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The Kill Switch
What does it mean to kill for your country? How do you learn how to do it? What does it feel like in the moment? Once the killing starts, how do you control it? And what happens when you kill the wrong person, or don’t kill someone you wish you had, or look back, years later, at the people you killed? America has been at war in two countries for more than a decade. The killing that has been done and is being done is a crucial aspect of war and an integral part of the memories servicemen bring home with them. And yet, with few exceptions, it’s only rarely discussed in public and largely left to the veterans themselves to process, wrestle with, and carry.This is unfortunate because to understand what war is and what war does, it is necessary to understand what killing is and what killing does. In “The Kill Switch,” writer Phil Zabriskie, who covered both Iraq and Afghanistan for Time and other magazines, reconnects with two Marines and other veterans he met in Iraq and finds them ready to talk about it and willing to examine soberly and honestly what they’ve done and were asked to do. From boot camp through the initial invasion to the crucible of Ramadi, the siege of Fallujah, and beyond, they recount firefights, ambushes, suicide car bombers, hand-to-hand combat, and the life and death decisions they made about Saddam’s soldiers, battle-hardened insurgents, and people, even children, who were in the wrong place at the wrong time. Unflinching and as important today as it was at the height of these wars, “The Kill Switch” will stay with you long after you’re finished, just as the wars these men fought—and the killing they did—have stayed with them. Phil Zabriskie is a New York-based writer who spent many years working across Asia and the Middle East. He reported extensively on America’s wars in Afghanistan and Iraq for Time magazine and has also written about conflict and its impact on the people who live through it for National Geographic, Fortune, the Washington Post Magazine, and other publications. Cover design by Kristen Radtke.
92 pages, Kindle Edition
First published November 2, 2014
76 people are currently reading
107 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews
January 21, 2022
Although the book is largeoy about the US marines who went to war in Iraq and afgh and were involved in front line combat killing other combatants. And the morality of killing and how they deal with it when they come back... there are these snippets about how when they come back - they can't talk to anyone at home about the field.. and about the killings, no matter how sanctioned killings are in war. And they judge themselves and castigate themselves - all in their heads because they haven't ever been given a moral framework that will help them resolve their feelings towards having participated in something as heinous as killing. This leaves them very alone and thus more prone to violence against general people and their own partners when they are back. I feel like it resonates a lot with the work I do as a humanitarian/ aid wotker...since it's difficult to explain to people back home what we do. It also resonates on a personal level with me because now I am in that phase where I am planning my exit from humanitarian work and somehow the misgivings of missing this job are only too real and I know li probably can't retire. In the second half, a particular section about Ben's life deeply resonated with me where he said that they may not be millionaires but had good homes and were comfortable. Maybe that's all we all want from life- a little comfort, and peace. But then why do we trade for a thousand things a minute routine and love the latter and miss it when it gone? Guess we will have to figure that out on our own. The second half of the book is better than the first half, now that I have finished it... its a good glimpse of how veterans deal with their feelings of having been to war. I wonder if it generally happens go soldiers or is specific to combat experiences only...I wish there was more written about these ambiguous moral questions in such approachable and noj judgemental way as the author has written. Brief but a good read.
December 15, 2014
The Kill Switch by Phil Zabriskie
“The Kill Switch” is an insightful Kindle Single that examines what killing in war is like and what happens afterwards. New York-based writer Phil Zabriskie interesting book revolves mainly around the accounts of two Marines who candidly share their harrowing experiences. This 88-page book includes twenty unnamed chapters.
Positives:
1. A well-written, succinct book.
2. A fascinating topic, what killing in war is like and the impact it has afterwards.
3. Zabriskie’s writing style is direct, engaging and insightful.
4. The book is driven mainly by the accounts of two Marines: Brian Chontosh and Ben Nelson. Chontosh is the officer and Nelson is considers himself the “grunt”.
5. Some very good points on what society needs to do for our Veterans. “If society prepares a soldier to overcome his resistance to killing and places him in an environment in which he will kill, then that society has an obligation to deal forthrightly, intelligently, and morally with the results and repercussions upon the soldier and the society.”
6. Interesting observations provided. “Not every kill is the same, nor is the impact; how they are processed in the short and long term can hinge on factors such as how close a person was; whether eye contact was made; the identity, age, gender, or affiliation of the dead; and the context in which the killing occurred.”
7. One of the key insights provided is the impact of not killing. “If we’re going to talk about killing in combat, though, we also have to talk about not killing, because that, too, is part of war, and because not killing someone can have consequences every bit as pronounced as killing them would.” “For years, the most important event in his life was a killing that he did not carry out that, in his mind, led to the death of his friends.”
