Who's on Trial with Sergeant Bales?

The U.S. Army thought it could squeeze one more combat tour out of Staff Sgt. Robert Bales. It was wrong. Bales is now accused of shooting and stabbing to death 17 Afghan civilians, most of them women and children. The Army said that he'd "snapped." Something else may have snapped, too -- the last frail thread of trust between the U.S. and its Afghan partners and with it, the last hope for any kind of success in this war.

It's easy to blame the Army. Yes, it sent Sgt. Bales into combat for the fourth time in eight years -- but he was one of 107,000 soldiers sent to Iraq or Afghanistan three or more times.

Yes, the Army judged that none of the injuries he'd sustained, including one to his head, were serious enough to keep him out of combat. Yes, the Army knew that he'd had problems with money and with his marriage and that there were minor brushes with the law. But an Army stretched thin by two wars has little choice but to send such people back into harm's way, especially those, like Bales, with valuable combat experience.

And yes, the mental screenings the Army gave Sgt. Bales missed danger signs -- if there were any. The Pentagon has finally begun to take mental illness seriously but its efforts are still woefully underfunded, understaffed and resisted by a warrior culture with little sympathy for injuries that don't bleed. That culture makes many soldiers reluctant to complain or even acknowledge symptoms for fear of losing face within the ranks, or of being passed over for promotions.

Thanks to public and Congressional pressure, screenings and treatments for mental illness in the military will get better (and we can hope that Bales' court martial will speed the pace). But we should all understand that the core of the problem is unfixable, despite the best efforts. There will always be huge mental health consequences to war for the simple reason that the nature of war is to kill.

In ancient Sparta, warriors were acculturated from birth to do that killing (and to risk being killed, to see friends killed, and to witness the carnage). We are not Sparta. If he is to survive them, our wars demand wrenching changes in attitudes and behavior that set the warrior at complete odds with the civilizing values that surrounded him back home. When the warrior returns home, he must do another stark re-ordering of his mind and psyche. Then switch back into war mode for the next tour. And back again. And again. It's no wonder that the Army suicide rate has soared since the beginning of the Afghanistan and Iraq wars, according to a study just published by the U.S. Army Public Health Command. The question is not how did Sgt. Bales happen. It's why it doesn't happen more often.

I have a small, personal sense of this. As a civilian advisor in a dangerous part of Vietnam, I made some life and death decisions for reasons that today seem shallow and ignorant, and they haunt me still. I knew that I was an easy target any time the Viet Cong chose to take me out. The first time a bullet whistled by my ear it was exciting. The second time less so. I slept with my M-16 alongside the bed and a case of grenades beneath it; I practiced rolling out of bed and grabbing my rifle without raising my head above the line of sandbags on the windowsill. I did this for eighteen months. When I got back, I walked on the shadow side of the streets in California to avoid sniper fire. I had screaming nightmares. And I was a civilian.

My story must seem lame to someone like Sgt. Bales, but it did let me see into a warrior's world.

Lt. Col. Dave Grossman in his book, On Killing: The Psychological Cost of Learning to Kill in War and Society, notes: "It is not too far from the mark to observe that there is something about continuous, inescapable combat which will drive 98 percent of all men insane, and the other 2 percent were crazy when they got there." Many of my vet friends would say that Grossman exaggerates and in any case, that most of his "98 percent" don't act out their nightmares. Perhaps, but that doesn't mean they don't bear them as silent, private horrors.

Sgt. Bales should not go into the dock alone. Many of us should be there too, charged with willful ignorance, with acting as if war was not what it is -- a series of relentlessly horrific acts destroying bodies, psyches and souls.

On trial should be those who learn nothing from history, who keep following the brass bands more than the coffins and the wheelchairs, and let their kids play video war games where every death can be reset.

On trial should be every chickenhawk politician banging the drums of war.

On trial should be all those who cast Sgt. Bales as a rogue. To admit that warriors who snap are an inevitable product of war upsets the storyline that keeps too many of us comfortable sending generation after generation into battle.

