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Lethal Warriors: When the New Band of Brothers Came Home

di David Philipps

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"They were once known by the famous moniker, Band of Brothers." Now, 60 years later, the army unit from Fort Carson, Colorado calls themselves the "Lethal Warriors," having seen the worst of the violence in Iraq. Many of its members are plagued by Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) and some, misdiagnosed or untreated since returning from war, embarked on drug-fuelled crime sprees, some of which resulted in murder. Here, David Philipps applies his piercing insight and relentless investigative skills not only to this particular unit, but to the broader issue of PTSD as it rages throughout the country. He highlights the inspiring story of General Mark Graham, a former commander at Fort Carson and one of the few officers who had the vision and guts to recognize this growing problem and to do something about it. Graham has opened his doors to the community for help, speaking candidly about the issue and offering a potential lifeline to the soldiers, and a solution to this deadly problem."--Provided by publisher."The groundbreaking story of how Post Traumatic Stress Disorder has brought the war to our doorstep"--Provided by publisher.… (altro)
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Questa recensione è stata scritta per Recensori in anteprima di LibraryThing.
This book is well researched and shows the problems that a number of soldiers experience once they return to civilian life after going into conflict zones. It shows how these men and women are effected by what they endured. A good read.
  fred_moro | Dec 17, 2012 |
Questa recensione è stata scritta per Recensori in anteprima di LibraryThing.
Over the years, the psychological affects of war has gone by many names, battle fatigue, shell shock, and finally Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. It’s often viewed as an excuse to get out of battle by fellow soldiers and superiors. Those who claim to have it are shamed and made to perform menial tasks as punishment. Many end up not claiming it and try to deal with it on their own. The result can be disastrous.

Iraq created a perfect storm of stress. Soldiers often never saw the enemy, but still could be killed remotely through IEDs (Improvised Explosive Device). The constant uncertainty and no way to work out the stress and aggression take a toll. The overexposure of this unique type of battle can lead to higher levels of PTSD. Phillips examines these factors in his book Lethal Warriors.

Phillips does a skillful job at identifying the problems many soldiers face after returning from Iraq and Afghanistan. He not only probes the his life, but the feeling of going into battle. Even those who suffered from PTSD had the strong desire to return to be with their brothers in battle. Furthermore, many didn’t have very much to come back to after going to war. He takes the murder of a soldier in the unit, Kevin Shields, and then works his way backward to find out what happened. He reveals a startling account of war crimes, neglect, and a perfect storm of events that led soldiers returning to Fort Carson from Iraq to a crime spree.

He examines military techniques, how soldiers are trained to kill, and how the brains natural aversion to killing is eroded. The training combined with self-managed PTSD (usually drugs and alcohol) result in soldiers using lethal force in any altercation, even minor ones. It goes from using it against Iraqi militants, to their wives, girlfriends, fellow soldiers, and eventually random strangers. It is startling to see soldiers going through hell, not receiving help, and seeing them take out that aggression on innocent civilians. In Fort Carson, there is a 300 percent increase in theft, rape, and murder in the small time period the brigade returns from Iraq.

It’s the Epicon report conducted by General Mark Graham that reveals the reasons behind all of this. That this battalion was exposed to more intense battle more often that resulted in an increase in PTSD. Those claiming it were ostracized. Many make the military their career and claiming PTSD would be career suicide; instead of getting help that would turn to substance abuse and violent behavior to take out their aggression. The report details how the military needs to take steps to help the soldiers de-stress and make it easier to get help.

Phillips gets intimately involved in everyone’s life, weaving a narrative in such a compelling manor that it reads like fiction. Even though there are horrific crimes, he gives each person their humanity. One can only feel sorrow for everyone involved, that with just some help, the events could have been avoided. ( )
  shadowofthewind | Aug 9, 2012 |
Questa recensione è stata scritta per Recensori in anteprima di LibraryThing.
Lethal Warriors: When the New Band of Brothers Came Home.

David Philipps
Palgrave/MacMillan
2010

Soldiers returning home from war have always had it rough. When I did my psychiatry rotation in medical school, I was assigned to the Veteran’s Administration(VA) hospital. The psychiatric ward took up almost one entire floor of the main building, and was divided into two wings. One was for patients suffering from PTSD, or Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, while the other treated just about every other psychiatric malady. With the typical cynicism which comes with being a medical student, we referred to the floors more by their nicknames than by their proper titles. The section which dealt with a variety of psychopathology was called either the ‘Smorgasbord’ or the ‘Salad Bar,’ while the PTSD wing was more commonly called the ‘FTVA’ wing. I shall leave it to the reader to decipher the meaning of the letters preceding Veteran’s Administration. I was assigned to the Smorgasbord, and so had very little contact with the patients - most of them Vietnam Veterans - that filled the other wing of the hospital.

