Full Metal Jacket and Nagel

          After watching the movie "Full Metal Jacket," and reading the essay War and Massacre, by Tomas Nagel, one thing jumped out at me. One of the main things I thought about is what the atrocities of war can do to a soldier's psyche, and then consequentially how they should be treated by their fellow citizens when they get back stateside. This issue is somewhat prevalent and has been for some time ever since the time when Vietnam was going on. Public opinion was very against the war for the most part, and when the soldiers eventually came home, the public did not loom to them kindly. These soldiers just went through events that would break the minds of normal men and women, and them returning home was technically an escape from the atrocities. They had no control of public opinion, or why the war was being fought,they only had control of how they responded to the orders they received from higher ups. The war itself in retrospect is considered a failure and a blackspot in American history. That being said, the soldiers did not deserve the disrespect they received when they return home. In fact, no soldier deserves to be disrespected by anyone on any level due to the fact of them being willing to give up there lives for their fellow man. After all of the things these men and women have seen and the fact they just left a war zone, they do not need to return home to one.
          Now the military does and has carried out morally questionable procedures and are not blameless in any way shape or form. Now that being said when judging the military and the things that they do, one must consider the military as separate from the parts that make it up. It is the government/military higher ups that are responsible for the most part for any atrocities being carried out. Now some terrible things are carried out by individual soldiers of their own accord. As a defense to this, war is a terrible stressor and warps the way people think. One can say the soldiers were not in their right mind when they did the wrong thing. A perfect example of this in Full Metal Jacket is when the company came under fire by a sniper in a collection of buildings. After they take the sniper down she is left bleeding out on the floor suffering in pain and requesting them to put her out of her misery. Prior to this three of their squad mates have been killed by her and many of them want her to suffer and feel pain. The main character eventually does end her suffering but we can see why many of the soldiers were fine letting her bleed out.
          One party that has partial blame is the government and the training they put the soldiers through. This is stated by Nagel when he says, "Once the door is opened to calculations of utility and national interest, the usual speculations about the future of freedom, peace, and economic prosperity can be brought to bear to ease the consciences of those responsible for a certain number of charred babies." These soldiers are fed this story that whatever you are doing, you are right in doing it because of the certain ends they are trying to achieve. It is basically an excuse to do whatever you want because you are "furthering freedom" in a sense.
          This is why I say these soldiers deserve respect. Not because they are blameless but because most of the blame is not on them. If you do not want to thank then for their service or go out of your way for them because you disagree with what they might have done during war, do not make their lives any harder either. Because more than likely they are living with the hell they have gone through before and do not need anymore demons added to the fire.