Our "Kill Team" and the Death of Humanity

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Let me begin a difficult Veteran's Day Post by thanking any individual veterans or families who may read this for undergoing difficulty in support of national defense. Though I dissent strongly with America's military philosophy and culture, I do not forget the individual men and women who frequently put themselves in harm's way.

I've been following the trial of Sgt. Calvin Gibbs and his "Kill Team" ever since the story broke some time ago.

Gibbs was convicted of the murder and mutilation of Afghan civilians during a tour of duty with the 5th Stryker Brigade - a platoon described as "out of control" by prosecutors. The evidence bears that description out, with widespread drug use, abuse of Afghan remains, and suppression of whistle-blowers.

Taking the stand in his own defense, Gibbs pleaded that in many cases, after he murdered a civilian and staged their corpse, he cut off their fingers as trophies. Why? In his own words he was "disassociated." "It was like keeping the antlers off a deer you'd shoot."

War creates killers, there's no arguing that. I'm sure that we all can relate stories from family members or friends who have seen combat. But sometimes the violence exceeds even the standards of battlefield ethics. I've heard descriptions many times of sociopathy in war, whether in the Ardennes, Mai Lai, or Baghdad. The pressures of combat encourages the abandonment of social norms and ethics. Even good men do terrible things.


I'm rather unsurprised by Gibbs' testimony. But I am still outraged, and cannot help but feel that we need to sharply criticize not just the wars that our nation wages, but the way that we wage them. There is no way to clean up the bloody, horrific reality of war, other than not waging it in the first place. But the crimes of Gibbs and his co-murderers are not part of that reality. They are the by-product of a system that trains our young people to view their targets not as human, but objectives to neutralize. It's a mighty short hop from objective to trophy.

I don't have much to say, other than that we desperately need to challenge our methods of warfare. I do not speak from combat experience. The only scenario that I can imagine killing another person is the most extreme defense of my family. But we must maintain the human status of our enemies. Ceasing to view them as people is a crime that exceeds murder in bloody possibility.

The sky-high rates of veteran suicide (higher for the second year than total combat deaths) and PTSD point to a system that is routinely failing service members. This is a complex problem. I can't imagine the difficulty of preparing a green recruit for the killing fields. But could it be that it is related to our established pattern of dehumanizing enemies as a central factor in basic training?

There are not easy answers anywhere here, and the stakes are very, very high. But would we rather send people to kill people, or make monsters that will self destruct once they've outlived their usefulness? We are sadly failing the men and women who - many for admirable motives - serve in tough situations.

In the end, I have no answers. But I do suggest that there are two crimes here. One has left innocent Afghans mutilated and framed for their own murders. The other continues to brainwash soldiers out of humanity - their own, and that of their adversaries.

Gibbs received a life sentence, with the possibility of parole after nine years. Whether that is a slap on a hand or a paw remains to be seen.

But so far, the second crime remains unprosecuted.

Do you have military or combat experience? What is your perception of American combat training and culture?