Reddit reviews True Americanism: Green Berets and War Resisters, a Study of Commitment

>"The military"? Ridiculous.
>
>Source?

I regularly read the blog: Causes of war, destructive politics and childhood

There are mentioned a lot of studies, I have picked out one for you:

Source:

Dr. David Mark Mantell

True Americanism: Green Berets and War Resisters : A Study of Commitment (1974) Family and aggression. To practice violence and non-violence. An empirical investigation.

Mantell comes to the conclusion that the parenting styles differ significantly between the conscientious objectors and war volunteers he investigates (US Special Forces: Green Berets). The family life of the conscientious objectors was described by the respondents as predominantly calm, friendly, relaxed and gentle, as well as stable and secure. Each family member was granted great freedom of movement and expressiveness. None of the interviewees were physically severely punished. The majority was rarely or never beaten. In addition, the family generally emphasized and at the same time lived the "humanitarian social ethic" and individual social responsibility.

The style of education of the volunteers, however, was authoritarian, cold and brutal. With the exercise of physical punishments in the respective situations usually mercilessly - in some cases even intensified - continued, even if the children already openly showed their suffering. There was also little room for own feelings and opinions. Delicacy and tenderness were seen as a sign of weakness in these families, especially for boys / men. Externally, these families were intact, stable and socially accepted, which did not correspond to the inner reality.

https://www.amazon.com/True-Americanism-Berets-Resisters-Commitment/dp/0807724521

Duns89:
In True Americanism: Green Berets and War Reisters, David Mark Mantell conducts a series of interviews with a number of Green Berets and a number of individuals who resist war. This is very relevant to my research because it gives me primary interviews with actual Special Operations soldiers. These interviews will have a direct impact on my research. The author collected the data by sitting down with all the individuals and conducting one on one interviews. This information is very accurate because it is the actual words of the soldiers. The interviews were not summarized. The interviews and responses were published in the book word for word without alteration. These interviews may be from the early seventies, but I still think they hold a lot of value. This book can be used by any level researcher as a reference, and is extremely easy to read. For my project, I need a number of direct interviews and this book helps greatly. Primary interviews will give me the most credibility when arguing my thesis.

In the context of family and military/war, I would like to put forward a somewhat longer, impressive quote from Mantell, which, like no other text of my research, expresses how much the elimination of compassion is wanted by the military, so that war can actually work and how the family provides the land for it. (Mantell was asked by a colonel of the respective military base to explain the psychological situation of the soldiers): "Mantell: The soldier in the Special Forces has been used to very hard, strict and arbitrary discipline since childhood (...) in the form of lashes, intimidation, beatings (...) In their families, there was little to no friendliness ( ...) Penalties took violent forms (...) There were weapons in the family (...) You are used to the use of weapons since early childhood (...) They hunted and used the weapons, (...) They had no strong attachment to anything outside the family (...) The families were isolated units (...) There were no positive emotional ties within the family that were expressed ( ...) Although they often had sexual intercourse during adolescence, they did not have emotional ties to these girls (...) They did not say they had any deep friendships with anyone (...). Army service is fun for them (...). (...) They respect all branches of the executive and know clearly what can happen to them when they do something criminal (...) They have killed many people, men, women and children in Vietnam and have no guilt or nightmares (...)

Colonel X: You know, you've described Americanism in its best form. But somehow you twisted it so that it almost sounds disparaging. We are so proud to have this kind of individual in the Special Forces, it's unbelievable. "

You can also read the global report about child soldiers or watch the movie "Full Metall Jacket". The military uses traumatized young people for their own purposes.

https://www.child-soldiers.org/

Your links about the suicides of soldiers are very interesting. Thanks.

But Katarina didn't want to suicide herself, because she could not cope with her stressful work, but to protect Masha.

I think her mother instinct was so pronounced that she found a different way than to kill herself. Only alive, she could protect Masha in the long term.