For the last decade, America has been a country at war and there has been a lot of talk about supporting the troops as they serve our country. This rhetoric is hard to counter because troops are human beings who are asked to do our dirty work while we sit at home and watch the Food Network. Still, countless veterans end up on the streets facing the disapproving glares of patriotic Americans. As much as we are encouraged to support the troops, we never hear about what active combat can do to a person’s psyche and how we can support the holistic care of our troops, both during and after combat. This neglect came into play recently as news of a U.S. soldier’s massacre of 16 Afghan civilians sneaked its way through the barrage of campaign commentary.
Staff Sargent Robert Bales is not exactly the mass murdering type, as a 38-year-old, married man with two children, and even a recipient of some commendations through the military. On paper he seems like any other soldier and yet, if he in fact did commit this crime, it is clear that something snapped. People that know him and fought with him say only positive things about this soldier’s character. Bales served three tours of duty in Iraq and had been in Afghanistan since December. Soldiers who have served in both areas have commented that Afghanistan is more “brutal” than Iraq. Even before Bales got there, he lost part of his foot and had a traumatic brain injury. There is also some evidence that he was treated for post traumatic stress disorder before his last deployment. All of these come into play as he goes to trial for a horrible crime, but at the same time this event has raised some questions about how the military operates and who is ultimately responsible.
The government has claimed that Bales was dealing with marital and financial problems which put a greater strain on him and maybe led to his erratic behavior. This seems to be an attempt by the military to distance themselves from the event and paint this, by all accounts, commendable soldier as an irresponsible and unpredictable character. In an analysis of pertinent psychological issues, psychologist Dr. S. Walker has pointed out that “There are higher rates of homelessness, alcohol abuse, domestic violence, relationship breakdown and criminality among former military personnel with untreated mental health problems.”
If this is the case then it seems as if neglect on the part of the military contributed to any deterioration of Bales’ home life. Either way, Bales will have to answer for his involvement in the acts. What is at stake though is the human dignity of our soldiers in the eyes of the military industrial complex. The way this story has unfolded has suggested that soldiers are commodities with which political power is won and loss.
In this sense the issue might not be a military one but instead an issue of labor politics. As an employer, does the military treat its employees as human beings with skills and dignity? In cases like this or the Abu Ghraib debacle, the military has failed to answer for the role it played. In the case of Robert Bales, the story has yet to be told, and there is speculation that this might have been perpetrated by a group of people. If it was a group and if military leadership was involved, it will become increasingly harder for the military to throw any individual soldiers under the bus.
At the very least, it is events like this that give us the opportunity to ask questions about how our soldiers are being treated by the military industry. Those are the conversations that should be happening. As important as it is to find justice for the 16 people killed in Afghanistan, as Americans, our role in that is to make sure that someone like Robert Bales doesn’t end up serving four tours of duty with a history of injuries and clear indicators of mental instabilities. The psychological screening for soldiers needs to be more than just a questionnaire they get in the mail.
Ultimately we need to rebuild a system that treats soldiers as individual human beings. That kind of compassionate humanism could totally change the way wars are waged and fought but for that to happen, we need to stop placing the blame solely on the shoulders of U.S. soldiers, who are being taken advantage of by their employer. Though the specific details of Robert Bales’ situation are sketchy right now, the reality is that they give us an opportunity to raise serious questions about the ethics of soldiering and our military industrial complex.
References:
Walker, S. “Assessing the Mental Health Consequences of Military Combat in Iraq and Afghanistan: A Literature Review.” Journal of Psychiatric and Mental Health Nursing, no. 17 (2010): 790-96.