Today is no better than yesterday in Afghanistan. The war is over, and it will only get worse tomorrow.
We are all complicit in this mess we’ve created and we must do better, if not for the good of our Afghan brothers and sisters, then perhaps for the good of the service members who were stuck at an airport, taking casualties, while helplessly sending people to their impending doom outside the gates to freedom. We are no city on a hill in this historical moment. Americans - we are heaping injury upon our service members, our allies, our friends, and our souls when we turn away those who require assistance. We cannot look away.
The situation is bad. In an era where all Americans are struggling to discern who they can trust for accurate information, I know I can trust former US Army Ranger Jake Denman at Hamid Karzai International Airport (HKIA). Rangers don’t lie to Rangers, and Jake’s been a trusted friend for over 20 years. Amidst the worst conditions he’s seen in 15 combat rotations, Jake shares that young Soldiers and Marines at the gates must look innocent people in the eyes and say, “‘Hey, you can’t come in,’ and it’s like telling the person he’s probably going to die.”
Welcome to the world of moral injury.
Retired Air Force Chaplain Dr. Jan McCormick (a leading authority on military chaplaincy) provides a threefold definition of moral injury: (1) The injury (or wound) to the soul experienced as a result of a traumatic event; (2) a disruption in an individual’s confidence and expectations about his/her own moral behavior (or others’ capacity to behave in a just and ethical manner); or (3) the injury or wound in the soul that results when two deeply held ethics (or beliefs) collide and must result in choosing one ethic (or belief) over the other.
But here’s what you really to know about moral injury: moral injury strongly contributes to suicide and the suicide rate is increasing. Since the onset of the war in Afghanistan and Iraq, there’s been a 100% increase in suicides amongst active military personnel, and the last decade has yielded a 600% increase in veterans seeking treatment from Veterans Affairs Medical Centers for psychological difficulties resulting from military service. More service members died by suicide than by combat in 2013 (one the top 5 bloodiest years in the war in Afghanistan). A common experience across the board is Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) exacerbated by guilt and shame, which is closely linked to suicide and suicidal ideation.
This compounded shame and guilt hangs like millstones around the necks of many veterans, and we hung those millstones on the necks of our service members standing at the gates of HKIA, sentencing innocent people to their inevitable deaths. Thank a Soldier for their service and they will likely tell you, “I’m just doing my job.” Doing your job means following orders. Over the past two weeks, at HKIA, following orders meant barring entry to people, and sending them to the whims of the Taliban. I fear that we are not only sending Afghans, but also American service members and veterans to their deaths. This is not hyperbole, but a fact we must reckon with now before we see it further escalate past its already horrific state of affairs.
Moral injury plagues the veteran and military populations, inflames PTSD, and is connected to suicide. If there was any mystery about how moral injury occurs before these past two weeks, it seems fair to say that we’ve moved far past wonder and into clarity. We all watched it happen in real time. We can learn all we need to know about moral injury by reading the lips of the US Soldiers saying, “I’m sorry...I’m sorry,” as they turned women and children away at the gates.
We should all be sorry. This entire situation is sorry.
Photo Credit: Coffee or Die Magazine.
This has been a long time coming, I could have told you that in 2003 on my second of four rotations to Afghanistan--all of us Soldiers could have told you that. We stand at the unceremonious end of a botched twenty year war in Afghanistan. A war on terror, which is an emotion, not an enemy.
The ethical double binds that service members have experienced in real life and death situations are resurfacing. Freedom is costly. The cost of American freedom was paid by the sacrifices of military service members. And though that freedom is a birthright for 100% of Americans, the burden to maintain and defend that reality rests squarely on just 8% of the population who have had real skin in the game of America’s wars. The ones who are reprocessing their guilt and shame today as we watch young Soldiers and Marines who were babies in 2001 accrue their own moral burdens to carry.
These fellow citizens surrendered their constitutional rights to submit to the political will of our nation, deploying to unstable lands in support of US policy. Though the politicians command the authority to send our service members, the life long burden falls upon those in uniform to carry long after they take off their camo. But one that can be mitigated by a community of caring supporters, pastoral and spiritual care providers trained to navigate moral injury, and an integrated menu of mental health treatment options.
Though they will be able to wash the Afghan dust from their uniforms upon return, they will not be able to wash away the guilt of every apology made into the innocent Afghan eyes we have ordered them to turn away.
I am old enough to confess ignorance on many matters of this mess. I concede complexity. I do not believe that a single American policymaker is operating out of malice in their posture towards this withdrawal. I am confident that there is information that I do not have access to, conversations that occurred between world leaders that influenced this decision, and heaps of people at the State Department working in earnest to make this better.
But just because this issue is complex doesn’t mean we cannot do better, that we must do better - right now. For the good of the human beings who were clutching to the outside of planes taking off to freedom; and for the good of the Americans who absorbed every single “I’m sorry” at the gates of HKIA upon all of our behalf. Because though they will be able to wash the Afghan dust from their uniforms upon return, they will not be able to wash away the guilt of every apology made into the Afghan eyes we have ordered them to turn away.
If you are a veteran and need help, please reach out right now:
VA Veterans Crisis Line, America’s Warrior Partnership, GetHeadstrong.org, Cohen Veterans Network, Vets4Warriors
If you are a civilian reach out to a veteran today and care for them - invite a veteran to coffee, to church, on a hike, to lunch, etc. and connect with her/him. Please feel no burden to solve the problem, just care and listen.
If you are a pastoral care provider or a chaplains, stay ready.
If you are a US policy maker, do better.
Cover Photo Credit: Jariko Denman (@laidbackberserker) via Instagram.