So what happens when they come home?
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| Mon, 07-19-2004 - 8:42pm |
'Enemy Contact. Kill 'em, Kill 'em.'
U.S. troops are trained to respond instinctively during combat. But the lessons do not prepare them for the emotional distress that may arise
By Charles Duhigg, Times Staff Writer
NAJAF, Iraq — Tucked behind a gleaming machine gun, Sgt. Joseph Hall grins at his two companions in the Humvee.
"I want to know if I killed that guy yesterday," Hall says. "I saw blood spurt from his leg, but I want to be sure I killed him."
The vehicle goes silent as the driver, Spc. Joshua Dubois, swerves around asphalt previously uprooted by a blast.
"I'm confused about how I should feel about killing," says Dubois, who has a toddler back home. "The first time I shot someone, it was the most exhilarating thing I'd ever felt."
Dubois turns back to the road. "We talk about killing all the time," he says. "I never used to talk this way. I'm not proud of it, but it's like I can't stop. I'm worried what I will be like when I get home."
The men aren't Special Forces soldiers. They're just ordinary troops with the Army's 2nd Armored Cavalry Regiment serving their 14th month in Iraq, much of it in daily battles. In 20 minutes, they will come under attack.
Many GIs and Army psychiatrists say these constant conversations about death help troops come to grips with the trauma of combat. But mental health professionals within and outside the military point to the chatter as evidence of preventable anguish.
Soldiers are untrained, experts say, for the trauma of killing. Forty years after lessons learned about combat stress in Vietnam, experts charge that avoidable psychological damage goes unchecked because military officials don't include emotional preparation in basic training.
Troops, returning home with untreated and little-understood mental health issues, put themselves and their families at risk for suicide and domestic violence, experts say. Twenty-three U.S. troops in Iraq took their lives last year, according to the Defense Department — an unusually high number, one official acknowledged.
On patrol, however, all that is available is talk.
"Kill, kill, kill, kill, kill," Hall says. "It's like it pounds at my brain. I'll figure out how to deal with it when I get home."
Home is the wrong place for soldiers to deal with combat experiences, some experts say.
"It's complete negligence," says Lt. Col. Dave Grossman, a retired psychology instructor at West Point who trains law enforcement officers and special operations soldiers.
"The military could train soldiers to talk about killing as easily as they train them to pull the trigger. But commanders are in denial. Nobody wants to accept the blame for a soldier who comes home a wreck for doing what his country asked him to do," he said.
The emotional and psychological ramifications of killing are mostly unstudied by the military, defense officials acknowledge.
"The idea and experience of killing another person is not addressed in military training," says Col. Thomas Burke, director of mental health policy for the Defense Department. "Training's intent is to re-create battle, to make it an automatic behavior among soldiers."
He defends the approach, saying that if troops think too much about emotional issues in combat situations, it could undermine their effectiveness in battle.
Other military representatives, including officers overseeing combat stress control programs, did not return repeated phone calls seeking comment.
Much of the military's research on killing and battle stress began after World War II, when studies revealed that only a small number of troops — as few as 15% — fired at their adversaries on the battlefield.
Military studies suggested that troops were unexpectedly reluctant to kill. Military training methods changed, Grossman and others say, to make killing a more automatic behavior.
Bull's-eye targets used in basic training were replaced with human-shaped objects. Battlefield conditions were reproduced more accurately, Burke says. The goal of these and other modifications was to help soldiers react more automatically.
The changes were effective. In the Vietnam War, 95% of combat troops shot at hostile fighters, according to military studies.
Veterans of the Vietnam War also suffered some of the highest levels of psychological damage — possibly as many as 50% of combat forces suffered mental injury, says Rachel MacNair, an expert on veteran psychology. Most notable among the injuries was post-traumatic stress disorder, a condition contributing to violent outbursts years after soldiers leave battlefields.
"The more soldiers ignore their emotions and behave like trained machines rather than thinking people, the more you invite PTSD," says Dr. David Spiegel with the Stanford School of Medicine.
Military officials say there have been changes in treating psychological trauma since Vietnam.
Foremost among them is the creation of combat stress-control teams — mental health professionals in Iraq who speak with troops immediately after traumatic events, such as a U.S. casualty.
Military psychologists say immediate intervention is important in avoiding mental distress.
"We get them to voice what they are feeling, to realize they're not the odd man out, not to blame themselves," says Capt. Robert Cardona, a psychiatrist with a combat stress-control team based in southern Iraq.
But the demands of the military's mission and a soldier's mental health are sometimes at odds.
"Our primary goal is to keep soldiers functional, so they can continue to fight," Cardona says. "Everything else, including feeling well, is second to that."
Mental health technicians are available for troops who request help, Cardona says, but stress teams aren't deployed to bases just because U.S. forces kill hostile fighters. He says about half of the soldiers seeking help are traumatized because they killed someone.
"Killing unleashes emotions few people are prepared to deal with," Cardona says. "We help soldiers put those emotions and experiences away, so they can go into battle the next day. We set the expectation that shock is temporary, and that they will return to duty."
