Whenever we watch American action movies, we are told one-sided story of the heroism of the soldiers and how they can never be defeated. This of course motivates the young ones to want to be enlisted into the US army. Those propaganda movies have gained root because they are covertly sponsored by the government for enlistment into the army.
You would never know the true story on the ground until you are enlisted into the army and sent to the frontline. In the US-Iraq war, many soldiers who returned home after the war told so many stories. A personality interview published by Salon.com, told a psychological trauma Garret Reppenhagen suffered during and after the war. He had worked as a sniper during the war.
Garrett was sent to Iraq in 2004 to help in the hunt for Al-Qaeda fighters. His main duty is to assist veterans in any way possible by being on rooftops to shoot any suspected Al-Qaeda jihadists. He had been trained for three years for this particular job.
‘I was training for three years to be in the moment to do that, and I did it. It was really an ecstatic feeling that I had. I remember looking at the other guys, seeing if they saw it, because I wanted somebody else to witness it. I remember looking back and he was down in the middle of the road arching his body, spinning on his back and screaming and pulling on his stomach as if I shot him with an arrow and he was trying to pull it out’, he narrated.
That was the first time Garret took a life in Iraq. But his conscience will never let him go free. He had killed a resistant being who thought it was inappropriate for Americans to occupy his land.
`Who knows why he was out there fighting. A lot of people were fighting us because they did not want to be occupied or because they had family members who were hurt or killed and they wanted to get some sort of vengeance. By the end of my tour, it was really hard to justify killing them. We should not have been there in the first place’, he said.
The psychological trauma that accompanies these killings is unspeakable for him. He continued his story emphasizing on the effect.
‘You feel like there is this debt that you build for every life that you take. You feel like you owe the world something because you left it without this other person that could have done something amazing. I think about all of these soldiers coming out of the U.S. military and helping them get jobs and education and hearing about what they aspire to do and be in the world. And I wonder about all of the Iraqis, Syrians and others that we killed in that country and what they aspired to be’, he said sadly.
In regards to the tremendous guilt that hunted him, an army chaplain told him that a stronger belief in God would help to alleviate the feeling. God was on America’s side and Garrett was fighting for God.
‘My recovery hinged on the fact that I felt guilt and shame over committing atrocities against an occupied country. We went over there and brutalized and oppressed, and that is part of my psychological and moral injuries’.
We all have the right to be told the truth about wars. Let us get educated on the matter. We have to rid ourselves of this glorified portrayal of American soldiers as heroes. This is inaccurate. The real matter is far different from what we see in the movies.
Sources: collective-evolution.com
Guys … Talking seriously.. that guy was what people [take likely] as Hero. This society is so ignorant that actually repeat without thinking what their massive media says.. They called terrorist to anything against UnitedStates interest, They called Hero to any excel action… This guy was brave, [the movie show him as someone who dint loss his humanity wish is not so real for snipers] they literally kill anything and anyone who became target. He was so perfect doing his Job that protect and save was an involuntary instinct on him [almost mess his dog to protect his child] and not even his wife see it that way. Hollywood did really good by not giving beingness to the rat who assassinate him. He was just looking for name and history [like happen to Billy the Kid when he kill that famous bully] .. there is very rare and few case of truly hero from American Society, This is a real one. Even I respect him.
As a veteran in the same war he was in, he didn’t have to enlist in the military. I DO UNDERSTAND the pain that haunts him. He needs to get help from Veterans Affairs to help him cope with that.
I give respect for going in and being a sniper. But I was EOD, and seen many things that weigh heavily on my mind.
The truth needs to be out there about these wars. And not hidden from the public. On the news we only hear about the bad things about war. And we are to hear the good news in movies which are 99% fake. There are many things that we need to know about this war and all other wars that we have been in. Unfortunately, these are things that the government will never give us.
Thank you guys, for your comments. In the current climate in America, you are indeed the brave ones to be so honest.
send me. I’ll kill them all day all night for free, and sleep like a baby.
You say that now, but could easily feel differently after you’ve done the deed.
If that is in fact true then you are not better that the terrorists.
If an army attacks your coutry you would defend it too.
I would only sleep good if i know the guy i shot was a true terrorist not a man who defended what he loves.
People like you are what’s wrong with the world Rathomir