War Takes Toll On GI Mental Health

by Dustin Langley

Psychological conditioning and exposure to the brutality of imperialist warfare is taking a heavy toll on the young women and men in the U.S. armed forces. Close to one out of five combat soldiers leaves Iraq with mental health problems such as post-traumatic stress disorder, according to a survey published in the July 1 New England Journal of Medicine.

The study found that as many as 17 percent of veterans who had been deployed in Iraq showed symptoms of PTSD, depression or anxiety. About 11 percent of those who served in Afghanistan had similar symptoms. These can include flashbacks, nightmares, sleeplessness and an inability to concentrate.

The numbers affected may be somewhat higher than the study shows. This is because the severely wounded and others removed from their units weren’t included, according to psychologist Carl Castro and psychiatrist Charles Hoge of the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research, co-authors of the report.

The study also did not include National Guard and Reservists called up for duty. They had much higher levels of PTSD than active military personnel after the 1991 Gulf War, says psychiatrist Matthew Friedman, executive director of the National Center for Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder.

As "stop loss" orders repeatedly extend tours of duty, experts predict that the situation will only get worse.

Dr. Matthew Friedman, executive director of the Veterans Administration’s National Center for PTSD, said, "The amount of uncertainty and traumatic exposure has increased." As tours of duty are extended, Friedman points out, the risks only go up. (USA Today, July 1)

Health officials say most of the soldiers with mental disorders are not getting treatment.

RACISM: IT’S THE DRILL

Intense demonization of "the enemy" is drilled into the troops, former Marine Chris White emphasized in his article "Why I Oppose the U.S. War on Terror." (Counterpunch, October 2002)

White pointed out that this military brainwashing of troops is crucial to war time planners. "Before carrying out a secu rity exercise in Qatar, my unit went through [anti-]Muslim ’indoctrination’ classes. The level of racism was unbelievable."

White lists anti-Arab slurs the troops had drummed into them during this indoctrination. Along with racism, the officers also used anti-gay and anti-transgender characterizations of Muslim men. "The object was demonization through feminization and dehumanization, so as to make it easier for us to pull the trigger when ordered to," White said.

White, now a doctoral student in history at the University of Kansas, stressed: "You can’t take civilians from the street, give them machine guns, and expect them to kill without question in a democratic society; therefore people must be indoctrinated to do so. This fact alone should sound off alarms in our collective American brain.

"If the cause of war is justified, then why do we have to be put through boot camp? If you answer that we have to be trained in killing skills, well, then why is most of boot camp not focused on combat training?

"Why are privates shown videos of U.S. military mas sacres while playing Metallica in the background, thus causing us to scream with the joy of the killer instinct as brown bodies are obliterated? Why do privates answer every command with an enthusiastic, ’Kill!’ instead of, ’Yes, sir!’ like it is in the movies?

"Why do we sing cadences like these: ’Throw some candy in the school yard, watch the children gather round. Load a belt in your M-60, mow them little bastards down!’ and ’We’re gonna rape, kill, pillage and burn, gonna rape, kill, pillage and burn!’ ... If one repeats these hundreds of times, one eventually begins to accept them as paradigmatically valid."

RAPE: ’COLLATERAL’ CASUALTIES

Women soldiers are paying an even higher price within their own units.

Female service members in the U.S. military stationed in Iraq, Afghanistan and Kuwait have reported more than 100 cases of sexual assault or misconduct by male soldiers.

Complaints have been filed against members of the Army, Navy, Air Force and Marine Corps.

An inquiry conducted in 2003 by the Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Iowa City, Iowa, found that 28 percent of the 558 female veterans surveyed had been raped or experienced an attempted rape during their military service.

The June 3 Washington Post noted: "These problems take a human toll. Dozens of veterans told the Post that being assaulted ruined their careers and sent them down a destructive path, including addictions and suicide attempts. Many carry the scar for life.

"’When I looked at the American flag, I used to see red, white and blue,’ said Marian Hood, a veteran who was gang-raped. ’Now, all I see is blood. ... The red represents the blood I’ve shed. The blue represents my bruises—the way my face looked. I was beaten and raped for my country. That should be enough.’"

source : Worker’s World

Langley is a GI counselor with the Support Network for an Armed Forces Union. For information on discharges and other types of GI counseling, contact SNAFU at info@join-snafu.org.

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