???The modern soldier is a curious animal. Combatants go through a training program that is more effective at turning humans into killers than any other in American history.???
???This is a good thing. There is no use in combat for a sensitive soldier. A soldier who cannot fight is as much a danger to their ally as the enemy.
???What we do not need, though, is a generation of ex-soldiers home from war waiting for redeployment or looking for an enemy in a sickly fashion. Unfortunately, according to an article in the New York Times on Sunday, "Case illustrates Army spousal abuse problem," this is what America has been given. An almost total lack of reintegration services by the U.S. military has led to women like Adriana Renteria, husband of Sgt. Carlos Renteria, having no recourse for the domestic violence they incur.
???The armed forces turn men and women into killers and then send them home when they're done with them. But we train these people to view human life as a likely target, and when the human lives they have the most contact with post-deployment are their spouses and children, something must be done.
???Unfortunately the military is washing its hands of some of its most needy ex-combatants. With so much physical injury; how can we be surprised that they ignore the mentally ill? After all, brain troubles are invisible and easy to deny.
???The Army previously ensured Adriana Renteria, as well as the Texas prosecutors, that the case against Carlos Renteria would be pursued but has yet to take any action against the sergeant. He has since been sent back overseas.
???There is a selfish aspect to the denial of responsibility that goes beyond simply paying for reliable mental health services. A modern soldier is in essence a living weapon; punishing a soldier for a violent crime usually renders them legally unfit for service. A convicted soldier can no longer fire a gun. In other words, they become a broken weapon. And the military has no interest in a broken weapon.
???Historically, societies that are this effective at creating human weapons sequester their soldiers from the rest of the populace. Considering that this is impossible under our bill of rights, we the people had better demand some good reintegration services from the armed forces before this becomes even more of an epidemic than it already is.
Photo: Courtesy of Laron Fomby
