THE GRUNTS
decisions to go to war. What is
the culpability of those who engineered the wars? Of those who
approved the funding that enabled
the fighting to go on, year after
year? What of those who demanded the end of the draft in 1973 and
its replacement with a professional fighting force? This “all-volunteer” military excused almost
all Americans from service, while
its relatively small numbers mean
those who do serve must deploy
again and again, and again.
As the broad moral injury of
these wars is acknowledged, what
is our part in the healing?
“Maybe people don’t want to
talk about or know about what
can happen to some of our sons
and even some of our daughters
when they go defend the country.
It’s not politically correct. It’s not
attractive,” said Michael Castellana, a psychotherapist who provides moral injury therapy at the
U.S. Naval Medical Center in San
Diego. “But it’s the truth.”
‘BAD THINGS HAPPEN IN WAR’
Until now, the most common
wound of war was thought to be
PTSD, an involuntary reaction
to a remembered life-threatening fear. In combat, the physi-
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cal response to fear and danger
— hyper-alertness, the flush of
adrenaline that energizes muscles
— is necessary for survival. Back
home, it can be triggered suddenly
by crowds, noise, an argument —
causing anxiety, anger, sleeplessness and depression. PTSD can be
quickly diagnosed, and therapy at
It is moral injury, not PTSD, that is
increasingly acknowledged as the
signature wound of this generation of
veterans: a bruise on the soul, akin to
grief or sorrow, with lasting impact on
the individuals and on their families.
last is more widely available.
It is not fear but exposure that
causes m