|
Please support Soldiers' Angels and Project Valour-IT |
|
« An Open Letter to Senator John Kerry from Special Forces Vietnam Veterans |
|
2004.10.22 |
|
Sometimes you just do the job anyway
I guess y'all have heard by now about those 17 Reservists who just up and decided they weren't going to work one day last week in Iraq. I've seen surprisingly little discussion about it on the sites I usually follow. Michele's upset about the way some of the Lefties are reacting to it, but isn't anyone but me angry about what these fools did? Some history for the kiddies: I've done some things in my life I didn't really want to. Some of them were even dangerous. When the Warriors up the road need ammo and there's a C-130 pilot with balls enough to bring it as close as he can get it, you damned sure don't decide you aren't going to help move it from the runway to a truck headed up the road because Charlie might be around. (Hell Yes I know there are people who have done things a damned site more dangerous than anything I ever did. I just reached into my past for a personal example.) American Warriors have been doing dangerous things they didn't really want to for well over 200 years now. 17 individuals in a war zone decided they weren't going to make a supply run because they might get hurt. What about the people waiting for those supplies? They were counting on supplies to be able to keep doing their jobs, to be able to keep trying to keep each other alive. How many people died because 17 individuals chose to disobey orders and not do their jobs. How many might have died? There's a word for individual initiative like that. It's spelled "C-O-W-A-R-D-I-C-E". Hang the bastards. Hang every damned one of 'em. Update: I'm re-dating this to move it to the top of my blog. Originally posted 2004.10.18 02:21 Navvet55, Heartless Libertarian, and John at Castle Argghhh all have worthy comments on this. |
|
Posted by Bill Faith on October 22, 2004 at 10:50 PM | Permalink TrackBack Listed below are links to weblogs that reference Sometimes you just do the job anyway:
Comments I have'nt seen much chatter about it either. All I've really seen about it is that nothing is really going to be done. Apparently they all knew they could get in deep doo-doo for what they did and called folks here state side to raise drek with the media to keep them from being in the deepest possible manure. The little commentary I have seen regarding these folks, goes on to site that reserve units are often underfunded and that they would have been trained to behave differently than the situation seemed to dictate. The same sources also however mention they all skipped the mission briefing(Where they prolly would have been told why it seemed they were being asked to do what seemed abnormal to them, guess they'd already made up their minds when they skipped the briefing).....most likely they never even thought about their comrades waiting for supplies, or the personel who have been completing missions under nearly identical circumstances for the last two years????My Husband could'nt figure out why I got ticked off when I saw it on the news. If I'd pulled a stunt like that while I was on active duty, I'd be locked up in Levanworth. (But then I never would have called my mom and dad and told them to raise hell either, cause mom and dad did'nt make me enlist) The whole thing struck me as another sad pass the buck example,(how cocky mamey does that seem to call your mom and dad, back home to bail you out, when you don't feel like doing your job) which I see more and more of lately.....It wasn't their fault they could'nt go on that mission with no armed escort or without armored vehicles......Just like I'm sure it's not their fault they don't have enough sense to realize other people were counting on them, prolly they'd blame the school board for not teaching tham any better, It'd be someone else's fault regardless I'm thinking though.....Can't see the trees through the forest.....Reckon I'll catch some flak for his, It may seem harsh and judgemental, and maybe it really isn't my place, but I know If I did a thing like that I'd have a hard time living with myself afterwards, regardless of the extenuating circumstances. At any rate they get to live with their discision, dunno if it bugs any of them or not, I just know I'd lose sleep over it. Sorry to babble, I feel a bit better having vented some, but it still bugs me. Posted by: K-Squared | Oct 21, 2004 8:05:57 AM and to qualify this for the first person who wants to jump down my throat about calling home and how would I feel if it was my kid......When you enlist you become govermant property in effect, that being the case you go where and do what you're told, I knew when I signed my enlistmetn papers that was the case, You can be Damned sure I'd make sure If my daughter was going to enlist that she knew it too. And if she called home with a moral dilema of a similar nature I'd try to determine wether or not she was being asked to unreasonable things or if she was blowing things out of proportion.....i'd counsel her from there and pray with her about it too.....(But I do know that from a military perspective, just because an order might not be safe does not mean that it is unreasonable) Lastly, I would never ask someone to do something I am not willing to do myself.....And no I would not blindly and obediantly follow orders, not would I skip the briefing......Posted by: K-Squared | Oct 21, 2004 8:18:25 AM Here's an idea for these guys: don't join the military if you aren't ready to do dangerous things. If you join the military, expect to be put at risk for the benefit of your country. Seems like common sense to me. Why did these guys join up, anyway?Posted by: Heather Brinkley | Oct 21, 2004 1:27:30 PM they did join the reserves, there was a mis-conception at least when I was on active duty, that reservist personel don't routinely see hazardous duty, least that was the recruiting pitch back in the early 90's they'd tell em they'd be able to get the perks like college G.I.bill and such without all the hard core stuff, I'm figuring the same mis-informations still gets garbled and repeated (Though htese days not necessarily by recruiters, but word of mouth can be a funny thing) But I do think it's sorta silly to balk at dangerous conditions around you when you signed on for em and every one around you is living in them.....Posted by: K-Squared | Oct 22, 2004 5:16:16 AM K-Squared, meet my daughter. Heather, meet one of my best e-friends. I'm gonna stay out of this one and just let y'all chat.Posted by: bdfaith | Oct 22, 2004 5:22:30 AM lol, Greetings to Heather, really I was only speculating, I'm killing time this morning waiting to take my pain medication.....I'll prolly be back later. Have a good day Bill.Posted by: K-Squared | Oct 22, 2004 5:34:06 AM Well, when I was in high school & college, I would see ads all the time that indicate you won't be in harm's way, but I never believed them for a second, and that was with a Democrat in office. I sure as hell wouldn't believe it now.Posted by: Heather Brinkley | Oct 22, 2004 8:44:51 AM exactly if it sounds too good to be true it probably isPosted by: K-Squared | Oct 22, 2004 11:08:14 PM It's pretty obvious that there is a breakdown in command at their company, their commanding officer has been relieved of duty, even so , these soldiers disobeyed an order to pull a mission through mutiny. To prevent further breakdowns in the command and to instill dicipline they must be punished. Personally I would drum them out with dishonarable discharges at a minimum with at least a year of jail time. Imagine, your local fireman not willing to rescue you because it's too dangerous, or your local policeman not willing to intercede in your kidnapping by a murderer. These cowards let others in their unit do their jobs for them because they didn't have the guts to do it themselves. Start the Court Marshall proceedings. Do it for every medevac pilot who put his ass on the line so we could live.Posted by: Jack | Oct 22, 2004 11:55:35 PM I have to agree with Jack. My only caveat is to know all the facts are in, then act accordingly. If it is the case they were acting ultimately in their own collective self interest, then they should be Court Marshaled with DD's and jail time being the minimum brought against them. If there is no, or little action taken, the repercussions throughout the services will haunt our military for a very long time.Posted by: Guy S. | Oct 25, 2004 6:49:28 PM Post a comment |
