https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/On_Killing
The soldier's choice
Grossman claims in his book On Killing that soldiers are faced with four options once they have entered into combat.[3]
1. Fight: As the name implies, this is the standard that defines the soldier’s role as actively trying to defeat the enemy by use of their training.
2. Flight: This option involves the combatant fleeing the engagement.
3. Posture: This action involves the soldier falsely showing active participation in combat. In actuality they are not being effective in deterring the enemy from success. This is a major point of concern for commanders as it is difficult to tell the difference between a soldier posturing or fighting.
4. Submit: Submission to the enemy during an engagement is a direct act of surrender. In the animal kingdom, this is used by lesser combatants to avoid being injured upon ascertaining the futility of the battle.
The problem of non- or miss-firing soldiers
S.L.A. Marshall did a study on the firing rates of soldiers in World War II. He found that the ratio of rounds fired vs. hits was low; he also noted that the majority of soldiers were not aiming to hit their targets. This is attributable to the inherent humanity inside the soldiers who grew up in a peaceful, equitable society.[4] This was a problem for the US military and its allies during World War II. New training was developed and hit rates improved. The changes were small, but effective. First, instead of shooting at bull's-eye type targets, the United States Army switched to silhouette targets that mimic an average human. Training also switched from 300 yard slow fire testing to rapid fire testing with different time and distance intervals from 20 to 300 yards. With these two changes, hitting targets became a reaction that was almost automatic.
Some authors have discredited S.L.A. Marshall's book, stating that the book may be more of an idea of what was occurring and not a scientific study of what was happening. Other historians and journalists have outright accused Marshall of fabricating his study.[5]
Another important factor that increased fire and hit rates is the development of camaraderie in training. Soldiers are taught that their actions do not only help or harm themselves, but the whole unit.[6][original research?] This recurring theme in recollections collected from war veterans is the idea that they were not fighting for themselves at the time but more concerned for the people to their left and right. This ideology is ancient, recorded for example by Sun Tzu in his book The Art of War: "If those who are sent to draw water begin by drinking themselves, the army is suffering from thirst."[7]
As a result of Marshall's work, modern military training was modified to attempt to override this instinct, by:
• using man-shaped targets instead of bullseye targets in marksmanship practice
• practicing and drilling how soldiers would actually fight
• dispersing responsibility for the killing throughout the group
• displacing responsibility for the killing onto an authority figure, i.e., the commanding officer and the military hierarchy (see the Milgram experiment)
By the time of the United States involvement in the Vietnam War, says Grossman, 90 % of U.S. soldiers would fire their weapons at other people.
He also says the act of killing is psychologically traumatic for the killer, even more so than constant danger or witnessing the death of others.
Grossman further argues that violence in television, movies and video games contributes to real-life violence by a similar process of training and desensitization.
In On Combat (Grossman's sequel to On Killing, based on ten years of additional research and interviews), he addresses the psychology and physiology of human aggression.
____________________________________
https://www.canadianmilitaryhistory.ca/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/4-Engen-Marshall-under-fire.pdf
____________________________________
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ivan_Pavlov
"the instinct for research".[9]
Reflex system research
For broader coverage of 'Pavlovian response', see Classical conditioning.
See also: Reflex
Pavlov contributed to many areas of physiology and neurological sciences. Most of his work involved research in temperament, conditioning and involuntary reflex actions. Pavlov performed and directed experiments on digestion, eventually publishing The Work of the Digestive Glands in 1897, after 12 years of research. His experiments earned him the 1904 Nobel Prize in Physiology and Medicine.[25]
These experiments included surgically extracting portions of the digestive system from nonhuman animals, severing nerve bundles to determine the effects, and implanting fistulas between digestive organs and an external pouch to examine the organ's contents. This research served as a base for broad research on the digestive system. Further work on reflex actions involved involuntary reactions to stress and pain.[citation needed]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ivan_Pavlov
Research on types and properties of nervous systems
One of Pavlov's dogs with a surgically implanted cannula to measure salivation, preserved in the Pavlov Museum in Ryazan, Russia
Pavlov was always interested in biomarkers of temperament types described by Hippocrates and Galen. He called these biomarkers "properties of nervous systems" and identified three main properties: (1) strength, (2) mobility of nervous processes and (3) a balance between excitation and inhibition and derived four types based on these three properties.
Pavlov and his researchers observed and began the study of transmarginal inhibition (TMI), the body's natural response of shutting down when exposed to overwhelming stress or pain by electric shock.[26][failed verification] This research showed how all temperament types responded to the stimuli the same way, but different temperaments move through the responses at different times. He commented "that the most basic inherited difference ... was how soon they reached this shutdown point and that the quick-to-shut-down have a fundamentally different type of nervous system."[27]
Pavlov's principles of classical conditioning have been found to operate across a variety of behavior therapies and in experimental and clinical settings, such as educational classrooms and even reducing phobias with systematic desensitization.[29][30]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ivan_Pavlov
Pavlov on education
However, the fundamentals of classical conditioning have been examined across many different organisms, including humans.[32] The basic underlying principles of Pavlov's classical conditioning have extended to a variety of settings, such as classrooms and learning environments.
