Mr. Kelly has endured more violence than any person should. His desire to protect and honor our country is laudable and I will certainly be hoping for his safety, and for the safety of all our troops stationed overseas.
But I cringed, cringed, at the mere suggestion that “the right to bear arms” is an essential American value worthy of protection. How many people must die before our malignant compliance with this willfully misunderstood curse of a national inheritance is curtailed? Our founders were wrong about many things — slavery, the composition of the Senate, voting rights, presidential succession — but not, ironically, about gun rights. They sought to ensure the effectiveness of our nation’s military (the very institution Mr. Kelly will now join). It is only by the will of our most radically cynical contemporaries that we remain collectively shackled to the delusion of an individual right to bear arms.
24
He was already enlisted in the Guard and has family that served before both shootings happened. People ask why he is going and that is why. He already had a life plan before the shootings and he is trying to hold on to that sense of normalcy before a wrench was thrown into his life. His number came up to serve just as it would have happened with or without the shootings. I'm concerned though because his family and commanding officers are concerned. He has PTSD and going into a situation that is only going to continue to rewire his brain as such. Will the shootings harden and prepare him to enter a country where he is now a continuing target under fire? This is going to be his new normal, where you have to live your life everyday prepared to be under fire, that there are people that want to see you dead. When he gets back to the States, he will have a lot of work to do shake that experience when coming back to a place where it is supposed to be normal to not have to worry about being under fire, something his experiences would say otherwise.
2
Jesus, America, how is that any kind of a way to live? In spite of the opportunities your country undoubtedly offers, you can't go into a church or a school without working out the best place to hide or escape? Really?
And the people profiting from all of these weapons sales are the ones telling you that your freedom depends on this?
24
Personally I think it's a recipe for PTSD disaster. But hopefully he is as mentally strong as he seems to be. I'm not a religious person but God bless and keep him and all our military personnel safe around the world.
5
A man who has survived two random mass shootings, and wants to fight overseas to protect our “important freedoms”, and (assuming the quote was not improperly edited), names first the right* to own and carry guns should be put through the Marine psych evaluation again.
Like all armed forces, the US has had its share of murders of civilians, and secured prisoners of war.
Massacres of civilians and murders of civilians and POWs are a natural result of warfare, and the Pentagon claims pride in keeping US-committed atrocities down.
A belief one will die at an appointed time may make one feel no wrong in being an agent of “scheduled” death.
Coming out of two random mass civilian killings without apparent surviver guilt also takes a very unusual personality.
One that is liable to incur risks to self and others that can be avoided.
Put these two together with a desire to fight foreign “enemies” sounds to this writer (with no training in psychology), like creating a powderkeg. Then there’s his love of guns unaffected by gun carnage he’s seen here.* I only hope he has/will be reassessed before he ships out.
*I do know my Constitutional Law and American English and Politics of the late 1700s. I hold the debatable position the 2nd Amendment was designed to allow well regulated (by state) militias (now called StateName National Guards) to let members keep a weapon at home for immediate readiness, and has nothing to do with civilians. As I said, it’s debatable.
6
The shooter in Vegas was an old gambling white dude with no clear motivation to why he killed so many people that unfortunate night. Dont know how that shooter has any connection to a war in Afghanistan? Not all mass shooters are done by Muslim terrorists. Hope this guy understands this before he endangers his life and limbs in Afghanistan.
7
What bothers me about this article is the end where he is described as not spending time thinking about why a fellow marine would spray bullets into a room of supposedly like-minded souls. This is what he feels he can do. It seems that we Americans have trouble sitting and really considering what our society has become. The parenting article about intensive parenting comes to mind about how parents are now cultured to never leave their children’s side to make sure they are competitive. It’s about “pulling yourself up by your bootstraps,” said Caitlyn Collins, a sociologist at Washington University in St. Louis whose book, “Making Motherhood Work: How Women Manage Careers and Caregiving,” comes out in February. “It distracts from the real questions, like why don’t we have a safe place for all kids to go when they’re done with school before parents get home from work?”’
My question? Why don’t the people who appreciate guns so much think about why the mostly white male perpetrators of these shootings feel the need to commit these murders? Why don’t we think about and support stopping to think instead of moving forward with ideology that clearly is not working? This young man is going to a combat zone with PTSD. Why is the need to push through without considering the consequences so important In our society? We think it’s brave and self sacrificing, but what are these standards doing to our society now that there aren’t safe public places for kids anymore?
17
He’s already been to war, and in order to make sense of that horror chasing him, he’s revisiting it on the run. Like a bad dream, his daytime experiences are coalesced into a reordering and reinterpretation of a blizzard of deep contradictions. Perhaps it’s not the worst thing to realize his recent life under fire by recommitting himself to a submission under fire. What does a young man do under these circumstances? He might find redemption or disaster or a confusion that compels him toward yet another shot at some kind of blessed relief. Has he been already spared twice, or destroyed two times over? We can only wish him some loss of burden and a way to some kind of lasting peace. God speed brother.
