ABSTRACT
The notion of “moral injury” resonates with many service members and veterans. For some, the term feels safe—non-stigmatizing and non-pathologizing. In addition, the term points to the moral dimensions of psychological anguish too often eclipsed in more traditional diagnoses of post-traumatic stress as a fear-conditioned response to life threat. In this chapter, Sherman takes up military-related moral injury, with an eye to moral healing through compassionate self-empathy. Specifically, she considers shame and guilt, and then self-forgiveness through the double lens of contemporary soldiers and lessons from ancient Greek warriors. The story of the ancient Greeks is told from the viewpoint of a Greek general, who was more famously a tragedian—namely, Sophocles, in his Ajax. The contemporary voices come from service members that Sherman has interviewed.
