Broadside Blog

"Let's do the whole f***ing village!"

This post is taken directly from my son's blog. Although it's word for word I did slightly censor it, including the title.

On the matter of the Haditha massacre:

While I am only an amateur military historian, it seems that this sort of thing happens most commonly in a specific set of circumstances.
Professional military don't like to do things to civilians, with good reason. One is simple human compassion; you don't want to have that happen to you back home. Another is indoctrination - you're trained to resist the urge to kill without reason (ie, winning the conflict).
And that's the disconnect. Troops living on the front lines for too long, among a population that is considered (and possibly actually) hostile, with no sense of "victory" as you are indoctrinated to understand it, overcomes all. You crave a victory, and revenge for the world of s**t you're living in. Whatever ideological prop was given to get you and keep you motivated ("We're liberating them!") is replaced by dread, fear of death and dismemberment, loneliness, defeat.
And then, before you know it, you do the whole f***ing village. You're the next Malmedy. You're a Mexican solider at Goliad. On, and on. When this is happening, you've got a big problem: the war is lost.

posted by Jay @ 1:59 PM