Newsweek: Soldiers Turning To Self-Harm To Avoid Going Back To Iraq
By Logan Murphy Sunday Jun 08, 2008 12:00pm
As an internist at New York's Mount Sinai Hospital, Dr. Stephanie Santos is used to finding odd things in people's stomachs. So last spring when a young man, identifying himself as an Iraq-bound soldier, said he had accidentally swallowed a pen at the bus station, she believed him. That is, until she found a second pen. It read 1-800-GREYHOUND. Last summer, according to published reports, a 20-year-old Bronx soldier paid a hit man $500 to shoot him in the knee on the day he was scheduled to return to Iraq. The year before that, a 24-year-old specialist from Washington state escaped a second tour of duty, according to his sister, by strapping on a backpack full of tools and leaping off the roof of his house, injuring his spine.
Soldiers have long used self-harm as a rip cord to avoid war. During World War I, The American Journal of Psychiatry reported "epidemics of self-inflicted injuries," hospital wards filled with men shot in a single finger or toe, as well as cases of pulled-out teeth, punctured eardrums and slashed Achilles' heels. Few doubt that the Korean and Vietnam wars were any different. But the current war—fought with an overtaxed volunteer Army—may be the worst. "We're definitely concerned," says Ritchie. "We hope they'll talk to us rather than self-harm." Read on...
With military suicide rates at nearly 30 year highs and almost 20% of our soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan on anti-depressants, this story doesn't come as much of a surprise -- though it doesn't make it any less sad and disturbing. I guess John McCain was right when he wrote this.
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Too bad they can't turn their anger and fear against the spineless men and women who sent them to the Middle East in the first place based upon greed and a pack of lies.
These brave men and women are broken. The forces we use to protect ourselves are falling apart. Thanks chimpy and dick. Thanks for shitting all over what was the greatest country on the face of the planet. These guys cannot be allowed to walk free.
"They are fake soldiers!"
~Rush Drugbaugh (GOPig spokesperson)
"War bill helps Iraqis, may ignore Katrina victims":
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080608/ap_on_re_us/iraq_katrina;_ylt=AvpmsU...
Unity fist pound dawg.
Geez.
At one time soldier's shot their foot.
Has suicides been underreported all these years?
Or is it a result of longer and more frequent tours?
Another problem of course, is like Vietnam sometimes it's hard to to know who's a civilian and whose a combatant incognito.
Of course another possiblity is some anti-depressant medication has been show to increase suicidal thoughts and attempts in adolescents.
Some of these soldiers are still in their adolescence.
One could almost extend that period to about the age of 25 when according to neurophysica research, the pre-frontal cortex is fully operational until then. That why schitzophrenia is prevalent in late teen early twenties, as well as your emotional processing capabiltiy.
Wow... that's just... wow. I don't think I can come up with words...
The only thing I can think of is how much worse it would (will) be with a military draft.
Neurophysical, this keyboard is getting a little worn out.
someone should sent this to the McCain people and ask them why this is happening?
what price glory, what name called honor?
this is what we have become, young men and women who can't dissent, can't "let down" their loved ones, country or the guys in
their units. stuck between a rock (prison, the taint of "cowardice" and self loathing) and a hard place (the butcher shop called
Iraq). What would you do?
john @ 7:
You mean the McCain "lobbyist team"?
And that senile geezer McCain says providing them with an education is "too generous". Disgusting.
If a guy is conscripted into the military against his will it might be possible to justify self-inflicted wounds to avoid service. However, when a guy volunteers for military duty and then decides to turn tail when the going gets tough...he deserves to get bitch-slapped by a reincarnated General George Patton.
When asked about this, cheney said.."So?"
orca @ 12:
Yeah, I agree. Especially after serving "only" 3 or 4 tours of duty in Iraq. Boy,
do we have a bunch of whimps serving in our voluntary army..
goat hussein sage @ 1:
they could!!!! wouldn't a massive veterans march on washington be sweet!!! they could set up a tent city on the mall. they
could blockade the whitehouse and congress, they could tie up all the pizza delivery places and then congress WOULD shut down!!
orca @ 12:
this ignores the larger reality, imho
yes, we have an "all volunteer" armed forces, but this misleading, as some see service as their only hope, due to economic reasons (among other reasons).
and the "going gets tough" is an unfair assessment of repeated tours, stop-loss, and all the clusterfucks the bush admin has cursed the troops with
Doggiebobo @ 13:
better ?
