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trinityvixenThe Ground Truth isn't a movie. It's not even a documentary. It's a clip show. It just so happens that just about all the clips are devastating.
The best sound bite, in terms of summarizing the despair of this whole goddamned thing, the reason why I and others like me oppose the war:
"I explained to [a VA psychologist that] we killed a lot of innocent civilians and that's my problem. That's what I'm having a problem dealing with. And she looked at me and she said, 'Staff Sergeant, I can't help you.' And I said, 'What do you mean you can't help me? You're a psychologist. That's what you're here for.' She goes, 'I don't deal with conscientious objectors.' And I lost it. I said, 'What? You're going to label me as a "conscientious objector" for not wanting to kill innocent civilians?'"
-Jimmy J. Massey, Staff Sgt., US Marine Corps
"Nobody calls these people up and says, 'Hey, I want to ask you a bunch of questions to make sure you're doing okay'...so, usually when they get to the point of diagnosing someone with PTSD, it's after there's been an episode. A marital problem. Or a crime. Or a serious meltdown at work...and then, hopefully, they come forward and seek help."
-Paul Rieckhoff, 1st Lt., US Army National Guard
"With Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, the number one thing is that they're reliving it somewhere...it can be in dreams, it can be in flashbacks, which get a lot of press but I think don't exist very frequently, it could be in intrusive thoughts--that's the most common one. And there are people who have intrusive thoughts all day, every day."
-Mental Health Counselor, Dallas VA
"I told [my girlfriend] 'I think I need therapy.' I have a lot of...I don't know what it is, but I have a lot of it, you know."
-Robert Acosta, Specialist, US Army
"I don't want to be healed. I want it to always hurt me. Because I will always remember it."
-Sean Huze, Corporal, US Marine Corps
"These guys who just got back, we've been talking to them and they're a great source of information. They said they were asked when they were leaving Iraq, 'Are you suffering from PTSD?' If you answered, 'yes,' you stayed in country. You didn't go home. [...] They've really tightened up on the medical benefits. You've got two years to declare all your problems after you get out of the service. If anything comes back, well, they don't want it."
-Ed Ellis, Vietnam Veteran
"What we are seeing is a Department of Defense that, when a soldier comes back, if they have a psychological injury or a combat stress injury from war, they are not diagnosing that illness. What they are doing is calling that illness a 'personality disorder.' Or a 'bipolar disorder.' Or some other kind of disorder than has nothing to do with combat."
-Steve Robinson, Former Army Ranger, Executive Director of National Gulf War Resource Center
"They tried to label me with a 'personality disorder.' I was like, 'Okay, I did three years of infantry, three years of recruiting, I'm a combat veteran and you're telling me now I've got a "personality disorder"?' Bullshit. But that's what's happening. They use a 'personality disorder' as a tool. It's just a tool--a tool they can label you with and then they're not held responsible."
-Jimmy J. Massey, Staff Sgt., US Marine Corps
"These guys who just got back, we've been talking to them and they're a great source of information. They said they were asked when they were leaving Iraq, 'Are you suffering from PTSD?' If you answered, 'yes,' you stayed in country. You didn't go home. [...] They've really tightened up on the medical benefits. You've got two years to declare all your problems after you get out of the service. If anything comes back, well, they don't want it."
-Ed Ellis, Vietnam Veteran
(about the 120 days it takes to get paperwork processed on medical/psychological claims)
"A hundred-and-twenty days is ridiculous. It's a good thing that every soldier didn't say, when we got the orders to deploy, 'Well, you know what? Give me a hundred-and-twenty days to get back to you before we go and make sure that freedom is paid for.'"
-Iraq Veteran
"I read the other day that there were suicides that were occurring in Iraq. And one of the public relations people said, 'Those people probably would have killed themselves anyway.' And I found that hard to believe--that that would be their position. But they take the position that wartime experiences have no bearing on suicides."
-Steve Robinson, Former Army Ranger, Executive Director of National Gulf War Resource Center
"Now I'm still left with all this horror and I don't have anything left to balance the scales any more. It wasn't part of the greater good. It didn't protect America from terror."
-Sean Huze, Corporal, US Marine Corps
"If Americans actually listened to the veterans that they claim to respect so much, their attitude would change. But the thing is Americans want to honor the veterans in, like, a very cursory way. You know, a little yellow sticker on their car, or a having a parade or a 'welcome back,' but they don't want to honor the veterans by actually listening to what they have to say."
-Aidan Delgado, Specialist, US Army
Actually there's also this one that pretty awesomely bittersweet, too:
"I'm facing possibly being charged with conduct unbecoming because I've spoken out about this. Because I wrote a play about this that makes an anti-war statement. And...bring it on. I think the only conduct unbecoming for a noncommissioned officer in the United States Marine Corps is if I identified failed leadership, if I identified misguided policy that resulted in the loss of my marines' lives and I didn't speak out about it? That would be unbecoming."
-Sean Huze, Corporal, US Marine Corps
The best sound bite, in terms of summarizing the despair of this whole goddamned thing, the reason why I and others like me oppose the war:
"I explained to [a VA psychologist that] we killed a lot of innocent civilians and that's my problem. That's what I'm having a problem dealing with. And she looked at me and she said, 'Staff Sergeant, I can't help you.' And I said, 'What do you mean you can't help me? You're a psychologist. That's what you're here for.' She goes, 'I don't deal with conscientious objectors.' And I lost it. I said, 'What? You're going to label me as a "conscientious objector" for not wanting to kill innocent civilians?'"
-Jimmy J. Massey, Staff Sgt., US Marine Corps
"Nobody calls these people up and says, 'Hey, I want to ask you a bunch of questions to make sure you're doing okay'...so, usually when they get to the point of diagnosing someone with PTSD, it's after there's been an episode. A marital problem. Or a crime. Or a serious meltdown at work...and then, hopefully, they come forward and seek help."
