Escaping Nightmares

 SINCE NINE ELEVEN, more than thirty thousand American military service members, active and veteran, have committed suicide. Roughly twenty, active and veteran, kill themselves everyday, and tht total number of military suicides throughout American history is probably greater than the total number killed by enemy fire. That speaks volumes, about the stress endured during living nightmares, and its lingering effects. Defense Secretary Loyd Austin, in perhaps the understatement of the century, said he is concerned about it. He should be. During its violent imperialistic history the United States of Aggression has been at peace for something like a grand total of sixteen years, with, as we speak, no apparent end to foreign wars of aggression in sight. Futue American police actions in defense of liberty, freedom, and corporate capitalistic expansion promise to be no less deadly, and equally if not more bewildering and stressful. Like sports, wars are a portal into the soul of a society. Why shouldn't veterans of foreign aggression kill themselves with alarming frequency? We civilians certainly do, confronted as we are with a brutally competitive culture and economy of winning, losing, and alienating? The emotional stress inflicted upon our service personnel heroes is much greater still. Starting with Korea, continuing in Viet Nam, numerous engagements in Latin America and the Middle East, culminating with never ending wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, our uniquely American wars have in common vague, amorphous, ill  defined objectives, military and political, highly questionable, often ineffective tactics and strategy, dubious outcomes, all leaving participants and casual observers alike feeling confused and vaguely discontent, not unlike what Davy Crockett must have felt when asked whether he had ever been lost in the wilderness while hunting and exploring."Nah", said Davy, "But once I was a mite bewildered for three days". We as a culture remind ourselves considerably of Davy Crockett, America's first self made celebrity, the celebrity having been made by others, then bestowed upon David, who at first resented it then embraced and profited by it. The word is "pollyanna". We make a horrible situation palatable, remotely, through self delusion. We talk about loyalty, courage, and service, venerating our military heroes, but seldom mention the suicides, the mental breakdowns. The proud proclamations of a proud people in full denial. If ever we are going to reduce the number of both suicides and hostile fire deaths, we will have to come to terms with the horrible mental and emotional costs of war, and start to invest the necessary resources and effort to heal our folks in uniform and veterans of foreign wars. Then too, we the American people might consider the option of investing less time, effort, blood and toil in foreign wars intended only to make the world safe for American corporate capitalistic domination and exploitation.