Tragedy on US's largest army base

On Thursday, November 5, a US army officer was reported to have opened fire on fellow soldiers at Fort Hood, a Texas army base, killing 13 and wounding about 30.
Major Nidal Malik Hasan, a US-born Muslim and an army psychiatrist trained to counsel soldiers wrestling with the horrors of war, was preparing to be deployed to Afghanistan. Reports say his opposition to this deployment might have resulted in what is considered a "murderous rampage".
At a special memorial on Nov. 10, organized to honour the victims of the shooting, US President Barack Obama denounced the act and admitted it is difficult to come to terms with the logic behind it.
"It may be hard to comprehend the twisted logic that led to this tragedy. But this much we do know: no faith justifies this murderous and craven act," President Obama told the crowd at the memorial.
Lieutenant General Robert Cone, the top commander at Fort Hood, has indicated that soldiers at the base have told investigators that Hasan, shouted "Allahu Akbar" - Arabic for "God is great" - during the attack. But it still remains unclear what role Hasan's religion played in the act. Until the US intelligence finds concrete evidence, it will be difficult to relate it to anything.
The incident, however, has sparked several controversies, including the role of religion in Hasan's actions and the effectiveness of military facilities and counseling procedures. For others, it seems to be an indication of general antipathy in the US army regarding the country's mission in Afghanistan.
One would expect that the thorough screening process new recruits undergo before they become fully admitted removes all doubt, but this is not always the case.
"There's no perfect world anywhere in society," said Lt. Col. Rakesh Jetly, psychiaratrist and mental health advisor for the Canadian Force mental health directorate. "We get recruits when they are 18 or 19 years old. Most mental illness expresses themselves after this point. It isn't an extensive screening questionnaire as a general health questionnaire."
For the Canadian Forces, Lt. Col. Jetly mentioned that there is "a standardized training package" for soldiers before they are deployed. This package involves stress awareness, learning about difficulties they may encounter and mental screening to ensure they are fit to go. There is also expertise and care for Post Traumatic Stress Disorder that may occur after deployment.
Yet, people are quite unique, and may react to situations and even treatments differently.
"Personality and other individual differences typically influence behaviour across a variety of situations," said Dr. Gordon Hodson, Associate Professor of Psychology at Brock University. "To me, it makes sense to think of personality as being relatively stable (e.g., Jim is generally disorganized; Suzy is friendly), but of course situations and contexts can influence the expression of underlying personality variation."
Hodson added that although psychologists generally contest this, it is believed that people take up new selves under certain peculiar situations. This is evident in Phil Zimbardo's The Lucifer Effect where he argues that "good people turn evil" in strong situations that remove individuals from regular norms and constraints, and replace them with new ones.
One might think that the military - considered by some sociologists to be a total institution - shapes its members to adopt a new personality once they are admitted. But Hodson thinks people can often de-select themselves from institutions, or be de-selected by the institution.
"I'm not convinced there is a soldier's personality, any more than there is a professor's personality, or a taxi-driver's personality," said Hodson.
While Hodson's point is noted, some soldiers find it difficult reintegrating into civil society.
"We can infer from the high rate of drug addiction among soldiers in the field [and] the high 'crime' rate among veterans," said Dr. Tamari Kitossa, Sociology Professor at Brock University. "There are 20,000 British ex-servicemen in jail or on probation."
As much as national defence and global security is paramount, Kitossa has challenged us to re-think the essence of war.
"We are dominated by spin and military propaganda that we are not really questioning whether war is a failure rather than a success," said Kitossa. "It can hardly be said that by roping depleted uranium and phosphorus bombs, [.] the cause war seeks to address is any further in being solved. Our young men and women's lives could surely be put to better use."
Having captured all these perspectives, and also as the US intelligence probes further to find answers to what prompted Hasan's actions, we can still raise questions about our military establishment and ask whether it is an end in itself or offers a means to an end. At least, one can only hope the Nov. 5 incidence will not recur elsewhere.