Galt's Gulch

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  • Posted by LionelHutz 10 years, 9 months ago
    Do you know what I expect out of American soldiers? Professionalism. Dumping 100 rounds into a dead guy's body is not the mark of a professional soldier. Neither is cutting off the fingers of the dead to keep as trophies. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maywand_Di...
    This story just reinforces my belief that when organizations operate in secret, reckless immorality will eventually corrupt them. If this story is true, it grievously tarnishes the reputation of the SEALs.
    The full Navy SEAL creed is here: http://navyseals.com/nsw/seal-code-warri...
    An excerpt from it:
    I serve with honor on and off the battlefield. The ability to control my emotions and my actions, regardless of circumstance, sets me apart from other men.
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    • Posted by Lucky 10 years, 9 months ago
      Yes I agree with LionelHutz that profession behavior is expected especially from elite corps. But how can you be sure it didn't happen when no pics were released?

      Just a possibility-
      the instructions were to kill, not capture. There would be good reason for this, it is a military town and a squirming uncooperative captive impedes speed.
      To make sure it is done, and done fast, confirm identity, all present are to make one move- bullet, or knife, head or chest, tasks allocated in advance. Bundle body in bag, carry, move out.
      Any member who indulges anger or brutality creates risk to all the others as well as to the mission.
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    • Posted by Robbie53024 10 years, 9 months ago
      It would seem that you want robots, not human beings.
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      • Posted by LionelHutz 10 years, 9 months ago
        I'm not the problem here. The Navy SEALs expect better of themselves by the very creed I quoted. If events went down as depicted in that article, these guys should have been hung out to dry just as the Army soldiers were. If this story is true, it creates an impression the general Army ranks are held to a higher code of conduct than the SEALs. It seems if you're a SEAL, you're held in low esteem by your colleagues if you open your mouth to the public about the specifics of the missions you do, but there is no change in esteem when what you actually DO on the mission is unprofessional to the extreme.
        What would these guys have to do before you'd say they've gone too far and the action is certainly NOT understandable and it IS an action worthy of your condemnation? This halfway between praise and condemnation attitude you hold is surprising to me.
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        • Posted by lostsierra 10 years, 9 months ago
          You might wish to read a book named With the Old Breed, at Pelileu and Okinawa by EB SLedge. It will sober you up. Your comments strike me as mere parlour room sophistry. War is not a parlour room game. Knew a girl named Trinh. She was a kindergarden teacher. The Party wanted her to join. She said no thanks. She was arrested and tortured, escaped, captured, four times in prison. Last escape made good. Joined Vietnamese Freedom Forces in the jungle. Blew up bridges with convoys, shot men. The guys turned prisoners and wounded over to her. She gave them a burst from her M-16 in the balls. Trinh took no prisoners. War is hell. Don't expect it to be conducted by your fantasy rules. It never has been so.
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        • Posted by Robbie53024 10 years, 9 months ago
          Let's see. The number one enemy of the US. One whose actions caused numerous thousands of deaths of compatriots. Would that not elicit a significant response that would be understandable, if not excusable?
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          • Posted by LionelHutz 10 years, 9 months ago
            Well, it's clear we're not going to agree with each other on this matter. I think the significant response was sending helicopters unannounced into Pakistan and storming his compound and shooting him dead. On that matter, I'm happy we were able to pull that off and we honestly should have thrown a parade afterwards, or had some form of national celebration instead of the virtual nothing that was done. I'd like the same delivered to al-Zawahiri. However, I do not excuse behavior like what was described in that article. It makes US soldiers appear to be on the same moral ground as the warlords of Mogadishu that infamously dragged the body of one of our soldiers down the street.
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    • Posted by $ Maphesdus 10 years, 9 months ago
      I dunno. The job of a soldier is, ultimately, to kill the enemy. When someone's entire career is literally focused on taking human lives, it's inevitable that a certain degree of brutality and ruthlessness is going to be part of that.
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      • Posted by Zenphamy 10 years, 9 months ago
        The story is nonsense and an attempted slam on SEALs. I've seen ear souvenirs and dead enemy photographs enough, but not from those men. Those on that mission were at least on their second enlistment and more probably, their third and fourth. They just don't loose control in that way - they'd never have made it there if they did.

        They're not haters or psychopaths and their entire career is not 'literally focused on taking human lives.'
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