July 2006
Combat Within The World Of War
Where do things change for soldiers? Can stressors explain massacre?

By D.S. Meyers
QCFMag.com

From the reports on the news, it was a patrol like any other patrol. The convoy of Humvees and soldiers were out on a sunny day. Eyes were sharp and weapons were locked and loaded. Most likely, the marines on the patrol were in a neighborhood they had traveled in before.

But on this particular day something was different. Were the soldiers aware of it? Perhaps they didn’t notice strangers with non-Iraqi accents in that part of town. Perhaps they didn’t notice that the street-smart children, sensing danger as they often did, were not out playing.

Whatever was about to transpire, the patrol did not pick up on the danger. The convoy was hit. And it was hit hard. What happened next is the subject of the current investigation. Fifteen civilians were slaughtered in their homes. Doors were kicked in and weapons were fired. Men, women, and children became victims of another ugly facet of this war.

It’s easy to automatically judge the elements of the accounts. It’s easy to shake our heads and chalk it up to another debacle that eclipses Abu Ghraib. It’s a story we hope isn’t true. But we suspect it is.

He was far more forthcoming than expected. In this era of political secrecy, vague wiretapping policies, and corporate cover-ups, it’s easy to expect that a high-ranking member of the military would defer questions on such a sensitive topic.

He continued with his opinion of what was happening to the Marine unit involved in the civilian massacre.

Even though he’s in a separate branch of the military, Colonel Roth had some thoughts about those Marines who were on patrol in that neighborhood.

“I would suspect that those marines are in lock-down. They’re no longer conducting patrols,” He says, referring to the punishment culture of the U.S. Armed Forces. “[The suspected are] no longer doing any kind of guard duty; they probably don’t even have access to their weapons right now. They’re probably stuck in their billets. Maybe they have a TV to pass the day. But they’re not doing anything. They’re not going anywhere. They’ll get food and water, obviously. But until this investigation is complete, those soldiers are not going to do anything.”

The Army has 7 core values. They were released 10 years ago for officers and recruits. It was not so much to introduce higher values, but to reaffirm them. It was a way to let these young soldiers know what is expected of them.

“We are a reflection of American society,” he continued, reflecting his belief of the importance of the core values. “It’s important for us to understand that. We are America’s army; we don’t belong to the government but we belong to the American people.” Colonel Roth says that the codes pertain even in time of combat. “Those values don’t stop when it’s time to shoot. In fact they’re more important when it’s time to shoot. So those values, I think, have served the Army really well.”

Approaching the Edge

It’s horrifying to think that these Marines went on the rampage portrayed. But what would cause them to?

Dan Glynn is a clinical psychologist in Cincinnati who has worked with veterans who have gone through the Veterans Affairs program and needed more help. He has worked with Veterans from Desert Storm and Vietnam. He believes that combat stress is something that accumulates over time. Symptoms may include a sense of hyper-vigilance, where soldiers become on their guard all the time.

“It can almost come across as paranoia. Because you anticipate danger and being attacked everywhere,” he says. This hyper-vigilance can lead to insomnia, which further compounds the problem by clouding judgment. People who deal with this type of stress on a regular basis become withdrawn and sullen. When a major event or attack occurs, especially when friends are injured or killed, it can push a soldier with these symptoms over the edge.

“And [then] you see something that’s [as] horrific as when a bomb goes off and you lose some really close friends. And you’re angry and you’re upset. The potential thoughts that go through your brain for revenge that quickly… I think the values, for me anyway, are that it’s not right.”

As Roth explains, revenge should be used with moral limitations.

“I mean yes, revenge sounds good. [But it’s] revenge in the sense of capturing those responsible, putting them before a judge and letting the judge decide. But as far as going out [being the judge ourselves] and murdering those or anyone else who we think might be involved, that’s not right. We know what right is. And we know what wrong is.”

He paused. When he continued, he took on a stern tone.

“One of our core values is honor. And how are you honoring the soldiers who were killed? Your buddies who died… How is killing these people honoring them? Try to explain that one. Try to connect that dot.”

He spoke about the strides that have been made in the Army since Vietnam. To this day, many Vietnam veterans still do not talk about that war. The horrors remain hidden from spouses, children, friends and co-workers to this day. Even Desert Storm -- a war that seems to have gone so smoothly that it’s hard to imagine any American soldiers were even killed -- has its share of troubled veterans.

“Every time we had a critical incident in Iraq, we would have a Critical Incident Debrief. Anybody who was involved with whatever took place came before the chaplain as a group. Not individually, as a group, they talked about what happened. They were able to express their feelings: Anger, frustration, crying, indifference.

Band of Brothers

“…It was everybody together. So the young soldiers could learn from the leaders and hear what they were thinking. And the leaders could listen to the young soldiers and hear what they were thinking. If after this session, there were one or two soldiers who still had issues, they were singled out for further help.”

If a soldier were shaken up enough, he would be on "stand down," prevented from going out on patrols. That soldier would remain on base to perform administrative duties or maintenance until he got further help and was ready to join his team.

“When the soldier was ready, 99% of the time he’d go back out and join his buddies. Because he always felt like ‘my buddies are out there and I’m not with them.’”

Other soldiers mentioned the comradery, especially when talking about the difficulties they faced in Iraq. To them, the important thing to remember is that they were all going through the same thing. They all understood the stress of the danger so they felt uninhibited talking to one another.

This is a big change from the Vietnam War. According to Glynn, the mentality in Vietnam among the soldiers was “If you were complaining about the stress, somehow it made you less manly. You know, you’re just whining so suck it up.”

Even though strides have been made by the military to understand combat stress, this latest incident reminds us of the importance of lending our support to the military. It’s important to not falter in the esteem we hold for our military.