4
The real question is, why does the US still need marines in Afghanistan? It’s been over 18 years! Why is it ok for this country to maintain armed forces in a foreign country? Where is the UN? And after all these years? That sounds like an occupying force, an invasion. There are no foreign forces being deployed into this country.
4
I applaud his service but if he wants to help, he should serve as a police officer or a paramedic. His intelligence and ability will for sure saves the lives of countless Americans who die every day due to gun violence.
8
Godspeed, Sir.
Mr. Kelly, stay strong about fighting for religious freedom because I believe in everlasting life.
HOW?? is going to Afghanistan going to protect the right to bear arms and freedom to worship here in the USA? He's got his guns that he shoots and he goes to church where he prays. We could certainly use more firefighters.
14
His parents are right to worry. That’s exactly what is going to happen & additionally extra trauma that combat brings which NO Vegas nor Thousand Oaks is even remotely close to a combat zone.... not even with all the dead bodies. Mr. Kelly is going to have a real hard time getting service connected for PTSD now too since he’s been public about the double shootings. VA is going to immediately say pre-existing condition - DENIED!! NYT please keep up with this young man & please contact me if he says he needs help. As a prominent Veteran’s Leader, I can help Mr. Kelly, but only when he’s ready.
8
Someone needs to tell him he's throwing his young life away in a rash act of worthless stupidity for an empire that does not care for its veterans. War is the business of barbarians. Make no mistake about it. And everyone should learn about it properly. But we get the rated G version in our formative years and it's breathtakingly irresponsible. I'll never forget that image which haunted Napoleon until his death. It was a dead soldier lying alone in the dirt and his dog tirelessly howling over his body on a hill in the moonlight.
7
Mass shootings have become so commonthat we now have survivors who have experienced more than one shooting incident. What are the odds? Getting better all the time I would say if you live in the USA. I don’t think this young man needs to go to war, he’s got to be fighting two big ones in his head right now.
30
If it's another country music gathering I'm starting to see a pattern.
Don’t really get the connection between his really unlucky presence at two mass shootings and future military service. He sez his experience has only made him feel more determined to fight enemies abroad and protect what he sees as essential freedoms he has here, like the right to bear arms and to worship freely.
There are virtually zero restrictions here on “bearing” as many powerful weapons of war as one cares to and believing any crazy religious nonsense one chooses. And the “enemy abroad” in Vegas was some very well armed, angry middle-aged white dude from Nevada and at Borderline was a white oxy-abusing former Marine with Afghan combat experience.
There are plenty of things one can do with life “as an able bodied and willing young man” or woman other than fighting “enemies abroad”. Dude should hope the Diapered Don pulls all US troops out of Afghan before he deploys.
63
My thoughts exactly.
4
Be kind to him. He has PTSD & his connection is he’s been a Marine for 3 years already. He was already a Marine when Vegas happened. You don’t understand the Marine mindset. You also don’t understand trauma. Trauma makes you irrational & illogical. He really didn’t have s choice anyways. When your # gets called you go. Period. It’s like the draft in a sense. Very few things will get you out of deployment & as a Marine, if he wants continued respect, mass shootings are not a reason to skirt your duty. (That’s the hardcore Marine Corps mindset)
4
Joe B, curious that no mention in article of failure by authorities to determine any motive on the part of Vegas shooter. Perhaps just another really angry guy who had guns. Sad that so much violence is happening and so few questions are being asked.
3
I am 75 years old, in 1966 by blind luck I was not sent to Vietnam, I like hundreds of others went to take my physical I don't know why but my draft number was never called. That said I didn't have to serve but I wouldn't have gone, in my young mind I couldn't understand how people riding on bikes were somehow going to harm America, the people of Vietnam were involved in a Civil War, the government in the south was corrupt and venal. The United States of America should never have sent troops to that country. I was in Aspen Colorado in 1969 staying at the Mountain Chalet. Sitting across the table at breakfast was Robert McNamara, usually I'm very outspoken and I can be very confrontational but this was one of a few times I wasn't. R.M. was an evil man who knew what he was doing was wrong but nevertheless he didn't change our policy. A horrible waste of life. We never seem to learn.
21
And McNamara had the nerve to call his autobiography “In Retrospect”
We were in Viet Nam for even less reason than we’re in Afghanistan.
In the case of the former, it seems JFK and especially LBJ believed Eisenhower’s foreign policy “experts”, the Dulles brothers, who really believed the Sino-Soviet split was a “ploy” to fool the West that nationalism hadn’t destroyed the dreams of One International Commie Government.