Classical conditioning focuses on using preceding conditions to alter behavioral reactions. The principles underlying classical conditioning have influenced preventative antecedent control strategies used in the classroom.[33] Classical conditioning set the groundwork for the present day behavior modification practices, such as antecedent control. Antecedent events and conditions are defined as those conditions occurring before the behavior.[34] Pavlov's early experiments used manipulation of events or stimuli preceding behavior (i.e., a tone) to produce salivation in dogs much like teachers manipulate instruction and learning environments to produce positive behaviors or decrease maladaptive behaviors. Although he did not refer to the tone as an antecedent, Pavlov was one of the first scientists to demonstrate the relationship between environmental stimuli and behavioral responses. Pavlov systematically presented and withdrew stimuli to determine the antecedents that were eliciting responses, which is similar to the ways in which educational professionals conduct functional behavior assessments.[35] Antecedent strategies are supported by empirical evidence to operate implicitly within classroom environments. Antecedent-based interventions are supported by research to be preventative, and to produce immediate reductions in problem behaviors.[33]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ivan_Pavlov
Legacy
The concept for which Pavlov is famous is the "conditioned reflex" (or in his own words the conditional reflex), which he developed jointly with his assistant Ivan Tolochinov in 1901
In 1964, the psychologist H. J. Eysenck reviewed Pavlov's "Lectures on Conditioned Reflexes" for the British Medical Journal: Volume I – "Twenty-five Years of Objective Study of the Higher Nervous Activity of Animals", Volume II – "Conditioned Reflexes and Psychiatry".[43]
The Pavlov Institute of Physiology of the Russian Academy of Sciences was founded by Pavlov in 1925 and named after him following his death.[44]
____________________________________
https://www.amazon.com/Achilles-Vietnam-Combat-Undoing-Character/dp/0684813211
https://www.amazon.com/gp/customer-reviews/RC2Y3ZM74RAAS/ref=cm_cr_dp_d_rvw_ttl?ie=UTF8&ASIN=0684813211
____________________________________
Achilles in Vietnam, 1995
by Johnathan Shay
Achilles in Vietnam: combat trauma and the undoing of character
Johnathan Shay, M.D., Ph.D.
books > history > military
https://www.amazon.com/Achilles-Vietnam-Combat-Undoing-Character/dp/0684813211
https://www.amazon.com/gp/customer-reviews/RC2Y3ZM74RAAS/ref=cm_cr_dp_d_rvw_ttl?ie=UTF8&ASIN=0684813211
Stephen Bang
VINE VOICE
5.0 out of 5 stars This book will change you. Read it!
Reviewed in the United States đŸ‡ºđŸ‡¸ on March 8, 2018
Verified Purchase
This is an important book. If you want to understand Vietnam veterans (really, any veterans) who suffer from PTSD, read this book. It might help to understand why so many veterans commit suicide every day. If military leaders understood PTSD better, some of it could be prevented. It is brutally honest, and Shay warns veterans to take care when reading it, and put it down for a while if it brings up too many unpleasant memories.
Shay opens with a long quote from a PTSD patient who describes some of his problems. He is lucky, his wife tries to help him cope with his problems. When they go to a restaurant, he has to sit at a corner table so that he doesn’t have anyone behind him. When he goes to the men’s room, he has to check all the stalls, make sure there is no one there who could do him harm. He doesn’t understand men who don’t do that. He can’t spend a complete night in bed with his wife because he gets restless and once he woke up with his hands around her throat. He has to get up and walk the perimeter. When he goes into town, he can’t check his mailbox while he is there because of a certain letter he got in Vietnam. The quote is laced with coarse language. That is how the veteran talks about his problems. There are about 3/4 million heavy combat Vietnam veterans alive today, and 1/4 million have PTSD like this.
