Embedded with NATO troops in Afghanistan, Neil Shea is disturbed by the anger and hatred voiced by soldiers in his platoon:
“This is where I come to do fucked-up things,” [Staff Sergeant James Givens] said. “So I don’t do them at home.” … [W]e require our fighters to be ready hurricanes, on-call combat machines. We want them held easily in check, and we expect light-switch control over their aggression. Yet the Afghan war no longer relies so much on combat. The mission is nuanced, and future success, even sane withdrawal, demands Afghan cooperation. Soldiers like Givens, so barely restrained, their switches unreliable after years of war, undermine this. But we have no good method for dealing with men who grow too dangerous. We vaguely hope their anger does not spill over, or come home. It is not simple.
The Dish 