Joshua LaViolette Group Discussion

This morning’s talk with Joshua LaViolette, a US navy veteran who served in both Iraq and Afghanistan, yielded some very interesting insights for me and opened my eyes to certain aspects of military life which I definitely had never before given consideration. One of the points of interest that jumped out the most at me during this talk was the manner in which LaViolette was able to concede that many veterans – himself included – do not always behave and think in a traditionally egalitarian and “moral” sense, both during their time in the warzone and in the years that follow their homecoming.

LaViolette noted that it is not uncommon for veterans to “play the system” once they have returned to their home country, claiming compensation despite not truly requiring it, at least in his eyes. How openly he admitted his disapproval of this course of action really interested me; in our readings thus far in this course we have seen many cases in which the bonds formed by soldiers come before all else, but in this case, LaViolette did not sacrifice his personal values and integrity by ignoring his own moral compass in considering the actions of his former comrades.

                LaViolette was also incredibly honest about how, at the time of his deployment, his lack of education allowed for him to be extremely subjective in the way he viewed the local people in the place he was stationed. I found the perspective he now seemed to have on his younger self’s “leanings” very refreshing, and it was engaging to hear him mediate on the moral absolutism of an “us and them” mentality in reference to a time and place where no one has it easy by any means.

                Overall, I found this morning’s discussion to be extremely enlightening, and my previous perceptions of American military life (gleaned largely from books and secondary sources) were challenged in ways I hadn’t anticipated they would be.