The Hidden Costs of War
The human cost and suffering goes beyond military budgets, Iraq’s war budget, the servicemen killed in action and those wounded. It is the hidden costs on the families, businesses and taxpayers that support the patriots serving in the National Guard and reserves, and the mental health costs of those traumatized in battle. “The reservists too long from home and the enlisted soldiers too long under fire measure the cost of a military too small for its missions and a tax cut too large for its time”, Ronald Brownstein, the political correspondent for the Los Angeles Times, wrote.
From the beginning of the U.S. war on terror after 9/11 to September 3, 2004, the U.S. mobilized 423,025 reservists and National Guard members – civilian soldiers who leave their non-military jobs to fight for their country. Most are police officers and firemen, so their deployment takes a high toll on their communities. Of the 37,000 uniformed members of New York City’s Police Department, 273 are on active duty and another 1,155 are reservists who could be called up at any time.
A report by the Veteran’s Health Administration said 2,279 Iraq veterans had been diagnosed with mental health disorders, such as depression, anxiety or post-traumatic stress disorder as of July 29, 2004. Of 168,528 Iraq war veterans, roughly 16 percent, or 27,571, sought health care in the Veterans Administration system by July, according to a VA report. By comparison, 11 percent of combat veterans in Afghanistan had sought care. Veterans Administration health care is free for two years for problems related to wartime activity.
An Army-supported study published in the New England Journal of Medicine in 2004 found 15.6 to 17.1 percent of soldiers and Marines returning from Iraq met the screening criteria for major depression, generalized anxiety or post-traumatic stress disorder, compared with 11.2 percent of those from Afghanistan. “Only 31 percent of soldiers deployed to Afghanistan reported having engaged in a firefight, as compared to 71 percent to 86 percent of soldiers and Marines who had been deployed in Iraq,” the report said. “Of those whose responses indicated a mental disorder, only 23 percent to 40 percent had sought mental health care.”
The murder charges filed against Jacob Burgoyne, Mario Navarrete and Alberto Martinez, three soldiers who returned from Iraq and killed their fellow returnee Richard Davis for ruining their evening in a nightclub; and the court martial of Specialists Charley Hooser and Rami Dajani of the U.S. 1st Cavalry Division serving in Iraq, shed some light on how these hidden costs can accidentally kill innocent friends.
Burgoyne, Martinez, Navarrete and Davis had been in a popular club near Fort Benning, Georgia just 72 hours after their return from Iraq in 2003. They were asked to leave after Davis hit one of the dancers in the eye. Davis’s body was later discovered with no fewer than 33 stab wounds believed to have been inflicted by his buddies for his rowdy behavior that ruined their evening.
Specialists Hooser and Dajani worked on dangerous missions down sniper alley with an Iraqi interpreter called Luma – whose last name was withheld to protect her family. The three would relax together, watch movies and get caught up in the dark humor that comes easily in Iraq – the threat to kill each other and bury the body in a hole.
On November 24, 2004, Hooser and Luma had just finished cleaning up the interrogation room where they worked when they began wrestling. Luma told Hooser, laughing, “I’m going to get you,” according to testimony. Dajani remembered fetching a 9mm pistol the military had given Luma. Hooser said he heard Dajani check the weapon for a bullet in the chamber. Dajani said he never “cleared” the weapon.
A prosecutor said Dajani admitted putting a clip of bullets into the pistol, which by base safety rules should have been unloaded. Hooser then pointed the gun at Luma, something he had done with others when he was joking around, according to testimony. He pulled the trigger and the bullet tore through Luma’s skull. The two men lied to investigators, saying Luma was playing with her own gun when it went off.
When the troop deployments in Afghanistan and Iraq are considered together, some experts believe that the number of troops needing mental health treatment could exceed 100,00.
“Fort Bragg” is a code term for what the stress of combat can do to a soldier returning from Afghanistan and Iraq. It includes senseless murders and suicides among America’s elite forces. Soldiers who killed their wives and then committed suicide. The suicide rate among soldiers serving in Kuwait and Iraq is one-third higher than in previous conflicts.
The countless stories of U.S. brutality in Afghanistan and Iraq echo Vietnam-era atrocities and blunders. The parallels between Vietnam, Afghanistan and Iraq were hammered home by the endless carpet-bombing of the mountain caves in Afghanistan and cities in Iraq. These, like the bombing of the underground tunnels of Vietnam, did not stop the insurgents from fighting and winning.
It was American colonialists who wrote the book on guerilla tactics. It was the first country to defeat a world power. It devised the tactics and lessons later used by the Vietnamese, Afghanis and Iraqis.
