The concept of moral injury

[french frank]

If established as a reality, of course, moral injury might imply the possibility of compensation.

I assumed that lay behind the 'concept'. And it might be reasonable if conscription was in force. Otherwise, the compensation angle might be as tricky as suing, for example, cigarette companies for physical or addictive damage as a consequence of a completely voluntary act. Or betting shops and gambling casinos. Or pubs.

Provision of proper treatment and care should, though, be a given in the case of the military/state.

[eighthobstruction]

I think some this links with GG's take about 'self awareness' [on Teenagers thread]....many of these recruits could still be considered children....unaware of consequences, who are sold a bill of goods by the MOD and society while not really understanding the whole boundaries of the contract....in USA the recruitment was often aimed at centres where jobs were in short supply....

[aka Calum Da Jazbo]

.... and having met some young people in the US military perhaps we should also acknowledge the tremendous opportunities for young people the military there and here offer .... and opportunities for moral development as opposed to injury .... and i speak as one with self inflicted moral injuries from a life of depravity idleness and diverse skulduggery &C

[Serial_Apologist]

I don't want to turn this into a Political thread - (though I think it should be) - but with "all due respects" we're tiptoing around the issues at stake with war, which we understood it seems much more clearly in the 1960s than now: something to do with authenticity seeped through that buttoned-up mentality we inherited from our elders and betters, who treated WW2 as something from long before we were born (November 1945 in my case).

[antongould]

I think some this links with GG's take about 'self awareness' [on Teenagers thread]....many of these recruits could still be considered children....unaware of consequences, who are sold a bill of goods by the MOD and society while not really understanding the whole boundaries of the contract....in USA the recruitment was often aimed at centres where jobs were in short supply....

I am unsure whether to enter this or not as I am actually in the US of A and have, as always, been struck by the way which the military impacts on everyday life and also the extent to which the loss and injury in the forces is on almost constant display.
At every hotel we stay at there are service personnel in uniform present. Wounded, often very seriously, soldiers can be seen in a fair proportion of the restaurants we visit.
Today we have been slowly round the Arlington Military Cemetery and if the size of the involvement and the sacrifice hadn't dawned already we shall never forget it now......the breathe is literally taken away.
But I sense a different attitude to the military and more specifically to the honour of military service in our two countries and, in reading the article, if the ideals held on enlisting are not realised it must in this society be a body blow.
Also as 8th says so many of the personnel you see are so very young, insofar as anyone can be, are they ready for the horrors of war?

[french frank]

Also as 8th says so many of the personnel you see are so very young, insofar as anyone can be, are they ready for the horrors of war?

I wonder whether anyone is ever old enough for that? I think probably it depends what kind of individual you are, rather than whether you are 20 or 30.

I remember being struck when I was a student in Paris by the number of mutilés de guerre (I assumed) there were. Much more noticeable than in England.

[eighthobstruction]

Interesting Anton....

[antongould]

I wonder whether anyone is ever old enough for that? I think probably it depends what kind of individual you are, rather than whether you are 20 or 30.

I remember being struck when I was a student in Paris by the number of mutilés de guerre (I assumed) there were. Much more noticeable than in England.

Agree ff probably never old enough - but I feel the more of life you have seen the better prepared you are for it's realities than its storybook images.....