Afghanistan: An Individual Soldiers' Perspective-Part 1

reply to post by Arnie123

to the ignorance that posted the video of a van being shot up, at the time it was assumed their were more enemy combatants coming in to pick up the remains, at the time, know where did they know it was civies with children coming to help, I read the dissertation and know about the event that went down, after which it was found out, those two children both survived due to medical attention by US soldiers, how about that?

That's very nice of them to not let the children die they just shot up with a 30mm machine gun.

I can see in the grainy YT vid that those that came to help were unarmed and you could even see that they were children through the gun camera.

The point is that the Tailban can make all sorts of excuses too. "Oops we thought it was contractors".

Off course they are scumbags and I like Americans much better but let's be realistic, it is a war and America kills civilians all the time.

reply to post by NeoParadigm


I apologize for my error you did not say that in this thread, I do stand by everything else I have said to you.

reply to post by thesaneone


I wouldn't worry to much. I am pretty sure he did change his post in this thread. He does it in a lot of other threads as well, so it would not surprise me.

Originally posted by BaneOfQuo
reply to post by NeoParadigm

 

Bahahaha thank you for confirming my speculation. You are right, I must have difficulty comprehending your ignorant, false morality and bleeding heart arguments.

You may want to put on some big boy pants as the world isn't all love and sunshine. All I see is a disrespectful individual attacking people.

Come off your pedestal because your not as smart or as moral as you are trying to sound.

edit on 29-8-2013 by BaneOfQuo because: (no reason given)

Seems like people keep attacking me for posting my honest observations.

Originally posted by BaneOfQuo
reply to post by thesaneone

 

I wouldn't worry to much. I am pretty sure he did change his post in this thread. He does it in a lot of other threads as well, so it would not surprise me.

edit on 29-8-2013 by BaneOfQuo because: (no reason given)

Are you going to apologize too?

Wow, how pathetic is this.

reply to post by NeoParadigm


The Soldier posting was stating his feelings on the mission and the fact that a young child had been severely injured. His OP is a personal statement, not a political one, though he did open himself up for such if others cared to. I think he knew that this post would end up like it has.

He is only pointing out one person's view from someone deployed. His own personal perspective. One that has apparently affected him. The majority of Soldiers don't go downrange thinking of God and Country. They're thinking about their buddies and hoping that they can all return home alive...while doing some good.

Should he bottle it all up? Because I can tell you, that is not a good thing to do. Many PTS cases turn out for the worst because the individual didn't let it out.

reply to post by BaneOfQuo

I'm somehow supposed to find some way to feel OK with murdering people?. To somehow feel there is honor in it?, WHY?, because some asshole tells me I should feel good about it?. Because I got a medal and a promotion?, Because they patted me on the head like a goddamned little doggie and told me I did a good job?. Sorry, not enough to justify what I did, but I'm still here.

A really big issue in this world is that so many do find ways to justify MURDER somehow. Maybe that's why the military likes to recruit kids who don't really know any better.

I pity you, that you refuse to admit how wrong these things are. Maybe you'll see things in your own way when you get past the conditioning, maybe you won't.

I have this thing they call a CONSCIENCE, apparently you don't so much.

Oooh, I see the post this was written in reply to has been EDITED down to one word. Maybe you should PM me and we can get together over a beer and discuss it in person.

reply to post by TDawgRex

I was just diagnosed with PTSD a few months ago, the last time I was deployed was in the 80's.

It sucks to be me, but I'm all I got.

I did take one good thing from the military though, I learned that I can do absolutely anything I put my mind to, how to motivate myself after every ounce of energy I have is gone and keep going on.

Originally posted by MyHappyDogShiner
reply to post by BaneOfQuo

 

I'm somehow supposed to find some way to feel OK with murdering people?. To somehow feel there is honor in it?, WHY?, because some asshole tells me I should feel good about it?. Because I got a medal and a promotion?, Because they patted me on the head like a goddamned little doggie and told me I did a good job?. Sorry, not enough to justify what I did, but I'm still here.

A really big issue in this world is that so many do find ways to justify MURDER somehow. Maybe that's why the military likes to recruit kids who don't really know any better.

I pity you, that you refuse to admit how wrong these things are. Maybe you'll see things in your own way when you get past the conditioning, maybe you won't.

I have this thing they call a CONSCIENCE, apparently you don't so much.

Oooh, I see the post this was written in reply to has been EDITED down to one word. Maybe you should PM me and we can get together over a beer and discuss it in person.

Oh, here it is..

>>>>I actually pity you. Your inability to find or handle honor in the military is a shame. Just because you didn't gain anything from your service doesn't mean you should attack me or the OP.

People who show no respect should not receive any in return. Same goes for this post and whom it was addressed to.

God bless bahaha

reply to post by NeoParadigm


Sorry but there's a bit of a difference between firing on ARMED MEN IN AN ACTIVE COMBAT ZONE according to long standing ROE's and planting an IED in the road to indiscriminately kill civilians.

To the OP, great story and stay safe!

