Less than half our soldiers believe civilians should be treated with dignity & respect

[DawnIsis]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/05/04/AR2007050402151.html

//SNIP//

In addition, about two-thirds of Marines and half the Army troops surveyed said they would not report a team member for mistreating a civilian or for destroying civilian property unnecessarily. "Less than half of Soldiers and Marines believed that non-combatants should be treated with dignity and respect," the Army report stated.

About 10 percent of the 1,767 troops in the official survey -- conducted in Iraq last fall -- reported that they had mistreated civilians in Iraq, such as kicking them or needlessly damaging their possessions.

//SNIP//

[ChairmanAgnostic]

1. did they start off with the LAPD before enlisting? that would make sense.

the problem with royal authority is that it rubs off on the lower soldiers and enforcers, and they forget the way it should be.

[tularetom]

2. How would they want their sisters, wives and mothers treated?

Unfortunately some of these people are going to come back with a very skewed view of interpersonal relations. Add to it the shitty mental health treatment they receive and you can only conclude that our government is breeding a new class of criminals and sociopaths.

[dave_p]

3. Hearts & minds

It's the old, old story.

Armies are for fighting. They're worse than useless for policing and civilian liaison.

If this is the best America can offer the world, we're all in trouble. The militarism has to stop.

[Mz Pip]

4. Extended and repeated

tours of duty, hostile environment and no end in sight probably makes a soldier bitter, angry and frustrated. This war is creating monsters on both sides.

When they come back, if they are lucky enough to do so, the bitterness and anger will take years, if ever to go away. I know Vietnam vets who still have nightmares. THe cost of this war will go on for decades.

I know how angry I get over petty things, like getting cut off in traffic by some yahoo speeding and driving like a fool. That's just a little thing in the grand scheme of things. But I can only imagine what it would be like to be pissed off all the time. It wouldn't take much to push one over the edge.

Mz Pip
:dem:

[Monkeyman]

5. Those Nightmare are still here for me

The Biggest problem here is when they come home if no treatment is given look out America

[Breeze54]

9. Not all come back bitter and angry and damaged.

That's a gross over exaggeration, imho.

Yes, some come back with injuries, PTSD and nightmares etc. but not all.

It really depends on what jobs they did when they were there too.

as it says in the article they were surveryed AFTER working 10- 12 hr days/nights.
I wonder what the conditions of taking the survey were...

snip-->
"A considerable number of Soldiers and Marines are conducting combat operations everyday
of the week, 10-12 hours per day seven days a week for months on end," wrote Col. Carl Castro
and Maj. Dennis McGurk, both psychologists. "At no time in our military history have Soldiers
or Marines been required to serve on the front line in any war for a period of 6-7 months."

And although U.S. casualties in Iraq are far lower than in the Vietnam War, for example, military
experts say that Iraq can be a more stressful environment. In Vietnam, there were rear areas that
were considered safe, but in Iraq there are no truly secure areas outside big bases. "The front
in Iraq is any place not on a base camp" or a forward operating base, the report noted.

Overall, 20 percent of the soldiers surveyed and 15 percent of the Marines appeared to suffer
from depression, anxiety or stress, the Army reported. That was in keeping with findings of
past surveys, as was the conclusion that more than 40 percent of soldiers reported low morale
in their units.

but this is alarming...

About 10 percent of the 1,767 troops in the official survey -- conducted in Iraq last fall
-- reported that they had mistreated civilians in Iraq, such as kicking them or needlessly
damaging their possessions.

We need to get them out of there!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Not next August or in the Fall but NOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!

:grr: :grr:

[Mz Pip]

13. Ummm

I never said "all". Neither did the the survey.

Where's the gross exaggeration in what I posted?

Mz Pip
:dem:

[HereSince1628]

6. Guess that's part of the new Army Strong image...

[Doctor_J]

7. They get their "news" from Hannity and Limpballs.

Of course they think this way.

[IndyOp]

8. This is the least of what happens when you put someone in a place

where they are their team members are being fired at -- if they didn't hate "those" people before they got there, they will very soon after arriving.

:(

[mitchtv]

10. it's gonna be a lonnnng 50 years

following this war

[1932]

11. What if half your friends felt that they didn't need to be polite when they were in your home?

[muntrv]

12. That's comin' down all the way from the top.