"I Am Sorry That It Has Come to This": A Soldier's Last Words

Very heart wrenching when reading this. Many soliders are used as killing tools in crazy and meaningless wars. This man was a true hero. God bless him.

Oop. Why is my comment duplicate??

reply to post by Rocker2013


Any American who has signed up for the military since the Viet Nam war either (a) wants to kill people, (b) is a naive and/or ignorant person, or (c) wants a job and an education and hopes that they won't see combat. Anyone joining since about 2004 is in category (a) or (b).

And actually, given the way US troops have been used in live nuclear bomb field exercises during the 1950's, exposed to Agent Orange during the Viet Nam War, forced to take experimental anthrax vaccines and exposed depleted uranium and other toxic materials during the first US-Iraq War, and exposed to all kinds of hazardous materials being burned in Iraq as well as DU during the illegal invasion and occupation of Iraq, it is beyond me how anybody with a lick of sense would join the US military anymore.

reply to post by MrInquisitive

it is beyond me how anybody with a lick of sense would join the US military anymore.

I don't know if you have noticed, but common sense and logic is getting to be a more rare and rare thing these days in american society. "What luck for rulers that men do not logically think." -Hitler. That quote speaks volumes even today. I found it so relevant I put it in my sig.

And as another poster pointed out, Army recruiters target those that are poor, young, uneducated and often felt neglected/abandoned. This is the typical thinking of someone who is contemplating military service.

Bad things that can happen if I join the Army: I can get killed, I can get hurt, I might have to kill, I might have to hurt others, I might have to watch my friends get hurt. (these things will happen LATER, it is UNCERTAIN whether they will happen or not, and the outcome is NEGATIVE.)

Good things that can happen if I join the Army: I can go to college, I can have a job with a steady paycheck, I can travel, I can go to school, my family will have insurance and a place to live on base, I'll have army service to put on a resume. (these things will happen NOW, it is CERTAIN it will happen, and the outcome will be POSITIVE.)

People always always always will pick a NOW, CERTAIN, POSITIVE over a LATER, UNCERTAIN, NEGATIVE in any given situation. It is human nature and we all do it.

reply to post by Cancerwarrior

I encourage you to write your book! Please!
At the least start a thread here on ATS. If we all had more first hand knowledge of what you endured/experienced? I would and could only pray it might make a change.

Do I feel empathy for him? Let me put it this way. I wouldn't want anyone to have to go through what he did. But that empathy does not balance out when I hear he killed himself leaving his wife and family to go on without him. Leaving them with a lifetime of hell and regret and remorse.

peace

reply to post by MrInquisitive

Any American who has signed up for the military since the Viet Nam war either (a) wants to kill people, (b) is a naive and/or ignorant person, or (c) wants a job and an education and hopes that they won't see combat. Anyone joining since about 2004 is in category (a) or (b).

And actually, given the way US troops have been used in live nuclear bomb field exercises during the 1950's, exposed to Agent Orange during the Viet Nam War, forced to take experimental anthrax vaccines and exposed depleted uranium and other toxic materials during the first US-Iraq War, and exposed to all kinds of hazardous materials being burned in Iraq as well as DU during the illegal invasion and occupation of Iraq, it is beyond me how anybody with a lick of sense would join the US military anymore.

See - that’s what I mean.

YES I feel freaking empathy and sympathy for this guy - but please! How could he NOT have known? And then to kill himself and leave his wife and family in hell?

It’s just so over the top evil all the way around.

peace

reply to post by Cancerwarrior

Bad things that can happen if I join the Army: I can get killed, I can get hurt, I might have to kill, I might have to hurt others, I might have to watch my friends get hurt. (these things will happen LATER, it is UNCERTAIN whether they will happen or not, and the outcome is NEGATIVE.)

Good things that can happen if I join the Army: I can go to college, I can have a job with a steady paycheck, I can travel, I can go to school, my family will have insurance and a place to live on base, I'll have army service to put on a resume. (these things will happen NOW, it is CERTAIN it will happen, and the outcome will be POSITIVE.)

