Prisoners of War - Free Paper Example

Introduction

Many scholars such as (Fitzpatrick, 2019, p. 42) have studied how the prisoners of war were treated during captivity. Besides some minor differences in the different research studies, there is a consensus on the different forms of treatment that the POWs were subjected to. The captives were treated with lots of hatred and in a manner suggesting a disregard of humanity.

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During their captivity times, POWs were subjected to long periods of solitary confinement. The senior leaders were the most affected and more so the recalcitrant POWs were kept in areas of isolation to bar them from communicating with each other. This is evidenced from the testimonies of two of the POWs captives, James Stockdale and Robinson Risner (two senior officers, the de facto leaders if the prisoners of Wars) who spent four and three years respectively in solitary confinement areas to bar them from communicating. Similarly, the Alcatraz gang, which was a group of eleven POWs members were subjected to the same harsh treatment to bar them from communicating due to their resistance from their captors (Mkrtchyan, 2017, p. 10).

Malnutrition and Torture

Additionally, the Prisoners of War were also exposed to severe malnutrition and torture during their captivity. Besides Vietnam being a signatory of the 3rd Geneva Convection, which championed for “a decent and humane treatment" of the POWs, they were subjected to extreme torture and inhumane methods which included; strappado (commonly known to the POWs as the ropes), beatings, irons, waterboarding, and continued solitary confinement. All this was geared towards breaking the will of the prisoners not only individually but also as a group but not to acquire any military-related information from them. This can be evidenced by the scenario which took place after the capture of the POWs commander, Jeremiah Danton. The POW navy commander blinked the word TORTURE live on a press conference as a sign to the US intelligent of the hardships and harsh treatments that they were going through in Vietnam. Two months after the occurrence, research has shown that 52 American POWs members were paraded and all over the streets of Hanoi and was made to walk for more than 3.2 km with the Vietnamese soldiers mercilessly beating them (Mkrtchyan, 2017, p. 13).

Generally, the POWs were treated with a lot of brutalities while also being directed to making some negative statements to make them feel insignificant. For instance, one of the POWs members was directed to make an Anti-American statement "I had learned what we all learned over there, every man has his breaking point and I had reached mine." Some like John Dramesi was lucky enough to survive the harsh conditions without cooperating while some like Edwin Atterbury was tortured to death (Mkrtchyan, 2017, p. 16).

During their times in captivity, the POWs were subjected to extremely harsh conditions which limited their probability of surviving. Some of the conditions included; torture, solitary confinement, humiliation, loss of control, starvation, lack of medical attention after acquiring an illness or an injury and poor hygiene (Herman, 1992, p. 379). Also, many of the POWs survived on a poor diet of vegetables and rice which resulted in severe malnutrition. The POWs were also denied any access to medical equipment and drugs with their only hope being the ingenious prisoner doctors whom their improvised medicine was not reliable. Escaping from the captivity was impossible as most of the captivity camps were located lots of miles from Allied held territory. Similarly, the POWs captives were too malnourished to survive for long and it was also hard for a European to walk in Asia unnoticeable.

Physiological Stress

As defined by (Muscatell et al., 2016, p. 921), physiological stress arises from disturbing a person’s internal milieu, resulting to the regulatory mechanisms of a person that are used to restore homeostasis being activated. During their times of captivity in Vietnam, the Prisons of War experienced a wide range of physiological stresses. First, the prisoners starved and also were malnutrition. This resulted in the prisoners being physically weak. Also, the prisoners were subjected to physical torture such as beatings as evidenced by the 52 POWs members who were lined up in the streets of Hanoi and beaten up by the Vietnamese soldiers while walking a distance of 3.2kms. Life in the land of captivity was not a walk in the park for the POWs as they were also a subject to psychological stresses. Other forms of physiological stresses subjected to the prisoners were the denial of access to medicine and treatment equipment. (Monroe, 2019, p. 34) believes that psychological stress is induced by situations of social threat including social exclusion, evaluation and achievement situations. one of the notable psychological stress that the prisoners were subjected to was the overhanging threat of death and the denial of freedom to speech. During their stay in the land of captivity, the prisoners were made to understand that death was not a big deal as any form of resistance could result in it. Many prisoners never made it to the United States of America, they succumbed in Vietnam. Similarly, the prisoners were depressed as a result of the hard life they were subjected to in the land of captivity.

