The following clip is of a former soldier sharing his experience of killing a man while at war, expressing how he now suffers from PDST and is unable to sleep most nights.
This video was posed with the question of whether or not the military masculinity outweighs potential costs such as PTSD. The military in its glamorized form provides job stability, mobilization of rank (and therefore power), and physical wellness as being in shape is part of the lifestyle. From a masculine standpoint, a person in the military may be empowered by the respect and power that comes with being a solider, both literally by weapons and abstractly by the use of ranks and dominance. These are of a few of the benefits on an individualistic level. However, in reality, men like the one in the video end up powerless to the inhumane conditions and situations that they are sometimes placed in. No (normal) human can realistically prepare himself enough to take the life of another human, as there is nothing “human” about it; yet someone has to do it. Just the same as we as a society need the doctors and police and medical responders (occupations that may pose similar challenges to men’s mental health) who on a daily basis find themselves in situations that may pose to be traumatic.
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