I don’t think we’re gonna be able to solve the problem until we face some hard truths about what’s going on here.
Guilt is a factor. Why?
Because some of these men know what they have done is wrong, and know what the whole system does is wrong, despite being constantly told by superiors, TV, strangers, and the culture at large that it was right.
They know, better than anyone, because they were there, that they were employed by a vast psychopathic empire for ends little better than profit and dominance, at the cost of GREAT human misery, and they know they did it ultimately for money, or worse, the false promise of money.
How many of these soldiers joined up from a position of financial security? How many did it because there was no realistic alternative in their context?
Our hundreds of bases, 10x military spending, growing domestic austerity (which drives recruitment from poverty crushed neighborhoods,) and alliance with virtually every despot and thug calling himself a head of state, (looking at you Saudi Arabia) adds up to a stark, and apparently taboo, fact.
The vast majority of combat veterans of our era are objectively the bad guy by their own criteria, and yours if you stop making excuses.
And after you train someone to die for a good cause as a prelude to using them for your evil one, it’s really not shocking that many of these duped or desperate people kill themselves once they realize the truth or can no longer endure it.
Being a solider entails the courage to die when it’s the right thing to do. The problem is that so many of these men and women have concluded that time is right in front of them. To stop it we must give them the tools they need to make the counter argument.
We must give them real reasons to live for us, rather than die for us.
Solutions:
#BasicIncome to make the military actually voluntary again as opposed to the economic draft it ends up being in far too many cases. And so that the ones that return can find a way to live in dignity.
#SinglePayer so that the ones that need it can get the help they need without catches and strings and hassles.
Infrastructure repair executed by the military. No one sane argues that the national infrastructure is devoid of national security interest. After all, what would we do if we found Chinese agents bombing bridges, or terrorists attacking the power grid? So why not put all that military spending to a purpose that serves both the national security interest and ours? Give these soldiers something to do they can be proud of. As opposed to something that gives them nightmares.
And most of all, End all the empire building. Gut military spending down to global averages. Make being in the military about defending the nation, not the corporations.
Context: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8y06NSBBRtY