8. Discusses the process of learning how to kill. “Grossman calls this “operant conditioning,” a process of repetition and simulation that prepares recruits for whatever they may come across by making them feel as if they’ve already been through it. It also makes killing as much about the process as about the act, as much about the sequence as the results.”
9. A look at post-battle responses.
10. The importance of leadership in battle. “Malay and several others stressed how important leadership is to getting soldiers to kill when, where, and how they should, and to mitigate the effects of what they’ve done and endured in that effort. Officers give the orders and bear responsibility for how they are carried out, after all. They must keep their eyes on the bigger picture and set the terms and the tone of the fight. They must dictate when someone should or should not shoot, how killing is discussed, carried out, and tied to the broader mission, conveying to their charges that what they’re doing is not a random act occurring in a vacuum.”
11. Interesting real-life battles discussed. “As he went down a corridor, an insurgent jumped out and sprayed the hallway with AK-47 fire, then threw a grenade. ‘He peppered me with bullet fragments and concrete,’ Malay recalls, breathing heavier as he tells the story. “It was about a three-foot gunfight. He shot bullet holes in my uniform.”
12. The emotion of guilt plays a prominent role in this book. The author does a good job of extracting those sentiments from the soldiers he interviewed. ““I felt a tremendous amount of guilt, thinking that maybe I could have prevented it.”
13. The issue of returning home is discussed. “Soldiers come home too quickly, he says, even those who escaped injury. “In the Civil War or before, people marched off to war. They went and they did their thing, but then they had to walk back home, and they had this time to readjust to not being in this situation where everything you did was life and death.” Soldiers nowadays don’t march home. They don’t take long boat rides, as Pat Malay’s father did. They aren’t sequestered in a separate location to decompress. “You’re in combat and then you’re out of combat, and vice versa,” Nelson says. “There is no chance for your brain to really wrap your head around what you’re getting into and what you’re coming from.””
14. A look at dealing with the VA. “With the drugs, he feels that the VA has been helpful. There have been long wait times for appointments—and he finds it absurd that the VA doesn’t cover counseling for the spouses who lived through these wars, too—but when he does get to see someone, he finds them knowledgeable and helpful (perhaps because the VA now has so much experience medicating soldiers and Marines).”
15. What it was all for? From the veterans perspective.
Negatives:
1. There are no links to supplementary material.
2. No visual materials provided: timelines, graphs, maps or photos would have added value.
3. Very little science here. I wanted to know more about post traumatic syndrome and how to treat it. I wanted to know more about turning off the switch and how best to reintegrate our veterans to society. There is a little blurb here and there but I wanted more.
4. Some issues of relevance pertaining to our veterans received very little ink here. “What’s more, at a time when the military has struggled to counter rising suicide rates in its ranks, Nelson says he never considered killing himself, even on his bleakest days.” That’s all that was said about suicides a major problem with our veterans.
In summary, this was an interesting read on an important topic. We the people need to do more to help our veterans make a smooth transition back into society. We owe that and more to our veterans. Zabriskie provided the readers with some interesting insights on what killing in war feels like and the ramifications of such actions. Short on supplementary materials but it was a Kindle Single after all. I recommend reading this insightful eBook.
Further recommendations: “War” by Sebastian Junger, “What it is Like to go to War” by Karl Marlante, “The Things They Cannot Say” by Kevin Sites, “On Killing: The Psychological Cost of Learning to Kill” by Dave Grossman, “War and the Soul” by Edward Tick, “SEAL Team Six” by Howard E. Wasdin and Stephen Templin, “No Easy Day” by Mark Owen, “American Sniper” Chris Kyle, and “Lone Survivor” by Marcus Luttrell.
“The Kill Switch” is an insightful Kindle Single that examines what killing in war is like and what happens afterwards. New York-based writer Phil Zabriskie interesting book revolves mainly around the accounts of two Marines who candidly share their harrowing experiences. This 88-page book includes twenty unnamed chapters.
Positives:
1. A well-written, succinct book.
2. A fascinating topic, what killing in war is like and the impact it has afterwards.
3. Zabriskie’s writing style is direct, engaging and insightful.
4. The book is driven mainly by the accounts of two Marines: Brian Chontosh and Ben Nelson. Chontosh is the officer and Nelson is considers himself the “grunt”.
5. Some very good points on what society needs to do for our Veterans. “If society prepares a soldier to overcome his resistance to killing and places him in an environment in which he will kill, then that society has an obligation to deal forthrightly, intelligently, and morally with the results and repercussions upon the soldier and the society.”
