Causecast

by KAREN MURPHY, Contributing Writer

We’ve all been shocked and saddened by the news of the recent killing of 5 fellow soldiers by an American soldier receiving psychiatric treatment at a combat-zone counseling center. My heart goes out to the families of everyone connected with the incident. Attacks on fellow soldiers, called “fragging,” was common in Vietnam, but are said to be less so in Iraq and Afghanistan.

I respectfully beg to differ.

I’m not much of a conspiracist, but I’m pretty convinced that there’s a lot we don’t know about what goes on in Iraq. How could we? It’s a completely different world there, with different rules and different expectations. And we’re sending our soldiers there over and over, for tour after tour (isn’t that a euphemistic word anyway, “tour”? Sounds like a vacation…), with often little respite in between.

War — any war — is a surreal experience. We’re not wired to kill other people. We’re not built to be in a constant state of high alert. To be in that state day after day with no letup has an effect, and to suggest otherwise is irresponsible.

How could any human feel nothing after killing another human being? Or seeing one killed? We have a whole generation of young people profoundly affected by an experience the rest of us know nothing about.

Based on the (admittedly small) sample of people I know who have been in Iraq (or Vietnam), I know this:

• Every soldier comes back from war a different person.
• As a country, as a military, we deny that fact.
• As a result, there’s not enough support.
• We’re sweeping a huge problem under the rug.

It’s easy to confuse support for the soldiers with support for the war itself, but the fact is, these people need help, no matter the circumstance. Which makes giving them support easy.

The National Veteran’s Foundation helps with jobs, offers peer-to-peer support, provides information on veteran benefits like health care, home-buying assistance, disability income, and most importantly provides a community of people who speak the same language and share a common experience.

AnySoldier.com helps you directly support a soldier still in harm’s way. Show you care and make a difference on a personal level.

Visit Eyes Wide Open at Oklahoma University (or watch the video), a moving exhibit of the human price of this war put together by the American Friends Service Committee (upcoming exhibition schedule here).

And finally, urge your elected officials to fund initiatives that will help determine the root cause of combat trauma and better support the soldiers both still in the field and back at home.

Image by gopal1035, flickr