Sensible Erection | Story of the Marlboro Marine

Wednesday, 15 December 2010

quote [ Marine Lance Corporal James Blake Miller is back from Iraq, and is haunted by nightmares of the faces he's seen down the barrel of his gun. ]

I went looking for information about this definitive photograph, and found this reportage by the original photographer on the aftermath for this soldier and his life.

[art] [by mechanic@9:55amGMT] [+10 Interesting]

Comments

Dalej said @ 10:31am GMT on 15th Dec
A test to my SE mates:

Let's say someone comes back home from war where he killed people, and he is not "haunted by nightmares".

What would you think of him?

ComposerNate said @ 10:34am GMT on 15th Dec [Score:2 Insightful]
I would think he should stay in the military.

EPT said @ 10:36am GMT on 15th Dec [Score:1 Insightful]
I would think he's probably a pilot.

Tang said @ 12:00pm GMT on 15th Dec [Score:1 Insightful]
pay him back any money owed immediately

KingPellinore said @ 12:33pm GMT on 15th Dec
Actually, a friend I've known since High School fits that description pretty well. Of course, he's bipolar, so make of that what you will.

ComposerNate said @ 12:35pm GMT on 15th Dec [Score:-1 WTF]
Bipolar and satisfied in the military? May we assume he's neither creative nor particularly clever?

loomspace said @ 12:54pm GMT on 15th Dec [Score:1 Underrated]
Are you that blessed in your life that you're naive about the issues of being bipolar and the type of people that go into the military or just disrespectful?

Bipolar folks are often both quite clever and creative. The military is not all killing and provides many with the strongest sense of belonging and family that they experience in their lives.

ComposerNate said @ 1:12pm GMT on 15th Dec
Yes, I am blessed and yes, I know that bipolar people are often both quite clever and creative. In fact, the more clever they are, the more creative rather than more negative symptoms of being bipolar. It is because of this that I asked if he wasn't, because low ranks among the military is not an outlet for expressing creativity.

There are clever people in the military, and of course the military can provide belonging and family to most anyone, just not so much a sense of worth amongst the more imaginative, free-spirited creative.

ComposerNate said @ 1:23pm GMT on 15th Dec
Lawrence of Arabia

lilmookieesquire said @ 2:02pm GMT on 15th Dec
You could argue that compared to living your life in a small town in the middle of nowhere, the military (no matter how misguided) give a person a chance to escape and try new experiences. I'm not saying that's the best path, or even a good one, but it IS an option, and in some circumstances (sans war) I believe it is a viable one.

But, yes, you are right. The military does not really encourage worth in regards to imagination or free-spirited-creativity... but I suppose difficult/stressful situations can inspire creativity. (especially in written form)

But I totally understand where you are coming from.

KingPellinore said @ 2:10pm GMT on 15th Dec
He's not low raking. He joined in '99 and lead several missions in Afghanistan in the early to mid 2000s. He and I don't always see eye to eye on some things, but I have an enormous respect for him.

ComposerNate said @ 2:15pm GMT on 15th Dec
And as for his having a creative spirit or being particularly clever?

I speak only from experience, having various portions of military, cleverness, bipolar, and creativity in each family member.

KingPellinore said @ 2:52pm GMT on 15th Dec [Score:1 Interesting]
Well, we met singing in an all county chorus that went on a trip to London during our high school years. He was a fairly talented bass singer at the time, no idea if he still sings.

If he had a defining characteristic, it'd be that he's one of those guys that women find irresistible. The guy could have gotten Andrea Dworkin to beg him for sex. I don't guess you'd call that creative, but I'd say it was a definite talent that take a certain level of cleverness.

arrowhen said @ 2:48pm GMT on 15th Dec [Score:2 Insightful]
Most of the creative people I know see their jobs as less of an "outlet for expressing their creativity" and more of a way to keep a roof over their head.

ComposerNate said @ 3:17pm GMT on 15th Dec [Score:1 Insightful]
The military is less a job than a lifestyle choice due to the required (relatively extreme) training and psychological rewiring towards respect for authority and order. Only some clergical jobs come close, though some priests and soldiers surely see their life's work as a just a job for income.

dugfin said @ 12:25am GMT on 16th Dec [Score:1 Insightful]
In fact, the more clever they are, the more creative rather than more negative symptoms of being bipolar.

I disagree with this strongly. When you see someone truly in a manic phase you will appreciate their creativity while at the same time understanding the incredibly destructive nature of the disease. I've seen too many of my good friends lives destroyed or ended by manic phases. And they were incredibly creative people... No, I don't think a person's creativity has much affect on the severity of the negative symptoms, I think it's more how bipolar they are and how well the medication controls the symptoms (or whether they stay on their medications)

lilmookieesquire said @ 12:51pm GMT on 15th Dec [Score:1 Underrated]
I know a few.

