I'm going to ask and try to answer, in some ways, kind of an uncomfortable question. Both civilians, obviously, and soldiers suffer in war; I don't think any civilian has ever missed the war that they were subjected to. I've been covering wars for almost 20 years, and one of the remarkable things for me is how many soldiers find themselves missing it. How is it someone can go through the worst experience imaginable, and come home, back to their home, and their family, their country, and miss the war? How does that work? What does it mean? We have to answer that question, because if we don't, it'll be impossible to bring soldiers back to a place in society where they belong, and I think it'll also be impossible to stop war, if we don't understand how that mechanism works.
Es uzdošu un mēģināšu atbildēt uz savā ziņā neērtu jautājumu. Gan civiliedzīvotāji, protams, gan kareivji karā cieš. Nedomāju, ka kāds civiliedzīvotājs jelkad būtu ilgojies pēc piedzīvotā kara. Esmu rakstījis par karu gandrīz 20 gadus, un viena no lietām, kas mani pārsteidz, ir tā, cik daudzi kareivji saprot, ka viņiem tā pietrūkst. Kā nākas, ka cilvēks iziet cauri baisākajai pieredzei, kādu vien var iedomāties, atgriežas savās mājās, pie savas ģimenes un valsts un viņam pietrūkst karš? Kā tā var būt? Ko tas nozīmē? Mums jāatrod atbilde uz šo jautājumu, jo, ja to neizdarīsim, būs neiespējami atgriezt kareivjus vietā un sabiedrībā, kurai viņi ir piederīgi, un, manuprāt, būs arī neiespējami apturēt karu, ja neizpratīsim, kā šis mehānisms darbojas.
The problem is that war does not have a simple, neat truth, one simple, neat truth.
Problēma ir, ka, runājot par karu, nav tādas vienkāršas, skaidras patiesības — vienas vienkāršas, skaidras patiesības.
Any sane person hates war, hates the idea of war, wouldn't want to have anything to do with it, doesn't want to be near it, doesn't want to know about it. That's a sane response to war. But if I asked all of you in this room, who here has paid money to go to a cinema and be entertained by a Hollywood war movie, most of you would probably raise your hands. That's what's so complicated about war. And trust me, if a room full of peace-loving people finds something compelling about war, so do 20-year-old soldiers who have been trained in it, I promise you. That's the thing that has to be understood.
Jebkurš cilvēks pie pilna prāta ienīst karu, ienīst kara ideju, negribētu nekādā veidā būt ar to saistīts, negrib būt tā tuvumā, negrib par to zināt. Tā ir saprātīga reakcija uz karu. Bet, ja es pajautātu visiem klātesošajiem, kurš no jums ir maksājis naudu, lai aizietu uz kino un pavadītu laiku, skatoties kādu Holivudas filmu par karu, lielākā daļa no jums, iespējams, paceltu rokas. Lūk, tas ir tas sarežģītais karā. Ticiet man, ja vesela grupa mieru mīlošu ļautiņu karā saskata kaut ko aizraujošu, tad to dara arī 20-gadīgi kareivji, kuri tam ir apmācīti, to es varu jums apsolīt. Tieši tas ir jāsaprot.
I've covered war for about 20 years, as I said, but my most intense experiences in combat were with American soldiers in Afghanistan. I've been in Africa, the Middle East, Afghanistan in the '90s, but it was with American soldiers in 2007, 2008, that I was confronted with very intense combat. I was in a small valley called the Korengal Valley in eastern Afghanistan. It was six miles long. There were 150 men of Battle Company in that valley, and for a while, while I was there, almost 20 percent of all the combat in all of Afghanistan was happening in those six miles. A hundred and fifty men were absorbing almost a fifth of the combat for all of NATO forces in the country, for a couple months. It was very intense. I spent most of my time at a small outpost called Restrepo. It was named after the platoon medic that had been killed about two months into the deployment. It was a few plywood B-huts clinging to a side of a ridge, and sandbags, bunkers, gun positions, and there were 20 men up there of Second Platoon, Battle Company. I spent most of my time up there. There was no running water. There was no way to bathe. The guys were up there for a month at a time. They never even got out of their clothes. They fought. The worked. They slept in the same clothes. They never took them off, and at the end of the month, they went back down to the company headquarters, and by then, their clothes were unwearable. They burned them and got a new set. There was no Internet. There was no phone. There was no communication with the outside world up there. There was no cooked food. There was nothing up there that young men typically like: no cars, no girls, no television, nothing except combat. Combat they did learn to like.