Over the past twenty-three years, the military and the VA have continued to struggle with those who have experienced the horror of war. Judging from David Philipps’ book, Lethal Warriors: When the New Band of Brothers Came Home, it appears as if the challenge is even greater today. This book left me wondering if the ‘War is Hell’ which General Sherman spoke about has gotten worse, or perhaps the American soldier is entering combat unprepared for the tremendous moral, spiritual, and psychological upheaval which comes with it.

Philipps reports on the events that followed the return of an Army unit to their home base in Colorado Springs, Colorado from combat in Iraq. Within a short time, the rate of violent crimes in the city increased, with most of them involving soldiers who had just returned from some of the most dangerous areas in Iraq. Philipps interviewed soldiers who were in prison, as well as their family and friends, commanding officers, and a few of the people who were treating soldiers with PTSD. He describes the plight of young men who went off to serve our country, and how the traumatic experience of serving in Iraq had changed so many of them for the worse. He also relates how the medical and psychological support for them was overwhelmed by the sheer numbers of personnel who exhibited signs of PTSD. In addition, he poignantly describes how the military culture made it difficult for soldiers to seek help from the medical community.

This book was very sobering to read, from the recollection of encounters with an elusive enemy in Iraq to the descent of various characters in the book into depression and violence. There was also a lot of strong language as well. I would recommend this book to anyone who is considering a military career, as it shows how ordinary men could be affected by the stress of combat. I spoke to some folks I know who had been deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan, and they all agreed that no one leaves there without being changed in some way. All of them talked of survivor’s guilt, and the strange desire to return despite knowing the danger.

I think this book will increase awareness for the need for more mental health care in the military, the Veteran’s Administration hospitals, and in the private sector. Some of the changes made by General Graham while he was in command at Fort Carson in Colorado Springs sounded great, but programs like that may be eliminated by those who follow him.

There were two things about the book which I found troubling. One is that very few medical personnel were included in the narrative. Throughout the book, physician or psychologist encounters were described as brief, usually after waiting a long time for an appointment. Invariably, the soldiers were prescribed medications as a first means of treatment, with little counseling added to the therapy. It was disturbing to read that a lot of the soldiers were taking prescription drugs while out on patrol. I think that it is possible that the military medical community did not want to discuss this issue, and so their perspective was not included in the book. Perhaps, like my initial encounter with PTSD in medical school, it is still considered a difficult area for discussion.

The other thing which I found quite remarkable is that Philipps seems to totally ignore the importance of faith - any faith - in the life of these men. He did not comment on the religious background of any of the soldiers; I would think that he would have at least mentioned if they had no faith at all. This is an important issue for this book, because the type of fighting in Iraq after President Bush’s infamous ‘Mission Accomplished’ declaration was not clearly defined. The enemy blended in with the people, and made identifying friend from foe difficult. The soldiers even comment that it was often safer to shoot first in an encounter, which sometimes resulted in the death of innocent civilians. Fighting under conditions which forced the soldier to make morally unpleasant decisions must have caused some amount of spiritual anguish among even the most hardened men, and yet this aspect is ignored by the author.

I can think of several explanations for this. One is that serving in Iraq limited our freedom of Religion; I recall that when I was in the Air Force we were told that certain religious items were not permitted in the Middle East. Another is that there is a shortage of chaplains in the military; for some of these soldiers in remote locations, a visit from the Padre is a rare event. But far more important is the way our government is gradually downplaying the importance of religion in our society as a whole. In 2009, the military published a study (An Epidemiologic Investigation of Homicides at Fort Carson, Colorado: Summary of Findings) trying to determine factors which influenced the sudden increase of homicides at Fort Carson. I looked over the report - all 126 pages of it - and found no mention of faith, or religion, or God in it anywhere. The only reference to religion is the inclusion of a Chaplain in the epidemiology team. Perhaps the faith of the soldiers was not investigated because, like other variables in psychology, it is difficult to quantify or analyze statistically. Whatever the case, no discussion of religion, or God in both the Army’s report and Philipp’s book was very disappointing.

It seems to me that the de-emphasis of faith in our society and in the military in particular is to blame for a lot of the troubles which followed the return of these soldiers to the United States. War has always been Hell, but the way that man faced it certainly has changed. During the Civil War, mothers would make sure to include a Bible in their son’s belongings. One of the books we have in our library is the ‘Catholic Prayer Book for the Marine Corps’ originally published during World War II. Even in my own time, in the late 1980’s, faith was seen as important in the military. I recall a Sergeant telling me about ‘GI Parties’ which were held on Sunday mornings for those who were not going to services. A GI party consisted of thoroughly cleaning the inside and outside of the barracks. It didn’t take long for those who wanted to sleep in on Sunday to ‘get religion,’ as it was called. I don’t know about the current situation in the military, but if David Philipps’ book is any indication, religion, faith, and God have been pushed aside. The events described in Lethal Warriors suggest what happens when the ‘Army of One’ has no One to fall back on.

I would recommend this book to only mature readers because of content and language. I think it would be a good read for anyone considering serving in the military because it depicts the reality of war. The subject of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder is something every man contemplating the military should think about before making such a serious commitment. ( )
  19vatermit64 | Jul 14, 2012 |
Questa recensione è stata scritta per Recensori in anteprima di LibraryThing.
“Lethal Warriors: When the New Band of Brothers Came Home”, by David Phillips, is a sobering account of the impact of combat stress on some returning veterans. The book follows the descent into crime, violence and senseless murder by several soldiers of the 506th Infantry Regiment, the storied “Band of Brothers”, stationed in Fort Carson, Colorado Springs, CO. The regiment saw multiple deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan and Mr. Phillips has done a thorough examination of facts and contributing factors surrounding these soldiers. Lethal Warriors is a cautionary tale of just how bad things can and did go wrong.

The events related in Lethal Warriors are not typical of the vast majority of returning veterans who quietly assimilate back into society. Reading the book, however, raised questions for me which I think society must address: How can we – society and the military – best help veterans reintegrate into civil life? What lessons can we learn from this war and past wars to put in place effective safety nets to identify and treat at-risk service men and women suffering from PTSD? Given that the military must train soldiers to be effective in combat, should commensurate training be required for re-entry into civilian society?

The cost of war is far more than the money spent on combat operations. Rather, the true cost is paid by the veterans who fought and by their families and communities who watched loved ones deploy, return, and deploy again. The cost is paid by those who will never return and by those who return wounded. The cost is paid by society which must rightly provide care and support long, long after the fighting has ended. Congress and the American people must ensure now and in the future that we budget for this true cost of war to ensure the military and Veterans Affairs receive adequate resources to address the physical and psychic wounds sustained by our soldiers, marines, sailors and airmen.

It must be noted that the book tells the story a few soldiers whose heinous acts resulted in their incarceration and it is in no way typical of the experiences of the vast majority of our servicemen and women who have served and re-integrated with honor. Sadly, though, ”Lethal Warriors” is a true account of what some soldiers did and as disturbingly sad as the story is, it must be told. My hope is we will consider this story as part of the true cost before we enter into any future war. ( )
  pmackey | Jul 3, 2012 |
Questa recensione è stata scritta per Recensori in anteprima di LibraryThing.
An eye-opening investigation into the results of combat on soldiers who, for the most part, are inadequately trained for the mental stress of operating in a war zone. Moreover, the book details the lack of support given to many of these veterans, who, when returned home, are met with military bureaucracy that would rather claim that these problems were innate before these soldiers were deployed.

Philipps follows the path of a handful of soldiers with PTSD - but after awhile, it becomes harder and harder to differentiate between them. I found that to be the only drawback to the book, the difficulty by the end in remembering the difference between the soldiers. Probably this isn't surprising as the army's way is to eliminate individuality but I found by the final few chapters, I was relying more and more on the index in order to jog my memory of who was who. I don't know how to remedy this - the book needs to have a variety of soldiers who experienced the same consequences of action in Iraq so as not to be written off as a statistical outlier, but maybe more background on the soldiers, or perhaps dividing the stories into separate chapters rather than intertwining them would have been easier of my poor short-term memory. ( )
  reluctantm | Jul 2, 2012 |
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"There are guys like me all over the country now," Eastridge said. "We all went to war. You get used to it, and you enjoy it to a certain extent. Then nothing else matters. You're afraid of normal life. There is no point ot anything. Somehow you have to help these guys- change the mindset. If you don't, this kind of stuff is just going to keep happening."
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"They were once known by the famous moniker, Band of Brothers." Now, 60 years later, the army unit from Fort Carson, Colorado calls themselves the "Lethal Warriors," having seen the worst of the violence in Iraq. Many of its members are plagued by Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) and some, misdiagnosed or untreated since returning from war, embarked on drug-fuelled crime sprees, some of which resulted in murder. Here, David Philipps applies his piercing insight and relentless investigative skills not only to this particular unit, but to the broader issue of PTSD as it rages throughout the country. He highlights the inspiring story of General Mark Graham, a former commander at Fort Carson and one of the few officers who had the vision and guts to recognize this growing problem and to do something about it. Graham has opened his doors to the community for help, speaking candidly about the issue and offering a potential lifeline to the soldiers, and a solution to this deadly problem."--Provided by publisher."The groundbreaking story of how Post Traumatic Stress Disorder has brought the war to our doorstep"--Provided by publisher.

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