6. Interesting observations provided. “Not every kill is the same, nor is the impact; how they are processed in the short and long term can hinge on factors such as how close a person was; whether eye contact was made; the identity, age, gender, or affiliation of the dead; and the context in which the killing occurred.”
7. One of the key insights provided is the impact of not killing. “If we’re going to talk about killing in combat, though, we also have to talk about not killing, because that, too, is part of war, and because not killing someone can have consequences every bit as pronounced as killing them would.” “For years, the most important event in his life was a killing that he did not carry out that, in his mind, led to the death of his friends.”
8. Discusses the process of learning how to kill. “Grossman calls this “operant conditioning,” a process of repetition and simulation that prepares recruits for whatever they may come across by making them feel as if they’ve already been through it. It also makes killing as much about the process as about the act, as much about the sequence as the results.”
9. A look at post-battle responses.
10. The importance of leadership in battle. “Malay and several others stressed how important leadership is to getting soldiers to kill when, where, and how they should, and to mitigate the effects of what they’ve done and endured in that effort. Officers give the orders and bear responsibility for how they are carried out, after all. They must keep their eyes on the bigger picture and set the terms and the tone of the fight. They must dictate when someone should or should not shoot, how killing is discussed, carried out, and tied to the broader mission, conveying to their charges that what they’re doing is not a random act occurring in a vacuum.”
11. Interesting real-life battles discussed. “As he went down a corridor, an insurgent jumped out and sprayed the hallway with AK-47 fire, then threw a grenade. ‘He peppered me with bullet fragments and concrete,’ Malay recalls, breathing heavier as he tells the story. “It was about a three-foot gunfight. He shot bullet holes in my uniform.”
12. The emotion of guilt plays a prominent role in this book. The author does a good job of extracting those sentiments from the soldiers he interviewed. ““I felt a tremendous amount of guilt, thinking that maybe I could have prevented it.”
13. The issue of returning home is discussed. “Soldiers come home too quickly, he says, even those who escaped injury. “In the Civil War or before, people marched off to war. They went and they did their thing, but then they had to walk back home, and they had this time to readjust to not being in this situation where everything you did was life and death.” Soldiers nowadays don’t march home. They don’t take long boat rides, as Pat Malay’s father did. They aren’t sequestered in a separate location to decompress. “You’re in combat and then you’re out of combat, and vice versa,” Nelson says. “There is no chance for your brain to really wrap your head around what you’re getting into and what you’re coming from.””
14. A look at dealing with the VA. “With the drugs, he feels that the VA has been helpful. There have been long wait times for appointments—and he finds it absurd that the VA doesn’t cover counseling for the spouses who lived through these wars, too—but when he does get to see someone, he finds them knowledgeable and helpful (perhaps because the VA now has so much experience medicating soldiers and Marines).”
15. What it was all for? From the veterans perspective.
Negatives:
1. There are no links to supplementary material.
2. No visual materials provided: timelines, graphs, maps or photos would have added value.
3. Very little science here. I wanted to know more about post traumatic syndrome and how to treat it. I wanted to know more about turning off the switch and how best to reintegrate our veterans to society. There is a little blurb here and there but I wanted more.
4. Some issues of relevance pertaining to our veterans received very little ink here. “What’s more, at a time when the military has struggled to counter rising suicide rates in its ranks, Nelson says he never considered killing himself, even on his bleakest days.” That’s all that was said about suicides a major problem with our veterans.
In summary, this was an interesting read on an important topic. We the people need to do more to help our veterans make a smooth transition back into society. We owe that and more to our veterans. Zabriskie provided the readers with some interesting insights on what killing in war feels like and the ramifications of such actions. Short on supplementary materials but it was a Kindle Single after all. I recommend reading this insightful eBook.
Further recommendations: “War” by Sebastian Junger, “What it is Like to go to War” by Karl Marlante, “The Things They Cannot Say” by Kevin Sites, “On Killing: The Psychological Cost of Learning to Kill” by Dave Grossman, “War and the Soul” by Edward Tick, “SEAL Team Six” by Howard E. Wasdin and Stephen Templin, “No Easy Day” by Mark Owen, “American Sniper” Chris Kyle, and “Lone Survivor” by Marcus Luttrell.
June 1, 2017
About veteran's: "We're wanted for photo ops, we're wanted right prior to elections,...but we're not wanted very long in the company of those that have never been part of our world."
On war: "War's ugly. I struggle with this with people. They try to make it so clean." ..."There are too many inherent contradictions, even within individual soldiers. They are told they must protect and destroy, they must be brutal and careful, that they are doing something honorable but must contravene basic tenets of decent behavior."
