U.S. helicopter blasts Afghan man .. pilot sings 'Bye, bye Miss American Pie'

Maybe not the smartest thing to be singing at that moment, but does it deserve this much attention?
Can understand how people not familiar with military think pilots should act professional all the time but that is just not realistically achievable.
Specially if you understand a pilot that has seen much instant death create some form of psychological shield against the horror side of it all.
Once they're back in normal life, when there is no need for the shield, to life without it, now there is the trouble.
I don't hear or read anything about this in these stories, all the focus is on how a pilot could do something fun while preforming his job (war).
This opinion stands clear from what war is and is used for, i am looking at why a (human) pilot would do something like this.

Wars a bitch

I dunno, maybe some of you would feel better if the pilot was saying 'Im really really sorry about this' just before the missile hit?

reply to post by wiser3


Haha, you can't plant contraceptives that way... might be fertile ground and all, but still..

iEd Improvised Explosive device... not Intrauterine Device..

rofl

Originally posted by Nonchalant
Wars a bitch

2nd

oO maybe they were planting IUD's then!!!

reply to post by mainidh


Sorry, edited mine before you posted your reply! But glad I gave someone a laugh! Happy Friday!

reply to post by wiser3


Always good on fridays!! The rain has eased, the cold has not yet found me, might even have a decent sleep.

THanks for the chuckle too

happy friday to you too!!

That is what happens when you are caught planting IED's

Poppies??

In the middle of a road???



Well done pilot

reply to post by Vitruvian


What is the problem? The video is maybe a 1/4 of the story. There is numerous parts to these interactions, and human intel is one part. This video shows what, someone planting something in the middle of the road? Geez, I wonder what that something could be.

Good for the pilot, he saved Military Members and possibly innocent lives.

Originally posted by Nonchalant
Wars a bitch

I dunno, maybe some of you would feel better if the pilot was saying 'Im really really sorry about this' just before the missile hit?

edit on 6-7-2012 by Nonchalant because: (no reason given)

You are right.
Should have been singing Queen's "Another one bites the dust".

Originally posted by H1ght3chHippie
The chopper pilot is military. Military has only one purpose: Killing human beings.

Agree.
Also I do not understand that instantly some people jump to conclusion without any evidence that the people that were killed indeed were innocent civilians. Wars are very very dirty and gruesome. On the contrary, many service members have been killed because they thought that someone was innocent (including children and animals). Without being in the war theater, it is very very difficult to assess as per who was right or wrong.

Originally posted by Vitruvian
Originally posted by chrismarco
reply to post by Vitruvian
What the heck do you think all those DRONES are for - all 30,000 of them on order - what are they going to be used for??? HUH?

edit on 6-7-2012 by Vitruvian because: edit

US is a vast country unlike european countries. It has a very complex infrastructure. Maintaining and Monitoring the infrastructure requires vast workforce and ofcourse you guessed it...dollars. Surely the machines can provide some of the same duties as people. Can it be used offensively against US Citizens?. Yes if the person is attempting to escape from the law agency or engages in a high speed pursuit or if there are out of control militias or if riots breakout to monitor and assess the situation along with dispensing non-lethal/lethal weapons. It can also be used to track weather, control forest fires etc etc. The one that just popped up in my head is the ability to monitor the entire country or regions should there be electricity outage (EMP, Solarflare, Enemy missile etc etc). Dont forget that the Military has their own unique infrastructure to provide electricity for its purposes upto certain extent even after a EMP attack.There are many uses of the drones (positive & negative).

The guys were clearly planting an IED. What other possible reason is there for digging a hole in the freaking road? War in general is bloody unfortunate, and I genuinely feel that the Afghan conflict sound have been over for long ago. But to me, its clear these two were legitimate targets. And now at least one of them is dog food, and if my not feeling bad about that makes me a bad person then so be it.

The pilot singing is, IMO, a whole lot less offensive than in some of the videos I've seen where they're laughing and carrying on.

reply to post by Vitruvian


I can tell you are a civilian.

You wouldn't understand.

Awesome, hope the pilot gets a medal.
It must be an impressive feeling reigning down american justice on terrorist scumbags, no wonder he was singing.

the point is, it could be he dropped his keys and was looking for it, the guy was waiting for someone, he was bored and went for a walk, found a piece of scrap that he could sell.

if he was planting an ied, the chopper pilot could have used the film to pinpoint the location and check it out during the day without blowing up half the neighbourhood.

the guy was unarmed and no threat, just like 90% of every apache video released.

reply to post by randomname


And what if a patrol came along during the time between the Apache filmed him digging and they could get someone up there, that didn't get word? Or a civilian truck came along and set it off before they could disarm it? Or any number of things that could go wrong before EOD could get up there to take care of it?

Originally posted by randomname
the point is, it could be he dropped his keys and was looking for it, the guy was waiting for someone, he was bored and went for a walk, found a piece of scrap that he could sell.

if he was planting an ied, the chopper pilot could have used the film to pinpoint the location and check it out during the day without blowing up half the neighbourhood.

the guy was unarmed and no threat, just like 90% of every apache video released.

How the hell do you know that the target was unarmed and no threat?

Do you have any clue as to how the military works? Do you have any idea about the procedure that the pilot had to take to describe his target and then get authorization to fire? How do you know that what was going on was a week long stakeout on a know Taliban stronghold and that men on the ground KNEW that insurgents were buring IEDs in the street?

You have no clue, so please, give it a rest.

Originally posted by Zaphod58
reply to post by randomname

 

And what if a patrol came along during the time between the Apache filmed him digging and they could get someone up there, that didn't get word? Or a civilian truck came along and set it off before they could disarm it? Or any number of things that could go wrong before EOD could get up there to take care of it?

Exactly!

Screw our troops. Lets lead them to slaughter so we can give a possible terrorist the benefit of the doubt.

Instead of literally killing two birds with one stone.

Missile kills the scumbag coward that is burying an IED, missile detonates said IED and leaves a big hole in the ground.

No caskets coming home with American flags draped over them. Mission f**king accomplished.

reply to post by Zaphod58


I'd say something got lost in translation. Ima watch the vid then I will give my 2 cents as to whether or not they deserved to die.

EDIT: Yup they schwacked some bona-fide IED layers. Anyone replying to this post about how disgusting the American military is (while they may be right) because they do things like that needs to actually look at the film. You see one guy running towards the right of the road towards some houses just before the impact. I personally do not feel too sorry for them.

Originally posted by Vitruvian
we never considered ourselves as hired killers .......

edit on 6-7-2012 by Vitruvian because: edit

Then what did you consider yourself?

When they put that rifle in your hand in basic training and taught you how to shoot it, why do think that was? To scare people into submission?

You were taught to kill. So was I when I was in the military as an ammunition specialist. And if you weren't in the military for that purpose, maybe in a support type position, you're in no position to judge those who were in the military.........to kill.

Poppy seeds? Really? They were planting IED's and everyone knows it. What people can't seem to wrap their heads around is that people in that region don't wear uniforms, yet they still fight in a war. It's a good thing that our military people know this because if they didn't, they'd die very quickly.

And please enlighten me to your logic that we're on the same level as Afghan rebels in that if the military buzzes over and kills them, signing while they do it, then they'll do it to the people who live in the most consuming nation on the planet. And by that I mean, we buy the most stuff. We're the people most responsible for keeping the filthy rich.........filthy rich. Are you insinuating that they want to kill the hands that feed them? If so, please tell me why they want to do that.

Get a grip.