Tag: military

PDForra seeking conscientious objection rights

The Irish Examiner

Sean O’Riordan

The association representing the country’s frontline Defence Forces has taken a case to the Council of Europe to force the State to recognise the right of soldiers, sailors and aircrew to register as conscientious objectors.

PDForra, which represents 6,500 enlisted personnel, is leading the case on behalf of sister organisations in Denmark, Greece, Cyprus and the Netherlands. The Irish case has been lodged through Euromil, the umbrella body of European military representative associations, and argues that not recognising conscientious objection breaches Human Rights legislation. .. [Full text]

Moral injury: Troops talk of how war assaults conscience

Military Times

Patricia Kime

Former Army Reserve Capt. Josh Grenard thought the anguish of losing men in  combat would eventually wane in the years after a deployment to Iraq. But when soldiers from his unit began committing suicide, the wounds reopened — fresh, raw and painful.

“It’s almost two sets of injuries — but having your men kill themselves is wholly different,” Grenard said. “Was there something I could have done? Was there a way we could have gotten them help? Should I have seen it?”

He found himself slipping into isolation, going to his law office each day but questioning his very existence. He drank from 7 a.m. to 10 p.m. daily — “very metered, all day.”

“You don’t want to think about anything. You don’t want to answer those questions,” he said.

Grenard was not suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder, the psychiatric condition normally associated with combat.

Rather, his feelings, which included crippling helplessness, emotional pain, guilt and frustration, are often described as “moral injury,” a psychological condition related to having done something wrong, being wronged by others or even witnessing a wrongdoing, argues Georgetown University philosophy professor Nancy Sherman. [Full Text]

U.S. veterans recall secret drug experiments

American soldiers were used by the U.S. military as guinea pigs in the testing of a variety of drugs like nerve gas, incapacitating agents like BZ, tear gas, barbiturates, tranquilizers, narcotics and hallucinogens like LSD.  Tests were conducted up until the late 1960’s at what is now the Edgewood Chemical Biological Center.  Veterans involved have begun a lawsuit seeking compensation for harm that is alleged to have been suffered as a result of the tests. [CNN]  The story of the tests provides an example of the kind of situation in which conscientious objection by health care workers, had it occurred, might now, in retrospect, seem to have been justified.