On trial should be any of us who accept war as an unavoidable part of our political landscape and not as the last resort to protect national interests that are vital, immediate and real.

 

Follow John Graham on Twitter: www.twitter.com/JohnAGraham

Comments

[slybarbara]

08:14 PM on 05/11/2012

Bales, in his momentary madness, was pushing the envelope. So was bin Laden. They both acheived their measure of notoriety. This is to say: anyone is capable of anything, in this world.
SlyBarbara

[slybarbara]

06:58 PM on 05/09/2012

When everyone gets "stunned" enough by the horrors of a tiny war in Afghanistan, and "horrified" enough in their safe, churchy little mid-western towns, it might just occur to them it's happening everywhere and maybe they could do something about it, rather than generate elephant tears in their neat, safe, little pews.
SlyBarbara

[slybarbara]

06:24 PM on 04/08/2012

I have it from the correspondents traveling with various patrols in Afghanistan, that when a patrol enters an Afghan village on the suspicion the Taliban had "been there," the solders will break down doors, destroy everything in the huts, kill the dogs and other animals about, then, having urinated on the floors, leave, satisfied. This is OUR army? And they are going to come back to the U.S. and live NEXT to us? The Army is training madmen. No wonder the "alleged" masscre by the "alleged shooter" Sargeant Bales, is treated cavalierly by people claiming such malladies as PTSD and like assertions by the accused himself to be cause for such abberations, and worse. His lawyer, Mr Brown, is now saying the Army hasn't a case!
Well, how about a soldier leaving a base twice, to return twice and surrender the last time to a search party having told the first party he returned to he had just 'killed a few Afgani Military-aged men? How about he was the only person OUT that night, from the base. Mr. Brown has supposedly won few high-profiled cases (which weren't stated in the article), but caved in readily to "plea-bargains," we now understand, from the Seattle Times to the cases they DID mention. He says it is his last case. My, how will it stand as a legacy to Mr. Brown, having lost his last case!
SlyBarbara

[slybarbara]

06:00 PM on 04/08/2012

I have it on correspondent's reports from Afghanistan, traveling with patrols in search of the Taliban will enter the vacated village, break down doors, destroy everything inside: plates, tables, chairs, clothing, on the supposition the Taliban MUST have been here--their confidente TOLD them, or some other unreliable source. When they are through, having shot all the dogs and other animals, and urinating on the floors of the huts, the platoon moves on to the next target. Never, of course, having seen any Taliban! Is it any wonder? Is it any wonder?-- the Afghan people distrust and hate us?
SlyBarbara

[slybarbara]

02:34 PM on 04/07/2012

I think everyone agrees here that War, as it is fought today, is basically indecent, and fought on the basis of misquided and insane indeologies that have nothing to do with the American spirit. It has gotten totally out of hand, and become the tool by which slightly mad politicians and souless militarists seek to put their brand upon the world, usually in places where the indigent populations haven't the slightest notion what these armies are doing there! First it was wimpy, misdirected notions of getting the perpetrators of 9/11, and then weird notions of backward nations having Weapons of Mass destruction to scare us under our beds, then it expanded to medeival-like armies
bent on converting backward countries to our way of life that had offended our sense of Christianity and middle-class morality, under the guise of destroying the Taliban, Al Quada, and 'assassinating" the bogy-man himself: bin Laden. All this done, we have an army bogged down in the quadmire of a stone-age landscape with no purpose in mind, but to survive until 2014, because Washington says so. Then, as we sneak away, without having accomplished much but alienating a whole people, as the Taliban move right back in, so the farmers can grow poppy to further muddle the American mind, and little girls can be kept out of school and woman forced back into their huts, out of sight.
SlyBarbara

[realitytrumpsbull]

