“War,” the veteran mutters in his defense. “Maybe I’m not smart enough to explain.”
“What war?” the prosecutor bellows. “Mr. Copland, the last war ended eight or nine years ago. Frankly, I don’t even remember when exactly or what it was about. Also, kind of a sorry excuse, especially from a man who never served a single day in the military, didn’t enroll in ROTC basic training in college, and as far as I can tell never went target shooting in a rifle range. For god’s sake, you haven’t even lived near an army base. Mr. Copland, how on earth can you call yourself a veteran?! Are you trying to drive us ’round the bend?”
“The war,” Copland murmurs, fright on his face and tears in his eyes. “Why’s that nobody understands me? I cannot find another word. There’s no other word. It’s the war.”
“What’s with the war?” the judge shouts. “Mr. Copland, in case you haven’t noticed most of the world’s been enjoying peace for nearly a decade now, and you committed your horrific crime a few months ago. Is it true you never spent a day in the army? The prosecutor may just be right, Mr. Copland, you seem to be in search of a good excuse.”
The veteran only repeats the same thing, the war, the war. He can’t help it; war has been chiseled into his soul. It’s not in his nature to point fingers but feels falsely accused since society has been trumpeting for the last six thousand years that some wars are morally justifiable – we must stand up against evil forces. No matter how peace-loving we’d like to be, war is the only way to annihilate bad people who would do us harm. We fight the good fight as opposed to listening to blasé intellectuals who sit at home in relative safety, ruminating about the innate goodness of mankind.
Therein is buried the rabid dog of perpetual confusion; when Copland killed the five high-school students half a year ago, he knew they were evil people. They’d committed terrible crimes and would’ve committed even worse in the future. Eliminating them should count as justifiable action in a just war. While Copland senses it probably doesn’t resonate well with the refined theatre-going types, he believes he is on the right side of history.
It doesn’t matter. Since Copland is not a real veteran, he can’t claim PTSD. Just another mass murderer who’ll have to be put away for good.