Shay lists the events that lead to PTSD and the stages the soldier goes through. In the remainder of the book he will focus on these one at a time, compare and contrast it with Achilles in Homer’s Illiad, and illustrate it with an event in Vietnam. The first event he deals with goes by the Greek word thếmis. It means “what’s right.” A commander violates “what’s right.” Achilles fought heroically in a battle, and all the soldiers voted to reward him. Today heroes are rewarded with the Congressional Medal of Honor or some lesser medal. In those days, a hero was rewarded with a beautiful woman who was taken from the conquered city. Achilles’ commander, Agamemnon, violated thếmis by taking the woman away from Achilles. Shay cites several examples of thếmis. Some soldiers observed men unloading weapons from their boats at night. The commander told them to open fire on them, and they did. When daylight came, it turned out they were fishermen unloading their fishing boats, no weapons. The commander applauded the soldiers, gave them medals, counted the dead in their enemy body count reports. Another example – when soldiers returned to America, they were not treated as heroes. Quite the opposite. Anti-war people called them all baby killers. The WWII vets at the American Legion and VFW called them losers. Yet every Vietnam vet knew that he had won every battle he had been in. Another example – compared to WWII, there were lots more full colonels in Vietnam. But the colonels did not lead from the front. They flew over the battlefield in a helicopter, safely out of range of the enemy, and directed the captains and lieutenants over a radio. So the exposure to risk was not the same for the upper ranks as it was for the lower ranks. Only 8 colonels were killed in action in Vietnam. Location 541. Another example – the Army replaced the soldiers’ M-14 rifle with the M-16. The M-16 is very deadly and effective at close range when it works, but those early models just failed too often.
Before Achilles experienced the violation of thếmis, he was a model of good soldier character. He cared about all of the men under his command, he honored the dead, even the enemy dead, after battle, and he treated prisoners of war honorably. After Achilles is dishonored, he flips and kills dishonorably. Shay gives a quote from a Vietnam vet who was raised in a good and honorable family, but he did terrible and (I guess) dishonorable things in Vietnam. Shay argues that many, or most, of us would have done the same if we had experienced heavy combat in Vietnam.
There is always deception in warfare. A small force attacks in one place, to deceive the enemy, then the main force attacks from a different direction. In Vietnam the enemy did a lot of deception. Eleven percent of American deaths and 17 percent of American injuries were from booby traps, which are a form of deception. (page 34) There were lots of surprise ambushes. Soldiers lost confidence in their mental functions, from the continual deception. In war, a soldier feels like a prisoner. If he moves toward the enemy, the enemy may capture or kill him. If he deserts, his commander may imprison him or have him shot.
Shay explores the relationship between Achilles and Patroklos. Many (most? All?) scholars say that they were lovers – that they had a sexual relationship. Shay does not find evidence of that in the Illiad. Patroklos was raised as Achilles’ adopted, or foster, brother, and they were best friends in a special way that is common to combat soldiers. Shay gives quotes from Vietnam veterans who had a best friend who was killed in action. Achilles and Patroklos were such close friends, they were bonded so tightly, that one was incomplete without the other. The same was true of many combat soldiers in Vietnam.
Patroklos is killed in battle when Achilles is not present. There is not only the intense grief for Patrokos’ death, but there is also guilt – it should have been me, it would not have happened if I had been there as I should have been. Vietnam soldiers experienced the same grief and the same guilt.
In Achilles’ time, the events following the death of a soldier were much different than they were in Vietnam. Often, there was a truce that allowed the collection of the dead. The dead bodies were cleaned and cared for by their closest comrades, then cremated. The pyre was doused with wine, and the closest comrades sifted through the ashes to gather the remaining bones. The bones were preserved and cared for until the end of the campaign, and went home to the soldier’s family. There was ceremony as soon as the fighting ceased for a while and the surviving soldiers wept freely and without shame. In Vietnam, dead bodies were very quickly transported from the battle field to Grave Registration in a rear area, where they were cared for by strangers who had no personal attachment to the soldier’s unit. Almost immediately, the dead were flown back to the U.S. There was no time when it was safe for ceremony, and weeping was shunned and seen as weakness. There was almost never a truce for the collection of dead bodies. Sometimes, communist soldiers would mark dead American bodies with white lime so that they could be seen from the air and collected. Sometimes, dead American bodies were booby trapped.
In Vietnam, the soldiers served a twelve month tour. Usually, they arrived and were sent to a unit that had been there for a long time, then they would return to the U.S. at the end of twelve months. Mostly, whole units did not deploy as a unit and redeploy as a unit. (From my reading of Lewis Sorley’s book, I learned that when the U.S. started withdrawing troops from Vietnam in 1969-1973, General Abrams wanted to redeploy whole units. This would have been better for unit cohesion. By then, General Westmoreland was Army Chief of Staff, back in the Pentagon, and he insisted that the soldiers who had been in-country the longest must be the first ones to go home. So one-by-one the soldiers would leave their unit, leaving it under strength. It was terrible for unit cohesion.) Near the end of a soldier’s twelve month tour, he would get superstitious, fearful that he would be wounded or killed just before he went back to the world. The Army tried to put soldiers into a safe rear area a couple of weeks before he went home.
Some soldiers became suicidal while they were in Vietnam. Some of these had an aversion to suicide, so they did very dangerous, risky things, maybe hoping that the enemy would kill them. I don’t think I ever witnessed this, but there was a pilot in my squadron who flew a dangerous mission. Two engines were knocked out, his flight engineer was killed, and his navigator and loadmaster were wounded or injured. He wanted to fly on the very next mission into the same place. He went on to a fine career and retired as a full colonel.
