Not all soldiers are murderers I was once again
left in awe of Shirin Vossoughi’s thinly-veiled hatred for
that which she does not know in her submission “Price of war
is often paid with soldiers’ sanity” (Nov. 4,
Viewpoint). She cites military training as a principal cause for
murder and other societal violence, such as domestic
abuse. Vossoughi quotes Alexander Cockburn’s grim
warning that “Millions have been trained in this
manner.” What she forgets is that of these millions of
Americans who have received training in the U.S. Armed Forces and
served in wartime (over 33 million since World War II), most have
led their lives without incident. Some of them even made a few
contributions to society. Notables John F. Kennedy, Lyndon Johnson
and UCLA’s own Jackie Robinson come to mind. The truth is
that for every unbalanced Timothy McVeigh, scores of men and women
who have contributed productively to society can be named.
Perhaps Vossoughi does not believe violence can solve conflicts,
but history has and will continue to demonstrate that sometimes
military force is necessary to achieve the greatest good. That
being said, I for one want our nation’s military to be as
well-trained as possible. Ryan Tashma
Alumnus “˜02
Veterans not trained to kill Monday’s
submission “Price of war is often paid with soldiers’
sanity” was ill-informed and an unjust indictment of our
nation’s veterans. Shirin Vossoughi’s conclusions
are based upon anecdotal and incorrect evidence (Nov. 4,
Viewpoint). For instance, her statement that the D.C. sniper John
Muhammad had been “trained to kill by the U.S.
military” and was a Gulf War veteran was false. Muhammad had
been trained as a machinist in the Louisiana National Guard, and
received only cursory marksmanship instruction. His Gulf War
experience was at Fort Lewis, Wash., again as a machinist.
Similarly, the information that domestic violence is five times
more common in the military than in the general population is also
misleading. The Task Force concluded that “reported”
incidents occurred five times more often ““ and this higher
incidence of “reported” domestic violence was a result
of improved and more accurate reporting mechanisms in the military
than that available to battered spouses in the civilian population.
Domestic violence is not more likely in the military, but it is
much more likely to be reported. I am a former infantry soldier. As
a trained rifleman (unlike Muhammad) I want to stress that I was
not “trained to kill and carry out murder as an
occupation.” I was trained to fight in war. Those who
don’t see the difference between murder and war, also would
not see the difference between Hitler’s SS and the American
soldiers who fought to destroy Nazism. J.D. Henderson
Second-year law student
U.S. Army Infantry Veteran