Yes, let's cultivate an enhanced ability to handle combat stress and slip back into life at home

back on 18 august, i posted on an nyt article that was evidently talking about the same thing (see Let's make our troops into cyborgs that can shake off that annoying malaise after killing people)... now time magazine is writing about the same thing...

is this how we want to condition our troops...? do we really want them to be able to kill and then just shrug it off...? is it just me or is this some really creepy shit...?

Samurai Mind Training for Modern American Warriors

[...]

Think military and you think macho, not meditation, but that's about to change now that the Army intends to train its 1.1 million soldiers in the art of mental toughness. The Defense Department hopes that giving soldiers tools to fend off mental stress will toughen its troops at war and at home. It's the first time mental combat is being mandated on a large scale, but a few thousand soldiers who have participated in a voluntary program called Warrior Mind Training have already gotten a taste of how strengthening the mind is way different - dare we say harder? - than pounding out the push-ups.

Warrior Mind Training is the brainchild of Ernst and two friends, who were teaching meditation and mind-training in California. In 2005, a Marine attended a class in San Diego and suggested expanding onto military bases. Ernst and her colleagues researched the military mindset, consulting with veterans who had practiced meditation on the battlefield and back home. She also delved into the science behind mind training to analyze how meditation tactics could help treat - and maybe even help prevent - post-traumatic stress disorder.

Rooted in the ancient Samurai code of self-discipline, Warrior Mind Training draws on the image of the mythic Japanese fighter, an elite swordsman who honed his battle skills along with his mental precision. The premise? Razor-sharp attention plus razor-sharp marksmanship equals fearsome warrior.

[...]

The benefits of Warrior Mind Training, students have told instructors, are impressive: better aim on the shooting range, higher test scores, enhanced ability to handle combat stress and slip back into life at home. No comprehensive studies have been done, though a poll of 25 participants showed 70% said they felt better able to handle stressful situations and 65% had improved self-control.

i'm all for meditation... i've been practicing it on and off since the late 80s, it's taken me in some very positive directions and, quite honestly, has helped lead me to a place in my life more positive and satisfying than i would have ever thought possible... but the aim of this effort creeps me out...

personally, i don't WANT to blow somebody to bloody bits and come away unaffected... in fact, the very LAST thing in this world i could ever imagine doing is blowing someone to bloody bits... i managed to spend 18 months in vietnam without firing a weapon and four - soon to be five - visits to afghanistan without witnessing death (not that i'm not highly aware that it's been all around me), and have found even those experiences to be profoundly disturbing... i simply can't imagine how i would be impacted by the immediate, visceral reality of death and destruction right in my face...

the other thing about this article that really disturbs me is the whole concept of "warrior"... i've posted several times previously on this and i think it's worth repeating one of them here...

from 14 january 2008

i've posted previously (here and here) on the increasing and deeply disturbing prevalence of the term "warrior" to describe those we send off to fight and die protecting the "interests" of our nation monied elites... here's another, equally disturbing one that just caught my attention...

from a lockheed martin press release...

“Lockheed Martin continues to focus on providing our Warfighters with new and innovative technologies that will make their jobs easier,” said Lionel Liebman, manager of Program Development – Applied Research at Lockheed Martin Missiles and Fire Control.

also interesting that "warfighter" is capitalized...

what the increasing visibility of these terms suggests to me is that we are continuing to be slowly inculcated to seeing war as an integral part of our society... yes, it's true, that serving our country via military service has, at least in the past, been seen as an honorable calling, whether it's just for one hitch or for a career... these people have always been known variously as "members of the military," "career military," "soldiers," "sailors," "airmen," "marines," or, simply, "our troops"... all of those sobriquets implied government service, love of country, defense of freedom, etc., etc...

but what is implied by "warrior" and "warfighter"...? to me, for one thing, they do NOT imply any of those other things... "warrior," for instance, for me, calls to mind warrior nations like sparta, where the entire society was devoted to conquest, or to descriptions of the marauding huns, usually characterized as a "warlike" people... the only "service" implied is service to death and destruction... "warfighter" is even more chilling... to me, that word implies a weapon of advanced technology, an implement, if you will, of accomplishing that death and destruction...

words are powerful and the words we choose to use convey a great deal about our beliefs and views of the world... "warrior" and "warfighter" make my skin crawl...

my skin is still crawling...

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Let's make our troops into cyborgs that can shake off that annoying malaise after killing people

ya know, sometimes i read stuff that just makes my head explode...

The Army plans to require that all 1.1 million of its soldiers take intensive training in emotional resiliency, military officials say.

