Truly Remarkable Men

Certainly the news of the Army sergeant, John Russell, who killed five of his fellow soldiers at a mental stress clinic in Iraq is very sad. Certainly for the fine young men who were killed and for their families. What more can really be said about it? It's hard to fathom. Seems like the public gets pulled in a back-and-forth direction when incidents such as this occur. It was only a few weeks ago when we were cheering and feeling very proud for the Navy Seals' heroic actions against the pirates holding the ship captain hostage. Now we have this incident in Iraq to contemplate.

Ofttimes, tragedies such as this will leave a lingering mark on the public psyche; and ofttimes we usually carry on as a society knowing this is part of life in all its quirks and derivatives. Perhaps, there are just commanding or intrusive forces that are out of our control. So, we just move on knowing or at least hoping some other type of force or entity will come and make things right. Thus, it is in our interest to just quickly try to erase the current impending incident from our mind.

Still, how many such incidents can any society absorb, especially a society (American) that has been appointed the policeman of the world. Furthermore, how much more can our soldiers absorb in their turbulent world in the Middle East theater? Sergeant Russell was on his third tour in Iraq, and presumably receiving treatment or counseling for his condition which we assume was psychological in nature. We assume he snapped so to say. That is the prevailing report so far. And we also know this isn't the first time a soldier has killed a fellow soldier or soldiers in the war.

I remember the Muslim sergeant at the very beginning who threw a couple of grenades in a tent and killed at least one officer among others. His reason was that we, the United States, were there to rape Iraq and his fellow Muslims. For Sergeant Russell, at least for now, we just assume it was the stresses of war, although I don't know for sure if he was involved in combat because I had heard his unit was a communications unit. There is a lot that still needs to be learned; and it's possible not everything will be revealed to the public for awhile...and to the conspiracy theorists, in whose camp I seem to stumble into from time to time, perhaps the "real facts" will never be known.

In fact, this brings to mind a movie that I watched on dvd the other day, In the Valley of Elah starring Tommy Lee Jones. Both situations--Sergeant Russell's and Spc. Deerfield's (Jones' son)-- involve or deal with the stresses or rigors of war. The decisions that need to be made in split-second moments out in the field at least in the case of Spc. Deerfield.

In his case, he was part of a combat unit that had standing orders not to stop for anything on the road for any reason while driving in a convoy (don't know if any such orders were actually issued in real life, but that's what the movie portrayed, and the movie claimed it was based on actual events). Apparently, this was to protect them from being ambushed. Well, Deerfield was driving and coming upon an Iraqi boy in the road. He knew his orders, but how can you just run over an innocent little boy on the road? What do you do? You're the one driving, and your fellow soldiers are screaming at you not to stop. Do not stop! In a split second, you have to weigh the consequences of your decision and act... a decision and act that may haunt you the rest of your life.

Well, if you watched the movie, then you know the outcome. Deerfield did run over the boy; and for the rest of his short life, he couldn't cope with the consequences. He eventually gets into a fight with a fellow soldier (apparently as a result of what happened in Iraq), gets stabbed (multiple times) by the soldier. Multiple times perhaps because his fellow soldiers were also having to deal with the boy's death and his looming rage simply prevailed.

So whatever Russell's rage may have been that caused him to kill, it's very understandable that Sergeant Russell's father is very upset to say the least; and in his grief--and at this time, it may just be the grief speaking--he has stated that the Army bears some responsibility in the matter. In fact, according to what I read on MSNBC through Google, the father claims the Army "broke" his son. I'm supposing he meant by the stress tests they were conducting on his son; and again, the stress from just being in that war theater multiple times whether he experienced combat or not (not always known who can or cannot handle such life's situations), perhaps seeing or experiencing something that shocked him may have been the trigger.

In any case, I was listening to radio-host Mike Gallagher the other day concerning this subject, and he did take umbrage to that statement made by Sergeant Russell's father. Mr. Gallagher was in no way deriding the elder Russell himself for he certainly did understand his grief; however, he saw it as his duty to defend not only the Army but the military as a whole, and he did it very well against a couple of callers who believed or went along with the elder Russell's view of culpability.

Whatever opinion one may have about the occasional tragedies that occur in America's Middle East war, in the long run let us remember that these men and women who serve over there in harm's way are truly remarkable. Let us not mitigate their long-suffering dedication. Their passion to serve this great country in whatever way necessary. Take it to heart, when you see or hear news of a fallen soldier, especially if he was a local citizen. Take it to heart when you see a memorial dedicated to a certain soldier who died. Reflect upon not only that soldier, but his family as well. Reflect upon where this country of America would possibly be if it were not for that soldier and his great dedication to his dangerous and sometimes forlorn duties.