The Independent News Source
NCR on Kindle - NCR classifieds - YouTube - Twitter - Facebook - Email Alerts - RSS
Soliders ask fundamental question: To kill or not to kill
Oct. 21, 2008
Director Catherine Ryan in Hinesville, Ga., the day after the court martial of conscientious objector, Kevin Benderman. (Photo by Gary Weimberg)A review
“Soldiers of Conscience,” the latest documentary by husband and wife filmmakers Gary Weimberg and Catherine Ryan, looks at how individual combatants grapple with war’s fundamental question — to kill or not to kill. Made in cooperation with the U.S. Army, the film profiles eight American soldiers, four who become conscientious objectors and four who believe in the duty to kill when necessary. All wrestle with the morality of killing, not as an abstraction but as soldiers experience it. Interspersed with the soldier’s narratives are images of casualties from the Iraq war not seen on our nightly news and some intriguing background on conscientious objection.
The film’s focus makes “Soldiers of Conscience” accessible to pacifists and warriors alike. The soldiers’ candid and deeply personal reflections remind us that in war human beings make choices they must live with the rest of their lives.
Early in the film, we learn a little-known stat from a U.S. Army study conducted during World War II: Less than 25 percent of US soldiers fired on their enemies, even when under attack. To overcome this inhibition toward the taking of human life, the military developed a technique known as “reflexive fire training.” Disturbing footage of combat training at Fort Jackson, South Carolina, provides a glimpse of what this conditioning entails. Fresh-faced recruits gun down tin silhouettes of humans and shout “Kill! Kill! Kill without mercy!” While such “training” has dramatically increased soldiers’ firing rates in combat (upwards to 90 percent in Vietnam), it has not freed them from the burden of conscience, as evidenced in the revealing reflections of the eight men featured in the film.
| Watch the trailer |
Two of the conscientious objectors, Joshua Casteel, an Evangelical Christian, and Aidan Delgado, a Buddhist, are given honorable discharges for their refusal to kill. But the military imprisons Camilo Mejia, the first Iraq combat veteran to publicly refuse to return to war, and Kevin Benderman, a 10-year Army sergeant from Tennessee. All four eloquently describe their transformation from willing enlistee to refusenik. Delgado encounters Iraqi prisoners of war, who look just like the men in his own unit “but with brown skin,” and the fighting spirit “bleeds” out of him. The war’s devastating affects on civilians, leads Benderman to ask, “Why are we even doing this anymore?”
NCR: February 3-16, 2012
Subscribe to NCR to get all the news and special features that aren't always available online. In this issue:
- US News: Bishops Host Conference on Immigration
Conference fields advocates' questions on law, policy
- Special Section: Deacons. Serving as parish administrator; roles of wives; and more
- Study: Black Catholics are more engaged
New study by Notre Dame researcher about parish involvement in America
The awful but necessary choice of war can be a moral imperative when the weak need protecting and human rights are violated, argues Major Peter Kilner, a West Point ethics professor and former 82nd Airborne Infantry Commander. For drill sergeant Jaime Isom, pulling the trigger in battle has little to do with God or country; it’s about “defending the man to the left and right of you.” Isom admits to killing a 10-year Iraqi boy who held a grenade that would have killed his men. “I got no regrets,” he says, “but looking back at it, that’s when the demons come back. That’s when it haunts us.”
The candor of these soldiers evokes questions that haunt us. What are we asking of those ordered to kill on our behalf?
The film’s thoughtful interest in the soldier’s perspective is resonating with people who differ on the morality of war. The documentary, which airs on PBS stations this week, has been circulating among churches, peace groups, and VA Hospitals where clinicians are showing excerpts to soldiers struggling with combat trauma. In November, the film will screen at the International Society for Traumatic Stress Studies. In January, it will be shown at a major conference for chaplains in the armed forces.
Claire Schaeffer-Duffy lives in Worcester, Mass. and writes frequently for NCR.
About time for this
About time for this important personal and public issue to be made public in an objective way.
SSG 91B40 Class of '68
What a relief that someone
What a relief that someone has finally spelled out (some of) the horror of war! As a mother and a believer that "warring" is not what Jesus has taught me, and as a Catholic, I taught, deeply, my 7 offspring that it was wrong to ever kill. I'll never forget the day that our 7 year old daughter picked up her father's bb gun, put it up to the window screen and shot a robin. The look on her face told me that she had just betrayed what she'd been taught, which was "not to kill". I tried to help her deal with it, but to this day, at age 58, she's not been able to forgive and forget that moment. What if it had been a person? She could've ended up like many of our soldiers coming home from war, only much more. How can we betray our young by believing in war, even this current war, which has never been able to be justified? Also, how have we been able to accept that our sons and daughter's who have been killed "over there", and come home to parents' who are not "allowed" to see their son or daughter before they are interned? Can parents' ever accept this condition? If it were myself, as mother, it'd be my worst nightmare.
All wars are a terrible
All wars are a terrible thing. Life is a war! It is a war between Good and Evil. We should always be there for our brothers and sisters, whom we have been taught to love from the beginning of our lives! To really move our people toward the right and wrong of the film, I think that such things should be shown where the soldiers who have died, while saving their own soldiers by throwing themselves on the little grenade which killed them, but saved their own brothers and sisters. I think that an act like that would get a person into heaven a lot quicker than the one where the going into the homes of the people and having them beaten by the but of a gun would show!
As far as I'm concerned,
As far as I'm concerned, there is one man, Pope Benedict who could have put a stop to this atrocity long ago. A simple papal directive forbidding catholics to engage in any type of military combat or in support of any military combat would have had an amazing trickle down effect that could easily have ended the bloodshed. The truth is, the Pope chose not to. He does not hesitate to condemn abortion, yet when it comes to killing in war, something he has the abitily to influence in a very powerful way, he chooses not to use the most powerful tool he has - his authority over the catholic church.