Beautifully, honestly and respectfully rendered by the men who were there and a journalist whose biased, personal insights only intrude slightly, but so obviously that they can be easily set aside, if the reader so chooses.
On war: "War's ugly. I struggle with this with people. They try to make it so clean." ..."There are too many inherent contradictions, even within individual soldiers. They are told they must protect and destroy, they must be brutal and careful, that they are doing something honorable but must contravene basic tenets of decent behavior."
Beautifully, honestly and respectfully rendered by the men who were there and a journalist whose biased, personal insights only intrude slightly, but so obviously that they can be easily set aside, if the reader so chooses.
March 24, 2017
This book is really a summarized version of Grossman's "On Killing" with some modern stories from Iraq and Afghanistan. However, the author leaves out much of the psychological elements and research that Grossman covers and instead chooses to focus on personal accounts. As a 5 time combat veteran myself, this book did not offer any new insights on war and killing but did a great job highlighting how the military and VA are struggling to deal with the psychological affects of the past 16 years of war.
June 27, 2024
The Kill Switch - 7/10 – This book provides a brief insight into the mental toll killing has on the people involved. A considered approach to a book that helped provide context to difficult and little discussed subject.
June 30, 2017
A poignant and honest look at the choices we make as a society when we send men and women to war.
July 23, 2018
Good book!
The stories these guys tell are intense. The situations they face are sad. Gives a detailed understanding of the problems they face after a war.
The stories these guys tell are intense. The situations they face are sad. Gives a detailed understanding of the problems they face after a war.
December 13, 2015
Some people seem unaware with how unnatural it is for people to kill people, in this case specifically in war. Some people will say that killing is instinctual and part of human nature, and that may be true when hunting other species, but to kill within your own species, for humans to kill humans, it's just not that easy, not for people of sound mind. In "The Kill Switch" by Phil Zabriskie, he reports and grapples with these issues.
I would say we owe it to our vets to respect them for the job they did, but at the same time when we honor their deeds and glorify war, that becomes problematic for both our society and for the soldiers themselves. But it is the first step toward training and conditioning them and really all of us to the idea of killing. They enter the military already prepared, but not prepared enough. They will then be more rigorously trained to kill and to accept it as an honor and a duty, but for most the reality of killing someone, or sometimes for not killing someone when they should have, can burden them with guilt and all the psychological and social problems that come with that.
Zabriskie after talking to soldiers who have returned has concluded the obvious, but he does it so articulately. We are good at training soldiers, but then we are shamefully terrible at decommissioning them as killing machines afterwards and providing any assistance in dealing with the psychological aftermath and moral damage from what they've done. Wandering all over this country are vets who feel alone, ashamed, damaged, and unsupported, by their countrymen and government, even by friends and family. As one soldier put it, he feels like he's brought out on special occasions (Veterans Day comes to my mind) and everyone says, oh look at the cute little puppy, but let's get him out of the room before he pisses on the carpet.
These are heavy issues we should be dealing with for these men and women who put their lives on the line, and we should be doing it for our country. This book adds to that discussion.
I would say we owe it to our vets to respect them for the job they did, but at the same time when we honor their deeds and glorify war, that becomes problematic for both our society and for the soldiers themselves. But it is the first step toward training and conditioning them and really all of us to the idea of killing. They enter the military already prepared, but not prepared enough. They will then be more rigorously trained to kill and to accept it as an honor and a duty, but for most the reality of killing someone, or sometimes for not killing someone when they should have, can burden them with guilt and all the psychological and social problems that come with that.
Zabriskie after talking to soldiers who have returned has concluded the obvious, but he does it so articulately. We are good at training soldiers, but then we are shamefully terrible at decommissioning them as killing machines afterwards and providing any assistance in dealing with the psychological aftermath and moral damage from what they've done. Wandering all over this country are vets who feel alone, ashamed, damaged, and unsupported, by their countrymen and government, even by friends and family. As one soldier put it, he feels like he's brought out on special occasions (Veterans Day comes to my mind) and everyone says, oh look at the cute little puppy, but let's get him out of the room before he pisses on the carpet.
These are heavy issues we should be dealing with for these men and women who put their lives on the line, and we should be doing it for our country. This book adds to that discussion.
February 22, 2016
This is a Kindle Single (meaning short, only 88 pages). It talks about killing during a war, the training and the consequences. The book follows two soldiers, one who doesn't kill when commanded not to shoot and, as a result, his comrades die, and another soldier who kills a young boy who is about to shoot him. It gives their backgrounds, their thoughts on the incidents and the aftermath as they return to civilian life. A very insightful book.
