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The Story of Moral Injury in the Context of War

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La Salle University La Salle University Digital Commons Th.D. Dissertations Scholarship 4-11-2018 Echoes In The Depths Of Conscience: The Story Of Moral Injury In The Context Of War William Barbee La Salle University, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.lasalle.edu/religion_thd Recommended Citation Barbee, William, "Echoes In The Depths Of Conscience: The Story Of Moral Injury In The Context Of War" (2018). Th.D. Dissertations. 5. https://digitalcommons.lasalle.edu/religion_thd/5 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Scholarship at La Salle University Digital Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in Th.D. Dissertations by an authorized administrator of La Salle University Digital Commons. For more information, please contact [email protected]. La Salle University School of Arts and Sciences Graduate Program in Theology and Ministry Dissertation Echoes In The Depths Of Conscience: The Story Of Moral Injury In The Context Of War By William T. Barbee (B.A., David Lipscomb College; M.Div., Oakland City College; M.S. Tarleton State University) Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree Doctor of Theology 2018 Copyright © 2018 by William T. Barbee All rights reserved For all the men and women who have worn the cloth of our Nation and have borne the wounds and scars of her wars. May they find hope, healing, and home. For all the families who have stood beside their soldier, sailor, marine, or airman and held them in their hearts. Table of Contents Acknowledgements…………………………………………………………………………….v Abstract…………………………………………………………………………………..……vi INTRODUCTION…………………………………………………….…………….……....….1 CHAPTER 1: THE STORY OF MORAL INJURY……………………..…………….…...…4 Moral Injury Defined…………………………………………………………………..………4 1.2 Try To Put It Into Words……………………………………………………………...…7 1.3 What Is Moral Injury In The Context Of War?.................................................................8 1.3.1 Does Time Heal All Wounds?...................................................................................12 1.3.2 Blood Stained Hands…………..………………………………….……………...…15 1.3.3 Moral Injury And Moral Law……………………………………….………..…….18 1.3.4 Guilt And Shame…………………………………………………………..……….20 1.3.5 Suicide And Veterans…………………………………….………… ………..……24 1.4 The Veterans Affairs Responds To Moral Injury……………..….…….………………25 1.4.1 Impact Of Killing In War And Adaptive Disclosure……………………….………26 1.4.2 Forgiveness And Reconnecting…………………………………………………….30 1.5 The Community Responds To Moral Injury……………………………………………33 1.5.1 The Soul Repair Center……………………………………………………………..33 1.5.2 Soldiers Heart……………………………………………………………………….35 1.5.3 Operation Warrior RECONnect…………………………………………………….38 i CHAPTER 2: THE STORY OF SELF…………………………………………….…………42 2:1 Identity Development……………………………………………………….………..…43 2.1.1 Personality……………………………………………………………………..……45 2.1.2 Moral Judgment……………………………………………………….……………48 2.2 Existentialism And Tillich……………………………….……………….…………….50 2.2.1 Ontological Anxiety……………………………………………………………..….51 2.2.2 Moral Injury And Existential Anxiety…………………………...…………………53 2.2.3 Courage And Anxiety………………………………….…………………………...55 2.2.4 Existential Perspective, Identity And Community………………………………….56 2.3 Identity Distortion Through Moral Injury……………………………………...……….57 2.3.1 On Killing……………………………………………………………………...…...59 2.3.2 Trained Killers……………………………………………………………………...60 2.3.3 The Story Of Killing By Hollywood…………………………………….......…...…63 2.3.4 Killing And Dying………………………………………………………….........…66 2.3.5 New Challenges……………………………………………………………..……...67 CHAPTER 3: THE STORY OF EVIL AND SUFFERING……………………………….....70 3.1 What Is Evil………………………………………………………....…………...……...71 3.2 The Problem Of Evil……………………………………………………………………74 3.2.1 Good And Evil…………………………………………………………………...…76 3.2.2 Human Goodness…………………………………………………………………...78 3.3 A Witness To Evil………………………………………………………………………80 3.3.1 Evil And Choice…………………………………………………………….………82 ii 3.3.2 Father Kolbe’s Choice…………………………………………………………...…87 3.4 Moral Failure……………………………………………………………………...……89 3.4.1 The Case Of The My Lai Massacre……………………………………………...…89 3.4.2 A Case Study Of The 800th Military Police Brigade…………………………...….93 3.5 Evil, Suffering And Virtue…………………………………………………………......97 3.5.1 Virtue In Virtue Theory…………………………………………………………….98 3.5.2 Cardinal Virtues……………………………………………………...……………100 3.6 Faith: A Voice From The Garbage Heap………………………………………….......103 3.7 Hope: The Child Of Suffering……………………………………………………...…106 3.8 Charity: Remaking Through Suffering……………………………………………......112 3.9 Karol’s Story Of Hate And Love……………………………………………………...114 CHAPTER 4: THE STORY OF REDEMPTION…………………………………………..118 4.1 The Mission……………………………………………………………………………120 4.2 The Holy Door………………………………………………………………………...123 4.3 The Way Back From No Return…………………………………………………...