01:53 AM on 03/28/2012

Last time I was around the uniform there was much scuttlebutt about snap-o-blogicals, but, that's why the military has such an extensive support network of mental health professionals, to try and talk to people that are outwardly demonstrating the observable symptoms of being 'f'ed in the head as a result of their experiences. Symptoms can be faked, though. They've already found some sportertoops trying to 'milk it'. And, who REALLY wants to go into harm's way? Catch-22. In the case of the Mad Major, you could theorize that he was a masterful actor, up until his time came, to strike. But, WAS he some kind of agent, or just honestly conflicted, and turned violent refusenik? Maybe some of the officers are just plain sick in the head, and the problem really isn't Bales? Maybe it's behavioral experimentation or something. Incompetence? Careerists trying to fight a war? Maybe, next time the military will be all-artillery, there won't be any 'hearts and minds', just a rain of death for about a week until everyone trying to fight or in the way is dead, and everyone smart enough has run completely out of range and won't be coming back. Then, the war can be declared to be over, and troops can come home. But, to have a successful decade-plus long occupation, the military probably needs a lot more people, and a lot more resources, and good leaders, etc.

[Marliss]

11:10 PM on 03/27/2012

Stop calling people who VOLUNTARILY enlist to fight MIC/WS sponsored wars of choice: Warriors and/or Heroes.

They are Mercenaries.

[realitytrumpsbull]

02:02 AM on 03/28/2012

In a sense, you are correct, but the REAL mercenaries in this war, got a LOT more money than any enlisted soldier ever did. Matter of fact, in Iraq, they even reported that the mercenaries were taking pot-shots AT the troops, might have been an urban legend, but ya never know. In any case, there really are people out there that are murder-for-hire. But, they don't wear US Army uniforms, not that I'm aware of. Most folks that enter the military, are poor. If they could find a job on the outside that paid worth a damn, that's probably what they'd be doing, instead, they signed up to serve their country. Then, 9/11 happened, and the rest is technicolor YouTube history.

[realitytrumpsbull]

02:24 AM on 03/28/2012

Followup question: Should ONLY mercenaries have been sent to Afghanistan and Iraq?

[Marliss]

01:00 PM on 03/28/2012

That's all that were sent, as far as I am concerned.

[homer winslow]

11:38 AM on 03/27/2012

Sgt. Bales should not go into the dock alone. Many of us should be there too, charged with willful ignorance, with acting as if war was not what it is -- a series of relentlessly horrific acts destroying bodies, psyches and souls.

Yes, many of you should be on trial along with him for supporting endless wars. Those of us who have since time began protested against your wars should not have to stand with you. Perhaps if all of you who support war were tried, convicted and put away forever, the world could live in peaces.

[realitytrumpsbull]

02:07 AM on 03/28/2012

Well, but as a member of the general public, how much influence do you honestly have? To make any kind of real change, the public has to basically line up en masse, and make themselves heard. And, even then, 'government' might just tell em to put a sock in it and chew vigorously. And, maybe that's part of what all of this is really about, violent rebellion against government overseas on the part of the inhabitants that don't want to be westernized. But, the westernization is going to happen regardless. And, that's where people start killing each other, and foreigners. And, shooting at our soldiers. Trial? There's going to be lots of people on trial, unfortunately none of them will be the Afghanis taking pot-shots at our military over there. Bales? His life's over. Should members of his command also be in the dock? Maybe. But the nagging question remains as to why our troops are there, and not in the countries where the hijackers came from. There's a million questions, all of which will probably go unanswered, or at least a fair portion.

[Coach Martine]

12:40 AM on 03/27/2012

John Graham, system thinker, sticks his neck out while too many of us subsist in quiet desperation without rocking the cultural boat. He nails it when he says Sergeant Bales shouldn't go it alone;we’re all responsible. We can’t sit in a leaking boat saying “I’m glad that hole isn’t on our side.” Let’s ask this: “What AREN’T we talking about? John points to it, namely our infinite capacity to deceive ourselves through rationalization and justification so that we can continue to see ourselves as the good guys. However, no matter how hard we try, our behaviors are always a reflection of the values that spawn them. And the values spawning our behaviors here are complex but among them is this one: “The end justifies the means.” And this one:”We don’t have enough ( fill in the blank), so we gotta squeeze every bit of juice out of what we DO have, no matter the consequences.” What will produce a shift? I believe it's courageous conversations. They interrogate all the players’ most closely-held thoughts, beliefs, opinions, and conclusions about an important matter, tackle the tough stuff; provoke learning; and enrich relationships. They come from the best in us, which in Sergeant Bales, was swept away with each ignored SOS. Courageous conversations nourish our spirits, so that we can muster the energy to get to shore and take the high road to our goals. It helps to have models for courageous conversations. Look no further than John Graham.

