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How soldiers deal with the job of killing

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“We talk about destroying, engaging, dropping, bagging – you don’t hear the word killing”. This article explores the effect of killing on people in the military, how many are unable to kill and others live with the effects of having killed for the rest of their lives. Also see The Kill Factor radio broadcasts.

When soldiers kills someone at close quarters, how does it affect them? This most challenging and traumatic part of a soldier’s job is often wholly overlooked.

Soldiers kill. It goes with the job, and they do it on our behalf.

But it’s an aspect of their work which is widely ignored – even by the soldiers themselves – and this can cause them great psychological difficulty, experts say.

“A central part of what we do with our careers is we kill the enemies of our country,” said Lt Col Pete Kilner, a serving officer in the US Army who has done tours in Iraq and Afghanistan.

“So it’s very important that we understand why, and under what conditions it’s the morally right thing to do to kill another human being.”

Lt Col Kilner also lectures at the West Point Military Academy. He calls himself a “soldier ethicist” and has talked with countless fellow soldiers about their experience of “intimate killing” – taking the life of someone up close, who they can see.… Read more

St Pauls poppy installation remembers child soldiers

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An installation of poppies in St Paul’s Cathedral marks the continued involvement of children in war, despite its practice being declared illegal by the UN.

Over 5,000 poppies will be scattered under the dome of St Paul’s in an art installation on Remembrance Day, Friday 11th November 2011. From ground level the poppies appear to have fallen randomly, but when viewed from the Whispering Gallery the poppies form an image of three child soldiers; one from the First World War and two from more recent conflicts.

The 30 foot wide installation created by artist Ted Harrison highlights the involvement of children in war. Although declared illegal by the UN some 250,000 under-age children are currently active combatants – most having been forced or coerced into volunteering. Thousands are killed, wounded or traumatised every year.… Read more

High drop out rate and imprisonment of teenage soldiers calls MoD policy into question

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High drop-out rate of teenage soldiers hides unfair detention of some young recruits detained in military prisons for attempting to leave

Failures to implement Ministry of Defence policies on discharge have resulted in teenage soldiers being imprisoned for attempting to leave the armed forces, reveals a new report by the Coalition to Stop the Use of Child Soldiers (the Coalition), published on Thursday 24 March 2011.

“Catch 16-22: recruitment and retention of minors in the British armed forces”, reveals that provisions to allow recruits under the age of 18 to be discharged if they want to leave the armed forces are not being applied consistently or effectively. As a result, young soldiers have been detained in the military prison in Colchester for going absent without leave (AWOL) while under the age of 18.

Organizations providing advice services to armed forces personnel have informed the Coalition that they regularly receive calls from young recruits who are having trouble getting a discharge or have gone AWOL. The Coalition’s new report reveals that in 2010 at least eight of the under-18s who had gone AWOL were sentenced by court martial to military imprisonment.

“The Ministry of Defence has repeatedly claimed that recruits under the age of 18 can get a discharge just by asking for it.… Read more

MPs criticise Ministry of Defence for continuing to send children to war

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The MoD is criticised for lowering standards since WW1 and despite thousands of planned redundancies, it still recruiting children at twice the cost of adults.

  • Ministry of Defence criticised for lowering standards since WW1
  • Despite thousands of planned redundancies, MoD still recruiting children at twice the cost of adults

MPs are expected to criticise the Ministry of Defence for sending underage soldiers to war in a special debate in the House of Commons today (Thursday 10 November).   

On Monday 7 November, the Ministry of Defence rejected fresh calls to review its policy on deploying underage soldiers, despite recently admitting that it had sent four soldiers aged below 18 to Iraq and Afghanistan between 2008 and 2010.[i] 

Fabian Hamilton MP (Labour) said, “On the eve of Remembrance Day, it is remarkable and tragic that the Ministry of Defence insists on recruiting and deploying teenagers who would have been ruled out as too young to join the British forces even in the most desperate hours of the First World War.  It is unacceptable that standards are lower now than they were a century ago”.

Throughout the First World War the official minimum age for enlistment or conscription was 18 years, and 19 was the minimum age to be sent to the frontline. … Read more

UK sent ‘children’ to Iraq and Afghanistan despite Government ban

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The children were sent to ‘operational theatres’ between April 2008 and March 2010. Campaigners against use of child soldiers demand ministers end ‘outdated practice’.

Four British child soldiers have been sent to war zones – despite a Government ban, it was revealed last night.

Military chiefs ‘inadvertently’ sent the youngsters – all under 18 – to fight on the frontline.

It is understood the teenagers were deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan where they risked being shot or blown up by homemade bombs.… Read more

Imprisoned Navy conscientious objector to appeal conviction in High Court

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Navy medic Michael Lyons, a conscientious objector convicted of disobedience, who was detained in July, stripped of his rank and dismissed from the service, will be at the High Court 13 October to appeal his conviction. A recent European ruling recognises conscientious objection for first time as human right.

