Marine: "I'm A Monster." - ''I Can't Forgive Myself''

[revelarts]

"I'm A Monster." - ''I Can't Forgive Myself'':

U.S. veterans suffering alone in guilt over wartime events

By AP

February 22, 2013 "Information Clearing House" - (AP) - A veteran of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, former U.S. Marine Capt. Timothy Kudo thinks of himself as a killer - and he carries the guilt every day.

"I can't forgive myself," he says. "And the people who can forgive me are dead."

With American troops at war for more than a decade, there's been an unprecedented number of studies into war zone psychology and an evolving understanding of post-traumatic stress disorder. Clinicians suspect some troops are suffering from what they call "moral injuries" - wounds from having done something, or failed to stop something, that violates their moral code.

Though there may be some overlap in symptoms, moral injuries aren't what most people think of as PTSD, the nightmares and flashbacks of terrifying, life-threatening combat events. A moral injury tortures the conscience; symptoms include deep shame, guilt and rage. It's not a medical problem, and it's unclear how to treat it, says retired Col. Elspeth Ritchie, former psychiatry consultant to the Army surgeon general.

"The concept ... is more an existentialist one," she says.

The Marines, who prefer to call moral injuries "inner conflict," started a few years ago teaching unit leaders to identify the problem. And the Defense Department has approved funding for a study among Marines at California's Camp Pendleton to test a therapy that doctors hope will ease guilt....
http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-201_162-...artime-events/

It's late,
And I don't want to be glip or flip over this serious issue.

However this is the reason Jesus died and rose. He offers forgiveness. Full and complete. The Human soul knows that it has failed. some know more clearly and painfully than others. there's no psychiatric or philosophical remedy. Confession and Trust in God's forgiveness is the way this type of guilt is lifted. He is the only one that knows the whole story and can wash the crimes clean. Fully and completely. It is real. Not a Psych metaphor or placebo.