War Is Hell

Barbara Van Dahlen, Ph.D. is a licensed clinical psychologist and the founder and president of Give an Hour™

Special to Veterans Advantage

Most Americans have now seen, or read about, the disturbing video showing four U.S. Marines urinating on the dead bodies of three Afghan insurgents. U.S. military officials have identified the Marines and an investigation is under way. Reportedly, the Marines in the video belonged to a unit that deployed in southwestern Afghanistan's Helmand province from March to September of 2011. The video was most likely shot during that period of time. The footage has angered Afghan President Karzai, as well as Afghan citizens throughout the world. It has embarrassed the Pentagon and the Obama administration, and some officials have expressed fear that it could undermine prospects for exploratory Afghan peace talks. Secretary of Defense Panetta and Secretary of State Clinton condemned the acts as deplorable and promised that the culprits would be punished.

But some who have seen the video have expressed anger toward those who have condemned the Marines. Representative Allen West (R-FL), a former Army lieutenant colonel, sent an email to The Weekly Standard, a conservative Web site and magazine, commenting on the video. Portions of his email read as follows:

I have sat back and assessed the incident with the video of our Marines urinating on Taliban corpses. I do not recall any self-righteous indignation when our Delta snipers Shugart and Gordon had their bodies dragged through Mogadishu. Neither do I recall media outrage and condemnation of our Blackwater security contractors being killed, their bodies burned, and hung from a bridge in Fallujah.

Representative West goes on to state:

The Marines were wrong. Give them a maximum punishment under field grade level Article 15 (non-judicial punishment), place a General Officer level letter of reprimand in their personnel file, and have them in full dress uniform stand before their Battalion, each personally apologize to God, Country, and Corps videotaped and conclude by singing the full US Marine Corps Hymn without a teleprompter. As for everyone else, unless you have been shot at by the Taliban, shut your mouth, war is hell.

Thousands of articles, blogs, and reactions have been posted since this story broke. The incident has ignited intense feelings and created an opportunity for the expression of opinions and reactions that are rarely acknowledged or shared.

For many, this incident evokes memories of the Abu Ghraib prison scandal that broke in 2004 and was investigated under the direction of Maj. Gen. Antonio Taguba. His report revealed numerous human rights violations in the form of physical, psychological, and sexual abuse committed by personnel working at the prison who were members of the U.S. Army and other governmental agencies. The images and stories that followed the release of the Taguba report shocked and distressed our military community and our nation. The Department of Defense removed seventeen soldiers and officers from duty, and eleven soldiers were charged with dereliction of duty, maltreatment, aggravated assault, and battery. Between May 2004 and March 2006, eleven soldiers were convicted in courts martial, sentenced to military prison, and dishonorably discharged from service. The commanding officer of all Iraq detention facilities was reprimanded for dereliction of duty and then demoted. The Abu Ghraib scandal outraged the Muslim community and tarnished America’s image in the world. And it left many here at home wondering what could lead Americans to engage in such abhorrent behavior.

How do we understand the behavior of four Marines who allowed themselves to be filmed while desecrating the bodies of three Afghan insurgents? And how can we leverage this understanding to prevent similar incidents in the future? Perhaps most important, how can we use this understanding to assist those who return from war? Incidents like this are destructive not only to our military, our nation and our government, but also to those who engage in them.  And while behaviors such as this are rare, there are many who have served—many still serving—who have reactions, impulses, and feelings that haunt them. The shame and guilt over such feelings and impulses can lead to depression, substance abuse, and other self-destructive behavior once the warrior comes home.

It is likely that any ensuing investigation will provide information on the service record and character of the Marines in question. We will likely gain insight into who these men are, how they were viewed by others, and how they behaved prior to their participation in this disrespectful act. It is unlikely that none of the four appreciated the seriousness of their actions—for themselves, their service, and their country. It is unlikely that none of them recognized the possibility of serious repercussions for those actions. And yet something compelled them not only to act in a self-destructive manner, but also to capture their actions on film.  While it may be more comfortable for us to assume that these are bad men doing bad things, it is likely that we will find that the story is far more complicated.

Representative West's words seem angry, and some would say that his outrage is inappropriately expressed in defense of indefensible acts. Yet his comments do perhaps provide an important perspective and context within which we can make sense of behaviors that seem unexplainable. Representative West, and countless others throughout history, remind us that “war is hell.” And while we tend to accept this statement at face value, few of us will ever truly understand what this means. Few of us would choose to put ourselves in the position to find out.

Of course, civilians form opinions about war based on news reports and the stories of those who come home. We understand that war is dangerous, and we can imagine that it must be terrifying. We hear that men and women who serve in combat zones have horrific experiences, often on a daily basis. We are told that all who experience combat are affected, and that some come home with the invisible injuries of war including post-traumatic stress and traumatic brain injury. But most of us have little understanding of these conditions; nor do we understand the long-term implications of these injuries. At an intellectual level we may imagine what the stress and emotional pain must be like for service members who witness the severe injury or death of a buddy . . . but we can't really feel it. We certainly try to understand the hopelessness that our men and women in uniform must experience when they see scores of civilians—including women and children—whose lives are destroyed because they are caught up in the atrocity of the war.

And what of the service members whose job it is to kill those who are enemies of the United States? What must their experience be like? What impact does their work have on their view of themselves and their relationships with others? The four Marines portrayed in the video were reportedly part of a sniper team with the 3rd Battalion 2nd Marines based at Camp Lejeune in North Carolina. Can we possibly imagine the impact on these men of the work they are required to do in the service of our country?

Investigations and military procedures will determine the consequences for four men who chose to behave in a manner that most civilized and moral people would find abhorrent and deplorable. Although it is appropriate that these men be held responsible for their actions, it is also appropriate that before we sit in judgment of those actions we remember that war is neither civilized nor moral. In order to successfully ease the journey home for those who witness—and sometimes participate in—the brutality of war, we must recognize it for what it is, and we must recognize what it can do to the hearts and minds of the men and women who serve our country.

Give an Hour™, providing free mental health services to military personnel and their loved ones, at www.giveanhour.org.

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