Professor: Returning Vets are Dangerously Crazed Killers (Because they were Abused as Kids)

by: Brandon Friedman

Thu Jan 15, 2009 at 13:34:56 PM EST


Sometimes it's not what you say, but how you say it.  And Columbia journalism professor Helen Benedict says it wrong when she attempts to convey the very real problem of PTSD among returning troops.  Here are some excerpts from a piece she has up on The Huffington Post:

Psychologists usually blame the violence committed by Iraq War veterans on the stress of multiple deployments, the loss of close friends and comrades to bombs and bullets, and the military tendency to punish rather than treat G.I.s who break down at war.

These factors certainly all contribute, but the reasons for veteran violence and suicide lie much deeper than these. They begin in the family backgrounds of the troops, and are exacerbated by the nature of military training, the misogyny in military culture, the type of war we are waging in Iraq, and the remorse, fury and self-loathing that comes from fighting a war one doesn't believe in.  None of these factors tend to be much discussed in the press, but they add up to a recipe for veteran violence:

Take the fact that half of all Army soldiers and Marine recruits report having been physically abused as children [. . . .]

Now put this trained killer, who is unable to believe in his leaders' justifications for this war, into a battle with no front lines, where most of the victims are civilians, where the killing is close-up and gruesome, and where they use automatic weapons so powerful they can mow down an entire market place of women, children and old men in a few seconds.

Obviously the violence cannot be taken out of war or training. But more care can be taken with soldiers before we release them back into the civilian world. The military and the VA must recognize that these people are now trained killers, full of anger, resentment, hurt and trauma.

Honestly, Benedict provides a lot of good information in her piece.  And I appreciate the fact that she's calling for more to be done in the fields of combat training and veterans health care.  But her "us" and "them" attitude--so indicative of a civilian population completely separated from its military--has to go.  The military doesn't need advice from civilian bystanders who view them as volatile and dangerously deranged wild animals.
Brandon Friedman :: Professor: Returning Vets are Dangerously Crazed Killers (Because they were Abused as Kids)
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Professor: Returning Vets are Dangerously Crazed Killers (Because they were Abused as Kids) | 8 comments
"Sometimes it's not what you say, but how you say it. " exactly. (4.00 / 1)
With "supporters" spewing half truths like this who needs enemies?

This only gives the "right" fodder to claim that "liberals" hate the troops and does not help the cause of creating parity between the physical and psychological wounds of war.

You're Right (0.00 / 0)
But PTS is not only a Combat Related problem, something the 'wingers' readily won't listen to let alone accept, it destroys their ignorant arguments about PTS and their Denial Of!!

'Hearts and Minds, "The ultimate victory will depend on the hearts and minds of the people who actually live there." -- President Lyndon Johnson
[ Parent ]
Read This on PTS (0.00 / 0)
This was posted on a google group board yesterday written by a Supposed Officer, High Rank, Active and posted by one who claims to be a colonel and retired, who I'm constantly going after because of the false crap he posts, as well as his tiny band of racist who he attracts. He claims another so called officer wrote this crap piece but it follows his past writings to a tee, totally ignorant and attack based.

This is what these idiots, who claim to be conservative republican, but can't even given the ideology of, are writing and reading, and feeding into the denial while they themselves, at least some, are under their own results of the lives they've lived.

And this shithead thought that by passing it around he would be praised, he found out rather quickly, once again, that wasn't going to be the case!!!

'Hearts and Minds, "The ultimate victory will depend on the hearts and minds of the people who actually live there." -- President Lyndon Johnson

[ Parent ]
Reason (0.00 / 0)
The military doesn't need advice from civilian bystanders who view them as volatile and dangerously deranged wild animals.

That after 'Nam, while almost everyone stuck their collective heads back in the sands of denial, the best counseling for Veterans having troubles couping and knowing they had PTS as it was finally coming to be recognized was with other Veterans.

The civilians that started recognizing as well were first coming out of the peace movement groups, who would be the needed ears to listen and than grasp what the vets were going through. Slowly others came into understanding, wives who were living with sufferers, very close friends, but never in the numbers to really be heard.

There are a few good results coming from the carnage of these last few years, one thanks to this technology and the advocates of the past, PTS is now center stage, Finally, and being better understood. But still looking at possible causes some suffer more than others because of other past experiences. Trying to place the blame away from the actual cause, being brought up and grilled one way than experiencing the total opposite as the reality, under 24/7 stress of War, and how each individuals brain makeup handles the trauma. It is also ,Finally, being recognized in the civilian populations of those who have suffered individual extreme trauma and have been suffering in silence or treated for other reasons.

'Hearts and Minds, "The ultimate victory will depend on the hearts and minds of the people who actually live there." -- President Lyndon Johnson

Pointing the Finger (4.00 / 1)
I love how everything that happens in a person life gets blamed on their parents. How many serial killers came from good familes. i can think of three of the top of my head. mommy and daddy did not cause PTSD. the wars we fight and the horrors we see first hand cause PTSD.  Those of us with PTSd come from all walks of life rich and poor. Officers and enlisted.  
"Ke au hou"- Hawaiian "a new beginning" (4.00 / 1)
"The military doesn't need advice from civilian" bystanders" who view them as volatile and dangerously deranged wild animals".
Wow!!! Brandon!!Right-ON!!
Seems too me, Benedict made an over-all  assessment "reserved for witch-doctors". Even a EMT on a call does not" preview the problem"  until the 4-basic diagnostic steps are checked! EACH case is unique-Remember it was called "heart" then "fatigue" then "shock" and now refered to as "Trauma". Each trauma has benchmarks, yes, however trauma in the mind in each and every case is different! My triggers are not the same as anyone elses, only the word "trigger" do we share!  Learning to cope with the triggers is a matter of my" heart". By Lumping PTSD or TBI  or even SUD's is just down-right, rude. "Put her in for a "worst writer- person of the year" award! A really great book "Us & Them" The Science of Identity" by Dr. David Berreby.."We leap to categorize people"....typecasting is so powerful-an apparently so automatic"...psychology today review.
Military Launches Anti-Stigma Campaign (0.00 / 0)
'Reaching out and connecting - it's a sign of strength'

A real warrior will always place the mission first, never accept defeat, never quit and never leave a fallen comrade, according to the U.S. Army Warrior Ethos.

But what if he does all that, then has problems when he gets back home? What if he has post-traumatic stress disorder or nightmares or feels distant from his family?

Who are the real warriors then?

Army psychiatrist Brig. Gen. Loree Sutton is hoping to persuade soldiers that the real warriors are the ones that reach out for help with post-combat psychological issues.

"Reaching out and connecting - it's a sign of strength," said Sutton, head of the Defense Department's Centers of Excellence for Psychological Health and Traumatic Brain Injury.



'Hearts and Minds, "The ultimate victory will depend on the hearts and minds of the people who actually live there." -- President Lyndon Johnson
"More care can be taken of soldiers" (4.00 / 1)
The only redeeming feature in the bag of flames written by a journalism prof...

Huff 'n puff needs better stuff.

Professor: Returning Vets are Dangerously Crazed Killers (Because they were Abused as Kids) | 8 comments
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