The Nevada Senate seat election still remains too close to call. Incumbent Democratic Senator Jacky Rosen is facing a challenge from Republican Sam Brown, a former US Army infantry officer who suffered significant injuries in the line of duty.
During the build up to the election, Brown took a lot of heat for his opposition to abortion. He has said he opposes abortion except in the case of medical emergencies, incest and rape. He also <a href="https://nevadacurrent.com/2024/07/02/brown-mum-on-position-on-nevada-abortion-rights-amendment/"><mark style="background-color:rgba(0, 0, 0, 0)" class="has-inline-color has-vivid-cyan-blue-color">resisted media pressure</mark></a> to reveal how he would vote during the election regarding the <a href="https://catholicherald.co.uk/us-election-proved-bad-night-for-pro-life-movement/?swcfpc=1"><mark style="background-color:rgba(0, 0, 0, 0)" class="has-inline-color has-vivid-cyan-blue-color">abortion measure on Nevada’s ballot</mark></a> to amend its state constitution to guarantee the right to abortion up until viability (24 weeks), or after viability in cases where a patient’s health or life may be threatened.
While serving as a captain in the 1st Infantry Division in Afghanistan during 2008, Brown was injured in a roadside bomb explosion, sustaining burns to 30 per cent of his body. He received the Bronze Star, Purple Heart and Combat Infantry Badge.
Brown recently took to social media platform <em>X</em> to reflect on the unknown <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2024/11/05/us/elections/results-nevada-us-senate.html"><mark style="background-color:rgba(0, 0, 0, 0)" class="has-inline-color has-vivid-cyan-blue-color">outcome of his senate run</mark></a>, offering advice that was both self-reflective to his position as well as for others to “find purpose and hope through faith in God and stay on a mission to serve others regardless of your circumstances".
Another veteran who has taken an even more public position against abortion is Joel Berry<strong>, </strong>managing editor of <em>The Babylon Bee</em>, a popular conservative Christian news satire website that publishes satirical articles on topics including religion, politics, current events and public figures. It is particularly withering in its coverage of abortion rights.
Berry is a United States Marine Corps (USMC) veteran and author of <em>Postmodern Pilgrim’s Progress</em>. Shortly before the US presidential election, on 30 October Berry took to <em>X</em> to post an image showing soldiers fighting in Iraq accompanied by the message: “Me and the boys fighting another foreign war because white girls voted for warmonger so they could kill babies.”
Another veteran on <em>X</em>, who has over 70,000 followers, goes by the name Greg<strong> </strong>@HarmfulOpinion, and describes himself as: “Respiratory Care Practitioner. Board certified adult critical care specialist. Father. Husband. A salty combat veteran and a 'very okay dude'."
In a recent post on <em>X</em> he commented on Kamala Harris losing the election, saying: “I guess killing babies in the womb wasn’t the political platform they thought it was."
In addition to calling out abortion, he pushes back against modern liberal orthodoxy and its attendant ideology and culture war-related themes.
A recent Pew Research Centre study <a href="https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2024/09/30/military-veterans-remain-a-republican-group-backing-trump-over-harris-by-wide-margin/"><mark style="background-color:rgba(0, 0, 0, 0)" class="has-inline-color has-vivid-cyan-blue-color">found</mark></a> that military veterans remain a significant Republican group, backing Trump over Harris by a wide margin. <br><br>According to a Pew Research Center survey <a href="https://www.pewresearch.org/politics/2024/09/09/in-tied-presidential-race-harris-and-trump-have-contrasting-strengths-weaknesses/"><mark style="background-color:rgba(0, 0, 0, 0)" class="has-inline-color has-vivid-cyan-blue-color">conducted in early September</mark></a>, about 61 per cent of registered voters who say they have served in the US military or military reserves said they supported former President Donald Trump in the forthcoming 2024 presidential election, while 37 per cent backed Vice President Kamala Harris.
The Pew Center notes that <a href="https://data.census.gov/table?q=Veterans&y=2023"><mark style="background-color:rgba(0, 0, 0, 0)" class="has-inline-color has-vivid-cyan-blue-color">according to the Census Bureau</mark></a>, about 6 per cent of American adults have served in the military, a substantially smaller share than a few decades ago. In 1980, about 18 per cent of US adults were veterans.
It has been widely suggested and reported that the reduction in the percentage of the US population serving in the military has resulted in a growing divide in understanding between the military and civilian realms, and one that goes both ways: from the military and veterans to civilians and vice versa.
It's well established that veterans often struggle to assimilate back into civilian society. It’s estimated that as many as 22 veterans commit suicide per day in the US. Recently, there has been growing research around what is referred to as moral injury, which is similar to PTSD though distinctive from it in various ways.
The US Department of Veterans Affairs <a href="https://www.ptsd.va.gov/professional/treat/cooccurring/moral_injury.asp"><mark style="background-color:rgba(0, 0, 0, 0)" class="has-inline-color has-vivid-cyan-blue-color">explains</mark></a>: "In traumatic or unusually stressful circumstances, people may perpetrate, fail to prevent, or witness events that contradict deeply held moral beliefs and expectations."<br><br>An apt example, especially from the recent wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, is the accidental killing of civilian woman and children as “collateral damage" during fighting with the enemy.
"When someone does something that goes against their beliefs this is often referred to as an act of commission and when they fail to do something in line with their beliefs that is often referred to as an act of omission," the US Department of Veterans Affairs says.
"Moral injury is the distressing psychological, behavioural, social and sometimes spiritual aftermath of exposure to such events. A moral injury can occur in response to acting or witnessing behaviours that go against an individual's values and moral beliefs."
Due to its "spiritual" dimension, moral injury is often referred to as an "injury to the soul".
There is mounting evidence that some women who have an abortion, afterwards experience something akin to the type of moral injury experienced by too many veterans.
<em>Photo: Iraqi women are evacuated by US Marines from the 2nd Battalion 8th Regiment following clashes with Iraqi forces near the southern city of Nasiriyah, Iraq, 26 March 2003. (Photo by ERIC FEFERBERG/AFP via Getty Images.)</em>
