iPods In Iraq: Soldiers' MP3s An Instrument Of War

guardian.co.uk:

Professor Pieslak is a music theorist at the City College of New York. Over the past few years he has interviewed US soldiers about the music they listen to and -- more importantly -- what they listen to it for. [...]

The subjects of Pieslak's interviews are among the first generation to take MP3 players to war. Some, only half joking, say iPods should be standard issue for soldiers. The psychological effect the music has, and highly stressful situations, make for a powerful mix.

Read the whole story: guardian.co.uk

Comments

[Tyler-PDX]

Wait-Wait-­Wait!...

I think a lot of the commentary here, as well as the commentary on the Guardian site, misses the point. If you break this down, it has nothing to do with war or battle.

This is simply a story about the power of music to stimulate the sympathetic nervous system. What an individual does with that additional norepinephrine is rooted entirely in their preexisting motivations.

Judging from some of these posts, I think you would be surprised by what you hear in some surgical suites, by a team of folks who are absolutely dedicated to healing and preserving life.

I used to really enjoy listening to Rage Against the Machine when I was headed to a call in the ambulance. This genre of music, does motivate people. But, the music is not the source or motivation for violence.

[Tyler-PDX]

"Judging from some of these posts, I think you would be surprised by what you hear in some surgical suites, by a team of folks who are absolutely dedicated to healing and preserving life."

Clarification - The music that they are listening to

[stevezep]

Apocalypse Now, March of the Valkyries. Nuff' said.

[hopefull2008]

I guess the local FM stations are just playing top 40 stuff .

[canuck99]

Music has always been part of the military psyche and has been used to rally troops. So what's new? A shift from John Philip Sousa to Metallica?

[thundermummy]

A guy with a machine gun blasting away in my direction would only be more frightening if he were listening to the Carpenters at full blast.

[Godweiser]

Look at it this way, Die Walkure became etched in minds as militaristic because of Apocalypse Now, though it was also used in WWII by the British Parachute Regiment. As a result, guys are using it.

If they ever did a movie where there was a lot of killing and had the Carpenters to it and it was considered a classic, there'd be guys using the Carpenters to invoke the image the way they do die Walkure -- the image of swooping down in helicopters and blowing away a village. It's not so much what the music means as what it's associated with, in many ways.

Incidentally, "Surfin' Bird" by the Trashmen. Not about war at all, but associated with the Hue City scenes in "Full Metal Jacket." Watch the movie then listen to the song, and at a certain pause, you'll be imagining the machinegun fire in the background. I'm not saying that it'd be EASY to use the Carpenters like this, but possible nonetheless.

[Godweiser]

This isn't really news. Soldiers were rocking out to hard rock and early metal in Vietnam, too. Military training is conditioning to kill, emphasized ever since they found out how few soldiers were firing their weapons in WWII. It makes sense that music is used to help reinforce this conditioning in the field: many of these songs provide some sort of impression or reference to warfare or anger. It's part of that process of dehumanizing the enemy, going in for music that helps validate the act.

Then people wonder why PTSD and other traumatic psychological conditions are becoming more prevalent -- because the military, particularly the Bush-era military, has little in the way of mechanisms to deprogram people after they've been conditioned to do that. After WWII, there was a long boat ride home after the demob camps in Europe and Asia. With Vietnam people were getting dumped back in civvy street a couple days after they got back, and that sort of situation prevails now.

[RightWingMarine]

I suspect it has more to do with the age group that our military is composed of. Heavy metal is most popular with younger people and 18-20 year olds are prevalent in our military.

[noneIn2008]

Get us out, now.

[billjones224]

way to add to the discussion

[TylerSutherland]

Yeah, and it's bolstered with oh so many reasons why to leave!

[billjones224]

Imagine that, the US soldiers have used the same music as the gladiators on the streets to dehumanize and take whatever they want (great in war). Maybe this music should be labeled as mind altering and classified as a military tool. Something like an assault weapon!

[BlackJAC]

Perhaps this is why the rebellion hasn't been crushed yet: they're distracted by the soundtrack.

[filo]

Highway to He// comes to mind.

[audadvnc]

Let's make killing people into a video game, complete with soundtrack. That's such an advancement for humanity (not).

But, I suppose it will be self-limiting. Studies have shown that people are distracted and isolated by loud music in stressful situations, ie driving. A battlefield situation does not seem like a good time for distraction.

[Mainer36]

So you dont want our troops going into combat with every physical, technical, and psychological advantage the military can provide?
BTW there IS an immersive virtual combat training system so our soldiers and Marines can practice different combat scenarios.

[Godweiser]

An influential book by an Army psychologist that is required reading at the Point and Annapolis and many other military academies tends to argue that video games are particularly good conditioning for overcoming the natural human inhibition to killing -- surprise, surprise, there is an inhibition for it, though it's easy enough to override.

I'm not sitting around claiming that video games are evil and the primary cause for school shootings, but rather part of the puzzle, of course. Like anything else, there's a lot more to the psychological makeup than merely violent video games.

[FZliveson]

The natural human instinct in combat is to run away.
For centuries drums and wind instruments were used to keep soldiers marching
in-step and to en-courage them (make them courageous).

In urban warfare, where one has a difficult time telling who the enemy is and being under
strict rules of engagement, which make U.S. soldiers at a disadvantage to the un-structured
techniques of the enemy...a soldier would have to have something in his/her head to keep them
moving forward and not fleeing.

I hate war. But if our government is going to send people into gunfire, they'd best be of a mindset to do
the work of killing people and breaking things. Otherwise we just set them up to return home in
aluminum boxes.

[Godweiser]

Don't kid yourself though. A certain percentage of people, after the conditioning and realization of it in warfare, come back needing treatment to re-integrate into society. Not necessarily a lot of treatment, but something. They did a lot of it after WWII, intentionally or inadvertently, but the trick of it seemed to get lost in the more mechanical, mass production mindset of the black shoe army.

[FZliveson]

Godweiser: I agree. My best friend in my whole life was a PTSD/suicide.
Please read and promote the great book on PTSD called "Flashback" by Penny Coleman.
Tells a great deal about the "syndrome" that is literally killing more soldiers than who died on the battlefield or in hospitals from battle wounds. If the REMFs really cared about their men and women, they would be in the battle, as were many of the highest officers and royalty in days past.
Thanks for bringing up PTSD (Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder)

[kickatthedarkness]

technological fascism

http://michaelfury.wordpress.com/2009/09/25/first-person-shooter/