Comments | ontd_political: Opinion: the way we treat our troops

la_petite_singe in ontd_political

Opinion: the way we treat our troops

Oct 23, 2010 13:29

You can only hope that the very preliminary peace efforts in Afghanistan bear fruit before long. But for evidence that the United States is letting its claim to greatness, and even common decency, slip through its fingers, all you need to do is look at the way we treat our own troops ( Read more... )

opinion piece, draft, war, iraq, military, health, new york times

Comments 38

simona_zetsubou October 23 2010, 18:55:51 UTC

12 tours of duty? That's way too many.

This story depressed me. There have been far too many suicides lately. And the fact that it seems like the government doesn't give a flying fuck about the troops' mental health really disturbs me. And just pushing meds onto everyone doesn't really do anything to treat the underlying problem. Giving someone Risperdal or Prozac to treat their PTSD symptoms isn't going to do a damn thing if you keep sending them into the line of fire.

And then you get the idiots who think that mental illness is just an excuse for people to slack off. Those are the people I want to beat upside the head. Unless the Pentagon and the rest of the government gets a clue, we're still going to have far too many suicides among the troops.

Thinking out loud... mercaque October 23 2010, 19:27:49 UTC

Nobody wants to acknowledge the psychological hell that is war because it threatens the mythos that's been built up around American military power - not only that the US military is the best at what they do, they are also totally righteous. (And less charitably, it interferes with the YEAH WOO BOOT UP THE ASS GLASS PARKING LOT!! cheering that goes on in Real America.)

Our soldiers aren't seen as people, they're seen as an abstract ideal... acknowledging their complexity might also mean we have to acknowledge the complexities (aka fuck-ups) of the wars George W. Bush launched, and that's just too scary and depressing.

Re: Thinking out loud... devil_ad_vocate October 23 2010, 20:57:52 UTC

What really chaps my ass is the remark: "Well, they signed up for the military. That's what they get paid for."

I'm hoping some asshole says that to my face someday.

Re: Thinking out loud... roseofjuly October 24 2010, 02:09:39 UTC

Dude, this.

Re: Thinking out loud... zombieroadtrip October 23 2010, 23:56:40 UTC

Exactly this

haruhiko October 23 2010, 19:30:08 UTC

Fwiw Amy Goodman did a short interview w/ Aaron Glantz earlier this week:

http://www.democracynow.org/2010/10/18/wars_hidden_death_toll_after_service

So, since the federal government won’t count the number of people who die after coming home from the war, I went through four years of coroners’ reports in the state of California with the help of people in Sacramento at the Department of Public Health. We found that over a thousand veterans under thirty-five died over this four-year period, 2005 to 2008. And that is three times, as you mentioned, the number of service members who died in Iraq and Afghanistan combined over that same period. We have over 215 suicides. We have elevated rates of veterans dying in motorcycle accidents, in automobile accidents, of, quote-unquote, "accidental poisoning." Overall, the numbers are extremely depressing, and they show that the government itself should be counting this information.

evelynwordsmyth October 23 2010, 20:00:13 UTC

rex_dart October 23 2010, 20:02:36 UTC

And as for the children who die because of it in the meantime, fuck 'em, amirite?

evelynwordsmyth October 23 2010, 20:25:33 UTC

rex_dart October 23 2010, 20:28:15 UTC

Previous drafts didn't exactly end in overwhelming public opposition to pointless wars.

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devil_ad_vocate October 23 2010, 20:51:08 UTC

My all-time favorite quote on the draft ( ... )

erunamiryene October 23 2010, 21:35:07 UTC

Love this book. Love it, love it, love it, LOVE it. I was lucky enough to get one of his other books autographed when I bought it.

And actually, that quote right there was one of the things that changed my mind about the draft, because I used to think it was complete and total crap.

filbypott October 23 2010, 22:15:55 UTC

That's given me a lot to think about, but like rex_dart, I still can't agree that it's okay for the government to send people to die - essentially murder them - for a cause they may be totally against.

Can't we just outlaw war? :(

The best idea ever. devil_ad_vocate October 23 2010, 22:22:09 UTC

If you can come up with an effective way to outlaw war, I'll suggest you get a Nobel Peace prize - every year for at least 50 years.

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