15 marko Says: goat hussein sage @ 1:
Too bad they can’t turn their anger and fear against the spineless men and women who sent them to the Middle East in the first place based upon greed and a pack of lies.
they could!!!! wouldn’t a massive veterans march on washington be sweet!!! they could set up a tent city on the mall. they
could blockade the whitehouse and congress, they could tie up all the pizza delivery places and then congress WOULD shut down!!
Are you suggesting another bonus army?
The WH would find another mcarthur.
You can't hide yer lyin' eyes Hussein @ 17:
Not necessiarly "better"; but definitely more accurate.
stop harming yourselves & start harming your commanding officers.
Anti-war actions at home had less to do with ending the Vietnam war than "fragging".
Once the consequences of issuing illegal & immoral orders are clear, the ruling class will see that finding individuals to issue them will become much more difficult.
ysbaddaden @ 18:
"Maybe" another MacArthur, but doubt if troops of any number could be found or
encouraged to do what he instructed them to do in 1933.
orca @ 12:
Careful gang - tough guy in the house.
orca @ 12:
Absolutely, George Patton would LOOOOOOOOOVE to bitch slap any 70's era Texas National Guardsmen who 'turned tail' when the going got tough and failed to show up for their duty.
I was hoping that more soldiers would use less harmful ways of getting out of there, like the guy who shot at the Koran. Nothing against the muslim religion. If shooting a Bible would get them out of there, I'd be all for that as well.
Record high suicides, self inflicted wounds, desertions, PTSD's, 40,000+ casualties, 4000+ dead,
war started on a pack of lies and distortions, a trillion dollars flushed down the toilet. None of this matters to the armchair chickenhawk who sits and wallows in his delusion that war represents a glorious heroic adventure rather than what it really is, failure and folly.
This is really sad, but it makes perfect sense. I you are 11bravo (infantry) and headed to Iraq, or worse yet BACK to Iraq.....a bullet in the leg, a torn archilles, a damaged spine ....ALL are better than being dead or missing arms and legs.
I never considered this before, but it does make perfect sense. Sad. What are they fighting for??......nothing but their own lives. Sad.
IMPEACH these sons of bitches in the White House...NOW !!!!
And does anyone really think the right wing would care?
They only want soldiers to die so they can wrap them in a flag and call them heroes-But if soldiers come back alive, they just send Right wing chickenhawks don't give a sh*t...To them, war is just a game, all about 'winning'.
A friend has a son who completed his FIFTH tour in Iraq-and he's being sent back- My friend says his son's personailty is gone- his humor and joy are gone, so is the sorrow- His son has lost all emotion. ...And think Bush cares? Of course not.....
As the Fixin to Die' rag by Country Joe and the Fish goes-
"Thats one, two ,three,what are we fighting for
I don't give a damn..
Nexy stop will be....Iran
There ain't no time to wonder why, whoopie we're all gonna die"...
plus
"Be the first one on your block to have your boy come home in a box"
My first husband shot himself in the big toe to keep from going to 'Nam. It must've worked.
Liek Bush said, if he hadn't goten into the Guard, he would have "shot his ear out".
PLO @ 11:
The fact that he's collecting a $58,000/year TAX-FREE disability payment from the gov't is more disgusting.
goat hussein sage @ 1:
They have a slightly higher sense of honor than that.
I can't imagine what these people are going through on a daily basis.
the shrub at the top and his wannabe clone are beyond words.
Bud "Terrorist Fist Jab" Hussein @ 6:
It's my opinion that things could only get better with a draft. Then the misery would be mainstream, and the middle/upper middle class families would have no choice but to protest the occupation. That is the reason there is no draft. Bush wants to make sure that his is an all volunteer army. A draft would bring in people from all walks of life, and many of them would question their commander. We can't have an army of thinkers, thinkers ask too many questions.
So this is the result of winning a war? McCain says the surge is working and we are winning. Winning what?
McShit on self calls Obama naive because he wants to remove these brave men and women out of this bottomless shit hole as quickly as possible....all of them. Iraq needs to start wiping their own ass. I wouldn't hurt myself, I would just stare very lovingly at all the guys in the shower...that'll get me the fuck out ASAP.
pissed off patricia @ 37:
occupation of a land rich in crude
Chico Hussein Escuela @ 23:
Bingo. It should also be remembered that when Bush was in the safe haven of the National Guard, he checked off a box which specifically stated that he did not wish to volunteer for duty overseas. Apparently Bush wanted to make sure that the skies of Alabama [Bush had transferred to the Alabama National Guard, allegedly to work on the campaign of a Republican politician in Alabama] were kept safe from Mississippi and Florida.
