A Talk With a Veteran of Desert Storm and the Iraqi War

Several months ago I had the honor of speaking with a veteran of the Desert Storm war and Iraqi War.

As background to this, note the recent CBS News investigative story which in short, found, "In 2005, for example, ... there were at least 6,256 suicides among those who served in the armed forces. That’s 120 each and every week, in just one year."

and

"One age group stood out. Veterans aged 20 through 24, those who have served during the war on terror. They had the highest suicide rate among all veterans, estimated between two and four times higher than civilians the same age. (The suicide rate for non-veterans is 8.3 per 100,000, while the rate for veterans was found to be between 22.9 and 31.9 per 100,000.)

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2007/11/13/cbsnews_investigates/main3496471.shtml

Now check out this from Lt. Col. Dave Grossman, "During World War II, U.S. Army Brigadier General S.L.A. Marshall's singularly unexpected discovery was that, of every hundred men along the line of fire during the combat period, an average of only 15 to 20 'would take any part with their weapons.' This was consistently true, "whether the action was spread over a day, or two days, or three."

Lt. Col. Dave Grossman's article on why the vast majority of soldiers refuse to kill a fellow human being ends with, "We may never understand the nature of the force in humankind that causes us to strongly resist killing fellow human beings, but we can be thankful for it. And although military leaders responsible for winning a war may be distressed by this force, as a species we can view it with pride. It is there, it is strong, and it gives us cause to believe that there may just be hope for human-kind after all."

In between the beginning and the end he writes of the psychological ops taken upon our soldiers to condition them to kill and desensitize them to taking another life. I encourage you to read the full article

http://greatergood.berkeley.edu/greatergood/current_issue/grossman.html

And a short narrative of my talk with the Desert Storm/Iraqi War veteran:

Wounded during the war with serious concussions due to IEDs exploding nearby on three separate occasions, one requiring eye surgery, and shot in the knee she came to Silicon Valley as she felt she could get a job using her expertise.

Upon departing for Iraqi, she and her fellow soldiers were given psych –based indoctrination (pavlovian conditioning) through videos containing subliminal messages of bombings and killings, while playing rock music videos; the same music over and over. Various similar types of conditioning tactics are used throughout her stay in Iraqi as a continuing practice. She reports soldiers buying into to the mind control and seeing how it resulted in various human rights violations not only against the ‘enemy’ but her fellow soldiers. This included sexual assault by others.

She was in military intelligence with top secret clearances however she became so incensed with the tactics utilized by Psy-Ops she had to transfer out of the unit, changing her military operations specialty (MOS; military lingo!) to Medic. I won’t relay her Medic stories. And she wouldn’t relay her Intelligence stories.

She commented on how the mainstream media portrays Iraqi in a very degraded state but it is far from the truth. By example, when she entered Bagdad, she was shocked to see Burger Kings, Baskin-Robbins, Hardy Shoe Stores, etc., that it was a melting pot of cultures – Bosnians, Australians, Germans and Japanese, you name it all represented there living, working. And the Iraqi women there don’t all wear Burkhas but dress in western suits, etc.

Essentially, she reports, practically everything seen on TV is a scripted, staged, event to portray a specific reality and I think you know what that reality is.

Humorously, she relayed how one of the forward staging areas is next to Saddam’s hunting grounds (literally) where there is a forest and this land is stocked with animals such as hyenas, deer, etc., right in the middle of the desert. And that THE Palace was converted into the Army store for the soldiers.

Miltary Bases /Camps are kept up only if there is a General there, otherwise, they are degraded. And apparently, generals are not there very often unless for photo-op.

She had to purchase her own Kevlar vests as the ones provided to her couldn’t stop any bullets. They were soon provided two iron plates to slide into vests which only added more weight and heat especially inside the humvee with no air conditioning. (This woman is five foot-one, by the way.) Add to that, carrying her M16 and two side-arms, etc.

The conditions of the military vehicles (HumVees) were very poor; holes the size of “midgets”, bald tires, etc., and that getting them repaired was next to impossible. When she saw government contracted corporations such as Halliburton there and they were driving around the brand new H3 Hummers, Cadillac Escalades and BMWs, she concluded that they (the soldiers) were not anyone important and this ‘war’ was really just profiteering by these corporations and those behind it.

She was actually approached by Halliburton to work for them but she declined as she would not support what they were doing.

She found the GREAT majority of Iraqi people very nice, helpful and understanding.

Upon returning to the States for transitioning and to handle her post traumatic stress, she was offered psych drugs and behavioral therapy which she refused as she just wanted to ‘decompress’. It goes without saying, she received no real help.

I don't know about you, but it looks like the psych brainwashing techniques have created a tremendously conflicted stressful mindset in our soldiers who are coerced into inhumane acts in direct contradiction to their basic innate goodness.