The question we have to ask now is: which god does our Pope really serve.
If he truly served the God of Heaven, the one True God, then he would have used every tool at his disposal from the very beginning. He might not have been able to stop the fighting, but he could have stopped catholic children from having to make these horrific choices and live through and with this experiences. He chose not to.
However, if he is in service to the god of this world as some suggest, then his choice to do nothing makes perfect sense. He is honoring the god he really serves.
As Jesus said, you will know them by their fruits. In this particular case, the fruits are very clear. Very clear.
Thank you for the story,
Thank you for the story, "Soldiers of Conscience."
I am a veteran, 1967-69. I can only ask the question,
why as it taken so long to produce, and to find an
outlet to reveal this subject matter? Why did we
not ask the "why" to the Bush doctrine of pre-
emptive strikes. It subject matter is of profound importance.
War always begs the questions being addressed in this
film.
War is Terrible! Life is
War is Terrible! Life is beautiful! But we are having so many different kinds of things being thrown at us in this war doctrine! Look at the wonderful things that our good soldiers have done when they have put themselves over the grenade to save their fellow man? There are soldiers and then there are soldiers. We should all be soldiers of Jesus Christ! It is hard to do, but it is a worthy cause. To protect all the lives of all people, to protect the lives of the Born and those yet to be born!
THOU SHALT NOT KILL.
THOU SHALT NOT KILL. EVER!
Modern total warfare makes the Constantinian Compromise (that cripple called the just war theory) obsolete.
As Tommy Frank and Rumsfeld said early, we no longer count our "collateral damage." Innocent human life no longer counts; our weaponry so overwhelmingly indiscriminate, disproportional, cruel and unusual and not to count the slaughtered of civilians and children.
A cry is heard in Ramah; Rachel has lost her children . . .
Love thy enemies, and do good to those who harm you. When someone strikes you on one cheek, offer the other as well. When one requires of thee your coat, give your shirt as well. Do for others what you want them to do for you.
Do not kill them.
Our entire lives as adult
Our entire lives as adult Christians are supposed to be about putting on the mind of Christ - every minute, every second, every nanosecond of every day. Therefore when you pick up a gun, fire a missile or warhead, engage in namecalling, demonizing, etc., etc...you are putting donw the Gospel. Isn't it about time we started to get this right? Nonviolence was the way and life of the Christ and must be ours as well.
I've seen this film 3 times and it is very objective and well worth the time. Especially good for HS and college age students. For those who believe that war is sometimes necessary (for a follower of Christ to participate in) I offer the following: [Listen especially to #3: Just War/Just Revolution Theory - to see just how the so-called Christian Just War Theory is not and has never been based on anything from the Gospels of Christ.
Go to www.CenterforChristianNonviolence.org - click on RESOURCES then scroll down to: [Happy Listening!!!]
Questions & Answers on Gospel Nonviolence
(Rev.) Emmanuel Charles McCarthy
This series provides detailed and thoughtful answers to eight (8) of the most common and sometimes troubling questions raised with respect to the validity and practicality of Gospel nonviolence as a means of confronting the harsh and cruel reality of justified and/or chaotic (purposeless) violence.
The titles are:
Cleansing of The Temple
What if Someone Is Going to Kill your Wife or Children?
Just War/Just Revolution Theory
Violence in the Old Testament
Christians in the Military/Police
Surely this Is a Purist Gospel?
What about Hitler?
Buy a Sword? Luke 22:35-38
How many Obama supporters
How many Obama supporters are reading this? Obama wants to release all restrictions on the war against the unborn, including bringing back partial birth abortion (pierce the skull, suction out the brains and crush the head procedure).
In the next 2 days we will kill more kids than all our military dead in Iraq since the war started. But liberal Catholics just don't get it--- war is punishment for sin, as Our Lady of Fatima told us.
I suspect we will probably be seeing something in the near future far greater in terms of war; when team China/Russia decide to make their move on us.
There is an ancient Chinese
There is an ancient Chinese proverb that goes like this: "There is your truth, there is my truth, and there is The Truth." All of the above comments speak a part of that Truth and I can do no better. But Gospel non-violence calls us to move closer to the Truth that was embodied in the one we profess to follow - Christ. The above comment by Anonymous indicates that war is a punishment for sin as told by Our Lady of Fatima. War is a sin we inflict upon ourselves. The right to life is a right that does not end wih the birth of a child. That right is ongoing and war cannot absolve us from our Gospel Call to confront all violence with non-violence. This obligation includes civilians, all people in the military and anyone who occupies the Oval Office and profess to be Christian. We have been reminded time and time again by the current occupant of the White House that he is the Commander-in-Chief. Inherent in this role are responsibilities that are at odds for one who professes to follow Christ. How can one say he/she is a follower of Christ and at the same time, literally make life and death decisions, that oppose the Gospel Call of non-violence on those perceived as enemies? Aren't we called to love our enemies? Fr. John Dear, SJ reminds us that Christ's last command to his disciples was, "Put away your sword." Too bad our Catholic tradition did not, by and large, teach us what the call to Gospel non-violence means, including transcending the love of country and how we are to respond to conflict! For Christians of all stripes, The Truth is Christ.
I recently came accross your
I recently came accross your blog and have been reading along. I thought I would leave my first comment.if you like jordan.welcome to visit my blog: http://zhuojingyi.blogspot.com/ or http://www.enjoyjd.com/Air_jordan_I.html Air jordan I
Post new comment