The training, the first of its kind in the military, is meant to improve performance in combat and head off the mental health problems, including depression, post-traumatic stress disorder and suicide, that plague about one-fifth of troops returning from Afghanistan and Iraq.

didja ever think that maybe mental health problems, depression, ptsd and suicide are nature's way of telling us that maybe we shouldn't engage in destruction, war and socially sanctioned mass slaughter...?

oh, and what the hell does "emotional resilience" mean anyway...? being able to take in the sight of a child's body dismembered by a bomb blast and then have a heart-warming conversation with the wife and kids back home that evening...? witnessing physical and emotional carnage for 15 months and going back to the states and coaching the little league baseball team...?

i think what we're trying for here are cyborgs not human beings...

A cyborg is a cybernetic organism (i.e., an organism that has both artificial and natural systems).

[...]

Real (as opposed to fictional) cyborgs are more frequently people who use cybernetic technology to repair or overcome the physical and mental constraints of their bodies.

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The real "disorder" is NOT being traumatized by war

juan cole quotes george carlin...

[T]hanks to the lies and deceits surrounding [Vietnam], I guess it's no surprise that [what was called shell shock in WWI was now] called post-traumatic stress disorder. Still eight syllables, but we've added a hyphen! And the pain is completely buried under jargon. Post-traumatic stress disorder.

I'll bet you if we'd of still been calling it shell shock, some of those Viet Nam veterans might have gotten the attention they needed at the time. I'll betcha. I'll betcha.'

and adds some thoughts of his own...

I have concluded that Carlin was right about that issue. Being traumatized by war is not a disorder. In fact, if you are not traumatized by the sight of body parts flying all around you as you are splattered with the blood of people you know, then you would have a disorder. Why not just say "war-traumatized" ? Or better yet, "war-scarred" ? The PTSD phrase has the unfortunate effect of making it seem abnormal for people to be negatively affected by wartime violence.

just another instance of how susceptible we are to being quietly and subtly brain-washed by those intent on making war a never-ending feature of our lives...

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Yes, it's yet another outrage...

as a vietnam vet who very belatedly submitted my claim of ptsd almost 2 1/2 years ago and received my denial letter approximately 3 weeks ago, i share the outrage on a very personal level...

CREW and VoteVets release email telling VA staff to “refrain from giving a diagnosis of PTSD straight out”

CREW and VoteVets.org released an e-mail obtained from a Veterans Affairs (VA) employee directing VA staff to refrain from diagnosing soldiers and veterans with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD).

On March 20, 2008 a VA hospital’s PTSD program coordinator sent the e-mail below to a number of VA employees, including psychologists, social workers, and a psychiatrist stating that due to an increased number of “compensation seeking veterans,” the staff should “refrain from giving a diagnosis of PTSD straight out” and they should “R/O [rule out] PTSD” and consider a diagnosis of “Adjustment Disorder” instead:

This week, CREW sent a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request to the VA asking for all records pertaining to any guidance given regarding the diagnosis of PTSD. The FOIA request can be found here.

Melanie Sloan, executive director of CREW, said today:

It is outrageous that the VA is calling on its employees to deliberately misdiagnose returning veterans in an effort to cut costs. Those who have risked their lives serving our country deserve far better. First and foremost, they have a right to expect that they receive diagnoses and treatment based on their symptoms and not on the VA’s budget. The VA should immediately reverse this and any other similar directives.

Jon Soltz, an Iraq War Veteran and Chairman of VoteVets.org, added:

This is an issue I take personally. I know of many people who received a diagnosis of ‘Adjustment Disorder,’ who strongly felt they had PTSD, many of whom confirmed that suspicion with an independent diagnosis. Many veterans believe that the government just doesn’t want to pay out the disability that comes along with a PTSD diagnosis, and this revelation will not allay their concerns. It is crucial that we quickly get to the bottom of this, and ensure that misdiagnosing veterans is not part of some cost-cutting policy.

Last month, the RAND Corporation released a report that found that approximately 300,000 U.S. troops are suffering from major depression or post traumatic stress from serving in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and only about half have sought treatment.

just more evidence that our esteemed president and his criminal cronies don't give a flying shit about those who have served their country...

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"Passive suicide" in Guantánamo: "The immoral has become so mundane"

This is my country! Land of my birth!
This is my country! Grandest on earth!
I pledge thee my allegiance,
America, the bold,
For this is my country to have and to hold.

Clive Stafford Smith, the legal director of Reprieve, a British charity that provides legal representation to prisoners around the world, offers an op-ed in the LA Times on Guantánamo.

[T]he irony of this place runs deep, as does the tragedy. The base motto is "Honor Bound to Defend Freedom," even though my clients, who are prisoners in the detention center, have none.

[...]

Most of the secrecy in Guantánamo involves suppressing bad news about the base rather than anything that should really be classified. But I obey the rules or I go to jail, so until I get permission, I can only write about what I see, not what is said.

