It is generally accepted in psychological or neurodevelopmental parlance that “attachment” is the enduring psychological connection between two persons suggesting mutual care seeking and care giving. It is more commonly applied to that connection of a infant for the mother. The totally dependent and vulnerable infant places trust in the caregiver. In a healthy and growing relationship there is mutual trust and sense of attachment. The responsibility for protecting and nurturing this attachment is entirely the parents or the primary caregiver. In cases where there is no attachment, or detachment, where the parent, most commonly the mother, abandons or abuses this responsibility, the child never learns to trust and never has the capacity to develop nurturing human connections. Inevitably the child grows into a isolated and withdrawn individual; or ends up a disinhibited, impulsive, predatory and violent person. This emotionally pathologic state has been called Reactive Attachment Disorder when applied to young children who have been abused and abandoned. However, this term, reactive attachment, is descriptive of other milestones in human emotional development and can be used as a model or descriptive framework for the scenario we call the United States Military Establishment. Hopefully this concept will help us understand the acts of troubled soldiers, enable us to identify those who suffer and perhaps define a more rational, dare I saw humane, remedy. If this conceptualization sounds to grandiose, at least it may allow an exploration of a more imaginative and effective care giving. It is ironic that the word reactive is a perfect descriptive for the military medical system, and perhaps our entire military establishment.
FIRST, it is not too far afield from Reactive Attachment to look at examples of what I will call ACCESS TO LETHAL MEANS.