He's familiar with the death fixation in the soldiers' conversations.
"When they talk, they're trying to prove to themselves and each other that what happens doesn't matter," he says. "There's a posturing going on, and sometimes soldiers themselves don't know how much they are affected by what they see. They start to believe what they tell each other."
*
Talk Turns to Killing
The men of the 2nd Armored Cavalry Regiment's Alpha and Charlie companies are resting and playing cards in the shade of a staircase here, and the talk turns to killing.
"I enjoy killing Iraqis," says Staff Sgt. William Deaton, 30, who killed a hostile fighter the night before. Deaton has lost a good friend in Iraq. "I just feel rage, hate when I'm out there. I feel like I carry it all the time. We talk about it. We all feel the same way."
Sgt. Cleveland T. Rogers, 25, avoids dwelling on his actions.
"The other day an Iraqi guy was hit real bad, he was gonna die within an hour, but he was still alive and he started saying, 'Baby, baby,' telling me he has a kid," Rogers says. "I mentioned it to my guys after the mission. It doesn't bother me. It can't bother me. If it was the other way around, I'm sure it wouldn't bother him."
Spc. Nathan Borlee tries to keep a lid on what he's feeling.
"I feel like I'd lose control if I think about it too much, so I don't," the 23-year-old says. "Usually everybody comes back and just gives everybody a hug. You kind of get overwhelmed by the feelings."
Without the proper training, experts say, these conversations may contribute to mental injuries.
Grossman says training troops to have therapeutic discussions about killing is "not that hard." His curriculum, used by law enforcement officers and in the wake of traumas such as school shootings, focuses on mental and physical techniques to consciously manage anxiety and other emotional reactions to killing.
"To make killing instinctual, rather than conscious, is inviting pathological, destructive behavior," Grossman says. "We have to give soldiers a vocabulary to talk through emotions and teach them not to be embarrassed by troubling feelings."
Grossman says his suggestions have been overlooked by military commanders who are uncomfortable with the emotionally destructive aspects of military service.
"The military goes for long periods without having to kill anyone," he says. "Generals don't spend a lot of time dealing with the parts that come after battle."
Others say today's soldiers are fundamentally different from previous generations.
"These guys grew up with video games," says Maj. John Hamilton, 50, an Army chaplain stationed in southern Iraq, where he counsels troops. "They've seen thousands of people die on TV. They're already numb. It scares me that some take delight in combat.
"Others just become immediately scared, have nightmares. But that reaction is more frowned upon."
*
Duty vs. Ethics
Back in the Humvee, Hall and Dubois approach an abandoned elementary school that commanders say is hiding mortars and hostile fighters. Suddenly, the ground is punctuated by the yellow bursts of improvised explosive devices.
Hall begins firing his .50-caliber machine gun, the phosphorus on each fifth bullet trailing long, red streaks.
The constantly squawking radio pauses briefly and a calm, transmitted voice fills the truck.
"Enemy contact," the radio broadcasts. "Kill 'em, kill 'em."
Ahead, a tank pushes a hole through the school's wall. Staff Sgt. Robert McBride, 35, enters a classroom and sees a group of six Iraqis with guns, he later recounts. He throws a grenade. The blast cuts one Iraqi in half, and the rest lie dying from abrasions and burns on their bodies. The soldiers collect dozens of mortar rounds and return to their vehicles. McBride looks at the hostile fighters once more.
"It did not bother me at all to see those bodies up close," McBride says later. "I'm a warrior. You're either born to this or you're not.
"My soldiers, they are all warriors. They have no problems. I don't let them have problems. There is no place in this Army for men who aren't warriors."
The men's commander, however, worries about them.
"During the heat of the battle the adrenaline is such you don't really think about it," says Capt. Brandon Payne, 28. "Once that adrenaline wears off, though, it gets tough. Some kids, it rolls right off their backs. Some, it's like they break down a little more each day."
Payne is as conflicted as his troops about making sense of war. Reconciling duty with ethics, he says, seems more complicated in Iraq.
"I'm a Christian. I feel I'm saving my soldiers' lives by destroying as many enemy as I can. But at the end of each day, I pray to God. I worry about my soul," he says.
"Every time a door slams, I flinch. I'm hoping it will just go away when I get home."

~mark~
Once again shame on us.
And no, I don't feel returning troops get the services, respect, and assistance they so richly deserve, in any number of measures. But I don't see that that's ever going to happen, no matter what war we're talking about or which administration is in charge at the time.
~mark~
or the "In the News" board: http://messageboards.ivillage.com/iv-elinthenews,
it's possible that it would receive a more vigorous response. I certainly have lots of thoughts and concerns about the issue of citizen soldiers being sent overseas as killers and then re-entering a world where loud noises and sudden movement do not warrant taking up a weapon and blasting away or ducking for cover.
Gettingahandle
Ignorance is Nature's most abundant fuel for decision making.
