Veteran barred from school for paper on killing
We’ve grown accustomed to the stories about elementary-schoolers suspended from school for bringing to class little plastic army men and tiny toy guns or drawing tanks and planes. VTWoody sends us a link to an article about a Baltimore college student who has been banned from his campus until he seeks professional treatment for writing about his experiences in combat;
So [Charles] Whittington, an Iraq veteran, submitted an essay on the allure of combat for his English class at the Community College of Baltimore County in Catonsville. He called war a drug and wrote that killing “is something that I do not just want but something I really need so I can feel like myself.”
Whittington’s instructor gave him an A and suggested that he seek publication for the piece. The essay appeared in the Oct. 26 edition of the campus newspaper.
Two weeks later, the former infantryman was called to a meeting with high-ranking college officials, who told him he would be barred from campus until he obtained a psychological evaluation. “We all believe in freedom of speech, but we have to really be cautious in this post- Virginia Tech world,” says college spokesman Hope Davis, referring to the 2007 massacre of 32 people by a student gunman.
Post VA-Tech? Really? Was Seung-Hui Cho a veteran who relived his experiences in combat in his mind? A veteran who knew that killing is no solution to personal problems? A man trained to keep his finger off the trigger until he needed bullets?
But Whittington, 24, says that he has his violent impulses under control with the help of counseling and medication and that the college is unfairly keeping him from moving forward with his life.
“Right now, that’s all I have left,” he says of his classes.
The dispute speaks to the apprehension that steers college officials as they try to prevent campus violence. But it also illustrates a common dilemma for veterans, who have endured traumas their peers can barely fathom and who often feel misunderstood when they try to discuss their experiences.
Yeah, that’s not preventing campus violence. That’s proof that the gap between Americans and those who serve is widening.
Would the college ban violent rap music? Would they ban violent Islamic professors? Would they ban Black Panthers?
It’s just easier to ban veterans because we make less noise and aren’t a real threat anyway. And everyone feels safer because the college acts like it’s doing something – even if it’s the wrong thing. Like the TSA.
Category: Military issues, Society, Veterans Issues
Yeah, I don’t think the guy should have been banned from campus, but did you read the essay? It basically contains all the same drivel that anti-war activists regularly spew about the military, veterans, and the war, but without the disparaging intent. Whittington talks about killing people by stabbing them, slicing their throats, about looking into their eyes as they die. Color me skeptical; this is a little too Jesse-Macbethish for my tastes. I’m not saying the dude is a faker, but I don’t believe he was out there with a kabar, hooking and jabbing either. I don’t want to get too down on him, because he probably never intended it to get this wide of publicity when he wrote it, but it’s pretty one-dimensional and over the top. The essay: “War is a drug. When soldiers enter the military from day one, they begin to train and are brain washed to fight and to handle situations in battle. We train and train for combat, and then when we actually go to war, it is reality and worse than what we have trained for. We suffer through different kinds of situations. The Army never taught how to deal with our stress and addictions. War is a drug because when soldiers are in the Infantry, like me, they get used to everything, and fast. I got used to killing and after a while it became something I really had to do. Killing becomes a drug, and it is really addictive. I had a really hard time with this problem when I returned to the United States, because turning this addiction off was impossible. It is not like I have a switch I can just turn off. To this day, I still feel the addictions running through my blood and throughout my body, but now I know how to keep myself composed and keep order in myself, my mind. War does things to me that are so hard to explain to someone that does not go through everything that I went through. That’s part of the reason why I want to go… Read more »
Ah, Community College of Baltimore County, my old stomping grounds.
If I stick to the point- no he should not have been kicked out of school for expressing what he knows makes him feel the most normal.
It’s my opinion that if you understand why you do something, that *is* how to cope. This guy sounds like a lot of returning vets. That you learn to do something that is not pleasant. And when you resign yourself to the mission, then it becomes about survival of which killing is a part of.
Trying to rationalize this person as needing a psych evaluation? It’s a double edged sword. On one side, you’ve got what I call Whittington’s coping mechanism, and on the other- the criticism for what the guy had to do to defend himself for the Country. It will be awhile before he stops feeling as if he should still be killing the enemy, especially as long as there are comrades he knows at risk.