Kā jau teicu, esmu rakstījis par karu aptuveni 20 gadus, taču visspilgtākā kauju pieredze man ir no laika Afganistānā kopā ar amerikāņu karavīriem. Esmu bijis Āfrikā, Tuvajos Austrumos, 90. gados Afganistānā, bet tieši kopā ar amerikāņu karavīriem 2007. un 2008. gadā es piedzīvoju ļoti spraigas kaujas. Es biju mazā ielejā, ko sauc par Korengālas ieleju, Afganistānas austrumos. Tā bija 10 kilometru gara. Ielejā bija 150 kaujas rotas vīru, un laikā, kamēr biju tur, gandrīz 20% visu Afganistānas kauju notika šajos 10 kilometros. Pāris mēnešus 150 vīru uzņēma gandrīz piekto daļu no visām NATO spēku kaujām šajā valstī. Tā bija milzīga spriedze. Lielāko daļu sava laika es pavadīju mazā priekšpostenī — Restrepo. Tas bija nosaukts vada mediķa vārdā, kuru nogalināja apmēram 2 mēnešus pēc karaspēka izvietošanas. Tur bija dažas saplākšņa būdas, kas turējās cieši pie kalnu grēdas malas, smilšu maisi, bunkuri, ieroču pozīcijas un 20 kaujas rotas otrā vada vīru. Lielāko daļu laika es pavadīju tur. Tekoša ūdens nebija. Nomazgāties nevarēja. Tur, augšā, puiši sabija mēnesi no vietas. Viņi ne reizi pat nenovilka savas drēbes. Viņi cīnījās, viņi strādāja, viņi gulēja tajās pašās drēbēs. Viņi tās nekad nenovilka, un, mēneša beigās dodoties atpakaļ uz rotas štābu, viņu drēbes bija nevalkājamas. Viņi tās sadedzināja un dabūja jaunu komplektu. Tur nebija ne Interneta, ne telefona. Tur, augšā, nebija iespēju sazināties ar apkārtējo pasauli. Īsta, pagatavota ēdiena nebija. Tur, augšā, nebija nekā no tā, kas parasti patīk jauniem vīriešiem — ne mašīnu, ne meiteņu, ne televīzijas, nekā, izņemot kauju — kauju, ko viņi ar laiku iemīlēja.
I remember one day, it was a very hot day in the spring, and we hadn't been in a fight in a couple of weeks, maybe. Usually, the outpost was attacked, and we hadn't seen any combat in a couple of weeks, and everyone was just stunned with boredom and heat. And I remember the lieutenant walking past me sort of stripped to the waist. It was incredibly hot. Stripped to the waist, walked past me muttering, "Oh God, please someone attack us today." That's how bored they were. That's war too, is a lieutenant saying, "Please make something happen because we're going crazy."
Es atceros kādu dienu, tā bija ļoti karsta pavasara diena, un kauju nebija bijis varbūt pāris nedēļu. Parasti priekšpostenim uzbruka, bet pāris nedēļu mēs nebijām piedzīvojuši nevienu kauju, un visi bija kā apstulbuši aiz garlaicības un karstuma. Es atceros leitnantu ejam man garām, izģērbušos līdz jostas vietai, bija neticami karsts... Izģērbies līdz jostas vietai, viņš garāmejot nomurmināja: „Ak Dievs, kaut mums kāds šodien uzbruktu!” Tik ļoti viņi bija nogarlaikojušies. Arī tas ir karš — leitnants, kas saka: „Kaut šodien kaut kas notiktu, citādi mēs jūkam prātā.”
To understand that, you have to, for a moment, think about combat not morally -- that's an important job to do — but for a moment, don't think about it morally, think about it neurologically. Let's think about what happens in your brain when you're in combat. First of all, the experience is very bizarre, it's a very bizarre one. It's not what I had expected. Usually, you're not scared. I've been very scared in combat, but most of the time when I was out there, I wasn't scared. I was very scared beforehand and incredibly scared afterwards, and that fear that comes afterwards can last years. I haven't been shot at in six years, and I was woken up very abruptly this morning by a nightmare that I was being strafed by aircraft, six years later. I've never even been strafed by aircraft, and I was having nightmares about it. Time slows down. You get this weird tunnel vision. You notice some details very, very, very accurately and other things drop out. It's almost a slightly altered state of mind. What's happening in your brain is you're getting an enormous amount of adrenaline pumped through your system. Young men will go to great lengths to have that experience. It's wired into us. It's hormonally supported. The mortality rate for young men in society is six times what it is for young women from violence and from accidents, just the stupid stuff that young men do: jumping off of things they shouldn't jump off of, lighting things on fire they shouldn't light on fire, I mean, you know what I'm talking about. They die at six times the rate that young women do. Statistically, you are safer as a teenage boy, you would be safer in the fire department or the police department in most American cities than just walking around the streets of your hometown looking for something to do, statistically.
