How soldiers deal with the job of killing

[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.

[JMA]

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:

As always, a good find, thank you.

For me the conclusion of the abstract says it best:

Conclusion: The results of this study suggest that those already demonstrating ASB prior to joining the military are more likely to continue on this trajectory, thus emphasising the importance of considering pre-enlistment behaviour when exploring the aetiology of aggression in military personnel.

I would suggest that pre-enlistment behaviour should be considered before allowing the person to sign-on in the military in the first place. Remember the days when people when convicted were given the opportunity to go to prison or join the army? Selection is the problem.

Then selection itself becomes the problem when (as with the Brits in the Great War) your fit, healthy and capable are slaughtered while your "sick, lame and lazy" stay safely at home.

That said, my comment related to that pre-enlistment behaviour was a better basis to predict post combat ASB than merely exposure to combat itself.

[JMA]

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:

David, as an ex-Brit copper perhaps your comments on the 5% ASB in the general population against the criteria of the study, please.

[davidbfpo]

I thought that the Forum had a thread on the Haditha murders in November 2005, a search says not, but this "long read" is worth reading.

Update: the main thread has been found, this post has been copied there, after approx. 800 views in a week. The thread is in the Historians area and is:http://council.smallwarsjournal.com/...g-with-Haditha


Link:https://taskandpurpose.com/true-story-marine-corps-blew-biggest-war-crimes-case/