The Tragedy Of Robert Bales

First, the victims:

The dead:
Mohamed Dawood son of Abdullah
Khudaydad son of Mohamed Juma
Nazar Mohamed
Payendo
Robeena
Shatarina daughter of Sultan Mohamed
Zahra daughter of Abdul Hamid
Nazia daughter of Dost Mohamed
Masooma daughter of Mohamed Wazir
Farida daughter of Mohamed Wazir
Palwasha daughter of Mohamed Wazir
Nabia daughter of Mohamed Wazir
Esmatullah daughter of Mohamed Wazir
Faizullah son of Mohamed Wazir
Essa Mohamed son of Mohamed Hussain
Akhtar Mohamed son of Murrad Ali

The wounded:
Haji Mohamed Naim son of Haji Sakhawat
Mohamed Sediq son of Mohamed Naim
Parween
Rafiullah
Zardana
Zulheja

For some years now, the political leadership of the United States of America, starting first with George W. Bush, and continuing under Barack Obama, has made the conscious command decision to use up the volunteers of the U.S. Military while treating them as their own private little militia: to keep trained troops on as long as humanly possible, to abuse the troops under its command, to leave nothing left but empty hulks, just in order to save some training money.

There have been times in the past when that kind of low, dishonorable command conduct has occurred before, but generally under the imperative of combat. For example (and I'm trying to find the appropriate reference link now), in World War II, the U.S. would not release troops suffering from combat exhaustion, particularly during the the Battle of the Bulge. That decision fell unusually-hard on certain cadres of fresh, poorly-trained and under-prepared troops that were being inserted into the theater of combat just prior to the battle. Bereft of proper support, many of those soldiers never returned home: they were deliberately-sacrificed by our leaders.

That ruthless decision was somewhat understandable: Allied control over northern Europe was uncertain in 1944, and hotly-contested. For the United States to be doing the same today is unconscionable, however. Because we've decided, for some crazy, demented reason, that the 'Global War On Terror' is going to be infinite in duration does not mean we should keep the exactly same troops in combat forever. That conduct - our conduct as a society - is indecent.

The time for a change is right now:

Bales’ odyssey began just over 10 years ago when he joined the military in the immediate aftermath of the September 11th attacks. It continued through three brutal tours in Iraq where he was wounded in combat to the symptoms he is said to have suffered of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) and the indignity of being asked to return to combat despite them.

To put it simply, Bales’ story tells us that we are asking too much of too few to fight a conflict that has gone on too long.

Less than 1 percent of the American population serves in the American military, making it a volunteer force where the tensions and fallout of more than a decade of fighting in Afghanistan and Iraq can remain invisible to most Americans who never see or hear about the toll of war. It raises a persistent question as to whether America should institute a military draft so that the sufferings of war are a more shared burden and there are many proponents of a need for a greater national service that asks all of America’s youth to share in service, not just military service but in education and public works as well.

Afghanistan is already the longest war in the history of America, longer than the Civil War and longer than World War II. Servicemen and women routinely serve multiple combat tours, swelling the ranks of already crowded Veterans Administration hospitals with wounds both physical and mental.

And many are suffering economically as their lives have been torn apart by the stresses of multiple tours.

Bales appears to be among the ranks of those wounded both mentally and physically and also suffering economically.

According to military records and published interviews with his Seattle-based lawyer, John Henry Browne, Bales spent his career at the Joint Base Lewis-McChord, where he was part of the Third Stryker Brigade in the Second Infantry Division. Brown said Bales has an exemplary military record and a supportive family.

Bales was deployed three times in Iraq. According to a profile in the New York Times, the first tour came in 2003 and 2004 just as the U.S.-led invasion began to turn sour and the insurgency intensified in Iraq. In 2006, he returned for a 15-month tour at the beginning of the surge in Iraq, which was led by Gen. Petraeus and the definitive strategy in his counter-insurgency campaign. Bales’ unit was reportedly involved in a serious battle in Najaf. In 2010, he was back on duty in Iraq when an armored Humvee flipped over, apparently attacked by a roadside bomb, injured his head and reportedly sustained a traumatic brain injury, or TBI.

The injury, which has plagued the U.S. military in the era of roadside bombs, can lead to long-term, cognitive disabilities, mood swings and impulsive and violent behavior. Browne told the Times that Bales had been seriously wounded and lost part of his foot from an Improvised Explosive Device, or IED. He added that he may have suffered a brain injury in that attack as well.

Despite the trauma he suffered, Bales was sent back for yet another tour in Afghanistan. And he did so amid what appears to be great economic strain. The family home in Lake Tapps, about 20 miles from his base, is up for sale at an asking price of $229,000 which is 20 percent less than what they paid for it. Neighbors told reporters the family was in economic turmoil and that the recent tour in Afghanistan had pushed it to the edge of a crisis.