Media
Media / Putre: Neither a new method nor a new Antuco.
May
Days after the tragedy in the north, the inevitable comparison was made with what happened in Antuco. But the 45 deaths in 2005 were due to the negligent order to march and the announced storm that surprised the group. In the white wind, the situation got out of control; meanwhile, the march in the north was never out of control.
Academic and historian Leith Passmore recently published his opinion column for the newspaper The bewilderment. In it, he reflects on common practices regarding the type of military service training in Chile and how, throughout its history, we can see that physical and psychological violence, as well as improvisation, are commonplace.
In the research process for writing the book “Wars within the barracks”(2023 UAH Editions), «I reviewed hundreds of written testimonies from former conscripts, and between 2012 and 2015, I conducted interviews throughout Chile. Many former recruits describe training that involved physical violence, arbitrary punishments, and homophobic and sexist insults. The logic of physical, mental, and emotional resistance is rooted in the exploits of 19th-century heroes and the myth of the indomitable Chilean race, but it is also consistent with 20th-century Western military thought On realism, survival, desensitization to the emotions of war, and inoculation to abuse that soldiers would receive at the hands of the enemy.
Book
