The Russian lieutenant colonel stands flanked by two bruised men, captured, disarmed, speaking words that will follow him for the rest of his life. He says they were told that Ukraine is dominated by a fascist regime. That nationalists and Nazis have seized power. That genocide is underway. That is what they believed when they crossed the border.
Now he is a prisoner. Now he knows different. Now he says he will go to jail or do whatever he deserves. He is ready for everything.
Lying to troops going into battle is a really bad idea. When the disillusion shows up, they become unreliable. They start asking questions. They stop believing. They surrender and talk to cameras.
Someone filled with spiteful malice will ask if the United States does the same thing. Does the US politically indoctrinate its troops? I don’t remember seeing that. The media takes care of it.
In Vietnam, the draftees were for the war until Walter Cronkite led the press in turning against it. The professionals just soldiered on, except for a handful like John Vann who were in love with the Vietnamese. The troops believed what they were told until they stopped believing.
After 9/11, a wave of patriotic fervor swept the country. Indoctrination was not necessary. Everyone knew why we were fighting. That held up for a long time. It held up through Afghanistan. It held up through the early years of Iraq. It held up until the wars dragged on and the reasons got fuzzy and the casualties mounted.
I contribute to a lot of charities that try to help badly wounded veterans. To see what the invasion of Iraq cost these innocents cuts me to the bone. They believed. They went. They fought. They came back broken. And for what?
The Russian lieutenant colonel is learning the same lesson that every soldier in every war eventually learns: the reasons you are given are not always the reasons that are true. The enemy you are told to hate is not always the enemy that exists. The cause you are told to die for is not always the cause that is just.
He is ready for whatever comes. So are the Americans who came home from Iraq with no legs and no purpose. So are the Vietnamese who survived one war only to flee another. So are all of them.
Lying to troops is a really bad idea. The truth always comes out. And when it does, it destroys more than just the lies.
