Not Just Sensitive, Army Sensitive
– Army To Provide Emotional Training For All Troops, Brass Still Trying To Figure Out How To Get 1.1 Million Soldiers On Oprah’s Couch –
The U.S. Army announced plans to require all of its soldiers to take emotional stress training to help deal with any psychological problems which might develop from oh, say … being shot at and watching your friends get blown up in some godforsaken country on the other side of the world.
You know what else reduces stress? Success. And being allowed to do your job in a way which contributes to that ultimate goal.
The Army has had its share of bureaucracy and, occasionally, outright ineptitude throughout its history, but its mission has never been more confused and hampered than it is today in the Middle East.
Ask 10 people what the U.S. is trying to do overseas and you’d probably get 15 different answers.
Are we trying to find bin-Laden? Promote democracy? Boost Christiana Amanpour’s ratings? Contain Iran? Eliminate the Taliban? Help Israel? Establish a base for multi-cultural understanding?
Or are we just trying to make sure we don’t run out of oil, baklava and couscous?
The military is like any other team — winning takes care of a lot of problems.
So, instead of trying to get American soldiers to express their feelings and watch more of the Lifetime channel, maybe we should define their role and allow them to do what it takes to most efficiently and expeditiously defeat the enemy.
Anything else, and you are sacrificing American lives to preserve the “rights” of terrorists and their supporters — “rights” which, by the way, the extremists are unwilling to extend even to their own citizens.
For now, it looks like we will be treating the symptoms of a confused policy rather than the cause.
Gee, if we could only get the freer nations of the world and the Taliban into marriage counseling, everything would be just ducky.
-
Psychologist: After you shot the enemy, how did that make you feel?
Soldier: A helluva a lot better than if it’d been the other way around.
-
Image: Zuma Press
-
