Palm Springs ‘Desert Sun’ report on vehicular deaths at Twentynine Palms
NPR ran a story yesterday about the Palm Springs Desert Sun’s investigation into the off-duty vehicular deaths on the roads surrounding Twentynine Palms (Marine Corps) Base.
I was interested in the story because I have been passed more than once on the Interstate by a Marine weaving in and out of traffic at a high rate of speed. (Each instance was a demonstration of skilled as well as reckless driving at the same time.) So I did an Internet search for the online version of the original story, which may be found at the link here. It is a fairly long read, but it is structured nicely for reading on a tablet.
I have copied and pasted the “Investigation findings” section of the report below.
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The Desert Sun has spent the last year investigating the lives, and untimely deaths, of Marines at the Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center in Twentynine Palms. Here are some of our key findings:
- Since 2007, the base in Twentynine Palms has suffered more non-hostile deaths, like car crashes and suicides, than war fatalities. Sixty service members from the base have died in war zones in the Middle East, but at least 64 have died on American soil, mostly in the High Desert, while stationed or training at the base.
- Marines at the Twentynine Palms base have been significantly more likely to be killed in an off-duty vehicle accident than their counterparts at other Marine bases. As of 2002, Marines at Twentynine Palms were three times more likely to die in a traffic crash than the average Marine. Safety measures have made crashes less frequent in recent years, but the base maintains one of the highest fatal crash rates in the Marine Corps.
- Marines who commit suicide while at the Twentynine Palms base are nearly twice as likely to be under the influence of alcohol at the time of their death. Of the 15 Marines who committed suicide at the base between 2007 and 2012, seven had alcohol in their system at the time of death. This is nearly double the percentage reported by the Marine Corps as a whole. The base suffers an annual suicide rate of about two deaths per year, matching the Marine Corps average of 19 deaths per 100,000 troops. The civilian rate is 12 deaths per 100,000.
- In one particularly troubling case, a Marine at Twentynine Palms died after military doctors prescribed him six separate medications for post traumatic stress disorder. The Marine died of “multiple drug toxicity,” and his death was ruled an accident.
Blood Telegram: Genocide in East Pakistan
Great book on Nixon-Kissinger's complicity in the Pakistani Army's genocide of Bengalis in East Pakistan. Based on Arhcer Blood's dispatches from the U.S. consulate in Dhaka.
Garry Bass, Blood Telegram: Nixon, Kissinger and a Forgotten Genocide
Bass is a historian who teaches at Princeton University.
Ordinary Men: Reserve Police Battalion 101 and the Final Solution in Poland
Just finished Ordinary Men: Reserve Police Battalion 101 and the Final Solution in Poland
A profoundly disturbing book, nuanced and very educational as to the sociology of killing and genocide.
For those working in conflict prevention and stabilisation I would highly recommend this book as it gives very good pointers as to the ingredients required for mass murder in terms of sociology (dehumanisation, legitimisation are key) as well as the impact on individuals and the mechanics of sustainable genocide.
For commanders and especially junior commanders it would be a good book to challenge their self-belief that they and their men would never knowingly do wrong. It is very easy to say that we are the good guys and would never do such things, but history is littered with examples of ordinary men doing unspeakable things. The mechanics of how Reserve Police Battalion 101 was co-opted into genocide, the break down of the unit into Active, Participatory and Inactive members, their increasing brutalisation and the impact of the leadership element is both sobering and informative.
Ist auf der Erde ewig dir nichts recht?
A book about the Ahnenerbe.
The Master Plan: Himmler's Scholars and the Holocaust by Heather Pringle.
Ahnenerbe - wikipedia
...
DER HERR:
Hast du mir weiter nichts zu sagen?
Kommst du nur immer anzuklagen?
Ist auf der Erde ewig dir nichts recht?
MEPHISTOPHELES:
Nein Herr! ich find es dort, wie immer, herzlich schlecht.
Die Menschen dauern mich in ihren Jammertagen,
Ich mag sogar die armen selbst nicht plagen.
Faust, The Prologue
the past is a foreign country
Four books that seemed to be common fixtures on expat shelves in mid-seventies Singapore.
War of the Running Dogs by Noel Barber
Syonan, My Story by Mamoru Shinozaki
The Scourge of the Swastika by Lord Russell of Liverpool
The Knights of Bushido by Lord Russell of Liverpool
Quote:
...at the annual Speech Day of Liverpool College on 23 November (1961), Lord Russell of Liverpool lectured the boys on the three things he most disliked in young men: Teddy boys, pop singers and beatniks, but especially pop singers 'because they can cash in to the tune of about 200 pounds a week for strumming a guitar and looking as though they had Saint Vitus' dance.'
The Beatles - All These Years