One Fallen Marine

A country nightclub in California.  Students drinking, chatting, laughing – a simple night out in one of America's safest towns.  Suddenly gunfire, screams, scrambling, blood, death.  A madman.  A fight for survival that many would lose on that night.

Just as the attack had been unexpected, the hero status of the shooter may also have been unexpected. 

Ian Long will always be remembered for one thing: his madness.  He will not be remembered for his heroism or for his many awards for service to his country in Afghanistan.  He will not be remembered for what caused his madness, either.  He will not be numbered among the war’s fallen, though fallen is probably exactly what he was.

He was the kind of person who gets a parade in small-town, flag-waving America.  The list of his commendations was as long as your arm: two Navy Unit Commendations for “outstanding heroism in action against the enemy,” a Combat Action Ribbon, a Marine Corps Good Conduct Medal, two Sea Service Deployment Ribbons, an Afghanistan Campaign Medal, a Global War on Terrorism Service Medal, a National Defense Service Medal, and the NATO Medal-ISAF Afghanistan.

He was a hero... until he wasn't.

Was it PTSD that caused his murderous actions?  PTSD is just a condition, though; most people with it do not shoot up nightclubs.  Was the cause guns?  Lots of people have guns, but they don’t go around shooting one another.  Should we blame it on Afghanistan?  Many have served there, some nobly and perhaps some not so nobly, but they don’t shoot up public gathering spots of celebration. 

The events of a few nights ago will lead some to call for gun control.  Others will call for more and better mental health treatment.  Others will blame Afghanistan.  And still others will blame war itself.  They will argue with each other, calling each other names, as they defend their assumptions.  For a week or two, there will be a lot of fake sympathy expressed for the victims, too.  Eventually, perhaps too soon, the events of that night will shrink in the rearview mirror.  After all, the United States is now experiencing mass shootings (defined as shootings in which there are four or more victims) on a daily basis.  Most get nothing but local coverage in the media.  Only very deadly shootings with unexpected backdrops become national stories.  Most mass shootings are simply not news - and besides, it wouldn't be practical to cover every mass shooting that comes along.  The United States is not Canada, after all.  Or Britain.  Or Ireland. Or most other countries.

We will never know why Ian Long decided to go to a nightclub and start shooting strangers.  Any possible explanation will be superficial.  Somewhere along the line, Ian Long began to hate people - and maybe we should ask why people hate people.  If we could answer THAT question, we might begin to understand the Ian Longs of the world.  But that question would require a national introspection, a collective soul-searching - and a lot of evidence suggests that this nation generally doesn't do a lot of soul searching.  So expect more shootings.  A lot more shootings.