTSUN

 

I believe that you may be cherry picking just to justify how you feel toward a certain establishment within our society. I can do the same. All teenage boys are cold-hearted killers, look at Columbine. Mothers are deranged child murders, just look at the recent incident of the mother drowning her kids after a domestic fight. Hollywood stars are drug addled narcissists…well there is probably a grain of truth to that one. I can go on and on.

Seeing a can of Coke as a military weapon…really? I think he may have already been unhinged to begin with. His leadership failed him and the system, he probably exhibited signs prior to even being deployed and should have had a Psych eval, but kept being passed down the chain because of all the paperwork involved. A cowardly thing that I have personally seen before, tried to correct and was told to shut up. They usually pass the Soldier to another section or unit and now he/she is their problem.

People are people, both good and bad. We see more bad than good today because of today’s 24 hour media. “If it bleeds, it leads” mentality and ratings war. I know that PTSD is real but I believe that a majority of PTSD “victims” is due to a weak mind and refusing to accept the reality of what has happened to them, or in a Soldiers case, a situation they volunteered for by raising their hand and taking the oath. I personally have knowledge of Soldiers who claimed PTSD just for the VA disability check, they told me so. Now they have that in their file and are having difficulties finding jobs. Didn’t think that one through, did they?

Life happens and it’s rarely fair. Having a strong sense of self, morals, ethics and values goes a long way to helping cope with many adverse times in your life. Blaming others for your actions is immoral and cowardly.

Good topic for discussion.

edit on 18-4-2011 by TDawgRex because: grammer

Your right about having strong moral and knowing self. If people don't know themselves they will be succeptible to manipulation.

reply to post by aboutface


All Vets react differently. Some need a gentle hand and a shoulder to lean on, others need a strong hand to get them going again. It’s all relative to the individual. A Vet will tell you his stories when they feel they can confide in you. I think a community outreach program is great though. It gives a person a bit of self worth knowing that they are still useful, specially the physically wounded who often suffer from survivors guilt as well as physical and mental wounds.

The difference between a Fairy tale and a War story is that in a fairy tale, it starts with “Once upon a time...” whereas a war story starts out with “No *Snip*, there I was...”.