Originally posted by projectvxn


This wasn't freakin' off target or some stray bullet. They aimed and fired. And killed a child. Not justified by any stretch. No wonder those people hate us.

Have you been following this story/thread? The child was killed when soldiers fired a warning shot- the soldiers never even saw the child before they fired.

Its terrible that this little girl was killed, however it is nothing more than another casualty; collateral damage if you will. There have been many scadals that have occured with US soldier (ie abu ghraib and that incident where they raped some little girl) and that will not be forgiven or forgotten, however you must understand what we go through over there. There are reports of children who will pretend to be hurt on the roads and when the convoy stops, they destroy the trailing vehicle and it traps everyone in a deathtrap.
So I doubt that child was "just waving" or saying hello; evidently she must have used a form of signal or something that was awkward and suspicious. Many people dont know what we go through (and for those who do, im sure you understand), when those bullets start flying your entire world just stops; a 3min long engagement last forever. It may sound selfish but i love myself too much to just let myself die because people back in the States can not understand or comprehend the situation that I struggle through each time I'm deployed.
If i feel like my life is threatened in any manner i will defend myself to my fullest extent. And I would not allow people who have never had to choose between their own life or another's to tell me that my judgment is wrong. Hopefully I did not offend anyone and you guys will read this with an open and understanding mind.
Thank you.

well I cannot defend the death of a child I can defend that soldier by saying all evidence points to the fact that it was a tragedy an accident and nothing more. from the more comprehensive article it seems the soldiers were running convoy ops and that the soldier took a warning shot at someone who was exhibiting suspicious activity seems extremely reasonable the soldier now maybe the soldier should have used hand and arm signals first maybe he did and it just wasnt reported at least thankfully he didnt use pyro as thats harder to aim and could you imagine how much worse had he set the woman or the child on fire with a pen flare or star cluster. no the soldier took a shot at a berm a reasonable target not the deck or a wall that would have caused a ricochet or into the air where he would have no clue where the bullet came down but into a berm where I suppose in my opinion and it is only conjecture the soldier believed the round would get buried. it is unfortunate that the berm was too thin to stop the round and a child was behind it. the worst part i think is that a foot to the left or to the right that child would be alive so there you have it on my so humble opinion an accident.

as to gang members in the military there have always been gang members in the us military many a civil war vet on the union side started out as a member of the bowery boys or the dead rabbit gang and I suppose there were revolutionary soldiers who started out in the local gangs in philly or boston. one of the great things about the military is that it gives many a second chance at life. I bet if you talked to some of the vets in your community you would find a few who raised hell as kids young adults joined the armed forces straightened out and became law abiding contributing members to society