What most soldiers don't fathom or believe to be conceivable is that they are being pitted against an enemy that is being funded and weaponized by the very same government that is deploying them and propagating this war, endangering and gambling their very lives to fuel their hidden agendas.

Every war since WW2 has not passed through congress.

Thereby, if you serve in the military in a unconstitutional war you are a traitor to this country.

You do not server America. You serve Bankers. Not only is the war in Afghanistan unconstitutional and goes against everything this country was FOUNDED on, we've killed thousands of civilians since 2001, and that's not even including the numbers from the Gulf War.

To conclude I guess my "point" would be something like this.

If enough soldiers said no to unconstitutional wars there would be none. But you see it doesn't work like that does it? Soldiers have about the same thinking capacity as a drone, and if they overstep that boundary they get discharged.

Never, EVER try to justify war. It is a crime. It is something that cannot be justified.

Peace.

reply to post by Skjord


That is a problem to take up with your leaders, not the guys on the ground who are just following orders.

reply to post by OtherSideOfTheCoin


See, that doesn't work either. America has averaged a war every 20 years, and it still continues, even with drone attacks in Yemen, Pakistan, and Afghanistan.

You could say that the Vietnam protests did something. But the war stopped when the civilian death toll in Vietnam reached over 5 million.

Same with Iraq. Protests in 2001 and after. And we are still in Afghanistan, and have only really pulled out of Iraq a year ago.

The soldiers have to say no, if they really believed in this country, they would not participate in unconstitutional wars, that's how you stop wars, not some rabble yelling puppets.

reply to post by projectvxn


If you werent there, then maybe they would be fighting each other and so on? Maybe they are just bad people, and they continue to treat each other brutally?

Thats possible, but the point that I take away is this, that you are there to protect the opium and to project US force into the area to control resources and threaten Iran.

Afghanistan would be a completely different place if the US had not created the radical Islamic fighters, and militarized the Taliban. While I can speculate that it might be a better place, its true I cant know that - however - the results you describe seem to be an aspect of the projection of force into foreign nations - and acclimatizing the populations to war and the consequences of war.

For me, it seems that the ongoing conflicts forced upon Afghanistan have created a fierce and brutal people, and without the constant wars things may have evolved differently. I am guessing that your mental and emotional state has been effected by war, and I imagine it is the same with an entire nation constantly having to live in fear, or to fight.

Regardless of the individual stories and injustices committed, there is no reason for foreign soldiers to be in Afghanistan outside of the interests of a small group of mega wealthy individuals who see themselves as having the moral authority to play god.

reply to post by Skjord


And middle east countries have been at war since the beginning of time Whats your point?
Oh I know let me go check out your other post to see where you are going.... bankers..corporations... blah blah blah

Quoting that old Bob Dylan song, "When you've got nothin' ... you've got nothing to loose..."

It's hard to fight using honorable tactics when your opponent has vast air and ground superiority. People only blow themselves up or use crude IED's when they have their backs up against the wall and are desperate.

If they had planes and tanks they'd use them instead.

During the American Revolution, the British thought the American forces were cowards for using simple camouflage and guerrilla tactics. Back then, everyone lined up in a big field and opened fire. The Americans didn't have the numbers to do that. They resorted to what today would be considered "dishonorable and terror-like tactics".

We left those people in Afghanistan high and dry after we trained them to fight the Russians. Once again, our meddling in other countries affairs has come back to bite us in the ass.

The really sad thing is, in 20 years this mess in Afghanistan will have accomplished nothing. Our men and women are loosing limbs and suffering from PTSD for what? Well, they're certainly not fighting for anything noble; but rather to line the pockets of companies like Raytheon and General Dynamics.

We're not "protecting freedom" for other Americans by our operations in Afghanistan. We're creating a brand new generation of people that loathe and hate us, people that will still have nothing in 20 years and plan actual terror attacks. We are just creating more terrorists, not stopping them.

I hope that vet I met the other day in a wheelchair thinks his service was worth it in 20 years.

Soldiers never learn. They never fully make that transition from civilian to warrior so they spend their time trying to fit in with the people they should have left behind. Cant blame them they hand those uniforms out these days. Give them some good chow and a secure post with internet though, and theyll glady serve their purpose as numbers. That I thank you for. However, your story was lame and you havent seen #. Save the drama.

reply to post by Sublimecraft

So you read my post and then edited yours to add "Where is the honour?" and the video - pathetic, and predictable.

I just noticed this. Omg some people are really foaming at the mouth. Could it because it was a response to the OP's comment about honour?

Is this the new thing, accuse me of evil post editing?

How do you even come up with that stuff?

using / hitting children in war is nothing new .. its been happening throughout history. saw it firsthand during my four tours in vietnam .. and after in other parts of the world over the years
putting people back together again - many that worked on were children .. the human race is nothing but primitive savages yet slaughtering each other over nothing . and you people wonder why Im against wars ..
welcome to reality bub .. thats war not a damn thing grand or glorious about it and it will haunt you for life .. maybe one day humans will learn and stop slaughtering each other over nothing .. doubt it .. the slaughter will continue and children will continue to be maimed and slaughtered by the bastards on all sides as they all do it ..