Seriously though, as a vet, I do find the act of self-inflicted wounds to be cowardly, shameful, and borderline criminal. I do sympathize with these guys and hope and pray all our troops will be home very, very soon. However, as much as one may hate this war or their duty station, each of them swore to defend the constitution and obey the president (even though he is a complete arsehole). When I was on active duty, I would have never willing abandoned my brothers and sisters and would have expected the same from them. By taking yourself out of the war, that means a replacement will be required. This replacement may be less capable, less trained, and less seasoned...hence, the replacement can adversely effect the team, unit, squad, etc. The actions of one does indeed effect others.
General Sanchez..."living a nightmare with no end in sight"
Samson- @ 16:
these volunteers were also told that they were going to be fighting/dying for freedom and to keep their homeland safe, not for halliburton and to privatize iraqi oil . . . so add feeling used to the clusterfuck
This is the result of a congress which spends it's time abusing themselves, while they fantasize of all the ways they are fucking us! Hope they all go blind.-CEO
I was driving through rural Pennsylvania this past weekend and spotted a cemetery with a big flashy sign next to the road with stars and stripes on it announcing "Now with an expanded Veterans section". The bright happy look of the sign was very odd against its message, but then again, this was rural PA where death is celebrated and even wished for.
There's certainly no shortage of evangelical and Baptist churches that wish at every service for the wiping out of the entire planet because they think it'll bring the dead back to life.
"...slashed Achilles’ heels."
Does Newsweek employ editors?
orca @ 12:
So you are saying that these men are out of order.
YOUR WHOLE DAMNED SYSTEM IS OUT OF ORDER!
A man at 18 turns himself over to the war machine; his mind is not static and he does not relinquish to his commanders his morality. He continues to learn and grow. He will, with time & experience, find himself no more the enemy of the common fellow he has been sent to destroy, not withstanding some small differences in language or appearance.
"But he has signed a contract. He pledged to serve..." you will say.
In the interest of full disclosure I will admit that I can respect so such contract as binding when 1 party is a single man with only himself at his disposal & the other is the awesome edifice of the States' standing army: Were the most equitable of terms negotiated for him by a well organized soldiers' union? Was he able to fully consider all the eventualities and fine print of this contract before signing up for his "hitch"? If not I view this compact as having never been binding.
Granting that this pledge is enforceable (which i don't but most do), is it not an oath to "Defend the United States against all enemies, both foreign and domestic"? If so, it is not the soldier refusing orders that is breaking the oath, but the commanders sending them to defend nothing of the United States', but to take the offense in an aggressive war against a people that never had even the capacity to harm the United States. That simple truth, confirmed by recent congressional report, completely flips this subject. Those refusing "service" in Iraq are carrying out not only the spirit but the letter of their obligation, any that continue in the commission of that crime war have broken theirs.
Onward to the International Socialist Revolution!
NO STANDING ARMY BUT THE ARMED PEOPLE!
orca @ 12:
"there's a great deal of talk about loyalty from the bottom to the top. loyalty from the top down is even more necessary and is much less prevalent. one of the most frequently noted characteristics of great men who have remained great is loyalty to their subordinates."
- general george s. patton, jr
george bush sent these volunteers on a false mission with inadequate armor and support services, while spouting platitudes about how romantic war is . . . how dare you call them, and not their commander-in-chief to task
yes, those soldiers who choose self injury over continued service are abandoning their "duty" and their comrades in arms, but a man who risks paralysis or a lifetime in pain by jumping off a roof with a backpack full of tools is demonstrating that he is no longer fit to perform his duty and, very likely, a risk to his comrades . . . this man is suffering as a direct result of his service to our country, and he deserves both our respect and compassion . . . to treat him otherwise is stupid and cruel and, in my opinion, profoundly unpatriotic
God bless our soldiers and please bring them home ASAP.
Doggiebobo @ 21:
It be nice if you were right, but we got to remember Stanley Milgram's experiment.
Dr. (terrorist fist jab) Matt @ 41:
Wrong, wrong, wrong. If you took the same oath that I took those many years ago, it was to protect and defend the Constitution of the United States NOT the president NOR the military NOR to anyone's friends in the military. I strongly suggest that you rent or purchase the powerful 2006 documentary Sir! No Sir! or David Cortright's classic work Soldiers In Revolt, which told the story of the GI movement during the Vietnam conflict. If you were to view Sir! No Sir! [In all likelihood, it should be available at Netflix], you would hear former Green Beret [that is correct, a former Green Beret] Donald Duncan state that:
"The problem I had was realizing that what I was doing was not good. I was doing it right but I wasn't doing right."
As director of Sir! No Sir! David Zeiger has said about the soldiers:
They "are just as capable as anyone of knowing right from wrong."