Lai to saprastu, jums uz brīdi jāapdomā kauja nevis no morālā skatpunkta, tas, protams, ir svarīgi, bet uz mirkli nedomājiet par morāli, padomājiet par to no neiroloģiskā skatpunkta. Padomāsim, kas notiek smadzenēs, esot kaujā. Pirmkārt, šī pieredze ir ļoti dīvaina, tā ir ārkārtīgi dīvaina. Ne tāda, kādu es biju gaidījis. Parasti jums nav bail. Esmu izjutis milzīgas bailes kaujā, taču lielākoties, esot tur, man nebija bail. Es biju ļoti nobijies pirms un neiedomājami nobijies pēc tam, un tās bailes, kas atnāk pēc tam, var ilgt gadiem. Uz mani nav šāvuši sešus gadus, un šorīt es pēkšņi pamodos no murga, ka mani apšauda lidmašīna — sešus gadus vēlāk. Mani pat nekad nav apšaudījusi lidmašīna, un es par to murgoju. Laiks iet arvien lēnāk. Jums parādās šī dīvainā tuneļa redze. Dažas detaļas jūs pamanāt ļoti, ļoti precīzi, citas it kā pazūd. Tas ir gandrīz mazliet mainīts apziņas stāvoklis. Tas, kas notiek jūsu smadzenēs — jūsu organismā izdalās milzīgs adrenalīna daudzums. Jauni vīrieši dara daudz ko, lai to piedzīvotu. Tas ir mūsos iekšā. Tas ir mūsu hormonos. Jaunu vīriešu mirstība pasaulē sešas reizes pārsniedz jaunu sieviešu mirstību vardarbības un nelaimes gadījumu dēļ, to stulbību dēļ, ko jauni vīrieši dara — lec no vietām, no kurām nevajadzētu lekt, aizdedzina to, ko nevajadzētu aizdedzināt, jūs taču zināt, par ko es runāju. Viņi mirst sešreiz vairāk nekā jaunas sievietes. Statistiski ir drošāk būt pusaudzim, ir drošāk būt ugunsdzēsēju depo vai policijas iecirknī lielākajā daļā ASV pilsētu, nekā vienkārši staigājot pa pilsētas ielām un meklējot kaut ko, ar ko sevi nodarbināt — statistiski.
You can imagine how that plays out in combat. At Restrepo, every guy up there was almost killed, including me, including my good friend Tim Hetherington, who was later killed in Libya. There were guys walking around with bullet holes in their uniforms, rounds that had cut through the fabric and didn't touch their bodies.
Varat iedomāties, kā tas izpaužas kaujā. Augšā, Restrepo, ikviens no vīriem bija gandrīz nogalināts, ieskaitot mani, manu labu draugu Timu Heteringtonu, kurš vēlāk gāja bojā Lībijā. Daži puiši staigāja formas tērpos ar ložu atstātiem caurumiem, lodes, kas bija izurbušās cauri audumam, nepieskaroties viņu ķermeņiem.
I was leaning against some sandbags one morning, not much going on, sort of spacing out, and some sand was kicked into the side of, sort of hit the side of my face. Something hit the side of my face, and I didn't know what it was. You have to understand about bullets that they go a lot faster than sound, so if someone shoots at you from a few hundred meters, the bullet goes by you, or hits you obviously, half a second or so before the sound catches up to it. So I had some sand sprayed in the side of my face. Half a second later, I heard dut-dut-dut-dut-duh. It was machine gun fire. It was the first round, the first burst of an hour-long firefight. What had happened was the bullet hit, a bullet hit three or four inches from the side of my head. Imagine, just think about it, because I certainly did, think about the angle of deviation that saved my life. At 400 meters, it missed me by three inches. Just think about the math on that. Every guy up there had some experience like that, at least once, if not many times.
