"Soldiers are trained to survive conditions of violence and extremity far better than the rest of us, but they can still be devastated by those experiences."

What Is Moral Injury?

Soldiers are trained to survive conditions of violence and extremity far better than the rest of us, but they can still be devastated by those experiences. As Brock puts it:

The reason [veterans] have so much trouble unpacking what happened to them in relation to moral injury is that they are conditioned by ritual training in military behaviors and adaptations, including repressing vulnerability and harm, and not just consciously. It is deeply engrained in the body system in training … if you think, you’re too slow and you’re dead.