Thank you for laying out the black and white of it. I appreciate it.

You're right - at the end of the day - you're right. People will hope for the positive even knowing the negative and proceed with it.

There's really nothing more for me to say now - so I'll exit the thread and wish you all a great day.

To all here on ATS, to this man's family, friends and especially his wife = PEACE

reply to post by johncarter

Its a bad case of attachment. Feel sorry for the guy but he should of not been in the military to begin with, I kind of get why he did it and why he felt it was the only option. Not exactly sure but I'f your in the military and if you have a family ie military family you get more perks then if your some guy. In this case the guy was probably trapped the things holding him there and down were basically his attachments, the military knows this. And also he knew this, and he must of known how fast his wife and all that would bail once the checks dried up, he would be dropped like a bad habit, marginalized, secluded and in a way castrated from society, but with dudes like him regardless it would come to that.

And this form of attachment is not new or original to the military lifestyle, its pretty much everywhere. Really the things holding him down were the very things he was at one point fighting for, and he does not seem the type for that sort of life anyways. In the end the whole thing would of went to one place, ie out the window with the quickness. He should of let it go there, its not like he is really losing anything, as it was all merely facade and fake to begin with, merely a job. But to completely remove himself from all that he needed to remove from the things that attached him to that whole thing and lifestyle, ie his wife and even family which for him seems to have been a impossibility, and so he chose the only option he thought he had left. By now its pretty much normal, he really overreacted and things must of really got to him to come to those ends.

There is a difference between warriors and soldiers. Warriors fight the wars they want and choose, soldiers merely follow orders. For the warmachine to work its a prerequisite, however it has its downside when breeding that sort of thing. And yes the german soldiers in WW2 were telling the truth that they were just following orders, and so were the legionaries even back in the old roman empire days even when they were bashing infants heads against the walls on orders, no for real look up the fate of Caligula's kid and family when he was ousted, not that he was a great leader or anything, he himself did the same or worse. And its been proven time and time again that the same would happen if it ever come down to it again. Obviously they need to have better back doors for this sort of thing, not everybody would be qualified for that sort of life. And even for those that are, it would only be a matter of time. The only real thing that's sad is that he was likely right and this may have been the best outcome for him and his family.

reply to post by silo13


Thank you for the polite and civil response. That is a quality that seems to get more and more rare these days on ATS. I just want folks to understand that most of us have noble ideals and intentions when we sign up. Its a big lie in the end though. Mutual respect to you my fellow American.

It is very hard to even comprehend war without ever being in one. By being inside one, I mean being on one of sides of the gun, as not only soldiers will have traumatic experience but also everyone around them as well enemy.

I call that stage as numb feeling - state when you have no feeling, can't feel sorry for anything, not even for yourself. Not everyone is capable to maintain sanity in life changing events...

R.I.P.

I asked my nephew (age15) and his mates what where they going to do when they finish school.

Their reply "join the army" from my nephew and 2 of his mates, i asked them why, the replies i received was "not much work to be found" "protect my country" "it's cool to be in the army".

Needless to say this saddened me.

I then asked them protect the country from what? "terrorists!" they replied, what terrorists have ever threatened you or your family? i asked, no reply.

And so the conservation went like this, but what i learned from this is, the amount of propaganda as been fed to these children and thousands like them, to believe they are doing is right.

I have friends still serving in the forces, and it's sore topic when brought up, why fight some one else's battles for them, you don't get any thing in return, only a burned soul.

Fighting against evil is all well and good, but if you ask any soldier, he will say God is on their side and what he is doing right. Apart from the poor few who see the lie of this too late and pay the ultimate price.

I can not belive you all.
you make it sound like you belive that soldiers
should do ANY thing they are orderd to.
You are Sick!

Any atrocity,
torcher a baby to get the muther to talk.
ect ect ect.
I will not type it all out.

Originally posted by buddha
I can not belive you all.
you make it sound like you belive that soldiers
should do ANY thing they are orderd to.
You are Sick!

Any atrocity,
torcher a baby to get the muther to talk.
ect ect ect.
I will not type it all out.

