ot only is the army attempting to make robots who think like soldiers but it’s also trying to make soldiers who think like robots. Rightly disturbed by the amount and nature of mental problems that are emerging in veterans, The Pentagon plans to make remorse obsolete. To do this they will use the same technique that battle weary soldiers have employed since the beginning of time: Instead of the opium and lager that Johnny Redcoat has so long relied upon, the army is now interested in a drug called Propranolol. They are also interested in treating Post Tramatic Stress Disorder before it appears. Not by only declaring war in only the most dire of circumstances and refusing to replace diplomacy with force, but by doping the conscience of its personal into comfortably numb oblivion. “The Psychological Kevlar Act” will allow them to do this. As much as I like the name of the bill, I’m unable to believe that our minds should be bullet proof. We need to be occasionally pierced by guilt, reality and opposing ideas. It allows us to think, to change and to adapt to our surroundings. Most importantly, it makes us feel bad when we take a human life. We’re supposed to feel bad when we do that.

Our minds should be open; not drug-fortified bunkers filled with murderous impulse. Soldiers should be treated for their mental problems but the best way to do this is to use them as little as possible and only in the most dire of circumstances. If you want an army that isn’t killing itself at a rate of 17 people a day, make sure that you only use them when you absolutely need to. Invading countries half-way around the world with no justification other than lies, could drive anyone mad. Drugging the morals and the remorse out of them is not a solution. They deserve that remorse. They earned it. ( By Ryan Oakley ).

www.opencongress.org/bill/110-h3256/show