Summary: The Hurt Locker

The Emotional effects of war on soldiers.

Manali Oak describes war as "a manifestation of death and destruction". “The Hurt Locker” aptly captures the above definition of war. It is one of the best movie releases of the year 2009 and by the trends; it continues generating a lot of hype for quite sometime (Manali O). Personally, I couldn't get enough of watching the scenes over and over again, as I kept asking myself, "Is this exactly what is happening in Iraq? Are these soldiers really encountering these tragic and ghastly moments?" The movie is based on the personal experiences of journalist Mark Boal who compiled his personal war experiences and formed them into a fictional story, packed with real facts from real war. The
picture opens with a quote from Chris Hedge's 2002 best seller "War is a force that gives us meaning"; “the rush of battle is potent and often lethal addiction for war is drugs", and we all know what drugs do to men. It destroys them mentally, spiritually, socially and financially. War also destroys men in the same fashion and we are going to see how veterans are affected by the combat experience. The film depicts humanity’s obsession with wars and like an alcoholic, one starts deriving pleasure from being in combat. The Hurt locker presents the conflict in Iraq in a very real way to us, especially how combat impacts the life of members of United States Army explosive ordnance disposal (EOD) team. Furthermore, the film is centered on a series of missions undertaken by the squad, but it’s not so much character driven.
Venturing deep into the most violent zone in the entire war, we can understand how the steady proximity to booms and blast impact the squad. There is an existence filled with fear, tension, anxiety but also moments of courage and mind blowing excitement. The amount of risk involved is big, as this is a team of elite soldiers who precedes others, diffusing bombs and land mines, thus in essence they literally risk their lives so that majority could have a higher survival chance. Every day to them is a good day to die, as for the team death is always a mistake away. The stress levels they have to deal with are enormous and strange. With not just death, but even physical obliteration a daily possibility, they live to the limit; with every moment building to further
anxiety. The star of the movie, William James, is depicted as an uncontrollable hero. It's not surprising when he decides to leave his family and re-enlist, as living in a normal environment was a challenging experience. Men returned from Iraq changed beyond measure, and their best efforts to re-integrate into the society have been difficult. The question that has wrecked psychologist's minds is “what happens to men when exposed to a combat situation?” According to an article titled "Effects of war on soldiers" by Stan Tian of Health and guidance, emotional effects of war on returning combatants was not known until a psychological study was commissioned in the previous century, and what happened to soldiers apart from physical injuries was unveiled (Tian). That is when psychological disorder such as combat stress reaction and post traumatic stress disorder were discovered among soldiers. Such diagnosis were usually reserved for individual who suffered catastrophic traumas such as rape or car accident, but it is now understood to be also a common occurrences among returning soldiers. Psychologist Jay Uhler stated that post traumatic stress is triggered when someone encounters a situation in which his/her life was in a stare of perpetual danger from real or imagined enemies (Uhler). Soldiers who have returned from active combat and are in relative safety of main land US normally undergo a difficult transition from a constant state of danger, tension and killings. The memories of war time activities haunt them and in most cases it manifests itself as post traumatic stress. Signs normally exhibited include being edgy around people. Most veterans are easily startled by loud noise, which most likely brings back sounds of mortar and artillery in the battle field. In addition, it seems like these soldiers have bouts of easily anger, mostly directed at people they love or those who are trying to help them re-integrate back to society. There can be anger simply because you were thrust into war when you volunteered to enlist for an education opportunity or to better yourself in any way promised by recruiters. There can be anger and helplessness, when you return to the US to find your vocational opportunities limited, and there is no assistance to get a job by the government that sent you to battle. Returnees are also wrecked by nightmares causing difficulties in marriage or in forming or keeping a relationship. One can now understand why character James in the film decided to re- enlists. There are three kinds of depression which can result from war related post traumatic stress. First, sadness depression, which is brought about by loss a soldier experiences in the battle field. Loss of fellow soldier limbs, health, loss of moral self as a result of actions committed in the battle field, and loss of respect for me government due to betrayal about the reason for war. All of these are grief situation and cause sadness depression. Second, anger is an issue that manifests itself in most veterans; these are bouts of uncontrollable rages which are attributed to one rejecting him. And third is helplessness rejection. An individual feel as though they are stuck in an unpleasant situation and there is no way to get out of that present situation or that the upsetting emotions they are having will last forever , or even get worse. This and many other issues faced by soldiers returning home makes their lives a daily horror. There are cases of veterans who, due to inadequate counseling refuse to get married or have children which I believe can be attributed to difficulty of overcoming the notion that death is just a whisker away. This sentences men to a lifetime of loneliness and fear. But the good news is that there are treatment programs for soldiers to be re-integrated into main stream society.
These involve counseling sessions that help them talk out there experiences. For instance, the department of state of veterans affairs has a detailed procedures on how to identify and treat post traumatic stress (National centre for PTSD Home).According to an article by William M. Welch of USA today in 2005, he writes "while military hospitals mend the physical wounds, the VA is attempting to focus on long term needs of combat veterans after they leave active military service". I think that these clinics are good because there has not been enough emphasis on the psychological damages caused by
war. In conclusion, majority of troops fear revealing that they have PTSD, although they admit to having severe cases of depression or other problems. They attribute this to fear of being stigmatized by their superiors, who might loose confidence in their ability to perform their duties. There is therefore a concerted effort to sensitize, military troops on truth of impact of exposure to a war, its effects and the hope available in treatment and management of PTSD. Because the truth is, nothing can prepare a soldier psychologically for warfare but with right treatment and care the psychological and emotional wounds can be healed and one can eventually live a relative normal life.