Washington Post: A U.S. soldier walked off his base in Afghanistan and opened fire on local villagers Sunday, Afghan and U.S. officials said, killing 16 people in a shooting spree that further complicates American efforts to end its longest foreign war. http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/us-soldier-detained-after-opening-fire-on-afghans/2012/03/11/gIQAFFlW4R_story.html
Thing of it is... killing is against most peoples' human nature. Our government trains people to kill other people to defend whatever we're defending at the time. The military learned a lot from the failures in Vietnam and have gotten better, more scientific, about training people to be killers. Some things can't be trained out of the psyche though, no matter how well a person is trained to react physically when faced with an enemy. War is an ugly muthafucka. Not that I've ever been in one. My mother was a little Okinawan kid, during WWII. My father was in the military, went to 'Nam. I grew up in the military culture. We lived in Okinawa during the Vietnam War. I hung out with some young GIs back then. I've heard things. About things that aren't shown, even in movies. War is not like a video game. The stress is monumental and many people have more than just a hard time dealing with it even after their service is over - something people seem be only vaguely aware of when things like this happen. Many people want revenge. Others want punishment. Some feel ashamed.
Seems to me, most Americans - civilians, that is - have a tendency to think of soldiers as heroic boy next door types. Most soldier are good people. All are not. Just like in civilian life some get into trouble, some steal, some lie, some cheat, some are pedophiles, some rape, some piss on dead people and some kill innocent people. That's part of why the military has its own legal system, the Uniform Code of Military Justice, which applies to all branches... and jails too. They are men and women - humans - like the rest of us. The main difference is that what they have to experience is often outside of the civilian realm of reality.
The biggest daily stresses most of us in civilian life experience is commuting to work, ass hole bosses, annoying customers, arguments at home. We don't worry about getting shot, shooting people or questioning why the fuck we're doing any that.
This is not me letting this soldier, who killed these civilians, off the hook. This is not me saying the soldier who went on rampage should go unpunished... This is me saying our soldiers - the good, bad and the ugly - have all ready been over there way too long. Many have done too many multiple tours of duty. Because they are human, just like the people they're fighting - people are going to crack. People are going to fuck up bad. Anyone recall the name Calley and the My Lai Massacre?
It's enough all ready. I'd like for all those soldiers to come home - and let those muthafuckas in the Middle East duke it out amongst themselves. We can chill and pick up the pieces of oil when they're done. Know how much oil we get from the Middle East? Somewhere around 25% of what we consume. Is that what people are fucking dying and killing for? Fuckin 25%?
Let Israel, Iran and everyone else over there wave their dicks at each other without us in the mix. They'll either get their shit together and learn to get along, blow each other off the face of the Earth or keep fuckin fighting for another few thousand years. In the meantime, we could spend our resources getting our 25% from some damn where else.
Related:
Vietnam: Some of one man's memories
American Soldiers: The Flip Side
1971: War, drugs and really good music
Military brats: A far different life
Western style martyrdom
Okinawa: Military brat notes and links for brats old and new
Okinawa: I am the karate kid, sorta Military Acronyms [SFASIPV - Some Funny Ass Shit Includes Pictures and Videos]
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