Soul Repair: Recovering from Moral Injury after War

Canadians, beware, these are US authors and write about the US experience of War. Second this is not a self help book nor does it answer any of the larger questions regarding "moral injuries".As a chaplain and veteran I approached this book with anticipation for repairing of my soul is what I have been seeking. That anticipation was tempered as I read the introduction, "We were searching for some approach to moral questions of was..." and "We thought that a Truth Commission on Conscience in War (TCCW) might be a helpful approach to putting the moral issues before the public." I read on, gleaning what I could from the stories of veterans and the moral challenges they faced. As I continued through the book, I realised that the focal point was a moral objection to the wars they participated in. For some, their objection was rooted in Just War doctrine and others in their morals. Running throughout the stories was a thread on morals which is equated with core beliefs. As each story is told we can infer how their core beliefs were developed and why they developed a moral injury.The stories are compelling. Though not a conscientious objector, I saw my inner struggles reflected in theirs. I reached the final chapter of the book, anticipating insight into resolving my struggles. Disappointedly, I found a negative critique of the US Army`s Spiritual Fitness definition and programmes in that they lacked a moral component. This chapter was also critical of US society and military role in creating these moral injuries. The conclusion of this book is with closing chapters in the authors`own stories.This book would be best called Truth Commission on Conscience in War. Like other Truth Commissions (South Africa on Apartheid and Canada on Residential Schools) this one provides a platform for individuals and their stories to be heard and acknowledged. This book as done just that, allowed them to share their stories of moral injury. These are stories that needed to be told and heard.

Yesterday, 60 Minutes had an extended report on PTSD, veterans, and the use of cognitive processing therapy to help these veterans deal with their suffering.But what if what is important to know regarding combat veterans' suffering isn't best understood and dealt with by using a cognitive therapeutic approach?What if what is important to know regarding veterans' suffering is only partially, and sometimes only peripherally cognitive, in nature?What if, as indicated on page 54 of this heart-felt book, this suffering hinges on "Feelings of guilt, shame, meaninglessness, and alienation (that) come from knowing that one transgressed one's most deeply held beliefs and moral values, and therefore one's core sense of self."?What then?Even if better cognitive awareness of their suffering is achieved through cognitive therapy--Is this sufficient to guide veterans toward healing?Nakashima and Lettini seem say no: "Veterans who struggle with moral injury are struggling to recover their lost sense of humanity, which they require to reintegrate into the human community." (page 54)These authors seem to be saying that humanity and community are as central to healing as is thinking, no matter how well-meaning, subtle, or sophisticated the cognition may be.This seems to be the same point Johnathan Shay has convincingly highlighted in his two books regarding Vietnam veterans and PTSD, where he insists that there must be a social "communilization of trauma" if individual veterans are to be healed.I hope the VA is incorporating Nakashima's, Letteri's and Shay's insights into the therapy they are providing veterans.I would also suggest that VA therapists might benefit suffering veterans by incorporating into their therapeutic approach some of the insights regarding human nature that can be found in Enneagram Theory: There are three domains that pertain to the human person and all three are important--the Cognitive (thinking), the Somatic (instinctual), and the Emotional (feeling). See Don Riso's and Russ Hudson's books, and Kathleen Hurley's website--The Enneagram in the Healing Tradition, for Information regarding why it is imparative to consider all dimentions of the human person.

Veterans of war and the families to whom they come home may be the most neglected and misunderstood sub-population in all of America. The damaging personal and social consequences of this have been incalculable. As this book says over and over again, wars are not left behind when veterans come home. As a follower of Jesus, thus a compassionate resister/pacifist, I have been saying for years that veterans have been abandoned by the church from both sides: the pacifist churches (Mennonite, etc.) have scapegoated veterans and failed to relate to them as needy fellow humans, and the war-justifying churches have lauded them, telling them they are heroes when their own hearts are telling them that they have been morally damaged in life-threatening ways. On page 102 the authors write: "When a community takes responsibility for helping those with moral injury, it must do so with integrity, rather than by scapegoating individuals or pressuring them to deny what they know to be true." This book can make a great contribution to correcting this problem. It could, in short, revolutionize the thinking of both pacifist and war-justifying churches about war and veterans. Drawing totally from both their own family experiences of war and the stories of veterans, Brock and Lettini tell the untold story of another collateral damage of war, that which is inflicted on the souls and families of those who join the institution dedicated to killing our fellow human beings. Few of us would think that any person dealing with veterans who is not conversant with the basic idea and some details about PTSD is prepared or competent for the task. With the publication of this book we are about to discover that any person dealing with veterans who does not understand moral injury and soul repair is not competent or prepared for the task. But, you get the drift--this is a dangerous book. Read it at the risk of rethinking some of your most cherished ideas.

Describes in detail what veterans of war experience.

This is really conceptual ground breaking.... perhaps it needs expansion and refinement. Anyone who has worked with veterans has recognized that a huge amount of energy goes into simply trying to build trust. And that trust may slip away from on encounter to the next. It like each conversation is the first one. Plowing the same ground again and again. The trust factor just doesn't stick. I sent a copy of this to a beat cop in a big dirty city with lots of homeless veterans. His street experience convinced him that "they don't want to be helped". He transferred out of the assignment - it was too painful he said. I sent the book because it is a matter or trying to help someone learn to trust again. Some Veterans are stuck in their own Good Fridays, betrayal of trust that shakes the core.Moral wounding actually comes in lots of forms... the trusted relative who sexually abuses, the officer who arrests someone because he can, the guy who spends years in prison until DNA gets him his freedom. This is a ground breaking book --- the merit of which will only come when it is expanded to a discussion of the many forms Moral Wounding takes.I have given copies of this book to social workers who have struggled to serve the morally wounded, the rape victim, the battered wife who can't get a restraining order, the veteran who really wants to sleep under the bridge because he does trust the shelters. Betrayal of trust by people who are responsible for your safety, and basic well being --- cripples the ability not only to seek help but also to remain in healing helping relationship.to explore moral wounding in a non-military context consider Trauma and Grace: Theology in a Ruptured World