Um.

?

Is there anything a soldier could do that's so heinous we should just cut him loose?

Also, I'd expect that those same stresses apply to the civilians in Afghanistan, but when they shoot up army bases we don't talk about their personal tragedy.

ah297900 wrote:

Is there anything a soldier could do that's so heinous we should just cut him loose?

Sure. 

Also, I'd expect that those same stresses apply to the civilians in Afghanistan, but when they shoot up army bases we don't talk about their personal tragedy.

Although it is hard to tell "insurgents" and "civilians" apart in this conflict, I honestly haven't seen any reports of Afghan civilians attacking U.S. installations.  Anyway, there is a difference:  The Afghans are our victims, whether we like to admit it or not; but our soldiers are fellow Americans who have volunteered for a period of slavery to our government during which they do whatever they're told.  We owe them a debt (damn, all the phrases that apply to the military are so fucking overused and tired, but it is still fucking true). 

This man spent !three! tours in Iraq, without complaint and serving with some distinction.  According to news reports--though I don't see how such a thing can be verified--he reckoned his time in lethal desert hellholes was finally up, only to be told he was being deployed to Afghanistan.  If a promise of respite, whether explicitly stated or simply implied, was held out to him and then withdrawn, I have no trouble seeing how anyone might snap.

I've never served.  I'm interested to hear how people who have served view this situation.

choad wrote:

George Orr wrote:

I'm interested to hear how people who have served view this situation.

My best friend here returned from a combat tour in Iraq 2 years ago. He'd got his bell rung, aged 20 years and his 99 year old mother was still kicking. His wife and toddlers were living with another guy, his life savings pissed away. We were boring school cellmates 40 years ago. He's gainly fully employed but is desperate to reup. War's the only thing makes sense to him. They get thoroughly rewired, George, in this case starting in 1973 on Parris Island.

All of this depresses me utterly.  I grew up in NC where there are lot of military people, as well as retirees, and now I live in San Antonio, where the situation is very similar.  I know the majority of veterans find some way of getting themselves back to the civilian mindset--at least enough to cope and to live their lives without incident--but I am damned if I know how, especially since the machine that made them into warriors seems to have exactly zero interest in helping them switch the warrior off.

If you go to www.liveleak.com and look at their graphic content: http://www.liveleak.com/browse?q=graphic . You'll see a lot of dismembered, disemboweled, destroyed people and families.  One thing most of the videos have in common is dangerous ideas and dangerous beliefs.  People willing to destroy or willing to let themselves be destroyed over stupid shit.  Stupid beliefs, i.e. religion, stupid politics and stupid xenophobia.  I've had my fill of stupid and I refuse to explain stupid away or show respect to its actions with words like PTSD, faith, family, country, god, the greater good, etc. etc.  If you choose a job in which the expectation is to learn how to kill and to kill over ideas you're fucking stupid in my mind.  Robert Bales was a fucking moron, he produced nothing in his life but a bunch of eviscerated people just trying to live their life.  Any idea that requires force or violence against other people is a bad idea.  I'll only give kudos to people who choose to voluntarily interact with the people around them.

Emmeran wrote:

Suck it bitch, enjoy the flavor of my rifle cleaning fluid while you choke on the hot barrel of American socialist nationalism.

You ain't even alive without us, your libertarian asses can eat my shit. 

Without us you're nothing more than simple road kill; riddle me your self-sufficiency whilst you stare down the smooth-bore of an M1A1.


Simply put, your grand ideas cannot stand alone; they can only gestate when the rest of us create a stable and fertile ground.  Without us you are worthless and dead.

Not to burst your bubble, but the libertarians are the only ones who promote the idea of privately owned nuclear weapons....  Suck it statist....

There was that image on the pic thread about Black Jack Pershing and how he ended Islamic terrorism with pig offal.


If we do nothing, the murdering assholes win. If we become murdering assholes to defeat them,  we lose.

On a related note, I wonder if the Koran burning stupidity was the result of someWest Point Jeebus Freak 2nd looie telling some grunts to "burn all this heathen garbage", and they just "followed orders", Korans and all.

In closing, fuck the whole human race.

During my time in the military I saw two types of personalities that scared me.  One was the gung ho idiot who had been jonesing for a weapon and the authority to use it since he was twelve.  These guys would probably shoot an innocent civilian, but they aren't craven nor cruel enough to become mass murderers of women and children.  They retain a modicum of rationality.  Things change if they are ordered to murder by the second scary personality.  This is the guy who has lost his compass.  He acts irrationally, commits acts which are not in his, or anyone's, best interest, and he could eventually go off the deep end.  I never saw anyone completely lose it, but I believe you can see the potential in certain people, and it becomes more pronounced as they spiral down.  The soldiers in this guy's platoon, as well as his immediate superior, probably noticed he was losing it.

Banjo wrote:

Has anyone else noticed the sharp increase in violent behavior on women and children since the Doritos Taco was introduced to society two weeks ago? No connection you say? I beg to disagree.

https://cruelery.com/uploads/thumbs/415 … os2011.jpg

Until now, I was woefully ignorant of its existence.

I feel compelled to add it to my "explosive diarrhea weight loss" program.

Auto-edited on 2020-08-02 to update URLs

phreddy wrote:

The soldiers in this guy's platoon, as well as his immediate superior, probably noticed he was losing it.

I agree phreddy.  There was a fuck up at the lowest levels of command.

All I know is that the press (or more appropriately, their handlers), are seriously trying to dig up as much dirt on this guy as they can.