[Marliss]

11:24 PM on 03/27/2012

"we’re all responsible."

Speak for yourself.

I, for one, have NEVER been supportive of our MIC military and the wars of choice in which people VOLUNTARILY choose to participate in the wholesale slaughter of people who are NOT American.

[Coach Martine]

10:16 AM on 03/28/2012

Yes. I have never been supportive of that either. I completely see your point. I see a larger responsibility, however, of being part of the culture which allows these things to persist. Have I taken every opportunity to stand for something other? No. Have I kept silent at times? Yes. Seeing myself as part of the problem allows me to better be part of the solution. It allows me to neither beat myself nor others up, which demonstrates the mind-set that would in the long run focus us on looking at the problems we want to solve and being the people who would not be able to be perpetrators.

[realitytrumpsbull]

02:11 AM on 03/28/2012

Well...there's also the small issue that government is sometimes less-than-honest about things, and will take your concerns under advisement, but nonetheless wears the pants in the family. Group guilt? Ultimately, Bales will bear the responsibility for his own actions, taken by his own hand, in whatever state of mind he found himself in at the time he was killing women and children in Afghanistan. Presumably he was not acting under orders, but under his own volition or for motivations only known to him, or his Cheerios. If you want to go on a guilt trip, though, have a long session thinking about money, and the trillion dollars' worth of oil in Iraq, and the trillion dollars' worth of minerals in Afghanistan. That'll keep you busy...we all like to make money, right? So do people in other countries. There's a bit of a contest in that area, these days.

[Coach Martine]

05:22 PM on 03/28/2012

"Sometimes less than honest" is being pretty charitable. You probably meant that tongue in cheek. The word guilt trip evokes something far less noble than assuming responsibility for a cultural flaw within the culture in which one lives. The former could have you navel gaze and flagellate yourself and others; the latter could have you take effective action based on clear values and goals. The former generally wastes energy; the latter focuses it. What we think and how we think about something matters. It matters too that we clarify our assumptions and interpretations of what is being said.This way we can learn from each other, and that is very, very good from where I stand. We might even model the civil discourse we so wish for in our political life.

[slybarbara]

08:19 PM on 03/26/2012

Timeline complete; SGT Bales seen on return to base first time; talked to Army personnel, who knew him, saying he had just killed some Afghanis of military age and went into the base. He left the base again, then returned to give himself up to a search party. Any more questions as to whether or not he was involved in some covert action? Like killing a bunch of people. Sounds pretty cool. Admitting he had just killed some Afganis, before re-entering the base the first round. Now we've got to hear what the Army people talked to Bales about, in his first return. The Army is leaking out the information a bit at a time, but it sounds pretty conclusive. The $860,000 spent in "blood money" had to have been spent knowing his actions to be truly what was speculated about all along. Washington knows more than we know, that's for sure.
Slybarbara

[realitytrumpsbull]

02:17 AM on 03/28/2012

Whatever the circumstance might REALLY have been(though this sounds novel-worthy, maybe a series), it was Bales' finger on the trigger that killed women and children. Thus, it'll also be Bales' neck in the rope. What will Bales say in his own defense? Is there any defense? Well, there's lots of 'defense', several hundred billion dollars' worth per year, but how does our military then best defend against itself, against people that run amok? And, who defends citizens of foreign countries against all that? People going nuts in war zones...it's happened before, it's called 'berzerker rage', when the attackers don't care who's in the way, they're all fair game, and there are no 'laws' to speak of, just the last man standing. Maybe Bales was trying to get back at the attackers from a few days previous. Time and the trial minutes will tell.