No, I did not say that....

But what we all know - soldier needs to follow orders, and we all know what happens to soldiers who do not follow orders...

Originally posted by silo13
reply to post by johncarter

 

Wake up. There’s no draft. What was going on in this guys head? ’Joining up’ for military service yet not being prepared to kill?

Why do you think the government is purposely destroying our economy by sending virtually all manufacturing overseas?

Why do you think the government is deliberately destroying our educational system?

If you can't find a job, what's your last resort? Join up!

Then they make it sound like a heroic act. After all, you'll be defending your country and fellow Americans from the evil terrorists overseas (and now on American soil). Then, just to drive home the point, they add exclamation points with false flags.

That's why they join up.

reply to post by johncarter


So very sad and heartbreaking. Let's not waste his life. Learn and re-learn everything we forgot or was brainwashed out of us - the hippys in the 60's were right. Eisenhower was right. Some people are not taught conflict resolution or the art of compromise and so turn to war as an answer because they cannot think of anything else. And we are baited to fight.

Others, and this is a much smaller group, are in the business of war. They don't hang a placard or open their doors but this is the enterprise they specialize in and they are a conglomerate fist of corporations like any other and need to stay in business.

They make and sell guns so they teach people to fear and be defensive. They are behind every divisive issue, abortion, gay rights, immigrants, climate change, public health care. They are funding the extremists in every case to keep these stories on the front pages of corporately controlled newspapers. They are in the business of manufacturing rumors.

Provocation keeps everyone in the business of war, war keeps everyone in the business of oil as well as industrialized medicine - another cesspool of corruption. so they are not above creating animosity, or stirring up reasons to go to war even if there are none at large.
Some people have claimed spear making is really the worlds oldest profession and today's weapons manufacturers are descendants, ingrained adept and powerful. Absolute.

reply to post by johncarter


The hell whores are from Texas and it has everything to do with oil. Mr Bush goes to Washington. Remember the Beverly Hillbilly's? That was based on a real oil boom that was taking place in Texas and those millionaires got bigger, greedier and more powerful. Not content with being just rich, they infiltrated politics like tarry black goo and with that much money began to affect policy and our day to day lives in ways that would benefit themselves and sell oil. Americans were distracted with their own prosperity and vacationing from politics when they assumed key positions. Everything has been going down hill in this country for how long?

There is something I would like to point out to those still reading the replies. I am one to believe the english language has many codes and secrets within it. This may seem off topic but you will see in a second - those who CREATE an entire language, based on symbols and sound vibration, and taking older ancient sounds/symbols and combining them or scrammbling them up (anagram) - are way out of today's "league" intellectually.

WIth that saidd I waant to point out the english word - 'Soldier'.

Sol-Die-r = Soul - Die = One who dies

Knowledge and secrets run DEEP; the knowledge of the past (i mean many centuries ago) is deleted out of the minds of todays people. Only a SMALL handful carry the deep, occult, ancient knowledge - and those are the people running everything. Banks, government, religion (RE-legion, if you understand what that means), the Armies (arms are used to fight/war).

So its clear that soldiers have always been the pawns; the ones with knowledge and money have ALWAYS used the dumb men and women to cause chaos and set themselves up further for whatever agenda they are pushing (this stuff goes back centuries as I've said, and look at what they have accomplished today).

Soul = 1 or seperated from the WHOLE

Die = to lose one's life

Soldier is the 1 that is used like a pawn - knowingly that, that individual will eventualy die.

Originally posted by johncarter
On June 10, 2013, Daniel Somers wrote a letter to his family before taking his life. Rather than participating in the killing of women and children by direct orders from the hell whores in Washington, he ended his own life.

I do not know all the details and do not condone suicide but can respect he for not crossing lines of spiritual integrity he may of possessed that many may not see that exist.. Best wishes to his family and his soul.

