PSA: Govt. to realize KILLING PEOPLE IS WRONG.

The Army and National Institutes of Mental Health are collaborating in a five-year study on "the causes and risk factors of suicide" among soldiers.

One can only hope that this study includes a true control group: that is, a bunch of soldiers not asked to kill other people in the name of nationalism, oil or presidential hubris -- or for any other reason.

See how many of them with their "killing people is wrong" pansy ways want to off themselves. My bet would be "fewer."

Then deal with the consequences.

But the Army can't deal with results saying "killing people goes against humanity and self-worth." They're in the business of killing. They can't afford to admit that the sacrifice soldiers make for their country starts in their souls, with the first break-'em-down-build-'em-up weeks of boot camp, not on the fields where they fall.

The "ultimate sacrifice" they offer is their lives, but it starts long before their deaths.

The Army is not looking for real answers, here. No one is asking themselves whether we should be in the business of making people into killing machines with compartmentalized views of the world that allow for killing "them" but protecting "us," for loving our families while hating and denying the rights of other families. They don't want to know whether this is good for us -- they want to know how to do it better, how to make the transformation more complete. They want to be able to turn soldiers into un-conscienced killing machines.

Soldiers made completely, unambiguously capable of dealing with killing another human being, in my view, are as lost in all ways that really matter, as ones who commit suicide.

I hope the Army fails.