Kādu rītu es biju atlaidies pret smilšu maisiem, apkārt viss diezgan mierīgi, es tā kā piemigu, un kaut kādas smiltis iesitās, it kā iesitās man sejas vienā pusē. Kaut kas iesitās man sejā, un es nezināju, kas tas ir. Jums jāsaprot, ka lodes pārvietojas daudz ātrāk nekā skaņa, tāpēc, ja kāds uz jums šauj no dažu simtu metru attāluma, lode paiet garām — nu vai, protams, trāpa — aptuveni pussekundi, pirms skaņa to panāk. Tātad es sajutu sejā smiltis. Pussekundi vēlāk es dzirdēju da-da-da-da-da. Tas bija ložmetējs. Tā bija stundu ilgas apšaudes pirmā zalve, pirmais šāviens. Lode bija trāpījusi 8—10 cm attālumā no manas galvas. Iedomājieties, tikai padomājiet par to, jo es pavisam noteikti padomāju, padomājiet par šo novirzi, kas izglāba man dzīvību. No 400 metru attāluma bija nošauti greizi 8 cm. Vien iztēlojieties šo matemātiku! Tur, augšā, ikviens puisis bija piedzīvojis ko līdzīgu — vismaz vienu, ja ne vairākas reizes.
The boys are up there for a year. They got back. Some of them got out of the Army and had tremendous psychological problems when they got home. Some of them stayed in the Army and were more or less okay, psychologically. I was particularly close to a guy named Brendan O'Byrne. I'm still very good friends with him. He came back to the States. He got out of the Army. I had a dinner party one night. I invited him, and he started talking with a woman, one of my friends, and she knew how bad it had been out there, and she said, "Brendan, is there anything at all that you miss about being out in Afghanistan, about the war?" And he thought about it quite a long time, and finally he said, "Ma'am, I miss almost all of it." And he's one of the most traumatized people I've seen from that war. "Ma'am, I miss almost all of it."
Puiši tur, augšā, pavadīja gadu. Viņi atgriezās. Daļa pameta armiju, un atgriežoties viņus piemeklēja milzīgas psiholoģiskas problēmas. Daļa palika armijā, un viņiem klājās vairāk vai mazāk labi — psiholoģiski. Man bija īpaši tuvs kāds puisis vārdā Brendans O'Bērns. Mēs joprojām esam labi draugi. Viņš atgriezās ASV. Viņš pameta armiju. Kādu vakaru pie manis bija viesības. Es biju uzaicinājis viņu, un viņš sāka runāt ar kādu sievieti, vienu no maniem draugiem. Viņa zināja, cik tur bija bijis baisi, un jautāja: „Brendan, vai ir jelkas, kas tev pietrūkst no būšanas Afganistānā, no kara?” Viņš ilgi apdomāja atbildi un visbeidzot teica: „Man pietrūkst gandrīz visa.” Viņš ir viens no šajā karā vissmagāk traumētajiem cilvēkiem, ko es pazīstu. „Man pietrūkst gandrīz visa.”
What is he talking about? He's not a psychopath. He doesn't miss killing people. He's not crazy. He doesn't miss getting shot at and seeing his friends get killed. What is it that he misses? We have to answer that. If we're going to stop war, we have to answer that question.
Par ko viņš runā? Viņš nav psihopāts. Viņam nepietrūkst nogalināšanas. Viņš nav jucis. Viņam nepietrūkst, ka uz viņu šauj un ka tiek nogalināti viņa draugi. Kas tad viņam pietrūkst? Mums jāatrod uz to atbilde. Ja gribam apturēt karu, mums jāatrod atbilde uz šo jautājumu.
I think what he missed is brotherhood. He missed, in some ways, the opposite of killing. What he missed was connection to the other men he was with. Now, brotherhood is different from friendship. Friendship happens in society, obviously. The more you like someone, the more you'd be willing to do for them. Brotherhood has nothing to do with how you feel about the other person. It's a mutual agreement in a group that you will put the welfare of the group, you will put the safety of everyone in the group above your own. In effect, you're saying, "I love these other people more than I love myself."
Manuprāt, viņam pietrūkst biedriskuma. Viņam kaut kādā ziņā pietrūkst tieši pretējais nogalināšanai. Viņam pietrūkst saikne ar pārējiem vīriem, ar kuriem viņš bija kopā. Biedriskums atšķiras no draudzības. Draudzība, protams, veidojas sabiedrībā. Jo vairāk jums kāds patīk, jo vairāk esat gatavs viņa labā darīt. Biedriskumam nav nekāda sakara ar to, ko jūtat pret otru cilvēku. Tā ir savstarpēja vienošanās grupā, ka grupas labklājību, ikviena grupas locekļa drošību nostādīsiet augstāk par savējo. Faktiski jūs sakāt: „Es mīlu šos citus cilvēkus vairāk, nekā es mīlu sevi.”