Shay documents how the Greeks and Trojans were respectful of their enemy. Sometimes they taunted their enemy, but in private conversation they were respectful. It helped, I suppose, that they were the same race and adhered to the same religion. American soldiers in Vietnam were disrespectful of the enemy, calling them names like “gooks.” Shay attributes this, at least in part, to Biblical accounts like David and Goliath, who are disrespectful of each other. He cites the way Americans disrespected the enemy in WW I and WW II. I am not at all convinced that the Bible can be blamed for this. I think some of it is race. American soldiers disrespected German soldiers somewhat, but they disrespected Japanese soldiers way more.
In Chapter 7 Shay takes on the possibility, the likelihood, that Homer left some things out, didn’t admit that they happened. He reasons that Homer wrote a couple hundred years after the event and he wrote for patrons of both Trojan and Greek descent. So he didn’t want to offend anyone. He did not write about the privation or the long painful deaths, for example. As I read previous chapters, I wondered if Homer told the whole story on other topics. Earlier, Shay says that the Greeks and Trojans were respectful of each other. Maybe they would taunt each other on the battlefield for a purpose, but inside they had respect. I suppose they did, especially in comparison to how American soldiers felt about North Vietnamese soldiers. Shay examines the various sufferings of soldiers and civilians in Greece and Vietnam. He points out that the rape of women was widespread in ancient times and he alleges that many women were raped, and some were then killed, in Vietnam. It usually was not reported or prosecuted, he says. So how does anyone know how common it happened? It would be terribly counter-productive to the mission, so I do not believe it was ever encouraged or condoned by the leaders, as it was in ancient times. Shay has treated a lot of Vietnam veterans, so he has a few data points on the topic.
Part 3, starting with Chapter 10, is a bit more clinical, although there are still quotes from Homer, and now Shakespeare – Harry Hotspur is diagnosed with PTSD based on Shakespeare’s script. Shay goes through specific symptoms of PTSD. Persistence of the traumatic moment (flashback), not trusting the senses, memory loss, constant watchfulness and readiness for danger, persistence of survival skills learned in combat, feelings of betrayal, isolation, suicidal tendencies, meaninglessness, inability to participate in the democratic political process. Chapter 11 examines to what extent the veteran can be healed. He can never return to the person he was, but symptoms can improve. Therapies are examined. The soon after the war, the popular therapy was “getting it all out” which was disastrous. Ways to prevent PTSD or to make it less common or less intense are discussed. What made PTSD so bad for Vietnam was the individual rotation policy. In general, units were not deployed to Vietnam as units. Individuals were deployed and sent to join a unit that was already there. When a soldier’s 365 days in country were complete, the man redeployed. He did not redeploy with his unit. There was no opportunity to debrief with his comrades. So PTSD can be lessened by deploying units and redeploying units. Some leaders in Vietnam used the berserk state of a man with PTSD to encourage his rage, to act it out by killing the enemy. They also use humiliation and unjust treatment to enrage recruits, to make them aggressive. This is not healthy or necessary or beneficial. There are good, effective armies that don’t do it.
Shay mentions the Bible in a couple of places, but he could have mentioned Numbers 31:19 and 24, which tell the soldiers, who have killed, to be purified for seven days before entering camp. 13 And Moses, and Eleazar the priest, and all the princes of the congregation, went forth to meet them without the camp. 14 And Moses was wroth with the officers of the host, with the captains over thousands, and captains over hundreds, which came from the battle. 15 And Moses said unto them, Have ye saved all the women alive? 16 Behold, these caused the children of Israel, through the counsel of Balaam, to commit trespass against the Lord in the matter of Peor, and there was a plague among the congregation of the Lord. 17 Now therefore kill every male among the little ones, and kill every woman that hath known man by lying with him. 18 But all the women children, that have not known a man by lying with him, keep alive for yourselves. 19 And do ye abide without the camp seven days: whosoever hath killed any person, and whosoever hath touched any slain, purify both yourselves and your captives on the third day, and on the seventh day. 20 And purify all your raiment, and all that is made of skins, and all work of goats' hair, and all things made of wood. 21 And Eleazar the priest said unto the men of war which went to the battle, This is the ordinance of the law which the Lord commanded Moses; 22 Only the gold, and the silver, the brass, the iron, the tin, and the lead, 23 Every thing that may abide the fire, ye shall make it go through the fire, and it shall be clean: nevertheless it shall be purified with the water of separation: and all that abideth not the fire ye shall make go through the water. 24 And ye shall wash your clothes on the seventh day, and ye shall be clean, and afterward ye shall come into the camp. KJV
Shay has worked with so many Vietnam veterans who are afflicted with PTST, that he would like to see the end of all wars, so that there will be no more soldiers with PTSD. He is realistic, knowing that this is not going to happen any time soon, so he looks for ways to minimize the frequency and intensity of PTSD. I think his recommendations make a lot of sense. I would like to see this book widely read, by officers and politicians and everyone else.