We are in Afghanistan because of our belief we should damage the USSR by backing the revolutionary Taliban.
The USSR was obligated and saw strategic reasons to stop the revolution.
Now, for more than four presidential terms, we have been fighting to stop the violent machine we created.
Yes, we ignited the fuse on radical Islam.
Now we pay the price.
Vladimir Putin spent his life attempting to lead the USSR.
Left with only Russia, he was terrified at the effectiveness of Secretary of State Clinton and feared her abilities might destroy him if she became President.
Isn’t history fascinating?
The reason to quit Afghanistan is, while hundreds of thousands might die in the process, the radical Islamists would find the nation as ungovernable as every other would-be conquerer has.
Eventually they would go home and declare victory too.
Backing the Kurds and anti-al Assad/anti-ISIL forces in Syria was a very low-cost method, to block Russia gaining a client state in the Middle East, along with 23 other nations in a coalition we built. We should at least kept air support.
1
“This is what I can do,” he said of his military service. “This is what my role is supposed to be, as an able bodied and willing young man.”
We know that this is a man with a sense of honor and of no relation to “the bone spur” coward of the Viet Nam era now our bad example of a president.
7
Growing up in white Christian gun-toting pro-life America will be a great preparation for fighting in Afghanistan. Who knew the two superficially distinct countries are much more alike they they are different.
19
Well, he'll probably be a lot safer in Afghanistan than he was here in the USA.
13
Only in America can a young person head off to serve in the military while already experiencing PTSD due to our reckless, lax national gun laws.
43
after what he has seen and been through it may not be a good idea to deploy him to a combat zone..having spent 1968-69 in Vietnam USMC...many troops had problems after their first encounter with the enemy..seeing troops wounded and dead is not something that goes away quickly from ones memory...he could freeze in a situation where his reflexes are needed..I've seen this in person with troops ...it's called flashbacks..he needs treatment before it gets worse..sometimes putting things in the back burner only leaves a person in survival mode .. a trigger could set it off
15
My my my how times change. Our war in Afghanistan is and has been a mistake and a quagmire, anti American and anti historical. It is a grand misadventure. As a child of the 60s I remain moved to tears by young men with the courage and strength of character to NOT go participate, even when drafted, in wrongheaded, misbegotten, military industrial driven killing for what amounts to personal glory.
So you can imagine what I think of this article and it's subject ie not much. First thing I did after reading the 1st paragraph was check the author's credentials, because it is careerism, not a whit of good sense, that motivates a writer to lower themselves like this. The actions of this young man and of this writer spit in the face of every kid who died for no good reason under the color of flag and all the perverted elements of individual jingoism.
21
I'll get criticized for saying this, but I think it's irresponsible and dumb for this young man to be deployed to a combat zone under the circumstances, his nightmares, etc. It's a risk to others, as well as to him. What are they thinking?
57
@Cowboy Marine No, I think criticism of your comment would be out of line because you are absolutely correct. This young man needs time to heal and process his experiences. He is placing himself and others in danger. What's the rush?
3
From the outside, it is a strange view 'bear arms' and then to take the fight to an external enemy when the enemy is within. The right to 'bear arms' has lost him friends and colleagues in his home town and elsewhere in the USA and he has morphed this into a fight against external enemies that had precious little to do with it.
As someone else pointed out - he probably has PTSD which is driving him the wrong way - I have it, my father (WWII) and my grandfather (The Somme- WWI) both had it and they never reconciled it. I'm lucky I got therapy (In the UK a rare thing)
I wish him well and may he come back alive and in one piece, but to solve a problem - is he becoming the problem for years to come?
41
Instead, his experience has only made him feel more determined to fight enemies abroad and protect what he sees as essential freedoms he has here, like the right to bear arms and to worship freely.
The irony is overwhelming.
60
Brendan Kelly should say NO ! to Afghanistan. !
We have been fighting there for 18 years. We went there to get even for the attack on 911 but we now are fighting the Taliban but we should be fighting alqaeda(for 911).
We are fighting the wrong people. The Taliban didn't attack us.
The Taliban is a fight between the country of Afghanistan and a group of their countrymen with whom they disagree.
This is another example of our getting mixed up in a war where we don't belong and after 18 years, we can't even beat the Taliban who are holding their own.
Brendan is a hero because he helped some who were wounded in a country music bar in California but if something bad happens to him in Afghanistan, it will be his own fault.
He shouldn't be in Afghanistan. The U.S. military shouldn't be in Afghanistan.
Getting into wars in foreign countries(who never attacked us)
is a mistake. Brendan Kelly should not go to Afghanistan.
So far, Brendan Kelly is a hero.
He should stop while he is ahead because we should not be in Afghanistan at this time.
