A War's Impossible Mission

[Cavguy]

I have often explained to people who have not deployed that what frightened me about war wasn't the combat or getting killed, but ensuring I didn't lose my humanity and values in the process. It's real easy to fall into the trap CPT Hill and his 1SG did, and I came close myself once after a series of casualties in my unit, but fortunately thought the better of it.

It's also why people are confused when I talk about how much I utterly condemn the Abu Gharib individuals and the soldiers who raped/murdered the girl south of Baghdad, but have sympathy for the Marines involved in the Haditha issue. The former were gratuitous evil, an the latter a byproduct of the sheer frustration of operating among a population who's trying to kill you while you're trying to help. I doesn't make it okay, but I understand the frustration. It takes a tremendous amount of character and moral strength not to lose yourself out there, especially in combat outposts.

I hate to say it, but those who haven't been there just can't truly understand. Hopefully his jury will be comprised of at least a few who have. I don't see why his inquiry is heading in a harsh direction though, since no-one was killed. The BN CO who did it a few years back in Iraq only had to resign. Hell, he didn't kill anyone, like Sassaman's unit did, who also got off, along with COL Steele for ordering his PVTs to kill everyone on that island. Perhaps someone has recognized a trend and decided an example needed to be made.

So Sad.

Update: Reread the WaPo Article and was struck by this:

I was present for every unclassified minute of the Article 32 hearing. Prior to the incident last August, Hill was known as a promising young officer who had received a Bronze Star for valor and three Army commendation medals. He led his men through a bloody spring and summer of ambushes and IEDs. His company -- D Company of the 1st Battalion, 506th Infantry Regiment -- numbered only about 100 men and suffered more than 30 casualties and at least two deaths. But their morale was high. "These guys wouldn't want to be anywhere else," Scott said of his men.

Scott also has an impressive résumé. Career military, he won a Bronze Star of his own for a combat jump into Panama in 1988 and fought for 15 hours straight during the 1991 Gulf War.

(emphasis mine)

I hope the Article 32 hearing takes what has been demanded of these men in the past into consideration. This is why those guys can't be left in combat outposts for such long periods - they stress out. Units must enforce "off the line" time to recalibrate or incidents like this happen.