Drawn to Carnage

What is it about human nature and violence?

You often hear people talk about war being inevitable or how humans are inherently violent. People that clamor or peace on some level seem ridiculous because they are advocating a position that would make them defenseless against anyone that disagrees.

People definitely like violent movies. The more gore, the better the box office appeal. Sitting safely in an air conditioned theater, it's fun to watch a bang-'em-up beat-'em-up flick while munching popcorn. When it's over, you go home or go get something to eat and pretty much forget about it. Real violence that inflicts real injuries is very different, and there's no "let's go get a burger" moment afterwards. Physical injuries take a long time to heal, and often include some kind of loss of ability or at least integrity of your body. Mental injuries are even more insidious because they are not obvious or readily apparent. The recent wars have a high percentage of post traumatic stress victims, which we are finding out is just a normal response to experiencing combat. It is possible to survive this affliction without treatment, as most combat veterans throughout history have, but you wonder how many walking wounded have woven their way through the aftermath of war with complete turmoil in their heads as they attempt to behave normally in serene social situations.

From a Darwinian perspective, we are violent because that's what helped us survive. But why are we so casually violent? Why are we fascinated and fixated by it? I would almost say that some people are in love with violence for violence's sake.

I know from my own experience that there is no denying that violence appeals to us, it calls to us somehow. I have been re-listening to the book The Civil War, A Narrative, by Shelby Foote, and there is something compelling about the battles and the scale of the carnage. I find myself very drawn to it. You hear about days where tens of thousands of people die, most in horrible ways, and in the back of your mind you're thinking, "I wonder what that was like to be there?". It's fine to be fascinated about this as long as it's in the abstract, if you actually had to experience it, it wouldn't be as good. However, each war or conflict has a strange romanticism about it, with no shortage or eager young men signing up and shipping out. The new soldier, the combat virgin is often full of zeal, ready for action, eager to experience "the elephant" as Shelby Foote calls it. Once experienced, they are not so eager. There is a scene in Band of Brothers where a replacement soldier shares guard duty with a grizzled veteran and is chewed out for his overzealousness. The man that has seen violence has had enough, the one that hasn't is itching for it.

Many cultures glorify violence, hold those that are good at it in high esteem, foster it in their young, and leap eagerly into the first situation that promises the chance to fight. Some of these cultures remain backward and stunted in their developement, but others produce violent young men from a cradle of privilege and comparative luxury. So there is no correlation between the degree of civilization and the willingness for violence. The violence is just inherent in the system.

PTSD

Estimates that as many as 52,000 of the troops returning from Iraq may suffer PTSD (reference Veterans for America website). Regardless of the number, there is no doubt that many soldiers suffer from this condition.

Recent NPR reports from Daniel Zwerdling brought to light conditions at Ft. Carson Colorado, where soldiers that had PTSD were being denied treatment and harassed and mistreated if they admitted to having a problem.

One soldier fought back and won a courtmartial case they were bringing against him, and in the process, started helping other veterans that were afflicted and persecuted by the Army. He is now working for Veterans for America in Denver and his name is Andrew Pogany.

Everyone remembers the scene from the movie Patton, supposedly based on a true story, where a shell shocked soldier is slapped around by General Patton and called a coward because he wasn't really wounded. This famous example is typical of how people feel about the disease, even those that suffer through it. Certainly, the thought that men's minds can erode or snap under the pressure of combat is a terrifying thought to military strategists, trainers, and commanders. How are we to successfully conduct a war if the process disrupts the abilities of the main tool we use to fight, the soldier? In war, we use equipment and plan for the certainty that it will eventually wear out and break through repeated use without any maintenance, yet we don't treat our soldiers as if they are capable of wearing out or breaking. My analogy is ironic, because I am proposing to treat soldiers more humanely by treating them more like machines.

I was listening to a podcast about a University of Lubeck (Germany) experiment where slow wave oscillations were put into subjects heads through electrodes as they fell asleep. These waves simulate the natural waves that people's brains generate as they fall asleep. Researchers speculate that this is an indicator, or the evidence of the way the brain consolidates the activities of the day into long term memory. Many scientists have questioned the purpose of sleep, and a few have theorized that this is when the brain organizes itself and maintains its health. A recent study of a family group with an affliction robbing them of sleep showed that increasingly erratic behavior, memory problems, and eventually death resulted from a prolonged loss of sleep.