You're put in a situation and you deal with it.

Those actions might change a person's perspectives, but they don't need to define a person.

arrowhen said @ 1:56pm GMT on 15th Dec
He's lucky.

granitewitch said @ 2:02pm GMT on 15th Dec
I have a friend like that: http://byshaw1.blogspot.com/

I think it changed him and he has some issues, but overall he's pretty well adjusted considering. Not everyone comes back shattered.

dethduck said @ 2:03pm GMT on 15th Dec
Well, I know one like this, but he was an asshole before he went in so we just accept it as normal. Well, normal for an asshole.

themanwhoeatslettus said @ 2:52pm GMT on 15th Dec
my buddy came back with that kind of fucked up perspective when he got home. he ended up playing diablo 2 for a decade until he got so stoned and drunk continuously that he forgot everything that had happened. he got married last year to a women with 3 kids and moved down under.

My GF saw a picture of him and asked who is that?

i replied that was (insert my buddys name). she had not know it was him because he was smiling. It is a tough thing killing then coming back to what you know. you have changed and everyone is afraid, and worried about you but does not know what to do. they think blowing steam works but the way you blow steam is way more hardcore than anyone can handle. In america i know we will be dealing with this fall out for the next 30 years of a generation of men (and women) that are basically cracked.

sanepride said @ 3:12pm GMT on 15th Dec
There are people who can experience incredible psychological trauma and deal with it without issues. Some are capable of remarkable compartmentalization. There is nothing wrong with them, psychologically or morally, they just have better coping mechanisms.

radioelectric said @ 4:43pm GMT on 15th Dec
Compartmentalising something and coping with something are two quite different things.

sanepride said @ 7:07pm GMT on 15th Dec
I don't know about that. Compartmentalizing is a type of coping mechanism. Works quite well for some people, not so much for others.
I remember the term was used in an article I read a couple of years ago on this very subject, about how some soldiers are able to endure the harshest, most stressful experiences of war and come out of it just fine. Needless to say, psychologists are very interested in figuring out why this is.

radioelectric said @ 7:30pm GMT on 15th Dec
In the interest of full disclosure: I am very skeptical as to whether there is such a thing as a "normal and healthy" mental state. Any definition of "coping" that you pick will be dependent upon a particular idea of what the goal is when you are dealing with somebody's mental health.

From my experience and readings, anything where somebody cannot go through their life history and feel like they "own" their life in retrospect would probably be a bad thing.

RedRiverRat said @ 8:26pm GMT on 15th Dec [Score:1 Insightful]
One of my best friends growing up went to Iraq and Afghanistan via the US Military Roadshow. He still won't talk about a lot of what he did/saw.

"Coping" is a hard word to wrap your head around. To some coping with a problem means that you hide it so that other people feel more comfortable. To others it means dealing with a problem.

And, radioelectic, there are plenty of folks who cant go through their life history and own it. Some of it's just too hard to say 'it's mine'

radioelectric said @ 8:45am GMT on 16th Dec
RE: The last bit.

I'm well aware of that. I'd say that those parts of your psyche are therefore "unhealthy".

sanepride said @ 8:35pm GMT on 15th Dec
Well it is an interesting discussion. After all, in the course of a 'normal' life everyone will experience some sort of trauma and tragedy. Love ones will die, there will be injuries, illness, financial difficulties, everyday stress, etc. "Coping" is something that we all do as necessary. In any situation, everyone has different abilities and mechanisms. Some can manage to deal with the most formidable, terrifying situations unscathed. Others will fall apart if they can't balance their checkbook. Whether one is 'healthier' than another is kind of a subjective measure.

radioelectric said @ 8:48am GMT on 16th Dec [Score:1 Insightful]
Yeah. Part of the problem is that, historically, judgements of mental illness have always been based on economic motives (work houses for the poor and mental asylums used to be the same thing). The metric that it is measured by is almost always "how does this affect your ability to work?". That seems rather messed-up to me.

benjamander said @ 3:14pm GMT on 15th Dec
I would think he was lying.

RedRiverRat said @ 2:46pm GMT on 15th Dec
If you watch it until the end, you may notice that the original music is by JBMiller.

yogi said @ 8:42am GMT on 16th Dec
Yes, it was beautiful music.

larger2day said @ 12:05am GMT on 16th Dec
lol @ "...who had fought for everything this country stands for"

EPT said @ 10:14am GMT on 16th Dec
Fast food chains, car culture, and mocking the French?

Komrade said @ 4:21pm GMT on 16th Dec
As the founding fathers intended!