See televised discussion on recognizing soldiers face moral wounds

"Moral Injury stems from the participation in acts of combat that conflict with a soldier's deeply held principles. This unseen impairment leads to a sense of guilt, shame, and grief, which can manifest itself as self-harm or suicide if not addressed."

- Military Outreach USA

"Our service members in combat are confronted with split-second life-and-death decisions every day. The enemy is often dehumanized, and there are unconventional terrorist actions disregarding all rules of human decency that often result in an attitude among our military that forces a strict concentration on accomplishing the mission to protect one's fellow unit members regardless of one's moral code."

- the Rev. Matt Foley, pastor of St. James church in Arlington Heights and former Army chaplain who served in Afghanistan

This fall, in a discussion that will be televised at 11 a.m. Sunday, Dec. 4, on WYCC channel 20, a retired U.S. Army general, a clinical psychologist, a church pastor and the executive director of Military Outreach USA met to address what they believe is an elusive and often life-threatening casualty of American combat veterans: the moral wound.

Strictly speaking, it is not post-traumatic stress disorder. A moral injury can go undiagnosed for 30 years, according to studies.

Leading the panel discussion at the Pritzker Military Museum and Library in Chicago was retired Maj. Gen. James Mukoyama, a Vietnam veteran who narrowly survived a moral wound and went on to become a highly decorated soldier, and then the youngest Army general and the first Asian-American to command an Army division.

Soon after his retirement, Mukoyama, a Glenview resident, founded Military Outreach USA, a national not-for-profit, faith-based organization that focuses on caring for veterans with moral wounds and educating the public about them.

Other panel members include John Patrick Bair, clinical psychologist with the mental health and stress disorders program at the Capt. James A. Lovell Federal Health Care Center in North Chicago; Joseph Palmer, executive director of Military Outreach USA and author of the book "They Don't Receive Purple Hearts;" and the Rev. Matt Foley, pastor of St. James Catholic Church in Arlington Heights.

Mukoyama's organization provides free resources, training and education to houses of worship.

For years, Mukoyama has maintained that "the main approach for moral injury is not a medical doctor with prescription drugs, but rather one that includes the forgiveness and grace of a moral authority, a loving God, the counseling of clergy and sensitive therapists, and the fellowship of a spiritual community."

The general believes that in the church, this veteran cannot only regain the devastating loss of his or her self-worth but can find forgiveness and healing.

The moral justification of killing in warfare - a multifaceted, debatable topic - took center stage during the panel discussion.

"A moral wound breaks down the best of our thinking," said Bair, a Unitarian who annually treats nearly 300 veterans with PTSD and moral wounds at the federal health care center in North Chicago.

"Almost 70 percent of veteran suicides are of vets older than 50," Mukoyama says. "The suicide rate among our veterans is at epidemic levels. We have lost more veterans due to suicide in one year than all the combat deaths since 9/11."

Foley, who served 5½ years as an Army chaplain in Afghanistan and has since counseled several veterans with moral wounds, said in a later interview that a soldier in a firefight with the enemy "can't hesitate." Firing his weapon at the enemy "is an instinct," he said.

Two questions not answered clearly during the panel discussion were:

• How should the military deal with a young soldier with Christian values and a moral code going into battle and not wanting to kill the enemy?

• How would our government deal with a possible future situation where several thousand of our military had to quickly prepare for an aggressive attack on the enemy when the majority of them had very strong moral codes against killing?

As Foley and I walked out of the Pritzker museum that night, we summed up the panel discussion with "War is hell."

Then there was this explanation for wars in spite of good intentions of governments and civic leaders: "You ask and do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives." (James 4:3).

For more information about Military Outreach USA, visit militaryoutreachusa.org.

• A longer version of this article is available at exodustrekkers.blogspot.com/.

© 2016 Robert R. Schwarz