To paraphrase singer Toby Keith, angry Americans can’t blindly and apathetically go around the world sticking their boot into others’ mud courtesy of the red, white and blue and then be surprised when America’s boots and their wearers are returned home in body bags courtesy of the red, green and black.
Any wonder so many Americans are disgusted with the country and are abandoning it?
From the beginning of the U.S. war on terror after 9/11 to September 3, 2004, the U.S. mobilized 423,025 reservists and National Guard members – civilian soldiers who leave their non-military jobs to fight for their country. Most are police officers and firemen, so their deployment takes a high toll on their communities. Of the 37,000 uniformed members of New York City’s Police Department, 273 are on active duty and another 1,155 are reservists who could be called up at any time.
A report by the Veteran’s Health Administration said 2,279 Iraq veterans had been diagnosed with mental health disorders, such as depression, anxiety or post-traumatic stress disorder as of July 29, 2004. Of 168,528 Iraq war veterans, roughly 16 percent, or 27,571, sought health care in the Veterans Administration system by July, according to a VA report. By comparison, 11 percent of combat veterans in Afghanistan had sought care. Veterans Administration health care is free for two years for problems related to wartime activity.
An Army-supported study published in the New England Journal of Medicine in 2004 found 15.6 to 17.1 percent of soldiers and Marines returning from Iraq met the screening criteria for major depression, generalized anxiety or post-traumatic stress disorder, compared with 11.2 percent of those from Afghanistan. “Only 31 percent of soldiers deployed to Afghanistan reported having engaged in a firefight, as compared to 71 percent to 86 percent of soldiers and Marines who had been deployed in Iraq,” the report said. “Of those whose responses indicated a mental disorder, only 23 percent to 40 percent had sought mental health care.”
The murder charges filed against Jacob Burgoyne, Mario Navarrete and Alberto Martinez, three soldiers who returned from Iraq and killed their fellow returnee Richard Davis for ruining their evening in a nightclub; and the court martial of Specialists Charley Hooser and Rami Dajani of the U.S. 1st Cavalry Division serving in Iraq, shed some light on how these hidden costs can accidentally kill innocent friends.
Burgoyne, Martinez, Navarrete and Davis had been in a popular club near Fort Benning, Georgia just 72 hours after their return from Iraq in 2003. They were asked to leave after Davis hit one of the dancers in the eye. Davis’s body was later discovered with no fewer than 33 stab wounds believed to have been inflicted by his buddies for his rowdy behavior that ruined their evening.
Specialists Hooser and Dajani worked on dangerous missions down sniper alley with an Iraqi interpreter called Luma – whose last name was withheld to protect her family. The three would relax together, watch movies and get caught up in the dark humor that comes easily in Iraq – the threat to kill each other and bury the body in a hole.
On November 24, 2004, Hooser and Luma had just finished cleaning up the interrogation room where they worked when they began wrestling. Luma told Hooser, laughing, “I’m going to get you,” according to testimony. Dajani remembered fetching a 9mm pistol the military had given Luma. Hooser said he heard Dajani check the weapon for a bullet in the chamber. Dajani said he never “cleared” the weapon.
A prosecutor said Dajani admitted putting a clip of bullets into the pistol, which by base safety rules should have been unloaded. Hooser then pointed the gun at Luma, something he had done with others when he was joking around, according to testimony. He pulled the trigger and the bullet tore through Luma’s skull. The two men lied to investigators, saying Luma was playing with her own gun when it went off.
When the troop deployments in Afghanistan and Iraq are considered together, some experts believe that the number of troops needing mental health treatment could exceed 100,00.
“Fort Bragg” is a code term for what the stress of combat can do to a soldier returning from Afghanistan and Iraq. It includes senseless murders and suicides among America’s elite forces. Soldiers who killed their wives and then committed suicide. The suicide rate among soldiers serving in Kuwait and Iraq is one-third higher than in previous conflicts.
The countless stories of U.S. brutality in Afghanistan and Iraq echo Vietnam-era atrocities and blunders. The parallels between Vietnam, Afghanistan and Iraq were hammered home by the endless carpet-bombing of the mountain caves in Afghanistan and cities in Iraq. These, like the bombing of the underground tunnels of Vietnam, did not stop the insurgents from fighting and winning.
It was American colonialists who wrote the book on guerilla tactics. It was the first country to defeat a world power. It devised the tactics and lessons later used by the Vietnamese, Afghanis and Iraqis.
To paraphrase singer Toby Keith, angry Americans can’t blindly and apathetically go around the world sticking their boot into others’ mud courtesy of the red, white and blue and then be surprised when America’s boots and their wearers are returned home in body bags courtesy of the red, green and black.
Any wonder so many Americans are disgusted with the country and are abandoning it?
posted by Peter de Krassel's Custom Maid Politics at 10:45 AM
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