The Kindle version is pretty good, but there are long quotes of Vietnam vets or Homer, extending several paragraphs. The paragraphs are supposed to be indented to show that they are quotes, but only the first quoted paragraph is indented. So you get to the second paragraph and it is not indented, so you might think that the quote is over, but after you read a few words it is apparent that it is still Homer, or it is still the Vietnam vet. About a third of the way through the book I started seeing quite a few errors – “typos.” The ones I saw, I highlighted and reported to Amazon. I don’t know how to find out if they have been fixed. Most of these errors are a letter missing in a word or a wrong letter. Not a big deal but I am seeing them about one every five pages.
source:
https://scholars-stage.org/how-i-taught-the-iliad-to-chinese-teenagers/
____________________________________
"Is a warrior ever justified in challenging his commander? Must he sacrifice his life for someone else's cause? How is a catastrophic war ever allowed to start ─ and why, if all parties wish it over, can it not be ended? Giving his life for his country does a man betray is family? Do the gods counternance war's slaughter? Is a warrior's death compensated by his glory?
These are the questions that pervade the Iliad. These are also the questions that pervade actual war."
──Caroline Alaexander, The war that killed Achilles, 14─15
source:
https://onedrive.live.com/view.aspx?resid=BCF8F54CAB28EA82!63247&ithint=file%2cpptx&authkey=!AGNzXW452zrIfPQ
slide 28 of 28
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"the instinct for research".[9]
Reflex system research
For broader coverage of 'Pavlovian response', see Classical conditioning.
See also: Reflex
Pavlov contributed to many areas of physiology and neurological sciences. Most of his work involved research in temperament, conditioning and involuntary reflex actions. Pavlov performed and directed experiments on digestion, eventually publishing The Work of the Digestive Glands in 1897, after 12 years of research. His experiments earned him the 1904 Nobel Prize in Physiology and Medicine.[25]
These experiments included surgically extracting portions of the digestive system from nonhuman animals, severing nerve bundles to determine the effects, and implanting fistulas between digestive organs and an external pouch to examine the organ's contents. This research served as a base for broad research on the digestive system. Further work on reflex actions involved involuntary reactions to stress and pain.[citation needed]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ivan_Pavlov
Research on types and properties of nervous systems
One of Pavlov's dogs with a surgically implanted cannula to measure salivation, preserved in the Pavlov Museum in Ryazan, Russia
Pavlov was always interested in biomarkers of temperament types described by Hippocrates and Galen. He called these biomarkers "properties of nervous systems" and identified three main properties: (1) strength, (2) mobility of nervous processes and (3) a balance between excitation and inhibition and derived four types based on these three properties.
Pavlov and his researchers observed and began the study of transmarginal inhibition (TMI), the body's natural response of shutting down when exposed to overwhelming stress or pain by electric shock.[26][failed verification] This research showed how all temperament types responded to the stimuli the same way, but different temperaments move through the responses at different times. He commented "that the most basic inherited difference ... was how soon they reached this shutdown point and that the quick-to-shut-down have a fundamentally different type of nervous system."[27]
Pavlov's principles of classical conditioning have been found to operate across a variety of behavior therapies and in experimental and clinical settings, such as educational classrooms and even reducing phobias with systematic desensitization.[29][30]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ivan_Pavlov
Pavlov on education
However, the fundamentals of classical conditioning have been examined across many different organisms, including humans.[32] The basic underlying principles of Pavlov's classical conditioning have extended to a variety of settings, such as classrooms and learning environments.
Classical conditioning focuses on using preceding conditions to alter behavioral reactions. The principles underlying classical conditioning have influenced preventative antecedent control strategies used in the classroom.[33] Classical conditioning set the groundwork for the present day behavior modification practices, such as antecedent control. Antecedent events and conditions are defined as those conditions occurring before the behavior.[34] Pavlov's early experiments used manipulation of events or stimuli preceding behavior (i.e., a tone) to produce salivation in dogs much like teachers manipulate instruction and learning environments to produce positive behaviors or decrease maladaptive behaviors. Although he did not refer to the tone as an antecedent, Pavlov was one of the first scientists to demonstrate the relationship between environmental stimuli and behavioral responses. Pavlov systematically presented and withdrew stimuli to determine the antecedents that were eliciting responses, which is similar to the ways in which educational professionals conduct functional behavior assessments.[35] Antecedent strategies are supported by empirical evidence to operate implicitly within classroom environments. Antecedent-based interventions are supported by research to be preventative, and to produce immediate reductions in problem behaviors.[33]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ivan_Pavlov
Legacy
The concept for which Pavlov is famous is the "conditioned reflex" (or in his own words the conditional reflex), which he developed jointly with his assistant Ivan Tolochinov in 1901
In 1964, the psychologist H. J. Eysenck reviewed Pavlov's "Lectures on Conditioned Reflexes" for the British Medical Journal: Volume I – "Twenty-five Years of Objective Study of the Higher Nervous Activity of Animals", Volume II – "Conditioned Reflexes and Psychiatry".[43]
The Pavlov Institute of Physiology of the Russian Academy of Sciences was founded by Pavlov in 1925 and named after him following his death.[44]
____________________________________
https://www.amazon.com/Achilles-Vietnam-Combat-Undoing-Character/dp/0684813211
https://www.amazon.com/gp/customer-reviews/RC2Y3ZM74RAAS/ref=cm_cr_dp_d_rvw_ttl?ie=UTF8&ASIN=0684813211
____________________________________
Achilles in Vietnam, 1995
by Johnathan Shay
Achilles in Vietnam: combat trauma and the undoing of character
Johnathan Shay, M.D., Ph.D.
