The Chris Moeller Archives

Here is a photo of a pair of bald eagles fucking.

On the billboard, beneath this image (well, not this image), three words appeared: Some Gave All.

This got me to thinking. Of course, the slogan is referring to those that died in war in defense of their country-- their deaths exponentially more tragic when we consider that our enemies for more than half a century pose little or no actual threat to the safety of the nation's borders or our well-publicized "freedoms." But the enterprise of war is actually so heinous in reality, so destructive, that, for "Some," death eventually becomes the preferred choice. In the United States, military veterans have been killing themselves at a rate of about one every two days.

Results of a study released found that suicides were up over 80% between 2004 and 2008. Army physicians dismissed the charge that the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan were causing these suicides. Instead, they say, the study suggests "that an Army engaged in prolonged combat operations is a population under stress, and that mental health conditions and suicide can be expected to increase under these circumstances." Oh, I see the difference. Army officials blame just this "stress" combined with other factors like money troubles, substance abuse, and relationship issues-- you know, life's ups and downs-- for the prolonged spike in the rate over the last decade. This is a rather sickening lack of accountability, almost enough to make you vomit up your apple pie.

More than 2,000 U.S. soldiers committed suicide between 2004 and 2010. Our government and its military are the ones killing them, not Muslim insurgents in far-off lands. In 2007, at its peak, the U.S. Armed Forces collectively issued 1,307 waivers for drug and alcohol violations committed by soldiers and veterans. Was the military establishment becoming more lenient with the purpose of decriminalizing the disease of addiction to alcohol and painkillers? Hardly, they issued the waivers so that these soldiers could be redeployed.

The waivers have been reduced since, but expect the alarming rate of suicides to persist as long as we continue our global policing efforts in defense of low oil prices. Deaths by suicide are not counted in the military's statistics for "combat" deaths. Also rarely publicized is the fact that 11 to 20 percent of U.S. combat veterans in Iraq and Afghanistan will be eventually diagnosed with Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), or that 23 percent of female soldiers will report being sexually assaulted by their colleagues during their service.

We're exterminating both the bodies and minds of our soldiers in our nation's quest for power. Let's call it "imperial rot." Even as chicken hawks like President Obama and Secretary of State Clinton continue to send soldiers off to war in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Libya, they continue to fail in their efforts at science fiction. It's still impossible to turn human beings into machines.