You can wave that flag all you want but it does not disguise the fact that those in the military did not leave their brains behind in the civilian world. As the closing lines of Bertolt Brecht's poem, General, Your Tank Is a Powerful Vehicle, makes clear:
General, man is very useful.
He can fly and he can kill.
but he has one defect:
He can think.
And that is the one thing that the higher-ups in the military are most terrified of, that, despite what you seem to believe, those in the military most certainly can think and to challenge and to question and, as Sir! No Sir! demonstrated, to defy any illegal orders that they are given [which the UCMJ, sections 809, 891 and 892, says that they can do, which is to obey only lawful orders].
Soldiers resist!- by saying NO to the U.S. war machine.
54 Erroll
You gotta remember Lt. Hugh Thompson Jr., Lawrence Colburn and Glenn Andreotta. They tried to do the right thing in stopping Lt. William L. Calley 40 years ago, and to this day get death threats, routinely called traitors, and in at least Thompson's case had to not only leave his home, but his state, far from his family, all for doing the right thing. I understand that there were some attempts on their lives. The cost is too significant to be so blithely bandied about by those who would never be placed in such a position.
Erroll @ 54:
You are wrong, wrong, wrong, wrong, wrong, wrong, wrong, wrong, wrong, wrong, wrong, wrong, wrong, wrong, wrong,
"I, _____, do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; and that I will obey the orders of the President of the United States and the orders of the officers appointed over me, according to regulations and the Uniform Code of Military Justice. So help me God."
ysbaddaden @ 53:
Sorry, you are one-up on me. Need some help as to Stanley Milgram's experiement.
Thanks..
58 Doggiebobo
Stanley Milgram wanted to prove the Nazis and war-time Germany was an abberration. So at Yale University where he taught, he set up an experiment where volunteer students would be asked questions and for every wrong answer volunteer professors would shock them. They would be directed by the experimenters to increase the shocks, all the while the students were screaming and spasming violently.
The students were in on the experiments. They were faking being electrically shocked, although there was plenty of Strickfadden equipement about to add to the illusion. The professors turning the knobs increasing the "shocks" were not. They thought the shocks were real. Not one of the professors refused to shock a student or increase the power, but one who was a Nazi death camp survivor.
Milgram's conclusion was that Western Education creates an entire population of order followers, and authority pleasers, and that the Nazi's weren't unique.
But it backfired on Milgram however, because the University became liable to the professors psychological care expense, and made full disclosure to all parties what the purpose of an experiment is.
Doggiebobo @ 58:
O.K., I have "Googled" and found Milgdram's "Perils of Obedience" and read, so you
are one well read and wise person to mention...
And made full disclosure to all parties what the purpose of an experiment is a legal requirement.
And to get back to the topic of the thread, those who can look at such photographs and read reports of such desperation, and call them simple killers and thugs, are no better than when told how much the public was against the war chainey responded, "So?"
ysbaddaden @ 62:
We concur totally and completely...
ysbaddaden@62: By the way, rather devasating fire at the Gov. Mansion here
in Austin wasn't it?
They are following the lead of their president, who said he would blow out his eardrum rather than go to Nam. But then Daddy got him that slot in the Guard....
there is a lot of borderline mental illness in this country some of these people join the service......and all that does exacerbate there illness......it's terrible and all of us will be paying for many years to come. the ones that don't receive treatment have the potential to commit serious crimes....some of these soldiers aren't recognized so they take it upon themselves to be recognized by a criminal act
Doggiebobo @ 64:
I read about it this morning. Frankly, I'm not sure why we have one. The Lt. Governor is the real power in Austin, because he sets the agenda for the Legislature. And the legislature is biannual, so they're all in Austin only every other year.
I wish presidents and governors had Number 10's instead, but I suppose as figurative heads of state they need something approaching a castle to maintain a certain air of authority and import.
One more thing the serial mass-murdering war criminal Bush and his cronies need to be brought to justice for.
#57
What you conveniently overlooked was my referencing the UCMJ, specifically sections 809, 891, 892, which, again, state that military personnel have not only a right but a duty and an obligation to only obey Lawful orders and, as Professor Lawrence Mosqueda of The Evergreen State College in Olympia, Wa. has pointed out, they indeed have an obligation to disobey Unlawful orders, including orders by the president that do not comply with the UCMJ. As Prof. Mosqueda notes, "The moral and legal obligation is to the U.S. Constitution and not to those who would issue unlawful orders, especially if those orders are in direct violation of the Constitution and the UCMJ."