I think that this is part of combat induced PTSD. I speculate that a combination of lack of sleep, high degrees of stress from extreme survival instinct, and having to deal with a situation that is just incompatible, contradictory, and intractable would imbalance most people's minds. I believe that the sleep disruption is interrupting the proper integration of soldier's memories and thoughts into their minds. When they do sleep, the hair trigger they acquire to assist with their survival is disrupting their sleep patterns. They have a huge load of mental material to process. They think they are doing their patriotic duty for a country that doesn't appreciate them, and doesn't want them there. They are told they are in the country to help the people that are trying to kill them. They go out to do missions each day, which they cannot refuse, because they are in the military, and their instincts are telling them that this is dangerous and stupid and they should not go out there into the danger, but their sense of duty gives them no choice. They watch friends die and wonder if there is any point in their sacrifice. They listen to their training briefings about how the enemy will attack them, then they see that their threat is everywhere, or the enemy changes tactics. They are in a no-win situation. Does anyone think that a sane person can endure an insane situation long without being infected by it?

Those that come back and do seek and get help for PTSD are taught about their triggers. These triggers are sounds, smells, sights, or some kind of stimuli that puts them back in the mental situation of their distress. They often can't sleep and self medicate to escape the continued stress. Some describe feeling as if the bad situations they endured in combat will not quit happening in their mind. They keep replaying and repeating, keeping the stressors fresh in their mind. One form of treatment exposes the soldiers to their triggers in a safe environment, being told over and over that the environment is safe. Eventually, they can dismantle or decrease their own triggers. Therapy alone has helped many PTSD sufferers get some relief from their condition. Others benefit from time, which seems to erode the condition down to a less severe level. Some never really get better, and many commit suicide.

I believe that the slow wave oscillation inducer could be used in conjunction with therapy to help cure the condition. I think that the brain gets off track and cannot get back to the point where it can incorporate what is happening. With some external reinforcement, perhaps the restful, restoring sleep can be reinitiated and the soldier can begin to assimilate the things that happened and understand and accept them.

Perhaps this therapy could be used in the field. Once a soldier is removed from danger and provided adequate security during sleep, these devices could be made available to the soldier. If the use of externally boosted slow wave oscillators improves memory, as the studies indicate, it could have an additional benefit. Besides not allowing the sleep patterns to become disrupted in the first place, it could help soldiers remember and assimilate the things that happened during the day. If the mind works on the problems of the dangers it faces during the waking hours while it sleeps, perhaps the solutions of how to avoid dangers will come more naturally, and our soldiers will get better at avoiding dangers and surviving their combat experience. And maybe they can then come home, healthy and whole and enjoy the reward of a normal life that they have more than earned through their service.

Iraq Veterans and PTSD

Letter sent to Senator Bond 12/14/2006 6:50 AM

Thank you for your recent request for the Department of Defense to look into the denial of treatment for soldiers that may have PTSD. This is an important issue that cuts across party lines.

A year ago I sent you a letter, disappointed with your stance on torture. I felt that this position could only be blind support for the President in defiance of what is right or wrong (I still do). What politicians do not understand is that there are stances on issues that are right or wrong independent of party affiliation or who supported a candidate to get elected. Most Americans have a pretty good sense of these issues and when politicians' actions seem to be dictated by political expedience rather than what that politician values, the people are sorely disappointed in their leaders.

Whether a citizen agrees with the war or not, the tools we use to fight this war are flesh and blood people, and this country owes its highest debt to those that risk harm in order to serve for the good of the country. The thought that we would ever do anything less than honor and support them is a wrong that must be eradicated immediately.

The sad truth is that war uses people up. The things we require soldiers to do in combat situations harm the soldiers' psychological well-being. This is not a weakness or anything to be ashamed of, it's a fact that we ignore at great peril. PTSD counseling should be mandatory for all returning troops, and command imperatives should be crafted to remove the stigma from this condition. We do so well crafting our service members into a "Band of Brothers" when we send them off to war, and we honor the bonds they form through their trials. Why should these brothers, our nation's brothers, not be treated as true brothers in their time of need? They need our help and understanding to restore their minds and souls after the sacrifice they make for our country.


Please continue this good effort and see it through. It is far too important to ignore.