By all accounts Sgt. Bales was an exemplary soldier having served 3 previous combat tours prior to his current deployment. His family expresses disbelief that the person they know could have committed this atrocity. If, indeed, it is revealed that Sgt. Bales did do these acts it will most assuredly be revealed it was not the son, husband or father that they knew.
It has already been posited that Sgt. Bales suffered from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, PTSD, as a result of his previous tours and from trauma encountered on his current tour. Thing is, he has not been diagnosed with such behavior. Regardless of whether or not Sgt. Bales is diagnosed or convicted it should be recognized that the people of the United States bear some responsibility for his actions. Sgt. Bales did not act in a vacuum. The violence associated with his actions is cultivated in the warrior mentality that pervades or society and our military. We speak of our warriors in a way hardly distinguishable from Nordic societies of the past in that we revere them as warriors, trained to carry out actions deadly to themselves and others in order to protect our desire to live in a society free from just those things.
Philosophers often turn to the thoughts of our founding fathers when we speak of the nature of their intention for our society at the moment of its creation. One thing that is clear is that they did not envision possessing a standing army capable of deploying any place in the world in a matter of hours. They did provide for a Navy but mainly for the protection of commerce. They were all too familiar with standing armies in Europe and the propensity of kings to use them to subjugate their peoples and they wanted no such temptation to affect the actions of our leaders. As an aside, I recently saw a facebook post that stated, “bring our soldiers home, we need them to protect us from our government.” All I can say is that in this statement is an ignorance of our laws (posse commitatus),the structure of our government in which the military is subject to civilian authority and the direct invitation for a military coup to overthrow the government. I don't take these things seriously but maybe I should because they reflect a mentality that the military is unflinching and unfailing which are attributes not present in any military.
In the years since Vietnam, which was the last time we used conscripted personnel, the view of the military services has changed dramatically. Not so much the Generals and Admirals but the dogs of war have been influential in their desire to use military force to establish global hegemony for the United States. They have been largely successful in indoctrinating the public that it is our right and duty to do so. In order to further this end the all-volunteer army has been trained to a degree that we never thought possible only a few decades ago. Up until then we fought wars with civilians that were called into service or volunteered after which they returned to their former lives. Now we train these professional soldiers to be the fighting, killing machines that current conditions require in order that the great majority of the American people have only a passing acquaintance with the despair and bloodshed in far off parts of the world. When those who have fallen in battle return home we honor them with prayer and promises that their sacrifice will not be forgotten. It is strange that the Nordic societies did much the same thing promising that the memories of the fallen would be preserved in story and song then they would be set afloat on a burning boat to drift off to Valhalla.
The dirty fact is that many more come home maimed in body and in spirit, the latter being harder to see and treat. Sgt. Bales very likely has been a victim of that system even though he continued to volunteer for more combat assignments. But PTSD changes the neural structure of the brain. The very people are changed and are no longer who they were. You cannot train a man or woman to be an efficient killer as a matter of instinct and then expect them to be a housewife or soccer mom or little league coach or any other humdrum existence. The instinct remains and the propensity to use it will rise to the surface when required. It is assuredly true that most of those who serve return to live normal appearing lives but that is a testament to their resiliency rather than a trait that we have any right to expect.
Our foundational philosophy did not include a warrior class for good reason. Our country was envisioned to function on the basis of rational thought and the welfare of the whole. The world we live in today is a dangerous one but it is made dangerous through the actions of self-interested organizations and nations. While it may be pie in the sky to think we can exist without conflict it is surely possible to exist with less. And surely we can do this without turning our citizens into killers who find it difficult to erase the training when they walk through the front door.
If the charges against Sgt. Bales are substantiated then he is most certainly guilty and should bear the responsibility for his actions. But be sure, he alone does not bear responsibility. All of us who require that such soldiers exist bear responsibility also just as assuredly as if we had been there. It is time to rethink the warrior mentality.
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