Trained armed personnel serving the state are perceived as protectors. Growing incidences of crime in uniform is trashing this image of men otherwise nurtured for bravery and gallant deeds.

Army men, police and other security agencies indulging in heinous crimes shatter the trust society imposes in these trained personnel. Some of the recent crimes, in varied countries, by these men in uniform of frenzied violence, mass rape and cold-blooded murders have shocked the world.

The underbelly of the uniform lies exposed in:-

* Rape and murder of 14 year old in Mahmudiya, Iraq: Though it’s not really the latest- it’s just the one that’s being publicized the most. The poor girl Abeer was neither the first to be raped by American troops, nor will she be the last. The only reason this rape was brought to light and publicized is that her whole immediate family were killed along with her.

* Russian Army’s sex scandal: Russia’s scandal-prone military was gripped by allegations that cash-strapped senior officers had forced young conscripts to work as male prostitutes.

*Haditha massacre: Twenty-four Iraqi civilians were killed by U.S. Marines in the western town of Haditha. The American troops shot men, women and children at close range.

* Abu Ghraib prisoner abuse: Abu Ghraib scandal found 44 instances of abuse by soldiers and civilian contractors at the prison in Iraq.

An armed and trained professional let loose on an unarmed populace does wreck havoc. Mostly such crimes go unreported but of the little that surface in the global media hardly any ever reach a court of law.

Conflict zones and war conditions erodes that thin line between law and lawlessness, humanism and barbarianism, and war crimes on a vanquished foe is often justified as price of victory.

Looking at the facts above it appears that these men are being taught to be killers more than disciplined soldiers and that killer instinct has been so ingrained in these men that they can’t turn it off once they’ve begun killing in combat. One shudders to think that the army can orchestrate such cold-blooded encounters. These shameful incidents show the extent of indiscipline in the armed forces.

Fighting with arms, shooting people, using methods of violence, no doubt fills most of us with disgust and loathing. It is a dirty business. During the fighting there exists a special unwritten morality where young men of twenty or so, can form their character by indulging in killing, raping and looting, without fear of punishment. Yes, that is what they call brave.