books > history > military
https://www.amazon.com/Achilles-Vietnam-Combat-Undoing-Character/dp/0684813211
https://www.amazon.com/gp/customer-reviews/RC2Y3ZM74RAAS/ref=cm_cr_dp_d_rvw_ttl?ie=UTF8&ASIN=0684813211
Stephen Bang
VINE VOICE
5.0 out of 5 stars This book will change you. Read it!
Reviewed in the United States đŸ‡ºđŸ‡¸ on March 8, 2018
Verified Purchase
This is an important book. If you want to understand Vietnam veterans (really, any veterans) who suffer from PTSD, read this book. It might help to understand why so many veterans commit suicide every day. If military leaders understood PTSD better, some of it could be prevented. It is brutally honest, and Shay warns veterans to take care when reading it, and put it down for a while if it brings up too many unpleasant memories.
Shay opens with a long quote from a PTSD patient who describes some of his problems. He is lucky, his wife tries to help him cope with his problems. When they go to a restaurant, he has to sit at a corner table so that he doesn’t have anyone behind him. When he goes to the men’s room, he has to check all the stalls, make sure there is no one there who could do him harm. He doesn’t understand men who don’t do that. He can’t spend a complete night in bed with his wife because he gets restless and once he woke up with his hands around her throat. He has to get up and walk the perimeter. When he goes into town, he can’t check his mailbox while he is there because of a certain letter he got in Vietnam. The quote is laced with coarse language. That is how the veteran talks about his problems. There are about 3/4 million heavy combat Vietnam veterans alive today, and 1/4 million have PTSD like this.
Shay lists the events that lead to PTSD and the stages the soldier goes through. In the remainder of the book he will focus on these one at a time, compare and contrast it with Achilles in Homer’s Illiad, and illustrate it with an event in Vietnam. The first event he deals with goes by the Greek word thếmis. It means “what’s right.” A commander violates “what’s right.” Achilles fought heroically in a battle, and all the soldiers voted to reward him. Today heroes are rewarded with the Congressional Medal of Honor or some lesser medal. In those days, a hero was rewarded with a beautiful woman who was taken from the conquered city. Achilles’ commander, Agamemnon, violated thếmis by taking the woman away from Achilles. Shay cites several examples of thếmis. Some soldiers observed men unloading weapons from their boats at night. The commander told them to open fire on them, and they did. When daylight came, it turned out they were fishermen unloading their fishing boats, no weapons. The commander applauded the soldiers, gave them medals, counted the dead in their enemy body count reports. Another example – when soldiers returned to America, they were not treated as heroes. Quite the opposite. Anti-war people called them all baby killers. The WWII vets at the American Legion and VFW called them losers. Yet every Vietnam vet knew that he had won every battle he had been in. Another example – compared to WWII, there were lots more full colonels in Vietnam. But the colonels did not lead from the front. They flew over the battlefield in a helicopter, safely out of range of the enemy, and directed the captains and lieutenants over a radio. So the exposure to risk was not the same for the upper ranks as it was for the lower ranks. Only 8 colonels were killed in action in Vietnam. Location 541. Another example – the Army replaced the soldiers’ M-14 rifle with the M-16. The M-16 is very deadly and effective at close range when it works, but those early models just failed too often.
Before Achilles experienced the violation of thếmis, he was a model of good soldier character. He cared about all of the men under his command, he honored the dead, even the enemy dead, after battle, and he treated prisoners of war honorably. After Achilles is dishonored, he flips and kills dishonorably. Shay gives a quote from a Vietnam vet who was raised in a good and honorable family, but he did terrible and (I guess) dishonorable things in Vietnam. Shay argues that many, or most, of us would have done the same if we had experienced heavy combat in Vietnam.
