My goodness!!! The Marines were ordered to shoot any males of military age in Falluja, armed or unarmed (pretty big age range, too, isn't that about 14-55 over there?). Now some of the are having traumas because of what they did. And Harrison Ford is starring in the movie version! How disgusting it is that we would make a movie of such a sad spectacle. I bet we won't see any of the war crimes the Americans committed, though . . .
Macho marines battle Iraq trauma
By Pierre Celerier near Fallujah, Iraq
December 20, 2004
WEEKS after US marines stormed the rebel Iraqi enclave of Fallujah, military psychologists are still seeing a steady stream of service personnel traumatised by the long days and nights of ferocious street fighting.
In the macho culture of the US Marine Corps, it is sometimes hard for its personnel, male or female, to admit they have a problem and some try to ride out the symptoms, only seeking help after weeks of suffering in silence.
The warning signs could range from irritability to extreme apathy, said Lieutenant Erryn Simmons, a trained psychologist who runs a combat stress management unit at a US base just outside the western Iraqi city.
Her colleague Lieutenant Thomas Fearing nodded in agreement. "They are coming to us predominantly for sleep-related problems, such as insomnia or nightmares, bad dreams," he said.
"After the offensive began, we had a lot of patients, then there was this lull, and it has picked up again recently with people trying to sit on their symptoms."
More than 50 marines were killed and hundreds wounded, some of them seriously, in the huge assault launched on November 8, the largest since last year's invasion.
The US-backed government put rebel losses at more than 2000, although unit commanders later revealed their troops had orders to shoot all males of fighting age seen on the streets, armed or unarmed, and ruined homes across the city attested to a strategy of overwhelming force.
The marines who sought help could be haunted by the sight of appalling injuries, the screams of wounded comrades, the fear of death, or simply the chaotic hell of combat, the psychologists said.
"We get mostly enlisted men, because they represent the bulk of our troops, but we also get a few NCOs and officers," said Lt Simmons.
"We are here to prevent the combat stress symptoms from turning into post-combat syndrome disorder.
"One technique is the listening experience, where we try to make them realise what really happened, how it happened, and why they display symptoms of stress because of this.
"We also have relaxation strategies or we can use sleep medication."
Lt Fearing said most of those seeking help had been treated successfully through counselling, although one or two needed more intensive therapy.
"All went back to duty, except for a few worst cases... we had a couple of them staying a few days with us."
The marines was the last of the services in the US military to acknowledge that the stresses of combat could undermine its fighting capacity and to recruit psychologists to provide counselling and other therapies.
"You are talking about a very macho, masculine environment, where there is a stigma attached to looking weak or in fear," said Lt Simmons, one of a growing number of women in the corps.
"But I guess there's been a real shift to admit that somebody suffering from combat stress is not necessarily deranged or crazy."
At the moment the unit is treating five or six patients a day. Most return to active duty after a short series of 45-minute counselling sessions.
Lt Simmons said it was more effective to treat traumatised personnel within their units rather than sending them home to families, who could often struggle to understand what their loved ones had been through.
"It's better if we can keep them with us, because we can provide support.
"Maybe, it's better for them than to be sent back home, because, for some, their stronger family is here not there."
news.com.au |