During the Iran-Contra hearings of 1987, Senator Daniel Inouye of Hawaii, a decorated World War II veteran, told Lt. Col. Oliver North that North was breaking his oath when he blindly followed the commands of Ronald Reagan. As Innoye made clear: "The uniform code makes it abundantly clear that it must be the Lawful orders of a superior officer. In fact it says, 'Members of the military have an obligation to disobey unlawful orders.' Senator Inouye went on to say that "This principle was considered so important that we-we, the government of the United States, proposed that it be internationally applied in the Nuremberg trials."
Senator Inouye was referring to the Nuremberg trials in the post WW II era, when the U.S. tried Nazi war criminals and did not allow them to use the reason or excuse that they were only "following orders" as a defense for their war crimes which resulted in the deaths of millions of innocent men, women, and children. In 1953, the Department of Defense adopted the principles of the Nuremberg Code as official policy of the United States.
One really expects to see such patriotic outbursts from a neoconservative or U.S. army web site instead of on a liberal blog. Thankfully, there are people such as those in the IVAW who do recognize that their duty is first to the Constitution instead of to the bogus orders that they were given by their chickenhawk president.
karl @ 66:
Are you aware that before being qualified and accepted in any branch of the military
service, certain phycological tests are given in order to ascertain mental and physical
stability...so seriously question your view that many with "mental illness join the service."
I pulled Mess Duty while stationed in Okinawa in the late 1980s and one day a big. strapping, grunt that got stuck in the Pot Shack with me hit his breaking point and gave himself a nice and deep gash on his hand.
In addition to the malingering charge he got hit with they also got him under 'causing destruction of Government Property.'
Please bear in mind that this was in peace-time, I can only imagine what the mentality has been among the Federal Military Contractors for the last few years during our dual occupations of Iraq and Afghanistan..
~Nyc
71 Erroll Says
That would be an effective argument against Guantonamo Bay and Abu Ghraib, and some of the murder cases.
However, it's being used to prosecute only the order recipient and not pursued up the chain to the order issuer.
Erroll you conveniently overlooked the facts, my original statement, and that I was 100% correct.
Try again.....but you are going to fail again....
You only look like the fool attempting to refute these simple facts. But, you appear to be simpleton so far, so it's not a big surprise.
Face it, you are wrong, wrong, wrong, wrong.............
Meanwhile the NeoCon Quisling is off touring making a bigger fool of his hated self.
66 Nyc La Brets
The Air Force brass was not pleased when airmen got tattoos and especially if they got infected and required treatment, under the damaging government property clause.
Dr. (terrorist fist jab) Matt @ 66:
"obedience to the orders of the president" is clearly subordinate to the duty to uphold the constitution and tempered by "regulations and the uniform code of military justice" . . . as such, soldiers are not obligated to violate the constitution or commit war crimes just because the president orders them to do so
goat hussein sage @ 1:
Why can't they? Why can't they simply sit down and refuse to go? Why can't they take that fear and miserable dread of returning to a pointless and illegal war and rather than take it out on themselves, simply refuse to do their duty? If enough of them used their heads and rejected that silly flag waving, God and Country baloney they are being force fed perhaps our leaders would be forced to take a better look at their decisions to send these people into war. Until that happens, I am not interested in any more "pity the poor troops" stories.
The picture with this post is from the 1991 Gulf War. I have a copy of it from a 1991 Miami Herald newspaper.
Doggiebobo @ 63:
ead my statement again dr.freud ...borderline mental illness....that gets exacerbated.......yes I'm aware I severed....these are people that undetectable at the time
innocent bystander @ 69:
And who exactly is informing the soldiers as to the constitutionality of their orders?
I'm fairly positive those carrying out the orders aren't constitutional scholars, yet. Talk about communication breakdown.
71 innocent bystander
Actually the presumption is that the president wouldn't make an unconstitutional order, since he's bound by his own oath to uphold upon being sworn into office.
The same is true for all officers who also swear to uphold the constitution.
The illegal orders should be illegal prima facie, not based on mere disagreements.
Prosecutions should go from the top down, not the bottom up.
Otherwise it's like prosecuting the druggie or the pusher, but never pursuing the money-man or the importer.
karl @ 72:
O.K....I failed to see/read "borderline"(my mistake), and by the way thanks for
reference as "dr. freud"; but not hardly...
I forgot to mention that in boosh's case he's been using the Constitution as just suggestions, with almost unlimited implied powers.
Funny thing is the constitution doesn't mention such implied powers, or balances it out with the other branches.
Doggiebobo @ 75:
thanks for taking it as funny i alittle over the top
karl @ 72: