Recently, two Marines went on separate rampages. One conducted, to my knowledge, the only amphibious assault a Marine has successfully engaged in during the 21st Century. Unfortunately, it was on a dockside bar in North Carolina and the victims were garden-variety white North Carolinians. The attacker, a Marine Veteran, had suffered from PTSD and schizophrenia, ostensibly aggravated by a bullet that physicians were unsuccessfully able to remove from his brain.
Also this weekend, an attack on a Michigan Mormon Church occurred where a Marine rammed his vehicle into the church and fired on the congregants. A fire broke out and investigators reportedly discovered IEDs in his vehicle. He died in a shootout with law enforcement.
Both the Obama and Biden administrations characterized Veterans (of wars they both voted for and supported) as dangerous and unhinged lunatics. The red flag laws we live under owe half their origin to fear of “unhinged Vets” and the other half to the steadfast advocacy of the National Organization for Women (NOW) and their unshakable belief that any man accused of domestic disturbances should be disarmed.
That said, our Veterans have not had a great time. Divorce rates, drugs, and overall alienation have hit them hard. We’ve seen an uptick in Veteran violence in the US. There are many causes to blame, but one of them should scare people.
All warriors who live in dangerous environments learn to compartmentalize. If you lived like you do “outside of the wire” when you’re in your split-level house with your picket fence in a small town, you’re going to have a breakdown. The “war/peace” distinction is at least as operant as the “friend/enemy distinction” for Veterans. “The things I did and that were done to me happened over there. I am over here now.” That’s a mantra most Vets who successfully deal with PTSD are able to internalize.
The problem with this is that the US is descending into sectarian violence. Quick quiz: what happened in Iraq from 2002-2014? It was a civil war between Shia and Sunni with Kurdish interests mixed in. Saddam was a Sunni leader presiding over a majority Shia country. When his regime fell, a vacuum developed. Who were US Marines and Soldiers shooting at in Iraq? Who was shooting at them? “Muslims,” answers the average person. Yes, Muslims. But the Muslims spent more rounds shooting other Muslims than they did at the US. If anything, the US acted more as a referee in Iraq than a hegemonic occupying force. Shia militias fought it out with Sunni militias. The US tried, like Britain in Northern Ireland, to keep the noise to a bare roar. Then ISIS showed up and things got completely unhinged.
Iraq Veterans know sectarian violence very well, and it triggers very specific instinctive responses in them. In the military, you get familiar with the concept of being “outside the wire.” The Iraq and Afghanistan wars challenged the concept of the wire. Checkpoints got annihilated by suicide bombers. Soldiers with Special Forces Assistance Brigade (SFAB) got shot up by “allies” they were training in their own bases. Soldiers in Fort Hood weren’t safe from sectarian violence in the US. Tough to compartmentalize a war where the front line existed only in your mind. But at least you got to come back to a safe, stable environment where you could go to work, buy your groceries, have a few beers at the bar, go about your life, and not worry too much about being under attack.
As things in the US descend further into sectarian violence, especially in suburbs and other formerly safe areas, you’re going to find a lot of people who were struggling to “put the shit in a box and move on” finally crack up. The “here/there” distinction dissolves when you read about terrorist activities and lawless criminality that would have been at home in the S2 brief in a warzone. Contents under pressure will depressurize, and they will do so violently.
American greatness has its roots in its Veterans. I have never and will never advocate to curtail or limit the rights of Veterans, particularly on the basis of their service. My purpose in writing this is to elucidate the point that the current environment of the United States has become so toxic that it’s exacerbating the trauma of Veterans to the point that we’re seeing some of them crack.
The administration has a right, duty, and obligation to deal with the lawlessness, criminality, and terrorism that’s making America resemble warzones across the world. Antifa, gangs, cartels, and various other actors have created an environment in the US that puts Veterans on edge. A lot of the more vulnerable ones will succumb to trauma. That’s the symptom. It’s time to deal with the root cause. Veteran’s fought for an America they wanted to come home to. It’s time to have that America.