15 WARRIOR IDENTITY PROBLEM

Adolescent Psychiatry,  2004  by Sugar, Max

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After leaving college, the Pvt. Morning character lost contact with his parents and had no close friends. Without any goals for the future, he drifted into the peacetime U.S. Army. There, he disrupted life for himself and those around him with repeated breaches of regulations and dangerous behavior. After courageous combat against rebels in the Philippines, he deserted the U.S. Army to join the rebels' fight against the Philippine government. It is evident that he had multiple unsettled identity issues about long-term goals and career choice, as well as problems with friendships, moral values, and group loyalties. He had developed WIP while in the military and continued to manifest signs of this condition.

Krummel, another character in the Crumley (1987) novel, also has difficulties suggestive of identity problems. Although Krummel received an M.A. in literature, he floundered vocationally. His brief but unsuccessful marriage ended in divorce, with no children. He never sought a teaching position but only drifted until he joined the U.S. Army. Although educated and endowed with superior intelligence and leadership ability, this character never applied for officer candidate school. He had no long-term goals, close friendships, or commitments to anyone, including his family of origin.

As a sergeant and squad leader in a communications unit, Krummel performed well for a short time. He soon became aware of Pvt. Morning (a member of his squad) and his problems, but he protected him and even took unnecessary risks for him. Then he realized that they were both the same.

Eventually, becoming increasingly aware of his family history and his own identity, Krummel proudly labeled himself a warrior from a family of warriors (confusing WIP with warrior identity). The following passage, in which this character describes his awareness of what being a warrior meant to him, depicts the features of what I have defined as WIP.

I am the eldest son of generations of oldest sons, the final moment of a proud descent of professional killers, warriors, men of strength whose only concern with virtue lay in personal honor.

But I still misunderstood a bit that day, I still confused being a soldier with being a warrior. That small, mean part of me which had wanted to care about rank and security and privilege was dying, and with the death of order began the birth of something in me monstrous, ah, but so beautiful. My heritage called, and though it would be many long moons before I answered, the song had burst my cold, ordered heart and I hated in the ringing sweep of the sun, and I lived [Crumley, 1987, p. 92].

With this epiphany, the Krummel character now had a focus with a consistent role, more self-esteem, and more organization in his identity, although a warped one. Previously, his negative identity had been mostly under control, but he had enjoyed it vicariously via Pvt. Morning's misconduct. Now, it was no longer contained as he became flagrantly antiauthority, failed to maintain proper boundaries between himself-as a noncommissioned officer-and his men, and disregarded regulations, as it pleased him. He had problems with relationships, with intimacy, and with women. Later, both during and after combat (which he experienced as a kind of rapture), he flourished in his identity as a warrior, despite being wounded.