Brendan was a team leader in command of three men, and the worst day in Afghanistan — He was almost killed so many times. It didn't bother him. The worst thing that happened to him in Afghanistan was one of his men was hit in the head with a bullet in the helmet, knocked him over. They thought he was dead. It was in the middle of a huge firefight. No one could deal with it, and a minute later, Kyle Steiner sat back up from the dead, as it were, because he'd come back to consciousness. The bullet had just knocked him out. It glanced off the helmet. He remembers people saying, as he was sort of half-conscious, he remembers people saying, "Steiner's been hit in the head. Steiner's dead." And he was thinking, "I'm not dead." And he sat up. And Brendan realized after that that he could not protect his men, and that was the only time he cried in Afghanistan, was realizing that. That's brotherhood.
Brendans bija grupas vadītājs, komandējot trīs vīrus, un visbaisākā diena Afganistānā... Viņu neskaitāmas reizes gandrīz nogalināja. Tas viņu nesatrauca. Briesmīgākais, ko viņš piedzīvoja Afganistānā, bija tas, ka vienu no viņa vīriem galvā ķēra lode, kas trāpīja ķiverē un nogāza viņu no kājām. Viņi domāja, viņš ir miris. Tas notika spēcīgas apšaudes laikā. Neviens tam nevarēja pievērsties, un minūti vēlāk Kails Stainers piecēlās sēdus, tā teikt, piecēlās no mirušajiem, jo viņš bija atguvis samaņu. Lode viņam bija likusi zaudēt samaņu, tā bija tikai skārusi ķiveri. Viņš atceras cilvēkus sakām, pašam pa pusei esot pie samaņas, viņš atceras cilvēkus sakām: „Staineram trāpīts galvā. Stainers ir miris.” Un viņš domāja: „Es neesmu miris.” Un piecēlās sēdus. Pēc šī atgadījuma Brendans saprata, ka viņš nevar pasargāt savus vīrus, un vienīgā reize, kad viņš Afganistānā raudāja bija, saprotot to. Tas ir biedriskums.
This wasn't invented recently. Many of you have probably read "The Iliad." Achilles surely would have risked his life or given his life to save his friend Patroclus. In World War II, there were many stories of soldiers who were wounded, were brought to a rear base hospital, who went AWOL, crawled out of windows, slipped out doors, went AWOL, wounded, to make their way back to the front lines to rejoin their brothers out there. So you think about Brendan, you think about all these soldiers having an experience like that, a bond like that, in a small group, where they loved 20 other people in some ways more than they loved themselves, you think about how good that would feel, imagine it, and they are blessed with that experience for a year, and then they come home, and they are just back in society like the rest of us are, not knowing who they can count on, not knowing who loves them, who they can love, not knowing exactly what anyone they know would do for them if it came down to it. That is terrifying. Compared to that, war, psychologically, in some ways, is easy, compared to that kind of alienation. That's why they miss it, and that's what we have to understand and in some ways fix in our society.
Tas nav jaunāko laiku izgudrojums. Daudzi no jums, iespējams, ir lasījuši „Iliādu”. Ahillejs noteikti būtu riskējis ar dzīvību vai atdevis to, lai glābtu savu draugu Patroklu. Otrajā pasaules karā bija daudz stāstu par ievainotiem karavīriem, kuri, nogādāti slimnīcās frontes aizmugurē, devās patvaļīgā prombūtnē, izrāpās pa logiem, izšmauca pa durvīm, devās patvaļīgā prombūtnē, ievainoti, lai nokļūtu atpakaļ frontē un atgrieztos pie saviem biedriem. Domājot par Brendanu, padomājiet par visiem šiem kareivjiem, šo viņu pieredzi, saikni mazajā grupā, kur viņi savā ziņā mīlēja 20 citus cilvēkus vairāk nekā sevi pašu, padomājiet, cik tai ir jābūt labai sajūtai, iztēlojieties to! Gadu viņiem ir dāvāta šī pieredze, un tad viņi atgriežas mājās, viņi ir atpakaļ civilizētājā sabiedrībā gluži tāpat kā mēs, nezinot, uz kuriem cilvēkiem viņi var paļauties, nezinot, kuri viņus mīl, kurus viņi var mīlēt, īsti nezinot, ko viņu draugi un paziņas darītu viņu labā, ja tas būtu vajadzīgs. Tas ir biedējoši. Salīdzinot ar to, karš savā ziņā ir psiholoģiski vieglāks, salīdzinot ar šādu atsvešinātību. Tāpēc viņiem tā pietrūkst, un tieši tas mums jāsaprot un kaut kādā veidā jāsaved kārtībā mūsu sabiedrībā.
Thank you very much.
Liels paldies.
(Applause)
(Aplausi)