I have read others accounts of what it means to them to kill or be a killed and I have to say, that when done in retrospect, the writing masters the emotions of what goes down. If I had time to go and find the essays of which I speak, I would.
Suffice it to say that the essay Whittington wrote seems to be missing the emotions one might expect to read about when describing the addiction, besides that it made him feel good. And that he got an A is sad commentary based on the way that I was taught to construct an essay.
It does make me wonder if this could be something purposely designed to stir controversy in any case- and I wouldn’t be surprised.
I’m going to have to side with the community college on this one.
“Killing becomes a drug, and it is really addictive. I had a really hard time with this problem when I returned to the United States, because turning this addiction off was impossible.”
If someone says that he’s addicted to killing and he just can’t switch it off, that person is a threat to public safety.
It’s possible that he’s lying. I’m not saying that he is. But it does sound like he’s some kind of IVAW faker, claiming that he saw really traumatic stuff, when really was only in country for like three days and he never left the airport. But we don’t know that.
I’m currently in a Midwestern community college and have several vets in my classes. I can’t say what is going through their minds but I have noticed that they tend to be the more dedicated individuals in class. Usually showing up on time or early with the assignments done. They don’t sit around jabbering like a bunch of whiny punks right out of high school. They pay attention and contribute in a meaningful way.
I have never run across anything like this. If this young man is truly feeling this way but has everything under control, as he claims, then I don’t see a problem with his paper. However, I do see a problem with the over-reaction by the school. This is just like the TSA with their heavy-handed approach to perceived problems. It seems to me to be an over-reaction to a previous failure as if they are trying to show everybody, “LOOK! We are doing something!” to mitigate past failures.
And people wonder why veterans don’t “open up” and talk about their experiences.
Agree with Ben here. The school has a responsibility to do something when a student (any student) says that they’re addicted to killing. If he was just trying to explain some of the addictive properties of military service and combat, then this might just be an issue of poor writing. Those of us who have served know that war can be exciting, and he might have been trying to channel that in his paper. There’s a way to write about this without sounding like you have a blood lust, though. And being in a school environment, you need to have some situational awareness on this issue (killing, guns, school).
Plus, his descriptions of sticking blades in stomachs and between ribs and slicing throats is strange. Who does that? Seriously. This guy is claiming to have done both (by inference). Where’s his MoH?
This guy, one way or another, is not well. I’m in total agreement with what the school did. Could you imagine if this guy hurt someone and then it came out that he was writing and publishing papers in the school about how he “needed to kill” and the school did nothing about it? People would be outraged and rightfully so. It’s not like the school expelled him, they simply said he needed to be professionally evaluated to make sure he’s not a threat to other students.
As a vet back in school, I am afraid I have t oside with the school. Yet, they handled it poorly. The school should have made an effort to help the young man get the assessment and work through the situation.
Just reading that last paragraph makes me wonder if he just needs serious help or if he’s doing a MacBeth and needs serious help… I can see why the college would take this action. Maybe they could have offered to do the evaluation…
Addiction to ‘war’ is different than addiction to killing. (I also feel the word ‘addiction’ is used way too freely… addiction to chocolate, porn, sex, v-8 juice… come on) But, it seems (as an OUTSIDER) that becoming “addicted” to the adrenaline of war — and feeling lost without it– would be normal. But the ‘killing’ specifically.. not good.
I don’t agree he should have been kicked out of class… wife beaters, child molesters, ex-cons, extremist muslims, all get to attend class. But the school has a right to request an eval– and since the piece was published, the VA ought to come looking for him to talk to.
BooRadley-
You hit on what I wanted to say, but could not formulate. Addiction to war, not killing. Addicted to the adrenaline, feeling lost without that feeling. Yep. You nailed it.
“But Whittington, 24, says that he has his violent impulses under control with the help of counseling and medication”
Sounds like he’s already getting help for what he already has identified as a problem outside the norm. So why not kick a guy when he’s down and trying to get up?
Nothing good ever comes from Maryland.
I can’t decide whether the college made a wise decision or not, but at least they made one rather than just give him a pat on the back like his instructor did. I have to agree with defendUSA about the essay itself; it doesn’t deserve an “A” at the college level.
