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Were not out of Afhanistan....for what reason...beats me ask Obama. I would like to help this soldiers wife and kids. He is bound to be hung or shot. The sadest part of it is our troops will be killed when they seek revenge.
On your first point, agreed -- we go wildly off topic around here. As to your second, I appreciate many of your sentiments, but most of us in the military don't support a draft. We have a much better force as a result of us being all volunteers. We're here because we want to be. This man was not a victim. He enlisted, he reenlisted and he probably reenlisted again. My heart goes out to his wife and children. Those poor, poor kids. If they are anything like my 10 year old little girl, they think their dad is a wonderful hero .. and now this? Poor things. This is a terrible tragedy.
Don't blame the military leaders though (and obviously don't blame Obama). They are doing the best they can with the hand they were dealt. This man is not a victim. It's a damn shame he chose to do what he did. I can tell you that if he had chosen another route -- if he had gone to his chaplain and told the chaplain what he was thinking about doing -- he would have gotten help. He probably would have even been sent home and chaptered out of the Army if his case was severe enough. Or, if he really wanted to stay in the Army, he probably could have done that too -- the Army would have worked with him. He has proven himself with three deployments. The Army doesn't just throw people away (depsite the popular misconceptions).
Unfortunately, he didn't reach out to those around him. Again, what a damn, damn shame for everyone invovled.
I agree with some of what you said. At the same time, I don't think its fair that this guy did four combat tours and I spent six years in the AF and never once was remotely close to combat. This was during the heart of Iraq/Afghanistan. I also got combat pay for a few months at a cushy support base where the only combat was an argument over the weight bench.
I think there should be limits to combat deployments, and if they need personnel, they should pull people from back-office jobs. I just think there should be some standard of living. Some AF jobs are basically like 9-5 civilian jobs in BDU's, while other servicemembers are doing repeat combat tours. That to me isn't right.
I agree with some of what you said. At the same time, I don't think its fair that this guy did four combat tours and I spent six years in the AF and never once was remotely close to combat. This was during the heart of Iraq/Afghanistan. I also got combat pay for a few months at a cushy support base where the only combat was an argument over the weight bench.
I think there should be limits to combat deployments, and if they need personnel, they should pull people from back-office jobs. I just think there should be some standard of living. Some AF jobs are basically like 9-5 civilian jobs in BDU's, while other servicemembers are doing repeat combat tours. That to me isn't right.
Nothing about the wars in the M.E. are right.
It's all about resource control and world domination.
This man should be eligible for the death penalty. This was a premeditated act and absolutely horrific. I understand people crack eventually, but while he obviously has issues, he didnt just go nuts. He had plenty of time during the mile walk to the villages the think about what he was doing. Killing innocent women/children/men in cold blood just cant be put into words how evil that is.
They need to investigate, try him, and execute him and get it over and done with quickly. He has put a black mark not only on his brothers/sisters in the military but his family and even our entire country.
This man should be eligible for the death penalty. This was a premeditated act and absolutely horrific. I understand people crack eventually, but while he obviously has issues, he didnt just go nuts. He had plenty of time during the mile walk to the villages the think about what he was doing. Killing innocent women/children/men in cold blood just cant be put into words how evil that is.
They need to investigate, try him, and execute him and get it over and done with quickly. He has put a black mark not only on his brothers/sisters in the military but his family and even our entire country.
Why stop there. Every Officer and Commander that uses the cowardly drone attacks and kills innocent people should be tried as well.
If another country did this to us, we would nuke the crap out of them.
Why no outrage for targeted hits on innocents.
How many times does O'bama have to say "I'm Sorry"...
In regards to this war....what the hell our we even doing now? What the heck is our mission? Do we even have one?
I also cant help but think our soldiers hands are tied in many cases. We just need to get the hell out of there and let these people decide on their own...do they want to let the Taliban take them back over or are they going to stand up and fight against them? Its up to them, time to leave
Why stop there. Every Officer and Commander that uses the cowardly drone attacks and kills innocent people should be tried as well.
If another country did this to us, we would nuke the crap out of them.
Why no outrage for targeted hits on innocents.
How many times does O'bama have to say "I'm Sorry"...
A bit different, dont you think. This man TARGETED knowingly innocent civilians. He wasnt trying to kill a bad guy and screwed up, he went after civilians specifically.
People can do whatever they want when they're in their own homes. When you're a guest, you have to be on your best behavior. Unfortunately, this time, we weren't, and there are consequences.
Were we invited guests, or invaders? I believe the latter is closer to the truth. this invasion was entitled Operation Enduring Freedom with the goal of dismantling al-Qaeda and removing the Taliban. The Islamic Republic of Afghanistan was established with Karzai in charge in 2004. Taliban fled to Pakistan.
We can leave now, it's up to them, as to what happens next, in their country.
Were we invited guests, or invaders? I believe the latter is closer to the truth. this invasion was entitled Operation Enduring Freedom with the goal of dismantling al-Qaeda and removing the Taliban. The Islamic Republic of Afghanistan was established with Karzai in charge in 2004. Taliban fled to Pakistan.
We can leave now, it's up to them, as to what happens next, in their country.
I like that you used a modifier signifying degree to acknowledge the complexity of the issue. I agree that the latter is closer to the truth. We weren't invited guests, but the country that we invaded wasn't exactly a country that wasn't already being occupied. The Taliban was a foreign occupying force. Most Afghans viewed us as an unexpected -- but pretty welcome -- surprise. If we leave, and if the Taliban regain their control and prominence, the average Afghan is going to be more dissatisfied than he is now.
My credentials to give some backing to what i'm about to say.
British Army, Infantry, 22 years.... Iraq Desert Shield, Iraq Desert Storm, Occupation of Iraq (2x Tours) Bosnia, Kosovo, Afghanistan (3 x Tours). Now that's over 22 years but it's still a fair amount of time in places where naughty people want to hurt you.
I might well be biased but foot sloggers get the unpleasant end of the stick on too many occasions. There's fewer of us (at least in the British Army) so the rotation times are much quicker. In theory they're better trained for the job of occupying a given area and you can't sensibly patrol a village in a Tank or APC, you need people for that, 'Feet on the Ground'.
There are protocols in place to try and spot if a soldier is being 'affected' by what they see, hear and experience. Going from mind numbing boredom in camp to adrenaline pumped on patrol to abject terror when in contact and then back down again pulls the nerves in every direction. There is a debrief and a cooldown where your senior NCOs (I was one of them) and Officers watch and chat to you to see how your coping and if they spot anything untoward then they'll arrange for a chat with a professional. I only know this is how the British Army deal with it but i've worked with the US, French and Ukraine soldiers and they all had simillar systems from what i could tell.
Everybody is affected, it's how they deal with it and what help they get if they need it that makes the difference. I don't know the exact circumstances of this man but it appears that he was recieving some form of help which obviously wasn't enough. No idea how he became/stayed armed but we're well aware of how it turned out.
What he did was terrible, an act beyond what we hope a sane man would do and the affect on the relatives and family of the victims can not be imagined. Not only because of what happened but because of the way it happened and who did it.
I'm not going to debate on here when or not you should bring your troops home and the affect or non-affect that would have on the Afghans or if they should have ever been there at all. The fact is that they are and something that should have been prevented wasn't. By 2014 your going to be getting a lot of people who may or may not have mental health issues and what you really need to be thinking is how they can be helped. In the UK we're already seeing some of the affects on soldiers when they try and rejoin society with our defence cuts and our system took a long time to get into gear.
It was a terrible thing that happened but rather than get all political about it think about how you can help those that'll be coming home different to how they left.
Slartibarfast.
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