There is always deception in warfare. A small force attacks in one place, to deceive the enemy, then the main force attacks from a different direction. In Vietnam the enemy did a lot of deception. Eleven percent of American deaths and 17 percent of American injuries were from booby traps, which are a form of deception. (page 34) There were lots of surprise ambushes. Soldiers lost confidence in their mental functions, from the continual deception. In war, a soldier feels like a prisoner. If he moves toward the enemy, the enemy may capture or kill him. If he deserts, his commander may imprison him or have him shot.
Shay explores the relationship between Achilles and Patroklos. Many (most? All?) scholars say that they were lovers – that they had a sexual relationship. Shay does not find evidence of that in the Illiad. Patroklos was raised as Achilles’ adopted, or foster, brother, and they were best friends in a special way that is common to combat soldiers. Shay gives quotes from Vietnam veterans who had a best friend who was killed in action. Achilles and Patroklos were such close friends, they were bonded so tightly, that one was incomplete without the other. The same was true of many combat soldiers in Vietnam.
Patroklos is killed in battle when Achilles is not present. There is not only the intense grief for Patrokos’ death, but there is also guilt – it should have been me, it would not have happened if I had been there as I should have been. Vietnam soldiers experienced the same grief and the same guilt.
In Achilles’ time, the events following the death of a soldier were much different than they were in Vietnam. Often, there was a truce that allowed the collection of the dead. The dead bodies were cleaned and cared for by their closest comrades, then cremated. The pyre was doused with wine, and the closest comrades sifted through the ashes to gather the remaining bones. The bones were preserved and cared for until the end of the campaign, and went home to the soldier’s family. There was ceremony as soon as the fighting ceased for a while and the surviving soldiers wept freely and without shame. In Vietnam, dead bodies were very quickly transported from the battle field to Grave Registration in a rear area, where they were cared for by strangers who had no personal attachment to the soldier’s unit. Almost immediately, the dead were flown back to the U.S. There was no time when it was safe for ceremony, and weeping was shunned and seen as weakness. There was almost never a truce for the collection of dead bodies. Sometimes, communist soldiers would mark dead American bodies with white lime so that they could be seen from the air and collected. Sometimes, dead American bodies were booby trapped.
In Vietnam, the soldiers served a twelve month tour. Usually, they arrived and were sent to a unit that had been there for a long time, then they would return to the U.S. at the end of twelve months. Mostly, whole units did not deploy as a unit and redeploy as a unit. (From my reading of Lewis Sorley’s book, I learned that when the U.S. started withdrawing troops from Vietnam in 1969-1973, General Abrams wanted to redeploy whole units. This would have been better for unit cohesion. By then, General Westmoreland was Army Chief of Staff, back in the Pentagon, and he insisted that the soldiers who had been in-country the longest must be the first ones to go home. So one-by-one the soldiers would leave their unit, leaving it under strength. It was terrible for unit cohesion.) Near the end of a soldier’s twelve month tour, he would get superstitious, fearful that he would be wounded or killed just before he went back to the world. The Army tried to put soldiers into a safe rear area a couple of weeks before he went home.
Some soldiers became suicidal while they were in Vietnam. Some of these had an aversion to suicide, so they did very dangerous, risky things, maybe hoping that the enemy would kill them. I don’t think I ever witnessed this, but there was a pilot in my squadron who flew a dangerous mission. Two engines were knocked out, his flight engineer was killed, and his navigator and loadmaster were wounded or injured. He wanted to fly on the very next mission into the same place. He went on to a fine career and retired as a full colonel.
Shay documents how the Greeks and Trojans were respectful of their enemy. Sometimes they taunted their enemy, but in private conversation they were respectful. It helped, I suppose, that they were the same race and adhered to the same religion. American soldiers in Vietnam were disrespectful of the enemy, calling them names like “gooks.” Shay attributes this, at least in part, to Biblical accounts like David and Goliath, who are disrespectful of each other. He cites the way Americans disrespected the enemy in WW I and WW II. I am not at all convinced that the Bible can be blamed for this. I think some of it is race. American soldiers disrespected German soldiers somewhat, but they disrespected Japanese soldiers way more.
In Chapter 7 Shay takes on the possibility, the likelihood, that Homer left some things out, didn’t admit that they happened. He reasons that Homer wrote a couple hundred years after the event and he wrote for patrons of both Trojan and Greek descent. So he didn’t want to offend anyone. He did not write about the privation or the long painful deaths, for example. As I read previous chapters, I wondered if Homer told the whole story on other topics. Earlier, Shay says that the Greeks and Trojans were respectful of each other. Maybe they would taunt each other on the battlefield for a purpose, but inside they had respect. I suppose they did, especially in comparison to how American soldiers felt about North Vietnamese soldiers. Shay examines the various sufferings of soldiers and civilians in Greece and Vietnam. He points out that the rape of women was widespread in ancient times and he alleges that many women were raped, and some were then killed, in Vietnam. It usually was not reported or prosecuted, he says. So how does anyone know how common it happened? It would be terribly counter-productive to the mission, so I do not believe it was ever encouraged or condoned by the leaders, as it was in ancient times. Shay has treated a lot of Vietnam veterans, so he has a few data points on the topic.