….128 4.3.1 What Sad Eve Took — You Have Made A Life-Giving Blossom…………...…...130 4.3.1.1 Shame………………………………………………………………………….132 4.3.1.2 The Stain Of War…………………………………………………….………..134 4.3.1.3 A New Beginning…………………………………………………………...…135 4.3.2 Found In The Land Of The Lost……………………………………………..……137 4.3.2.1 You Come To Me — To Save What Was Lost…………………....…….........138 4.3.2.2 Father I Have Sinned Against Heaven And Against You………………..……142 iii 4.3.2.3 Take Up Your Mat And Walk……………………………………….…….….146 4.3.3 The Promise Of Love And Forgiveness………………………………….…..……149 4.3.3.1 Her Many Sins Are Forgiven Her…………………………………………......149 4.3.3.2 Seventy-Seven…………………………………………………………………151 4.3.3.3 The Lord Turned And Looked At Peter……………….......………………..…156 4.3.3.4 Today You Shall Be With Me In Paradise……………………….……………158 4.3.3.5 What Does It Mean To Be Home………………………………….…….....….159 4.3.4 A Wonderful New World………………………………………….………………163 4.3.4.1 Blessed Are Those Who Have Believed……………………….……………...164 4.3.4.2 Receive The Holy Spirit……………………………………….………………166 4.3.4.3 I Am Jesus Whom You Are Persecuting……………………………………...168 4.3.4.4 I Stand At The Door And Knock……………………………………………...170 CHAPTER 5: THE STORY OF HEALING……………………………………………......173 CONCLUSION…………………………………………………………………………...…222 BIBLIOGRAPHY………………….......................................................................................226 iv Acknowledgements I would like to thank the commanders, executive officers, noncommissioned officers, and senior chaplains who have helped me understand the soldier’s mission as well as the soldier’s heart. Beyond that these people facilitated my awareness that the Army and the soldier are living stories. In fact, every good Army story begins with, “And there we were, no….” I would especially like to thank Fr. Gregory D’Emma for his encouragement and support during my course work at La Salle University and the writing of this dissertation. I thank the professors, Jordan Copeland, Frank Berna, and Anthony Smith, who guided me on the journey of writing the story or moral injury. Decades ago Robert Asa of Oakland City University inspired me to take Church History seriously for it is the story of Christianity. The faculty of the United States Army War College gave me an appreciation for the importance of a strategic understanding of the military and national security. Indeed, this understanding is about the future story of our nation and her next generation. Above all, to my wife Cindy, your love and support made this writing project possible. I can never thank you enough for your sacrifice of enduring my long absences over the years while raising two wonderful children. How well you know the story of the soldier and the soldier’s family. Our children and their families now live this story. v Abstract During the latter part of the last decade, mental health professionals working with war veterans began to realize that some of their patients were dealing with something more than complex PTSD. Awareness of a type of wound known as moral injury came from observations in the field of PTSD in war veterans and active duty personnel. In five chapters this dissertation approaches moral injury by drawing on the stories of the Christian tradition. The first chapter tells the story of moral injury. This chapter discusses guilt, shame, suicide, and responses to moral injury. Next, it discusses the issue of identity, Chapter 2: The Story of Self. This chapter approaches the topic of killing by considering how the military trains soldiers, how Hollywood tells the story of killing in combat, and how new technologies present challenges to a soldier’s identity. Chapter 3: The Story of Evil and Suffering discusses the problem of evil, moral failure, and virtue Chapter 4: The Story of Redemption, uses the sixteen panels of the Holy Door at St. Peter’s Basilica. The author suggests that one may view the panels that form four rows thematically. The last chapter tells the story of healing. It presents a retreat program, “Warrior’s Path Home.” vi INTRODUCTION In order to arrive there, To arrive where you are, to get from where you are not, You must go by a way wherein there is no ecstasy. —T.S. Eliot, Four Quartets, 127 War changes those who participate in it: the soldiers in combat and combat support, the civilians in the war zone, the families to which war veterans return, the societies that send soldiers off to fight, and the communities into which returning veterans reintegrate or fail to reintegrate. No one who goes to war comes home the same person. The collective human experience would affirm that a person obtains the deepest parts of wisdom on journeys, as in the epigram above,
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