[slybarbara]

12:46 PM on 03/28/2012

"Berzerker Rage" is not a medical term; it is a colloquial , or should I say, a form of "street-wise" jargon and has no place in an intelligent discussion. He is fully responsible for his actions and no amount of justification will excuse him from his actions.
Slybarbara

[BeckyJustice]

06:27 PM on 03/26/2012

I agree 100%.

People have the wrong impression about Doctors. They assume all are infallible. That is definately not true. Even the small percentage that are good at what they do, make mistakes, and Military Doctors lead that list.

http://jonathanturley.org/2009/07/20/the-legacy-of-feres-negligent-military-doctors-amputate-airmans-legs-after-botching-gallbladder-surgery/

So now they are saying Sergeant Bales could be put to death. Why not put to death the doctors who sent him back into combat after a brain injury? Seems like a no brainer.

[realitytrumpsbull]

02:19 AM on 03/28/2012

How much of that is deliberate or malicious, maybe attacking the military from the INside, that kind of thing, and not negligence? Doctors aren't necessarily a bunch of saints, either. They may wear white, but that's where the resemblance ends.

[BeckyJustice]

11:15 AM on 03/28/2012

I didn't say they should be infallible, but maybe they shouldn't have OKed a guy for combat who had recently suffered a brain injury in battle? Even soldiers are human after all. So then the day before, his best friend had had a foot shot off. I don't condone what he did. It was deplorable. What is questionable is why they sent him to was a 4th time.

http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/evolution-the-self/201203/afghan-massacre-how-accountable-are-we-if-the-brain-is-injured

[slybarbara]

06:06 PM on 03/26/2012

Screenings for mental illness and other emotional abnormalities is not going to be improved in the future. The Army wants non-thinking "cannon-fodder," and is not about to spend any time in trying to pick out the "fit." That is silly, if you've ever seen men processed at a recruiting center. How are you going to measure a person for some future combat not even the "processors" can be aware of, and say this person will NOT break! People keep saying Bales "snapped," whatever that means. Bales had a perfectly clear history of failure before he entered the army. If he was unstable and unreliable in a civilian environment how can you say he'll be any more competent in a violent situation? The recruiting people had a record right in front of them, and they chose to ignore it. They'll accept anyone without even a H.S. diploma and possibly a record of misdemeanors, if not felonies. Actually then, they seem to promote the unfit as being quite suitable to fit in with a class of person that has already escaped the responsibilities of civilan life and would make a good killer. Bush started the whole business of troops imbedded in primitive societies like Iraq just to topple one man he chose to dislike. Weapons of Mass-destruction was a screen to cover the real motive--hatred for a leader that chose to resist him. That's why we should pick our leaders with care.
Slybarbara

[realitytrumpsbull]

02:22 AM on 03/28/2012

I disagree, I think that such screening will take place, and also expand to include a political background screening, which might help prevent people like former Maj. Hasan from ever entering the US military in the first place. Might also help prevent people like the kid that killed himself on that training post, 20+ years ago, from ever being issued a service rifle to begin with. People have been around for a long, long time. And, they've also had mental problems for a long, long time. We're past the point where we write it off as demonic possession, but the mysteries of the mind are slowly starting to yield themselves to the world of science. Enlistment standards will go up, not down.

[slybarbara]

02:50 PM on 04/09/2012

There is no sure-fire way to cherrry-pick people with "mental problems" with a dispostion to violence. Sorry there's no such ability for recruiters to send would-be soldiers to an "examiner" whereby they can conveniently dissuade the vulverable from joining to begin with, when the sole criteria is that recruiters are interested in numbers, NOT looking for people with disabilities developed in a harsh civilian environment. Speed is the only thing these people are interested in; putting people with edgy backgrounds into the Army conveyor belt to a War they are totally unprepared for. Civilian problems are overlooked,as the Army is, after all, the way OUT for people that can't hack it on the outside. If your civilian life is riddled with "rap sheets" and an inability to maintain a home, that is not their concern. They don't have the time to analyze people they've never seen before. Face the facts. Recruiters are prompted to turnover as many people as they possibly can. I don't know why people can't see this.
SlyBarbara