Part 3, starting with Chapter 10, is a bit more clinical, although there are still quotes from Homer, and now Shakespeare – Harry Hotspur is diagnosed with PTSD based on Shakespeare’s script. Shay goes through specific symptoms of PTSD. Persistence of the traumatic moment (flashback), not trusting the senses, memory loss, constant watchfulness and readiness for danger, persistence of survival skills learned in combat, feelings of betrayal, isolation, suicidal tendencies, meaninglessness, inability to participate in the democratic political process. Chapter 11 examines to what extent the veteran can be healed. He can never return to the person he was, but symptoms can improve. Therapies are examined. The soon after the war, the popular therapy was “getting it all out” which was disastrous. Ways to prevent PTSD or to make it less common or less intense are discussed. What made PTSD so bad for Vietnam was the individual rotation policy. In general, units were not deployed to Vietnam as units. Individuals were deployed and sent to join a unit that was already there. When a soldier’s 365 days in country were complete, the man redeployed. He did not redeploy with his unit. There was no opportunity to debrief with his comrades. So PTSD can be lessened by deploying units and redeploying units. Some leaders in Vietnam used the berserk state of a man with PTSD to encourage his rage, to act it out by killing the enemy. They also use humiliation and unjust treatment to enrage recruits, to make them aggressive. This is not healthy or necessary or beneficial. There are good, effective armies that don’t do it.
Shay mentions the Bible in a couple of places, but he could have mentioned Numbers 31:19 and 24, which tell the soldiers, who have killed, to be purified for seven days before entering camp. 13 And Moses, and Eleazar the priest, and all the princes of the congregation, went forth to meet them without the camp. 14 And Moses was wroth with the officers of the host, with the captains over thousands, and captains over hundreds, which came from the battle. 15 And Moses said unto them, Have ye saved all the women alive? 16 Behold, these caused the children of Israel, through the counsel of Balaam, to commit trespass against the Lord in the matter of Peor, and there was a plague among the congregation of the Lord. 17 Now therefore kill every male among the little ones, and kill every woman that hath known man by lying with him. 18 But all the women children, that have not known a man by lying with him, keep alive for yourselves. 19 And do ye abide without the camp seven days: whosoever hath killed any person, and whosoever hath touched any slain, purify both yourselves and your captives on the third day, and on the seventh day. 20 And purify all your raiment, and all that is made of skins, and all work of goats' hair, and all things made of wood. 21 And Eleazar the priest said unto the men of war which went to the battle, This is the ordinance of the law which the Lord commanded Moses; 22 Only the gold, and the silver, the brass, the iron, the tin, and the lead, 23 Every thing that may abide the fire, ye shall make it go through the fire, and it shall be clean: nevertheless it shall be purified with the water of separation: and all that abideth not the fire ye shall make go through the water. 24 And ye shall wash your clothes on the seventh day, and ye shall be clean, and afterward ye shall come into the camp. KJV
Shay has worked with so many Vietnam veterans who are afflicted with PTST, that he would like to see the end of all wars, so that there will be no more soldiers with PTSD. He is realistic, knowing that this is not going to happen any time soon, so he looks for ways to minimize the frequency and intensity of PTSD. I think his recommendations make a lot of sense. I would like to see this book widely read, by officers and politicians and everyone else.
The Kindle version is pretty good, but there are long quotes of Vietnam vets or Homer, extending several paragraphs. The paragraphs are supposed to be indented to show that they are quotes, but only the first quoted paragraph is indented. So you get to the second paragraph and it is not indented, so you might think that the quote is over, but after you read a few words it is apparent that it is still Homer, or it is still the Vietnam vet. About a third of the way through the book I started seeing quite a few errors – “typos.” The ones I saw, I highlighted and reported to Amazon. I don’t know how to find out if they have been fixed. Most of these errors are a letter missing in a word or a wrong letter. Not a big deal but I am seeing them about one every five pages.
source:
https://scholars-stage.org/how-i-taught-the-iliad-to-chinese-teenagers/
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"Is a warrior ever justified in challenging his commander? Must he sacrifice his life for someone else's cause? How is a catastrophic war ever allowed to start ─ and why, if all parties wish it over, can it not be ended? Giving his life for his country does a man betray is family? Do the gods counternance war's slaughter? Is a warrior's death compensated by his glory?
These are the questions that pervade the Iliad. These are also the questions that pervade actual war."
──Caroline Alaexander, The war that killed Achilles, 14─15
source:
https://onedrive.live.com/view.aspx?resid=BCF8F54CAB28EA82!63247&ithint=file%2cpptx&authkey=!AGNzXW452zrIfPQ
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