[...]

After crossing the bay on the 8 a.m. ferry, an escort drove me down Recreation Road, past the golf course. I noticed a yellow sign. The soldiers were admonished that their value of the week should be "Compassion."

[...]

It is sometimes a minor rule change, imposed from far above, that inflames me. I always carry lozenges, and some months back, a hunger-striking client agreed to take one to soothe his sore throat. By my next visit, the list of "contraband" had expanded to bar this insignificant salve.

[...]

In more than 20 years trying death-penalty cases, I have visited all the worst prisons in the Deep South, yet none compares to Camp Six here. To the military, this tribute to Halliburton's profiteering is state-of-the-art; to the human being, it is simply inhumane. The prisoners have an average of 23 hours a day in isolation, six hours of direct sunlight a month, perhaps one fishing magazine a week to read, and never, ever the chance to see a loved one. The immoral has become so mundane.

here's a little bit about reprieve...

Reprieve provides frontline investigation and legal representation to prisoners denied justice by powerful governments across the world, especially those governments that should be upholding the highest standards when it comes to fair trials.

Reprieve lawyers represent people facing the death penalty, particularly in the USA, or when those facing execution are British nationals . And we represent prisoners denied justice in the name of the ‘War on Terror,’ including those held without charge or trial in Guantánamo Bay and the countless secret prisons beyond. None of these prisoners can afford to pay for representation.

and here's some of what reprieve has to say about al jazeera journalist, sami al haj, clive stafford smith's client, who has spent over five years in detention...

Reprieve ... released statements from two leading psychiatrists diagnosing a serious decline in the mental condition of Guantanamo Bay prisoner Sami al Haj. The reports by noted Texan psychiatrist Dr. Dan Creson and British psychiatrist Dr. Hugh Rickards call for urgent and immediate treatment for Mr. al Haj.

Reprieve lawyers have represented Mr. al Haj since 2005. Reprieve provides frontline investigation and legal representation for prisoners in Guantanamo Bay.

Dr. Creson’s report suggests that Sami al Haj is suffering from severe depression and may be deteriorating to the point of imminent death:

“The … diagnosis best fitting the clinical picture that emerges … is Major Depression with psychotic features. It is also clear that his depressed affect bears little resemblance to depressive states one sees in the ordinary clinical practice of Psychiatry. He, in my opinion, fits into a sub-category of severe depression often seen in complex emergencies where an individual has given up all hope; where nothing remains relevant to survival. Such individuals have been called “passive suicides” by some humanitarian aid workers.”

[...]

“Mr Al Haj has the symptoms necessary for a diagnosis of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, but it does seem a bit premature to use the term “Post” when the trauma is on going… Forced feeding is, in my opinion, always traumatic, even when it is done with respect and kindness. Indeed, the general ambiance of disrespect and planned humiliation are psychological traumas that contribute to depression and hopelessness.”

He goes on to say:

“The marked change in attitude that was noted and the description of Mr al Haj’s current behaviour suggests to me that Mr al Haj no longer has the ability to cope with his relentlessly traumatic environment and is in the process of withdrawing into himself; in effect, he is becoming a case of passive suicide. His cognitive changes, e.g. paranoia, are symptomatic of his depression, but probably also worsen as his physical deterioration increases. As his environment becomes more painful and less humane, with each new punitive act he is forced to endure, he will lose even whatever remaining will to live that he now retains.”

sami al haj has been held for nearly six years without charges... he has been on a hunger strike for 247 days and force-fed that entire time...

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Psychological torture causes as much long-term damage as physical torture

i am not in the least surprised... as someone who endured a considerable amount of mental and emotional abuse while growing up, i can personally attest to this... in many cases, i would add, the long-term damage may actually be worse than that caused by physical abuse...

Psychological torture, including some of the techniques reportedly used on Guantanamo Bay detainees, appears to inflict the same kind of long-term mental damage as physical abuse, a study released Monday said.

Researchers who evaluated the mental health of soldiers and civilians tortured during the 1990s Balkan wars found that victims of psychological abuse were just as likely to suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and depression as victims of classic physical torture methods.

The researchers also reported that the torture victims rated some techniques such as stress positions, isolation, sleep deprivation and blindfolding as distressing as most physical torture methods.

"Ill treatment during captivity, such as psychological manipulations, humiliating treatment, and forced stress positions, does not seem to be substantially different from physical torture in terms of the severity of mental suffering they cause," the study's authors wrote.

"Thus, these procedures do amount to torture, thereby lending support to their prohibition by international law," they wrote in the journal of the Archives of General Psychiatry.

when something goes wrong in your mind, it's often a lot scarier than when something goes awry with the body... you can't think clearly, you think you're going crazy, you think you're permanently screwed... it ain't pretty...

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