Achilles in Vietnam

Welche seelischen Verwüstungen richtet der moderne Krieg an.
Jonathan Shays kluges, einfühlsames Buch zeigt, dass Krieg eine fortdauernde individuelle Pathologie sein kann; es zeigt, dass die dabei durchlaufene psychische Transformation universell ist, den klassischen Krieger mit dem modernen Soldaten verbindet; und es zeigt nicht zuletzt, welch permanente Zerstörungen der Krieg in jedem Zeitalter hervorruft. Der Krieg ist nicht die Fortsetzung der Politik mit anderen Mitteln, wohl aber ist die Politik einer Nachkriegszeit in manchen Aspekten die Fortsetzung des Krieges.

Zusatztext Herbert Mitgang The New York Times A transcendent literary adventure. His compassionate book deserves a place in the lasting literature of the Vietnam War. Informationen zum Autor Jonathan Shay, MD., PhD., a MacArthur Fellow, is a clinical psychiatrist whose treatment of combat trauma suffered by Vietnam veterans has deepened understanding of the effects of warfare on the individual. He worked as Veterans Affairs psychiatrist at the VA Outpatient Clinic in Boston, Massachusetts for twenty years. His work on moral injury is found in his books, Achilles in Vietnam: Combat Trauma and the Undoing of Character and Odysseus in America: Combat Trauma and the Trials of Homecoming. In 2018, Volunteers of America established The Shay Moral Injury Center, named in his honor and dedicated to furthering knowledge about moral injury in the many populations who experience it. He lives in the Boston area. Klappentext Using vivid narratives of Vietnam veterans afflicted with posttraumatic stress disorder, his own discoveries in treating these men, and the profound poetic truths of the Iliad, Shay reveals the devastating effects of catastrophic war experiences on the minds and spirits of soldiers. CHAPTER I Betrayal of "What´s Right" Every instance of severe traumatic psychological injury is a standing challenge to the rightness of the social order. Judith Lewis Herman, 1990 Harvard Trauma Conference We begin in the moral world of the soldier -- what his culture understands to be right -- and betrayal of that moral order by a commander. This is how Homer opens the Iliad. Agamémnon, Achilles´ commander, wrongfully seizes the prize of honor voted to Achilles by the troops. Achilles´ experience of betrayal of "what´s right," and his reactions to it, are identical to those of American soldiers in Vietnam. I shall describe some of the many violations of what American soldiers understood to be right by holders of responsibility and trust. Now, there was a LURP [Long Range Reconnaissance Patrol] team from the First Brigade off of Highway One, that looked over the South China Sea. There was a bay there....Now, they saw boats come in. And they suspected, now, uh -- the word came down [that] they were unloading weapons off them. Three boats. At that time we moved. It was about ten o´clock at night. We moved down, across Highway One along the beach line, and it took us [until] about three or four o´clock in the morning to get on line while these people are unloading their boats. And we opened up on them -- aaah. And the fucking firepower was unreal, the firepower that we put into them boats. It was just a constant, constant firepower. It seemed like no one ever ran out of ammo. Daylight came [long pause], and we found out we killed a lot of fishermen and kids. What got us thoroughly fucking confused is, at that time you turn to the team and you say to the team, "Don´t worry about it. Everything´s fucking fine." Because that´s what you´re getting from upstairs. The fucking colonel says, "Don´t worry about it. We´ll take care of it." Y´know, uh, "We got body count!" "We have body count!" So it starts working on your head. So you know in your heart it´s wrong, but at the time, here´s your superiors telling you that it was okay. So, I mean, that´s okay then, right? This is part of war. Y´know? Gung-HO! Y´know? "AirBORNE! AirBORNE! Let´s go!" So we packed up and we moved out. They wanted to give us a fucking Unit Citation -- them fucking maggots. A lot of medals came down from it. The lieutenants got medals, and I know the colonel got his fucking medal. And they would have award ceremonies, y´know, I´d be standing like a fucking jerk and they´d be handing out fucking medals for killing civilians. This veteran received his Combat Infantry Badge for participating in thi...

Herbert Mitgang The New York Times A transcendent literary adventure. His compassionate book deserves a place in the lasting literature of the Vietnam War.

Autorentext

Jonathan Shay, MD., PhD., a MacArthur Fellow, is a clinical psychiatrist whose treatment of combat trauma suffered by Vietnam veterans has deepened understanding of the effects of warfare on the individual. He worked as Veterans Affairs psychiatrist at the VA Outpatient Clinic in Boston, Massachusetts for twenty years. His work on moral injury is found in his books, Achilles in Vietnam: Combat Trauma and the Undoing of Character and Odysseus in America: Combat Trauma and the Trials of Homecoming. In 2018, Volunteers of America established The Shay Moral Injury Center, named in his honor and dedicated to furthering knowledge about moral injury in the many populations who experience it. He lives in the Boston area.

Klappentext

Using vivid narratives of Vietnam veterans afflicted with posttraumatic stress disorder, his own discoveries in treating these men, and the profound poetic truths of the Iliad, Shay reveals the devastating effects of catastrophic war experiences on the minds and spirits of soldiers.

Zusammenfassung
Compares the experiences of soldiers in the Vietnam war with those in the Trojan War, and examines how the stresses of combat affect the individual soldier.

Leseprobe
CHAPTER I

Betrayal of "What´s Right"

Every instance of severe traumatic psychological injury is a standing challenge to the rightness of the social order.

Judith Lewis Herman,

1990 Harvard Trauma Conference

We begin in the moral world of the soldier -- what his culture understands to be right -- and betrayal of that moral order by a commander. This is how Homer opens the Iliad. Agamémnon, Achilles´ commander, wrongfully seizes the prize of honor voted to Achilles by the troops. Achilles´ experience of betrayal of "what´s right," and his reactions to it, are identical to those of American soldiers in Vietnam. I shall describe some of the many violations of what American soldiers understood to be right by holders of responsibility and trust.

Now, there was a LURP [Long Range Reconnaissance Patrol] team from the First Brigade off of Highway One, that looked over the South China Sea. There was a bay there....Now, they saw boats come in. And they suspected, now, uh -- the word came down [that] they were unloading weapons off them. Three boats.

At that time we moved. It was about ten o´clock at night. We moved down, across Highway One along the beach line, and it took us [until] about three or four o´clock in the morning to get on line while these people are unloading their boats. And we opened up on them -- aaah.

And the fucking firepower was unreal, the firepower that we put into them boats. It was just a constant, constant firepower. It seemed like no one ever ran out of ammo.

Daylight came [long pause], and we found out we killed a lot of fishermen and kids.

What got us thoroughly fucking confused is, at that time you turn to the team and you say to the team, "Don´t worry about it. Everything´s fucking fine." Because that´s what you´re getting from upstairs.

The fucking colonel says, "Don´t worry about it. We´ll take care of it." Y´know, uh, "We got body count!" "We have body count!" So it starts working on your head.

So you know in your heart it´s wrong, but at the time, here´s your superiors telling you that it was okay. So, I mean, tha…