How soldiers deal with the job of killing

[Fuchs]

Which country was ever well-prepared for major war since the 1880's?

I can identify examples for the early and mid 19th century, but none later.
Maybe my expectations are just really high, but judging by your question yours aren't exactly low either.

[JMA]

Which country was ever well-prepared for major war since the 1880's?

I can identify examples for the early and mid 19th century, but none later.
Maybe my expectations are just really high, but judging by your question yours aren't exactly low either.

Took me immediately to the words of your Von Schell circa 1930.

Quite rightly he noted that the US homeland had no real threat of sudden invasion from anyone. They could therefore take their time to prepare for any war (WW1 and WW2) and enter it at a time and place of their choosing when ready. They then have time to start up those massive (and effective) Henry Ford style industrial and manpower production lines in their build up to a major war.

As such US forces can remain dispersed in their various 'camps and forts' to cater for any future sudden uprising of the indigenous Indian population.

[motorfirebox]

This article seems related, albeit unintentionally on the part of the author. It really seems like this is putting the cart before the horse. You have soldiers being stretched thin on repeated deployments to theater where the rules are muddy at best, against an enemy that camouflages itself as the population that the soldiers are nominally in place to protect. When the stress starts to fray the soldiers, you medicate them to deal with that damage. And then when a soldier malfunctions... you blame the meds? Are these people stupid or just retarded?

[davidbfpo]

Motorfirefox,

The issues around the prescription and or use of drugs by the US military, based on a similar news story (from the UK) was posted on the thread concerning Sgt. Bales alleged murder in Afghanistan, Post 147 onwards:http://council.smallwarsjournal.com/...t=15273&page=8

We don't know how his court-martial will go, but one suspects that his defence may include the use or misuse of drugs and that may finally get sustained attention to the issues. It would be ironic if a murder trial did that and we know that trials, coroners inquests, leaks and non-official action often do better than officialdom in challenging procedures.

There is a plea from the heart on the thread by Mike Few 'White Paper: PTSD and mTBI' which IMO takes a stark look at how soldiers deal with the job of killing and far more - mainly written in 2009:http://council.smallwarsjournal.com/...ead.php?t=7069

[davidbfpo]

A BBC Radio File on Four programme summarised:http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-18902195

The study by Dr Deirdre MacManus, at The Kings Centre for Military Health Research, found an association between soldiers' experiences in Iraq and Afghanistan, and violent behaviour at home. Soldiers involved in direct combat were twice as likely as others to admit having hit someone at the end of the tour, the research found. A third of the victims were someone in the family - often a wife or girlfriend.

Cultural change needs to be encouraged... so servicemen realise it's not un-macho to put their hands up and say 'I need help'.”

Dr MacManus said: "The association between performing a combat role and being exposed to combat, and subsequent violence on return from deployment, is about two fold. We also saw that soldiers who had seen more than one traumatic event were more likely to report being violent."

[JMA]

A BBC Radio File on Four programme summarised:http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-18902195

... and how many committed such acts of violence before a combat tour?

[ganulv]

... and how many committed such acts of violence before a combat tour?

I can’t immediately find the text of the study, but I did find a 2011 study lead-authored by Dr. MacManus. From p. 5:

Interestingly a pre-enlistment history of A[nti-]S[ocial]B[ehavior] was not significantly associated with being deployed to Iraq in this study. However, it was associated with spending on average more time on the deployment in the past 3 years, serving in a combat role and being more likely to discharge a weapon in direct combat. This implies that those with a history of ASB may be more likely to be selected into the infantry which would increase the likelihood that they will be in direct combat situations and thus be more likely to have to discharge a weapon in combat or it may be hypothesised that they may have a lower threshold for violence in the combat situation.