Posted on 10/30/2010 6:23:12 PM PDT by Saije
Senior Airman Michael Kearns had been back from Iraq for only two months when he was pulled over on a Florida highway for going more than 120 miles per hour on his new Suzuki. He knew his motorcycle riding was reckless, but after living through daily mortar attacks on his base in Iraq, he said he needed the adrenaline rush.
“When you get here, there’s nothing that’s very exciting that keeps your pulse going,” Airman Kearns, 27, said in a recent interview.
His experience is so common that the United States military, alarmed by a rising suicide rate and the record number of Iraq and Afghanistan veterans who die in highway accidents back home, is asking a provocative new question: Nearly a decade into two bloody wars, are the armed forces attracting recruits drawn to high-risk behavior?
“In January 1990, you could join the military and think, ‘You know, I’m probably not going to get deployed,’ ” said Peter D. Feaver, a Duke University professor who has done research on the gap between the military and civilian society. “So on the margins it is reasonable to expect that there might have been a few more people in the pre-9/11 period who said, ‘I have no interest in war and there are other reasons for me to join.’
“By 2005, there were very few, or nobody, like that,” he said. “Or if you were like that, you were a fool. The evidence was staring you in the face that you would be deployed in ground combat.”
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
How much also has to do with the enforced feminization and nannyfication of the country these soldiers come back to?
Is there appreciably more of this behaviour in the military than in the civilian population?
When the WWII guys came home after the war, they joined together with the moonshine runners and started NASCAR! Not much left to “study”.
Actually, this guy is a fool. Probably 90% of soldiers, sailors, and Marines who are deployed never (or rarely) set foot outside the wire.
War...it’s fantastic!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hWCtfUgBtNw
I would have to say probably not. This type of behavior affects many young men, and some young women as well. It has little to do with missing the “rush of combat” as much as it has to do with the “thrill seeking gene” that many young people seem to possess, IMO.
Likely. It is interesting how many combat veterans re-up so they can go back to war. This was true even during Vietnam. Some have committed suicide because they were unable to go back to the battlefield to fight beside their brothers-in-arms. Many severely wounded Marines, including amputees, tell the doctors to hurry and patch them up so they can get back to their comrades.
“...are the armed forces attracting recruits drawn to high-risk behavior?”
Is masculinity in men making a comeback? The answer appears to be, “yes.”
Thrill-seekers are usually overachievers. Introverts are usually underachievers. Does the military want guys willing to do dangerous things or guys planning to stay safe and sound on the couch?
Probably the same...just when the veteran has risky behs or suicide it is more media attention and sensationalistic....
After all, janet napolitano said “Beware the returning vets!”..talk about priming the media!
Most guys in their twenties are just a little riskier than married men at 40 or single men at 60...DUH.
After all the 12 hour days I have been putting in I could sure use some adrenelin.
The Kawasaki I had in 1984 would only do 116, but it would do it between leaving the main gate at LeJeune and the end of the on ramp to the road to Jacksonville .
The Kawasaki I had in 1984 would only do 116, but it would do it between leaving the main gate at LeJeune and the end of the on ramp to the road to Jacksonville .
I had a friend that wasn’t after an adrenalin rush but did have a feeling of invincibility. He spent a few weeks in the hospital after a motorcycle accident. He is in seminary now so he can rejoin the air force as a Chaplin.
A bud of mine from a former life told me riding motor bikes at high speeds was the sexiest thing you could do with your clothes on.
So he kept them on because he was worried about road rash?
“A bud of mine from a former life told me riding motor bikes at high speeds was the sexiest thing you could do with your clothes on.”
Nope, skydiving is, and sometimes it’s even done naked. I sold my motorcycle to pay for flying lessons. I quit flying when I found it was more fun to jump out of the plane.
As for the article, years ago, working in NICU I realized I was addicted to the adrenaline rush of saving lives. It wasn’t something conscious, but a rush of adrenaline definitely gave a kind of “high.” I realized it after giving birth to my first child, returning to work and finding my body didn’t work the same as before- no more adrenaline rush. My body no longer responded to emergencies the same way. I figured it was from my hormones generally being out of wack post partum. I loved skydiving, but it didn’t give the same adrenalin rush. It was more of an “this is awesome!” feeling. Now I’m “older” and happy to just “chill.”
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