NAMASTE*******

TO REAPER2137 I will reply to the points made because you bring up numerous truths and I'd like to address them all. I will reply after each point, using your post, your comments I'll put in brackets. I also would like to thank you for taking the time to articulate each point/fact and I do feel that it's These points that Should be discussed far more among the general public, it's sad that they are not. But they sure need to be...OK, to begin,


[I have a few simple problems with your post.

1st) Rape goes both ways in the Military. Men won't admit to being Raped by either a man or a women althought it does happen. Men as it is are the brunt of the perpetrators. Committing Rape, but Still It does go both ways. ]

Very true, what I've read, is termed as "command rape". My vocal stance in regard to this issue Is in fact that the Pentagon AND our screwed up Corrupt legislature, etc., and worse, our Rape Culture Society Women included in that, have NORMALIZED the Crime of Rape, Sexual Violence making it extremely difficult for women, to get any justice whatsoever and therefore by that, further contributing to a military in house rape culture that has total impunity. The REASON that the general public Should be invested in this issue is that what is normalized in our political and military society, filters down to the minute details of ALL law enforcement and LAW, meaning, they set the example. Yes it's true that society/culture Also influences the environment OF the military but as an agency of POWER the responsibility for setting a standard falls on the Power Structures, etc. Basically what we have here is a LAWLESSNESS that's running rampant, not in the lower rungs of power only, but in the Command and Authority Structure of the military complex, and I'm speaking here Only in regards to how our OWN are treated BY OUR OWN. It flies in the face of what our nation was "supposed" to be ruled by to where this nation isn't even recognizable anymore. But WORSE, is the Society's ho hum attitude about it, which does nothing but feeds the decadence within the military and enables a CRIMINAL Mentality and Entitlement. We are seeing this in the TSA, Police forces, Courts, CPS, Schools and Juvenile Authorities, this total lack of moral and ETHICAL measure while increasing debauchery runs rampant.

This is why I yes, constantly bring this issue up, because it's not just a by product or symptom of a few bad apples, it is a symptom of an ENTIRE STRUCTURE that has either been COLONIZED and HIJACKED or So polluted with an agenda that is by heart, HOSTILE to the Very PRICIPLES this Nation was founded on, in Philosophy, by that I mean, we as a nation may not always have abided BY those philosophies and Principles and yes there were hypocrisies and flaws, BUT WE KNEW WHAT THOSE CORE PRINCIPLES ARE. The fact that today, our SOCIETY doesn't even KNOW what those principles are therefore are not even Enraged by the Violation of those principles, leads me (and others) to suspect that there has been a slow encroachment of FOREIGN INFLUENCES of our political and military core beliefs, either by a Globalist Fascist Corporatatist agenda or a type of political Coup, of some kind. And it's not just the rape epidemic, the issue of "torture" in of itself has taken this nation into a whole other beast altogether...pre-emotive strike, is another...

But my point is, we saw these types of philosophies in authoritarian ABSOLUTIST regimes, and the Unites States was different in that while we knew, yes that there was Violations within our OWN, so to speak, they were Never just Normalized ACCEPTABLE MEANS like they are TODAY. Not only that, but the measurement of ethical behavior is going even further down the pit, so to speak, to where NOW those who stand and say, "NO, this is Wrong" and I'm talking here of those IN COMMAND, not just the ones taking orders, are deemed as I tolerable and even, Enemies of the State. Those are not behaviors one would expect of America, Nazi Germany, Soviet Union under Stalin, Maoist China (Especially Maoist China) etc., WE would expect those behaviors and philosophies from, and other authoritarian military run nations as well.

As one who has worked in human rights advocacy I'm well aware of the military brutality of many an authoritative nation, South America, Asia, Africa, etc., these are behaviors we are use to seeing in nations that do not have the core philosophy of individual rights, human rights, democracy, Republic, etc., and I'm well aware the the US was and often has been in bed with these nations, even assisted training during Cold War. But NOW the United States has MORPHED into the very system it always resisted and condemned, and has been going down the slippery slope I would say, picking up speed since the sixties...but I personally suspect that what were seeing was by Mass DESIGN even before WWI, and Definately picked up speed, by Design that is, after WWII, when the US aided many Nazi war criminals

Part Two Reply to REAPER2137, now to the rest of your post,

I lost the paste section (IPAD can't format on this thing to save my life) but I'll try to Remember your points, I may have to go back and edit. To sum it up, you brought up the problems with the Geneva Convention, nations that dont sign, etc., the legal duty for soldiers to disobey illegal orders and the problems in committing what could be considered war crimes but that are not intended to be, etc.