LARRY MARGASAK
Associated Press
http://www.kansas.com/mld/kansas/news/special_packages/iraq/9297093.ht
m
WASHINGTON - The military's system for compensating soldiers who
become sick, injured or wounded can be as unforgiving as the
battlefield: Fewer than one in 10 applicants receives the long-term
disability payments they request.
Nearly one-third of injured National Guard and Reserve veterans
returning from the Iraqi and Afghan wars are being forced to wait
more than four months to learn if they will even be compensated. That
is a long time for soldiers who might not have other sources of
income.
The Army knows that troops are unhappy. But military officials say
soldiers do not understand that their disability system measures
fitness for duty, not the degree of one's sacrifice.
Most soldiers applying for disability pay - 56 percent in the Army's
case - are leaving the military with a one-time, lump sum payment
that some say is inadequate.
Lavoda Anderson, of Ninety Six, S.C., said she had a life-altering
injury to her back while under fire in Iraq last year. In constant
pain, she was jolted anew when the Army calculated her compensation
for medical retirement at $13,400.
"I feel I was treated very unfairly," said Anderson, who did not
return to her prewar job as a dialysis technician and is raising her
4-year-old daughter. "I didn't get adequate care. I feel like I'm
useless most of the time."
The military's disability system is like workers' compensation and
long-term disability in the private sector. It pays people when they
have illnesses and injuries that are job-related.
The military, however, looks at a much narrower set of circumstances
than insurers or the Department of Veterans Affairs. It only
evaluates ailments that make a soldier unfit for duty in his or her
specialty. For example, can an infantryman still run?
The more generous VA compensation system considers all service-
connected medical conditions.
Soldiers who receive disability compensation from the military also
can apply to the VA for disability pay. The military compensation is
needed, however, to tide a soldier over while waiting for the VA. The
department recently was averaging 171 days to make initial disability
decisions.
When the VA's disability compensation kicks in, it usually replaces
military pay. Recipients cannot benefit from both systems at the same
time.
In the military system, the Army says, many soldiers misunderstand
that pain by itself won't win them compensation.
"You can't be retired on pain claims alone," said Dennis Brower,
legal adviser to the Army Disability Agency. "Pain is unmeasurable.
It's subjective."
The Army does not keep statistics on the dollar amounts of disability
payouts because they are based on a formula that includes a
percentage assigned to each soldier's disability. But it does keep
records on how many soldiers applying for long-term disability
receive compensation.
The majority, 56.1 percent, were given a one-time lump sum payment in
2003. Seventeen percent received nothing at all because they either
were declared fit for duty or determined to suffer injuries unrelated
to their service or due to negligence.
Another 17.1 percent received temporary disability payments that can
be reviewed within five years. And just 9.8 percent won long-term
disability pay that lasts for life.
Jesus Oliveras, a chief warrant officer in an Augusta, Ga., reserve
unit, was among those ordered back to duty without compensation.
Oliveras said doctors wrote on his records that he had a hearing
loss. He contends they gave little recognition to his real problems:
debilitating back and shoulder injuries. Despite those injuries, the
maintenance technician volunteered for service in Iraq.
"At times I felt lousy, as a second-class citizen, especially coming
from a war zone," Oliveras said. "They sent us to fight an enemy and
when we returned, we had to fight another enemy - us."
Oliveras said he accepted the fit-for-duty ruling because he is
eligible for regular military retirement in three years.
Brower, the lawyer for the Army disability agency, said, "You can't
give higher disability ratings to soldiers who you feel emotionally
deserve it. It would be nice to give every soldier 100 percent
(disability), but as a taxpayer, you might not like that."
Soldiers, particularly National Guard and Reserve members, also
complain about long delays in medical diagnosis and treatment before
they can receive a determination of disability.
Col. Michael Deaton of the Army surgeon general's office said that as
of late June, 32 percent of the activated Guard and Reserve members
were in a medical holdover status more than 120 days. That compares
with 41 percent in November.
A program that allows soldiers to be treated near where they live has
helped to reduce waiting times for medical care, he said.
Spc. John Ramsey, a deputy sheriff in Orange County, Fla., had
medical bills in the thousands of dollars and was dogged by
creditors. Meanwhile, the state and federal governments fought over
responsibility for his shoulder injuries suffered in Iraq.
"My wife and I and two kids were put through hell because of this,"
Ramsey said.
Sgt. John Beard of Jacksonville, Fla., who returned from Iraq with
shrapnel wounds in his back, legs and face, said he painfully waited
in long lines for processing. On one occasion, confronting an
irritable soldier handling pay records, Beard said, "I snatched my
orders out of his hands and left."
Staff Sgt. Dwayne Fitzpatrick of Orlando, Fla., won his appeal of an
initial offer of a one-time, $23,000 severance payment. He qualified
instead for a disability payment of $1,300 a month.
"They dangle some money in your face, so many soldiers will take it
and run," he said. "They low-ball everybody. I'm looking at the long
term."
ON THE NET
Army Disability Agency
https://www.perscom.army.mil/tagd/pda/pdapage.htm.
Army Medical Command http://www.armymedicine.army.mil/default2.htm.