The Trauma of Killing Essay - 2221 Words

The United States military continues to engage in one of the longest periods of combat operations in our nation’s history. One of the results is an increase in the amount of persons suffering Post-traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). According to the American Psychiatric Association (APA) (2000), a precursor to PTSD is the experience of an event or events that involved actual or threatened death or serious injury to self or others. Grossman (2009) argues that an additional factor, the emotional and spiritual response to killing another human being, also takes a tremendous toll on the mental health of returning soldiers. Forty-eight to sixty–five percent of soldiers returning from Operation Enduring Freedom have reported killing an enemy†¦show more content†¦In addition to their role as the official motto of the United States Military Academy at West Point, the words â€Å"Duty, Honor, (and) Country† serve to embody the conditioning that each recruit, both officer and enlisted, undergoes in all military branches. Each soldier is taught that they have an absolute responsibility to their fellow soldiers and the country they serve and to fail to uphold that responsibility can never be justified. This fear of failure, writes Grossman (2009) is one of the primary means the military uses to overcome soldier’s innate aversion to killing other human beings. It is also the fear that allows soldier’s to overcome the fear of death and take heroic actions (Nash, 2007). When a soldier perceives he has failed to live up to these standards, shame may result. The Stages of Killing Grossman (2009) writes that killing involves a series of emotions, beginning with concern before the killing, and followed by exhilaration, remorse, rationalization, and acceptance following the killing. Before a soldier kills for the first time, he or she will often have concerns regarding whether he or she will satisfactorily perform his or her duties or will let down fellow fighters by freezing or in some other fashion failing to properly engage the enemy. This fear of failure is generally mixed with the general fear of being killed or injured andShow MoreRelatedTrauma And Recovery By Judith Herman Essay1723 Words   |  7 Pages In Judith Herman’s book, Trauma and Recovery, she discusses her research and work with trauma survivors. In her book, she writes that, â€Å"traumatic events are extraordinary, not because they occur rarely, but rather because they overwhelm the ordinary human adaptations to life† (Herman 24). 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