Sounds like someone just trying to impress some Hippie Chicks…Say or write anything to get laid…sorta like our little Joey boy…just my opinion.
Adrenaline is THE most addictive drug ever. It’s the reason why so many guys sit around talking about their experiences. Once you have that jones, you will do a LOT to get another fix. Even as I get older, I still get a rush whenever I hear the thump-thump-thump of rotorblades, or a P-3/C-130’s turboprop engines.
I think that the school effed up very bad with this guy, but I’m pretty certain he wasn’t helping his case any with this writing.
I will say this much: Writing is a great cathartic. Being able to put some things down on paper has done me a world of good in certain situations, and helped me work things out that no other method has ever done.
“Nothing good ever comes from Maryland.” Inasmuch as that’s where the USNA is located, I would have to agree. Fire when ready.
AirCav
Agreed, Go Army Beat Navy
He should maybe consider going into the business of raising grass-fed cattle and slaughtering them himself. This would help meet a growing demand for grass-fed beef as people become increasingly aware of the nutritional shortcomings of meat produced by factory-farming. Raising and slaughtering cattle may not completely satisfy his desire to kill, but it would at least keep him busy with hard work and channel the impulse into something useful to society. Just a thought.
@Daniel (#18), yes, agreed – Go Army Beat Navy. Hehe…
Ummm yeah, this isn’t normal. This screams sociopath to me
But I guess I should add that you can’t (or shouldn’t) punish a guy for writing a story…..so I totally do not agree with the school’s decision
I think I agree with whoever said it’s more likely a case of poor writing. Probably feeding into a ignorant, slack-jawed English professor’s perception of what war is like.
Because, seriously, this essay is crap.
@Anon in Jax – But the school also has a responsibility to protect its students. I can only hope there are people involved in this guy’s life who know what’s going on with him.
Truth hurts. War sucks, and killing becomes a way of life. Any soldier that has been and can readjust easily is a lucky soul indeed. I hate seeing my guys die. I hated what I became, and how I never felt a think when the Iraqis died, but you know what there are times when I too miss the feel of an M-4 in my hands. Even the weight of the armor. The feelings of it all. I hated it and now i miss it.
If people can not accept the fact that there are really uncomfortable facts about war. facts which we don’t want to admit. the irrational fear of your fellow citizen, the fear of guns. these are things that sheep fear. They don’t want to admit how important sheep dogs are.
The Guy talks about how good he feels when he sticks his blade into sommeone? either Knife or Bayonet, My BS meter is pinging how many people do we know who’ve killed the enemy in iraq with either a Knife or Bayonet? its Jesse Macbeth-ish to claim crap like that
As a psychologist and a veteran of Iraq, let me just say that you’re a fucking moron. Perhaps you should learn about the definitions of psychological terms like “sociopath” before you inaccurately describe the men who do the dirty work to keep piss heads like you safe. Just saying.
I agree this dude’s BS meter is on high alert.
Totally fits into the media cliche of the ‘dangerous’ military person who’s been traumatized by war, and is ready to be set off at any moment (a la John Rambo).
As a veteran myself, agreed that war is hell and killing is strange and happens but I think this guy’s imagination got away from him slightly. I’m not saying he didn’t kill the enemy, I’m saying I don’t think he was using a knife in hand to hand. At any rate, this essay is terribly written.While I am truly empathetic, he might have strreeeeetched the truth a bit.
My two cents worth? A horribly written piece of personal fiction, and the school is obligated to take what measures it deems necessary to protect it’s students and faculty.
I think he should be Ble to write that and not be judge n called crazy bcuz u can say o I join to protect my country all u want but the truth is as infantry u want to b in combat n u kno killing is combat n all that other shit like I do it to protect the u.s.a. Goes out the window bcuz wen that fire is incoming at ur unit and u u want to eliminate he threat and survive n that meAns killin those rag motherfuckers n wen it comes down to it it’s natural to kill we hVe been for years n ther is nothing like the hunt of another man nothing like the rush of him trying to take u out n u trying to put him down first u only get 1 chance to live in the game of war it’s not a video gAme n u better believe ur not going to blo ur only life by choice.