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| Marine Corps Times, April 5, 2004 |
At least twenty-nine U.S. soldiers stationed in Iraq and Kuwait committed suicide between March 2003 and March 2004. Even the Pentagon considers this an "alarmingly high" suicide rate. It lead the military to commission a morale poll to be completed by Stars & Stripes (August 2003) and to send in a special mental health advisory team to assess the situation. In April 2004, military officials reported the team's conclusion: while the suicide rate for soldiers overseas is almost double that of the civilian population, is not considered a "crisis". (1) Perhaps these suicides tell us more about how the implementation of "democracy" and "freedom" in Iraq is going than we learn from other (government sanctioned) reports.
"What might we gain if we considered [suicide], however tentatively, as a kind of an achievement, even... as a kind of gift... not the one we might have wished for, but the one [they give] us when [they do] not have anything to give," writes Peggy Phelan, "A more expansive consideration of suicide might help make an intervention into the usual story of shame, failure, and anguish that all too frequently dominates the relationship of the living with those who kill themselves." (2)
Let us listen to the self-inflicted deaths of U.S. soldiers in Iraq as statements of resistance that highlight problems with the United States' "all volunteer" military system. Many soldiers (particularly members of the Reserves and National Guard) are driven to enlist for financial/economic reasons. Faced with limited options, they may have purposefully kept at bay any serious consideration of the possibilities of combat so that they would be able to sign on. These soldiers may find themselves now personally (morally) incapable of carrying out the duties expected of them during war.
During the Vietnam war, in an order to stop the war machine from the ground up, activists attempted to shift the moral conscience of the nation towards peace by stripping away the myths of the glory of war to reveal its abject brutality. They held individual soldiers, even draftees, accountable for violent acts done in the course of war. Soldiers returning from Vietnam did not receive a hero's welcome. Without the heroic warrior myths to justify the horrors they witnessed (and perhaps engaged in), many Vietnam veterans succumbed to the pain of their conscience; impaired by guilt and post-traumatic stress disorder among other things, many have been unable to successfully re-enter civilian community. The mental health of these veterans was sacrificed in an effort towards grand social change. Yet war is still part of our foreign policy strategy.
While peace activists today are more sensitive to the position of soldiers (they are not individually "blamed" for the actions of the government), because the military is now "all volunteer" and servicemembers, who are primarily working class, "choose" to be sent to combat, it is easier for U.S. citizens of middle and upper classes to slip into apathy about the sacrifices and the duties these people undertake in our name.
Stanley Aronowitz writes, "As the Vietnam war revealed, one of the most powerful sources of resistance to an unjust war are the working class, black and Latino 'grunts' who do most of the fighting. When they have become 'employees' of the federal government, the sting of a citizen's army is removed."(3) Mr. Aronowitz is for a return of the draft so that citizens from all economic positions would share in the work of war. In April, Senator Chuck Hagel (R - Nebraska) and Senator Joseph R. Biden, Jr. (D - Delaware) came forward in support of considering reinstating the draft. Perhaps if there were an open lottery draft, more U.S. citizens would be concerned with the affairs of our military .
The high suicide rate among U.S. soldiers in Iraq has not received adequate media attention in the United States. During a war/conflict, troop morale is a touchy subject for any nation's media. An article in Los Angeles Times about the Stars and Stripes ' morale poll of U.S. troops in Iraq ("Joint Chiefs Chairman Worried by Morale Poll", October 17, 2003) links low morale to the fact that "their mission lacked clear definition" and it goes on to mention that "at least 13 soldiers had committed suicide in Iraq" thus implying some connection. In a letter to the editor commenting on this piece (October 22, 2003), Rob Riddell writes, "And those soldiers who take their own lives in despair? To my mind it is even more important to know about them. I think we should also know how many soldiers have been discharged with psychological or emotional distress. The military, of course, would like to keep such matters secret. Please write about this tragedy more prominently." In post-Vietnam United States, it is almost so taboo that it is difficult for citizens who rely on national media outlets to stay informed. Also, it is well known that the American public reacts particularly critically to news of U.S. military casualties or other signs of military "weakness". An unfortunate result of these media "sensitivities" is a dearth of detailed and analytical reporting on the actual conditions and operations of U.S. troops in Iraq. This, in turn, leads the soldiers themselves feel their work is going unnoticed and their sacrifices unappreciated by the American (civilian) public. Upon returning, soldiers who suffer from symptoms of PTSD find that interacting with an ill-informed public (including their own family members) makes them feel alienated and this exacerbates their feelings of rage and despair associated with PTSD. This, compounded by the military-cultural stigma of weakness attached to seeking any kind of help for anything , prevents many soldiers from seeking help for PTSD because they believe no one can understand.
If one accepts as true the (perhaps overrated) influence of the media on troop morale and, consequently, the success of military operations (i.e. the frequent claim that the press lost the war in Vietnam), a better strategy, rather than silence or obfuscation, could be to use this influence to educate the public about the hardships of military service and homecoming re-adjustment, including coping with PTSD. Reporting of this kind could intervene in the "grin and bear it" machismo of military culture such that seeking help for PTSD (often described as a sane response to insane circumstances) is no longer stigmatized. [Read more about the treatment of PTSD and constructions of gender in the military]
American politicians, intellectuals, and activists are squeamish about really looking at who these people in the military are because it too clearly illustrates class disparities and the racial/ethnic dimensions of those inequities. When one considers that for many members of our "volunteer" army, their decision to enlist was made because it was one of their only options for stability, employment, college funding, citizenship... "supporting our troops" takes on different meaning.
Soldiers in Iraq who took their own lives are calling out to the wider community to investigate why so many find themselves in a situation where death is their most empowered choice.
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| Ted Rall, distributed by Universal Press Syndicate, www.rall.com |
Works Cited:
1 Statistics compiled from multiple news sources listed in the Media Analysis section that follows.
2 p.6-7, 24, Peggy Phelan, "Francesca Woodman's Photography: Death and the Image One More Time," Signs: Journal of Women in Culture and Society , vol. 27, no. 4, The University of Chicago, 2002.
3 Stanley Aronowitz, "Curb Your Enthusiasm," First of the Month , Winter 2004.