Let me begin, first, while I've not ever been "in" a war, I have read enough about war, revolution and human right abuses to at least have a pragmatic realism to know that there are Extreme abuses committed By other nations, cultures, etc who in no way remotely share in the same moral, cultural and political vales that we do, even in spite of the divisions, etc., in this nation, culturally speaking and as far as political and historical development, etc I'm well aware of those Extreme differences, and am not naive in thinking we live in some Kumbayah land where there would be no conflict if we were simply a Passive nation. On that I know better...it's the One issue that often (that and women/children's rights/human rights) that got me into a lot of trouble when I was IN the more far left activism..and why I became strictly independent. I'm very well aware of the propaganda there, put it that way, as well as the Agendas. Anyway, two wrongs don't make a right, use to be there was at least a center balanced ground, not anymore, it's either extreme right fascism or extreme left, and of course the disguised passive faux good mask that can cloak either side. So, with that in mind, let's just say, I'm well aware of political Islam, the development of, their ability to adapt warfare of their enemies, etc., that and the many divisions even within Their ranks...any human rights understanding of, take example Pakistan and Afghanistan and the numerous splits and corruptions during the Russian and Afghan war, for example, is worse than any sifting through a political soap opera. meaning, it's not just one enemy verses another, more like, one enemy verses fifty factions...some united and others divided stumbling over one another for that power vacuum. And of course, human right abuses and war crimes that are near impossible to condem because all the parties are guilty to one extent or another...

Relevancy here, is that to fight IN an environment like that, would be near impossible to not cross the line, either intentionally or by accident, eg collateral damage. I am Very well aware of those facts...because with those many factions it's near impossible to Know who to trust and even with siding with one, they'll still stab you in the back because their agenda is way different...that whole common enemy but of your enemy kind of thing.

So aware of that mess...EG., be it in the former Yugoslavia war (Bosnia, Kosovo, Croatia, Serbia, etc., the Utashti and numerous other splinter groups) or the Kashmir conflict, etc., etc., not going to list them all off, but point being...there Are things, like the bus incident, that Yes do happen, and Yes numerous nation states or sub states see not an issue with using women and children as shields...some even volunteer, either to defend OR for idealogical reasons, etc. And yes they can be civilians, no doubt.

That said however, there can Still be some guidelines that are not crossed...ever. There is a huge difference between shooting a bus that could possibly be armed, and it not...to Rounding up little children to rape in front of their civilian mothers. A Really huge difference....that so crosses the line that even a dumb civilian could see that. And it's Not like it doesn't happen, we see it happen IN our own law enforcement, in fact now it's becoming a norm. (see recent case in Texas where asshole cops turned a women's jail into a RAPE CAMP, there's a suit about it). that goes way beyond collateral damage...way beyond.

Now Relevancy here, is that These incidents aren't just a rare ananomly, oh no, these are ORDERED CRIMES by a CHAIN OF COMMAND. THEN we are getting into things that go far beyond the laws of warfare and into flat out Genocide in Part and I'd go as far as asserting Ethnic or Religious Sect Cleansing which IS AGAINST the Geneva Convention. Worse, take the Afghan example, these crimes are being done, NOT FOR FREEDOM, hardly,

But for land access for MINING. that and farming opium or other "development" which is handed over Not to legit governments, but to WAR CRIMINALS that we are "supposed" to be Against. And That is Exactly what EG., Milosovic did, Serbia, etc., they wanted that expansion, and before the blood was even cleaned upmarket the IMF was there land surveying the mountain regions for, MINING the resources. China is already mining in Afghanistan for ores, and the factions, aka black market are fighting for access to those regions,

Which in turn feeds into a criminal black market.