4
I know i will not see it in my lifetime, but I long for the day when the strength and idealism of young men and women will not be defiled by using their bodies as cannon fodder in useless and endless wars.
There is so much work to be done in the world. Imagine if we could devise ways in which to harness the natural idealism, goodwill and strength of our young into working toward the goals of peace and of solving the problems that actually interfere with its gaining a foothold in our world.
Instead we fill their heads with drivel and empty words about so-called heroism, when the violence at home and abroad is clearly wounding their souls and their bodies beyond repair.
Who is actually supporting this suffering young man by helping him understand that going into war and getting more and more tattoos on his body will not heal the wounds in his soul? The military? Our broken government? The corporate crowd? Wall Street? The so-called Christian community?
Who?
23
With friends, family and even his commanding officer all concerned that this young man is showing numerous signs of not having yet processed his recent traumatizing experiences, (hypervigilance, hypersensitivity to sounds) why aren't the Marines at least postponing/deferring his deployment to a combat zone? Sending this kid into combat now is asking for trouble - for him, his fellow soldiers and for his future, if he's lucky enough to have one.
On top of the evidence that numerous indications of probable mental illness, possibly including PTSD, were minimized by mental health professionals in the case of the Thousand Oaks shooter, a combat-deployed Marine, the irony and alarming wrongness of this young recruit's situation is a profoundly sad commentary on the Marines Corps' professional responsibility to their potential recruits, to fellow soldiers and to their employer - us. Given the concerns expressed by those closest to him, there is no way this willing lamb is stable enough to withstand combat. Sufficient evidence for that is revealed by his reported proclamation of denial:
"He does not spend any time thinking about how a fellow Marine could have chosen to kill so many people in the idyllic community they both grew up in." One can only hope that this article causes someone in the U.S. Marine Corps to think long and hard about the responsibility of sending this kid into combat. And I hope they do the right thing for him, especially if he cannot do it for himself.
50
Exactly.
I wish that he could not be deployed to another war zone by the Marines. Not now - not when the forces there may be reduced, when the mission there is even more confusing.
He's young, he's brave and has great concern for others, and WE should be protecting him, in some way. There should be some period of mourning ( for lack of a better word) to allow all that he has already experienced to catch up with him before he may be faced with more loss.
25
I am a 70 year old Grandmother with 4 Grand children, I have a friend whose nephew and friend were kilted in the bar! I feel so for you, but. Proud as well. I was a Navy brat, thank you, it’s people like you that restore my faith in humanity !
3
Randi, thank you for keeping it nonpolitical! and not finding a reason to criticize this young man.
This young man seems very troubled and confused. The contradictions abound. However, severe emotional trauma in those late adolescent and early adult years often fester. The individual hasn't learned how to mourn in healthy ways yet.
I think Ryan Kelly, the father, is absolutely right. No matter what strange rationalization Brendan has invented for himself, the depression will come eventually. This guy is PTSD in waiting. Sending him off to a war zone right now sounds like a really bad idea.
The question of course is what else do you do with him? Not sending him could be equally or more destructive. If you leave him home alone with a drinking problem and a gun problem, suicide might come next.
Of course, no one is doing hero stories on all the service members who come from broken families and violent backgrounds. In the end, it doesn't really matter how Brendan goes about squaring his mental problems so long as he squares them. Other lives are at risk too.
63
Older men start wars, but it is young men who must fight and die.
22
Try as I might, I can't figure out how people identify as Christians can reconcile their faith with violence. Christ is the very avatar of peace and reconciliation. But it's the central lesson of His sacrifice, isn't it?
43
@Tom I am a puzzled as you on how Christians reconcile their faith with violence. You would think that standing up against violence would be a priority for Church leaders, perhaps the first and most important priority. Drawing attention to this issue is extremely important. Great comment!
4
"Not for a moment did he ever consider delaying his service overseas after a gunman killed 12 people at the Borderline Bar & Grill in November, where he and his friends often went to drink and dance to country music, he said. Instead, his experience has only made him feel more determined to fight enemies abroad and protect what he sees as essential freedoms he has here, like the right to bear arms and to worship freely."
I can't even.
102
I wish him the best. Frankly I think he could be of more service to his country if he went to college instead of enlisting, but...not my call.
64
Well at least he is going to a place where there is less gun violence than in the U.S. Who knew a war zone could be a step up in safety?
42
I'm a SGT in the U.S. Army. I served 4 years and have an ETS date in 2020. I have not experience domestic mass shootings or foreign combat. I am also a Christian and as I try to come up with an answer on why Mr. Kelly has experience two mass shootings shortly before a deployment, I cannot. That's a conversation between him and God. But I do want to commemorate this man's bravery and humility. I cannot imagine myself having the courage to walk in his shoes.
19