Op-Ed: The Degradation of America's Military is Taking a Toll

The degradation of America's military is taking a toll on service members and their families. Despite claims about keeping America safe, a morally corrupted military also endangers America.

The American military's inculcated operations -- soldiers that are repeatedly programmed to resist any acknowledgment of injury and sickness, whether it be physical or psychological -- coupled with questionable, never-ending wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, that, in addition to systematically destroying our liberties, has resulted in over 43,000 troops that are reportedly classified as 'non-deployable for medical reasons' being deployed to fight said questionable wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, has taken a toll on our troops and their families. Because America's military is morally bankrupt, soldiers and their families have become expendable. The wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have been based primarily on lies and deceptions, and, in the case of Iraq, control of oil reserves, which are now being plundered by American oil companies. Despite promises from then-Presidential candidate Barack Obama to end the wars, they have continued. The Fort Hood massacre is one of the most recent examples of how morally bankrupt America's military has become. Major Nidal Hasan, a disaster Psychiatrist who was overloaded with countless stories of horror and death, and a Muslim serving in the military, was constantly harassed because of his faith. As usual, the official story is full of holes and does not add up, so we will probably never know the truth about Major Hasan's actions, how many shooters there really were or what really happened, serving as a reminder of why you should always question 'official' stories. As of yet, it's unknown whether or not Major Hasan suffers from Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), but the Fort Hood massacre highlights the growing problem of American soldiers suffering from PTSD-related trauma who end up being pushed over the edge of the degraded edifice the U.S. military is built upon. Every day, on average, 18 American veterans reportedly commit suicide. The military is failing to treat the mental issues of many of our soldiers. Private Timothy Rich is another example of the military's apathetic attitude. Private Rich went absent without leave (AWOL) because going to sick call for mental health was looked down upon by his unit. His is one of many units that look down upon mental issues. Soldiers Subjected to Abusive Treatment Private Rich told Truthout that his acting First Sergeant believed they shouldn't have mental issues because they were too 'high speed.' Consequently, Private Rich was afraid to go to sick call to get help for his mental issues because he didn't want to be labeled as a weak soldier. When Private Rich brought his girlfriend down to marry her, his unit believed she was a problem starter and he was ordered not to marry her. After being escorted off the base and through airport security to ensure that she had left, his girlfriend ended up leaving the airport and hitchhiking back to Rich's base. Before being discovered, Rich and his girlfriend were married. Once married, the couple was summoned by Rich's commander who belittled them. After Rich's unit also started harassing him, Rich went AWOL with his wife but was later apprehended and sent back to Fort Bragg where he was wrongly assigned to another unit for a year, in which time he was asked if he wanted to be deployed to Afghanistan. Once Rich was permitted to seek mental health treatment at Fort Bragg, he was diagnosed with schizophrenia, psychosis, insomnia and a mood disorder -- none of which stopped his commander from harassing and mistreating him, which in turn resulted in the rapid deterioration of his mental health. Eventually Rich ended up jumping off a roof to kill himself but failed. More on Private Rich and his wife's hellish nightmare courtesy of America's degrading military, along with another example, can be found in this article from Information Clearing House. According to Private Rich, every soldier in his platoon was subjected to abusive treatment of some kind. Years of war in Afghanistan and Iraq have brought PTSD among military personnel to America's attention as never before. PTSD can stem from traumatic incidents, such as mugging, rape, torture, being kidnapped, abuse, accidents and crashes, numerous other situations as well as natural disasters, so it's not limited to the military. PTSD is a growing epidemic. Being a Single Mother in the Army can be Hazardous to Your Child's Welfare U.S. Army Specialist Alexis Hutchinson of Oakland, CA is single mother who is reportedly being threatened with a military court martial if she does not agree to deploy to Afghanistan, despite being told that she would be given extra time to find someone to care for her 11-month-old son while she is overseas. Since being arrested, Hutchinson is confined to an Army base in Savannah, GA, and her son was placed into a county foster care system. Hutchinson was threatened with a court martial if she doesn't deploy to Afghanistan on Sunday, Nov. 15 and has been trying to find someone to care for her son Kamani but hasn't been able to. She tried leaving her son with her mother but that failed after one week. The Army gave Hutchinson an extension of time to find someone else to care for Kamani. A few days before Hutchinson's original deployment date, the Army told her she would not get an extension and had to deploy despite not finding a caretaker for her son. Hutchinson was arrested when she decided not to show up for her deployment. Hutchinson defied the Army's order to care for her baby and now faces a court martial and up to one year in jail. The Degradation of America's Military is Taking a Toll Today there are reportedly 130,000 veterans that are homeless, and twice that number will experience homelessness for part of the year. A recent Harvard University study revealed that over 2,200 U.S. veterans died in 2008 because they didn't have health insurance. These are just a few examples of how the degradation of America's military is setting the stage for more tragic incidents like the Fort Hood massacre. Something needs to be done or it's only going to worsen. We're seeing the results of having our military men and women facing multiple deployments in two never-ending wars. The fact that Exxon-Mobil and Royal Dutch Shell have gotten development awards to plunder Iraq's oil, as noted by WSWS, underscores the criminal character of the continuing U.S.-led occupation. Major American and other transnational energy conglomerates are gaining control over some of the largest oilfields in the world as a result of the Iraq war. More evidence that the Iraq war was based on oil can be found in the recent report that an influential former American Ambassador to the Kurdish regional government that has played a major role in shaping the Iraq war, stands to reap a hundred million or more dollars in oil profits. As noted by the S.F. Examiner, the first support of our troops is to respect their families and lives by not putting them at risk unnecessarily. Our government put our troops at risk when they lied us to illegal wars of aggression and the best support of our troops is to understand this evidence, encourage our military to refuse further engagement in illegal wars, and bring our troops home to their families.