-Paul Rieckhoff, 1st Lt., US Army National Guard
"With Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, the number one thing is that they're reliving it somewhere...it can be in dreams, it can be in flashbacks, which get a lot of press but I think don't exist very frequently, it could be in intrusive thoughts--that's the most common one. And there are people who have intrusive thoughts all day, every day."
-Mental Health Counselor, Dallas VA
"I told [my girlfriend] 'I think I need therapy.' I have a lot of...I don't know what it is, but I have a lot of it, you know."
-Robert Acosta, Specialist, US Army
"I don't want to be healed. I want it to always hurt me. Because I will always remember it."
-Sean Huze, Corporal, US Marine Corps
"These guys who just got back, we've been talking to them and they're a great source of information. They said they were asked when they were leaving Iraq, 'Are you suffering from PTSD?' If you answered, 'yes,' you stayed in country. You didn't go home. [...] They've really tightened up on the medical benefits. You've got two years to declare all your problems after you get out of the service. If anything comes back, well, they don't want it."
-Ed Ellis, Vietnam Veteran
"What we are seeing is a Department of Defense that, when a soldier comes back, if they have a psychological injury or a combat stress injury from war, they are not diagnosing that illness. What they are doing is calling that illness a 'personality disorder.' Or a 'bipolar disorder.' Or some other kind of disorder than has nothing to do with combat."
-Steve Robinson, Former Army Ranger, Executive Director of National Gulf War Resource Center
"They tried to label me with a 'personality disorder.' I was like, 'Okay, I did three years of infantry, three years of recruiting, I'm a combat veteran and you're telling me now I've got a "personality disorder"?' Bullshit. But that's what's happening. They use a 'personality disorder' as a tool. It's just a tool--a tool they can label you with and then they're not held responsible."
-Jimmy J. Massey, Staff Sgt., US Marine Corps
"These guys who just got back, we've been talking to them and they're a great source of information. They said they were asked when they were leaving Iraq, 'Are you suffering from PTSD?' If you answered, 'yes,' you stayed in country. You didn't go home. [...] They've really tightened up on the medical benefits. You've got two years to declare all your problems after you get out of the service. If anything comes back, well, they don't want it."
-Ed Ellis, Vietnam Veteran
(about the 120 days it takes to get paperwork processed on medical/psychological claims)
"A hundred-and-twenty days is ridiculous. It's a good thing that every soldier didn't say, when we got the orders to deploy, 'Well, you know what? Give me a hundred-and-twenty days to get back to you before we go and make sure that freedom is paid for.'"
-Iraq Veteran
"I read the other day that there were suicides that were occurring in Iraq. And one of the public relations people said, 'Those people probably would have killed themselves anyway.' And I found that hard to believe--that that would be their position. But they take the position that wartime experiences have no bearing on suicides."
-Steve Robinson, Former Army Ranger, Executive Director of National Gulf War Resource Center
"Now I'm still left with all this horror and I don't have anything left to balance the scales any more. It wasn't part of the greater good. It didn't protect America from terror."
-Sean Huze, Corporal, US Marine Corps
"If Americans actually listened to the veterans that they claim to respect so much, their attitude would change. But the thing is Americans want to honor the veterans in, like, a very cursory way. You know, a little yellow sticker on their car, or a having a parade or a 'welcome back,' but they don't want to honor the veterans by actually listening to what they have to say."
-Aidan Delgado, Specialist, US Army
Actually there's also this one that pretty awesomely bittersweet, too:
"I'm facing possibly being charged with conduct unbecoming because I've spoken out about this. Because I wrote a play about this that makes an anti-war statement. And...bring it on. I think the only conduct unbecoming for a noncommissioned officer in the United States Marine Corps is if I identified failed leadership, if I identified misguided policy that resulted in the loss of my marines' lives and I didn't speak out about it? That would be unbecoming."
-Sean Huze, Corporal, US Marine Corps
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Date: 2007-05-31 02:17 pm (UTC)And we've reached a point where, even if many soldiers can't admit it, at least we acknowledge PTSD exists and don't just try to lay it off as some bullshit that crybaby soldiers who couldnt' "take it" are pulling. We need to expand, specifically, the mental health facilities in this country as a whole, remove the stigma of receiving treatment, and encourage vets especially to seek out help. But we need to approach them. Like the one guy said, no one does--unless it's to trap them in Iraq with PTSD (another line that guy had was, if they diagnosed you in-country with PTSD, they could "fix" you and then send you right back to the fight--save money on new soldiers and your flight back home. Gross).
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Date: 2007-05-31 02:20 pm (UTC)Stop Loss was pretty depressing. I don't know if I could've taken two of those movies in the course of a week.
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Date: 2007-05-31 02:50 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-05-31 09:16 pm (UTC)Wait, what? OMFG. I call justifiable grounds for manslaughter right there.
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Date: 2007-05-31 09:26 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-06-01 12:24 pm (UTC)It'll happen just as soon as our army is anything other than a tool for enforced military control of the entire planet.
That's currently scheduled for 2019, right after we start (and lose) World War III.
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Date: 2007-06-01 12:25 pm (UTC)That'll happen just as soon as the U.S. military becomes something other than a tool for the enforced military control of the entire planet.
It's currently scheduled for 2019, right after we start (and lose) WWIII.
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Date: 2007-06-01 02:50 pm (UTC)Now I really want to read "On Killing," which describes the method that the military learned to create these broken soldiers in the first place. The guy who wrote it was in The Ground Truth and he mentions (or someone else does) that the most infrequently used discharge reason is someone failing to, basically, fall in and get with the program in boot camp. Because the program is that good at getting everyone in it to want to kill.
Scary.