The stressors were many and often inhuman and terrifying. The Stressors varied from biological, psychological and physiological. Due to the inhuman and terrifying POW environments, captives have to find ways to survive the captivity experience. Although survival in the captivity was associated with the extent of the injury at the time of capture, food availability, medical care and shelter, it was also highly influenced by the personality flexibility and adaptability (Ursano, & Rundell, 1990, p. 434). The coping mechanisms and behaviours used in the captivity included; decent general intelligence, maintaining balance or well-controlled sensitivity, opportunism, luck, obligating to others, military experience, firm belief and motivation of life etc. (Ursano, & Rundell, 1990, p. 435). Personality was a survival technique for the captives who could use ego defences such as denial, faith, reality testing and rationalization. According to a review by Jones, the best coping mechanism of POWs during captivity were; family idealization where prisoners had hopes that they will return to their families having the feeling of being worthy of them, maintaining their country's loyalty where they maintained their patriotic duty of resting, and another coping mechanism was the creation of an alliance with other prisoners through cooperative resistance, communication, supporting each other mutually (Ursano, & Rundell, 1990, p. 435).

Coping Mechanisms

Some of the coping mechanisms are more adaptive in the captive while others are less adaptive. Retaining military bearing is the most adaptive strategy. For example, in the period of Vietnam conflict, the POWs who were identified with military ideals were unified in the essence of a combined determination (Ursano, & Rundell, 1990, p. 436). This was due to internal security becoming a necessity and communication privacy developed. Another most adaptive strategy is communication. Tap code was developed during the Vietnam War which incorporated 5 by 5 alphabet arrangement, coughing, tapping, and sweeping as key communication codes in the prison (Ursano, & Rundell, 1990, p. 436). Survival schools can also be easily adapted to train military on several concepts of survival in captive environments with simulated captive situations for training (Doran, Hoyt, & MORGAN III, 2012, p. 307). On the other hand, there are other less adaptive mechanisms like the immature behaviours which are provocative and can lead to unnecessary torture.

The torture, brutality, loneliness, isolation, coercion among other ways of Exploitation and deprivation of Prisoners of War (POWs) which were held captive, led to long-term effects on both psychological and physiological health. A research conducted by Sutker and Allain indicated that more than 88% of Korean War POWs developed mental conditions due to the captivity (Doran, Hoyt, & MORGAN III, 2012, p. 307). The research also suggested that there were high mortality rates among POWs from WWII while those who survived have prolonged cognitive complications such as visuospatial and deficit in memory, impulse control complications and reduced planning capabilities (Doran, Hoyt, & MORGAN III, 2012, p. 307). The cognitive difficulties were more severe on POWs who had lost more than 35% of their body weight due to the malnutrition experienced during their captivity.

Also, other long-term implications associated with captivity are psychiatric disorders, especially depression and posttraumatic disorders (PTSD) (Solomon, et al., 2014, p. 849). According to Solomon et al. 2014, ex-POWs indicated significant self-health deteriorations which were mainly mediated by Depressive and PTSD symptoms. These Depressive and PTSD symptoms have been associated with behavioural changes among the ex-POWs such as physical neglect, substance abuse and alcoholism leading to increase in mortality and morbidity (Solomon, et al., 2014, p. 857).

Conclusion

In conclusion, the POW has experienced extreme stressors of war in the captivity. The harsh treatment, hatred, isolation and many other stressors imposed on the captives led the development of coping and adaptive strategies in the prisons. The most adaptive strategies are communication, military identification ideals and survival training. Although some POWs managed to survive, they faced severe psychological and physiological effects which were either short-term or long-term or both. The military community and the families of the military people are the key elements in helping and readaptation of the affected ex-POWs.

References

Doran, A. P., Hoyt, G., & MORGAN III, C. A. (2012). survival, evasion, resistance, and escape (sere) training. Military psychology: Clinical and operational applications, 306.

Fitzpatrick, M. (2019). ‘Hard, primitive and below the belt’: The Korean War, Prisoners of War, and Training for Conduct After Capture. War in History, 0968344518805250.

Herman, J. L. (1992). Complex PTSD: A syndrome in survivors of prolonged and repeated trauma. Journal of traumatic stress, 5(3), 377-391.

Mkrtchyan, L. (2017). After 1994: the treatment of Armenian prisoners of war (Doctoral dissertation).

Monroe, S. M., Anderson, S. F., & Harkness, K. L. (2019). Life stress and major depression: The mysteries of recurrences. Psychological review.

Muscatell, K. A., Dedovic, K., Slavich, G. M., Jarcho, M. R., Breen, E. C., Bower, J. E., ... & Eisenberger, N. I. (2016). Neural mechanisms linking social status and inflammatory responses to social stress. Social cognitive and affective neuroscience, 11(6), 915-922.

Solomon, Z., Greene, T., Ein-Dor, T., Zerach, G., Benyamini, Y., & Ohry, A. (2014). The long-term implications of war captivity for mortality and health. Journal of behavioural medicine, 37(5), 849-859.

Ursano, R. J., & Rundell, J. R. (1990). The prisoner of war. Military Medicine, 155(4), 431-455.