Collective Traumas in War and Society

The traumatic environment of combat will have long-lasting effects on the military personnel involved, the civilians exposed, and the people both left behind and come back to at the end of a war or tour. Every individual exposed will be impacted by both traumatic scenes and the knowledge of hurting others. The tragedies of warfare will both harm and teach future generations, forcing a society to both accept and adapt to a collective trauma, and influencing everyone in a community, whether they are aware of the changes or not.

            Military men and women are faced with experiences in combat that most people will never encounter, and currently do so on a volunteer basis. They knowingly put themselves in situations that may scar them forever, and they face each day with the knowledge that they are personally responsible for the lives of others, as are other people responsible for their own safety. The military insists that a group take responsibility for an individual, and each soldier to be responsible for another at any given moment. In each incident, combat related or otherwise, a soldier is to rely on a “battle buddy” and to be equally relied on. This method of enforcing responsibility effectively prepares soldiers to watch for their fellow soldiers, take care of those in need and to be able to confidently rely on another with their own lives. It also will enforce the problematic “survivor’s guilt” many people share after a traumatic event in any incident. Military mental health professionals have recognized this, along with many other issues with collective traumas, and have worked to incorporate sessions and treatments immediately following a stressful event.  

Recent warfare has shown a distribution of guilt among soldiers both involved in killing and traumatic scenes as well as those completing supporting tasks. The shared guilt amongst a larger group brings about a larger collective trauma, although their is a possibility that the effects are lesser individually.

            Large traumas spread far beyond the military into the surrounding community. The current fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan will leave many civilians, innocent of all warfare, traumatically exposed to a life they did not seek or choose to partake in. Children especially will be affected by the military presence, the insurgency, the loss of homes and loved ones. Children in the middle east are not only mentally scarred, however, but oftentimes deformed themselves from roadside bombs, suicide bombers, shootings, and unexploded ordinances. Many of these children seem resilient, though, running down the streets, both in anger and support of the American troops.