Some interesting quotes:
"'If society prepares a soldier to overcome his resistance to killing and places him in an environment in which he will kill, then that society has an obligation to deal forthrightly, intelligently, and morally with the results and repercussions upon the soldier and the society.'" -- Lt. Col. Dave Grossman.
"During World War II, an American Army historian named S.L.A. Marshall found that less than 20 percent of frontline soldiers fired their weapons at enemy troops. His methodology has been questioned, but even if it were 50 percent, that's still a large proportion of soldiers choosing not to fire or firing over their enemy's heads when their own lives were at risk. The resistance to killing was so strong that preserving the life of another--not killing the other guy, even one of Adolf Hitler's Nazi soldiers--outweighed self-preservation."
Some interesting quotes:
"'If society prepares a soldier to overcome his resistance to killing and places him in an environment in which he will kill, then that society has an obligation to deal forthrightly, intelligently, and morally with the results and repercussions upon the soldier and the society.'" -- Lt. Col. Dave Grossman.
"During World War II, an American Army historian named S.L.A. Marshall found that less than 20 percent of frontline soldiers fired their weapons at enemy troops. His methodology has been questioned, but even if it were 50 percent, that's still a large proportion of soldiers choosing not to fire or firing over their enemy's heads when their own lives were at risk. The resistance to killing was so strong that preserving the life of another--not killing the other guy, even one of Adolf Hitler's Nazi soldiers--outweighed self-preservation."
September 1, 2015
Really not a big fan of war, but have always been curious about how it affects people psychologically. Rather fascinating, to the point, and pretty accurate, after asking 2 veterans I knew. 3 quotes I couldn't forget:
"It's foolish to think that killing another human being, no matter how lawful or how well-rationalized, doesn't impact someone's mind."
"On the outside, they look fine, but we don't know the toll that being taken on their soul."
"In that moment, it's the two of you, and second place is face-down dead."
"It's foolish to think that killing another human being, no matter how lawful or how well-rationalized, doesn't impact someone's mind."
"On the outside, they look fine, but we don't know the toll that being taken on their soul."
"In that moment, it's the two of you, and second place is face-down dead."
January 15, 2015
Not sure
This book really didn't go into detail about the so called kill switch. It was more the author just asking some combat veterans questions and letting them to their story.
I thought there would be an examination of the effects of killing and why. This was not even close to the book, On Killing.
This book really didn't go into detail about the so called kill switch. It was more the author just asking some combat veterans questions and letting them to their story.
I thought there would be an examination of the effects of killing and why. This was not even close to the book, On Killing.
July 9, 2015
Ok
I was hoping there was more depth to this. Since I work with veterans it really didn't cover anything that wasn't discussed to a large extent in my office. I think I only have 3 stars because of my own bias but i think it's probably a good read for someone less involved with veterans yet still interested in the topic.
I was hoping there was more depth to this. Since I work with veterans it really didn't cover anything that wasn't discussed to a large extent in my office. I think I only have 3 stars because of my own bias but i think it's probably a good read for someone less involved with veterans yet still interested in the topic.
February 27, 2016
It's a Kindle Single so it's pretty quick and easy to read. Worth getting, I think, as Zabriskie does a good job of recounting the experience of killing from the perspective of two U.S. soldiers. And as a reporter who worked in the very places where these two men were (and who knew some of those who died) he brings a valuable perspective to this complex topic.
September 11, 2015
Worthwhile reading
Reading this book provided me with empathy for those who had to fight and serve in these dangerous areas around the world.
Reading this book provided me with empathy for those who had to fight and serve in these dangerous areas around the world.
January 24, 2017
"You don't get the luxury of using the knowledge in the present to judge what happened in the past."
March 29, 2017
Surprisingly Engaging
Really well done and a surprise read, being a Kindle Short. Well sourced, showing the struggles fighters face before, during and after they decide they (want to) pull the trigger.
Recommended for sure.
Really well done and a surprise read, being a Kindle Short. Well sourced, showing the struggles fighters face before, during and after they decide they (want to) pull the trigger.
Recommended for sure.
April 5, 2017
A quick and infuriating read. A stomach turning account of just how much is invested in training soldiers to kill, and how little by contrast is spent teaching them to live with it. Through the lens of two men, one officer, one elisted man, who handled bloody deployments in Iraq in different ways, you see how good the VA has become at dispensing drugs but how hideously few resources there are for dealing with the mental wounds of war.
Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews