“No decent human being can cope with taking the life of another, only hardened criminals can cope, but then again the Armed forces dont accpt hardened criminals into military service, yes?”

I’d have to ask you to define “decent human being.”

Studies show that soldiers with effective coping strategies have a lower rate of PTSD and other problems in the military and in life. You might want to start reading here….

http://arjournals.annualreviews.org/loi/psych

“Think about this: How many high school seniors do you know that can cope with killing, being shot at, and everything else (everyday, food, shelter shower,etc)?”

No decent human being can cope with taking the life of another, only hardened criminals can cope, but then again the Armed forces dont accpt hardened criminals into military service, yes?

Think about it. A lot of them go from high school senior (video gaming, hanging out with buddies) to combat in about a 3-6 month period.

There are no individualized or general coping skills taught in the military. I submit that since coping skills are such an individual/personality driven mechanism, our troops should be taught to identify their own personal (productive) coping mechanisms, and how to establish them. This could easily be done in conjunction with the combat training most of them do right before deployment, or even in basic training.

Think about this: How many high school seniors do you know that can cope with killing, being shot at, and everything else (everyday, food, shelter, shower, etc)?

Basic and combat training do not give soldiers the skills to uncover their own innate coping mechanisms.

So the military gives them pills, its easier…and sends them right back into war on their next rotation.

Pentagon is “Doping” U.S. Armed Forces with “Speed”

Rash of Wife Killings by Special Forces and Bombings of Wrong Targets in Afghanistan May be Due to Drug Induced Paranoia
by
Ernesto Cienfuegos
La Voz de Aztlan

Los Angeles, Alta California - October 2, 2002- There are two kinds of speed! There is the kind made illegally in motel rooms, in ghetto tenement rooms and in dilapidated trailer camps throughout America and which is increasingly being tied to the most horrific and bloody murders imaginable. There is a second kind of speed that is made in pristine laboratories that have very profitable contracts with the Pentagon. This speed is being provided by the Pentagon to Armed Forces helicopter, fighter plane, and bomber pilots and there is now ample evidence that it is also being provided to other Armed Forces personnel on a routine basis. The effects on the soldiers are no different, when abused, than the effects on civilian dope addicts that buy their speed in the back alleys of America.

The highly illegal and dangerous type of speed called Methamphetamine (Crystal Meth) was originally synthesized by the Nazis and given to their Panzer Divisions and the Luftwaffe in order to give them more endurance in the battle field, however, even the Nazis stopped this practice after noticing bizarre and unpredictable behavior in their soldiers. Many of the Nazis soldiers were going on murderous rampages against civilian populations and some were even turning against their own officers.

Today, the Pentagon has admitted that they provided speed to the U.S Armed Forces during the Gulf War and are doing the same with military personnel in Afghanistan. A report called ” Performance Maintenance During Continuous Flight Operations”, produced by the Naval Medical Research Laboratory in Pensacola, Florida outlines the Pentagon practice of providing speed to pilots. The report “The Use of Amphetamines in U.S. Air Force Tactical Operations during Desert Shield and Storm”, by Emonson DL and Vanderbeek RD outlines the use of speed during the Gulf War. A statement issued by the US Air Force Surgeon General’s Office also confirmed the use of amphetamines by pilots. It said: “During contingency and combat operations, aviators are often required to perform their duties for extended periods without rest. While we have many planning and training techniques to extend our operations, prescribed drugs are sometimes made available to counter the effects of fatigue during these operations. The Pentagon, is in addition, providing “downers” after pilots binge on “uppers.” In order to help the pilots sleep after a “binge” they are given a dosage of the sedative Temazepam (Restoril). These dosages of “uppers” and than “downers” have a devastating effect on the pilots judgement and overall mental health.

This perhaps explains the “paranoiac behavior” of the U.S. pilots that dropped the bombs on the Afghani Wedding Party and on the friendly Canadian troops. In April of this year, four Canadian soldiers of the Princess Patricia’s Canadian Light Infantry were killed and eight injured when an American pilot dropped a 500lb laser-guided bomb on their position. In addition, many other “friendly fire” incidents and unexplained crashes of numerous helicopters could be explained through the overuse of amphetamines or “speed” by the pilots and other military personnel. Abuse of “speed” causes paranoia, irritability, irrationality and unexplained violent behavior in the user.

Worst of all, it is very possible that the rash of murders of the four Army wives by returning Special Forces from Afghanistan at Fort Bragg may be explained by taking into account the damaging effects of the abuse and addiction to speed. In a “La Voz de Aztlan News Bulletin” we reported, “In a bizarre coincidence during the six week period of June 11 to July 29, four Army soldiers in North Carolina killed their wives. All of the men were assigned to Fort Bragg, N.C. Three had recently returned from Afghanistan and two of of the soldiers committed suicide after killing their spouses.” This is classic behavior exhibited by desperate “speed” addicts and abusers.

There are now reliable reports that U.S. Supply Sergeants are making hefty profits through dealing in the Pentagon approved “speed” called Amphetamine-dextroamphetamine or “Dexedrine.” Dexedrine is being shipped in large quantities by the Pentagon to front line troops. What is going to happen to American society after all these “speed” addicted soldiers are released into the general civilian population? There are still a large number of homeless ex-Vietnam veterans wondering the streets of America because they became addicted to heroin while serving overseas. At that time, the use of heroin and marijuana was rampant among U.S. soldiers serving in the jungles of Vietnam. This was one of the primary reason the U.S. lost that war to the Vietcong and the Vietnamese Regulars.

The Medical Profession says this about the Pentagon supplied “speed” called Dexedrine:

God Bless our young, brave men and woman in the Military.

On behalf of many military family members, I thank Congressman Cardin for his dedication to this issue.

Cardin’s investigation is fine. But there are so many obvious ways in which troops have been used and abused.