Recent European ruling recognises conscientious objection for first time as human right

A medic in the Royal Navy who was detained at court martial in July this year will appeal his conviction at the High Court on Thursday 13 October.

Michael Lyons was convicted of “wilful disobedience” because he asked not to participate in rifle training last September as he had applied for conscientious objector status. He was given 7 months detention, stripped of his rank as Leading Medical Assistant and dismissed from the service. (2)

At Michael Lyons’ court martial his lawyer argued that, because he had already applied for discharge as a conscientious objector at the time of the training, the command for him to participate in it was unlawful. Furthermore, as a medic and non-combatant, Mr Lyons had not been required to handle a weapon since 2005 and is not required to under the Geneva Convention.

Shortly after Mr Lyons was convicted, a ground-breaking ruling was made by the European Court of Human Rights which could have significant impact on this and similar cases.… Read more

European Court of Human Rights affirms the right to conscientious objection to military service

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The European Court of Human Rights, in a ground-breaking judgment in the case of Bayatyan v. Armenia, has ruled that states have a duty to respect individuals’ right to conscientious objection to military service as part of their obligation to respect the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion set out in Article 9 of the European Convention on Human Rights.

Joint statement of Amnesty International, Conscience & Peace Tax International, International Commission of Jurists, Quaker United Nations Office, Geneva, and War Resisters’ International

The Grand Chamber of the European Court of Human Rights, in a ground-breaking judgment (issued on Thursday) in the case of Bayatyan v. Armenia (Application no. 23459/03, 1/6/2011), has ruled that states have a duty to respect individuals’ right to conscientious objection to military service as part of their obligation to respect the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion set out in Article 9 of the European Convention on Human Rights. In the light of this judgment, the above-named organizations call on Turkey and Azerbaijan, the only two parties to the Convention who do not yet provide for conscientious objection to military service, to take immediate steps to do so. Moreover, Armenia should amend its Alternative Service Act to ensure that it provides a genuine alternative service of a clearly civilian nature, which should be neither deterrent nor punitive in character, in line with European and international standards.… Read more

Back in the trenches?

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Within the same week, the UK conscientious objector Michael Lyons was detained for 7 months and a landmark ruling in favour of conscientious objection was made by the European Court of Human Rights.

Derek Brett went to the Michael Lyons court-martial

Last Thursday will go down in the history books as a milestone in the history of conscientious objection. After sixty years, the European Court of Human Rights at last ruled unequivocally that the right of conscientious objection to military service is protected under the European Convention on Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms.

In the case of Bayatyan v Armenia, it found that the imprisonment of Vahan Bayatyan, a Jehovah’s Witness, for his refusal to perform military service at a time when no civilian alternative was available, was a violation of his freedom of thought, conscience and religion.

Sadly, two days earlier in Portsmouth had been enacted a court-martial that might have taken place when conscientious objectors first came forward during the first world war. Michael Lyons was stripped of his rank as leading medical assistant and dismissed from the service with effect from the end of a seven-month ‘detention in a military correction establishment’ for ‘wilful disobedience of a lawful order’.… Read more

The big red cross

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Lillian Lyons, wife of imprisoned conscientious objector Michael Lyons, describes why he refused the “learning to kill” course.

It is important for both Michael and myself to let you know how much we appreciate your support whilst my husband is locked up in military prison. Every message, letter and show of face means the world to us and is really helping us to get through this crazy time in our lives.

I am sure most of you know why Michael has been punished by the royal navy so I won’t waste your time regurgitating the details of his case, the intimidating court martials or the legality of his defence. Instead I will tell you a bit about how Michael’s conscience led him to a incredibly unjust sentence.

Mike has served as a medic in the submarine service for nearly seven years. It sounds clichéd but he really did join up because he thought he could help people. In fact he saw an advert on TV of a navy medic jumping out of a helicopter giving humanitarian aid in an unnamed war zone. The medic wasn’t carrying any weapons, just a box with a big red cross on it. He was sold.… Read more

‘UK employs US army recruiting tactics’

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An exclusive interview with Ben Griffin, spokesman for Veterans for Peace, and former SAS soldier

In an exclusive interview with Press TV, Ben Griffin, spokesman for Veterans for Peace, and former SAS soldier, says that army recruitment centers in the UK are targeting the poorer areas of town, with the ability to recruit children as young as 15 years old.


TRANSCRIPT OF INTERVIEW

view the interview


Press TV: Militarization in UK schools, this is one of the campaigns I know the Veterans of Peace are concerned about. What is militarization in UK schools? What are they doing in Britain schools?

Griffin: For the last couple of years I have been working with an organization called ForcesWatch which looks into recruitment practices of the British army. And something they have come across, and I have come across — who are working for them — is how the military is starting to push into schools to take over lessons and to try and to push the idea that the military and becoming a soldier is a sort of honorable career option for the UK students.

Press TV: Haven’t they always done that?

Griffin: For the last ten years they have been following the American model.… Read more