Verbal Altercation Between American Soldiers Leads to Fatal Friendly-Fire in Iraq

Source: http://www.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/meast/09/29/iraq.soldiers.death/index.html?eref=mrss_igoogle_cnn

This is another problem of poorly-executed sustained foreign military operations: sustaining psychological health and discipline in stressed, foreign, hostile environment. To add to the imbalance, many soldiers, while excellently trained, are not accustomed to the environment, or people, of another country. To add to it, only 70% of the Army's new recruits had high school degrees, according to a report in 2007, in which the army stated "that they have lowered their standards to meet high recruiting goals in the middle of two ongoing wars."[1]

When there are uneducated soldiers engaged in pseudo-diplomatic military operations, there are bound to be problems. Uneducated people haven't had the experience or mental training to know how to adapt to new environments or accept them, and are most likely not culturally in-tuned nor have a wide global perspective. Education is one of the few things that distinguishes humans from their primal nature. These long-term diplomacy and semi-combat operations rely on level-headedness and the ability to LEARN from your environment, surroundings, and to critically analyze situations, to put rational thought ahead of abrasive emotions—you know, that shit they taught you in high school (if you were paying attention. If you weren't, you learn it in college.) Uneducated people are less likely to have an appreciation of human life because they haven't studied it nor understand it to the extent an educated person does; thus, can more easily fall victim to an "Us vs Them" mindset—the type of mindset prevalent in the dialogue between the soldiers who shot report innocent Iraqi reporters from helicopters, afterwards proclaiming, "Look at them dead bastards" and "Good shootin'" in the infamous video leaked by Wikileaks.* 


 "Education is man's going forward from cocksure ignorance to thoughtful uncertainty." -Kenneth G. Johnson.

In order to have an effective and—above all—respectable military or any policing/peacekeeping force, it is a duty to insure the mental competency and character and psychological profile of every soldier. Requiring a high school degree or a GED for every soldier would be a great first step, but an even better one would be a substantial evaluation of every soldier to ensure his or her viability in not only the fields of combat, but in the new world he/she is to reside in, observe, take part of, and ultimately affect the environment and inhabitants of.

While it may be impossible to eliminate all physical or verbal conflict, it is a disgrace when soldiers shoot each other, demonstrating the Army's lack of immediate counseling, lack of conflict-resolution/conflict-management training, or low expectations and low barriers of entry to the recruitment of the Armed Forces and the issuance of a gun.


Sharp


P.S. I have a lot of family in the military. I do know good, respectable soldiers. Most have great heads on their shoulders, and it's important to note that it isn't MOST soldiers committing such atroticities. These statements were meant specifically to criticize the too-familiar flaws of management in the Army, and to postulate that education of a soldier might be fundamental to the mental stability of the soldier. I live in a country that I like enough to state discomfort towards in order to evoke reflection and reassessment of the systems at fault.


*This isn't just a problem with our military. It is with any American authoritative force with guns. As demonstrated by many cases of SWAT or PDs violently and single-mindedly shooting at protesters, later congratulating themselves with the same kind of chest-puffing gun-talk.