Editorials & Other Articles

truth2power

(8,219 posts) Tue Jun 10, 2014, 07:36 AM Jun 2014

Ted Rall - "Why Don't More Soldiers Walk Away?"

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article38743.htm

“The future is too good to waste on lies,” a 2012 Rolling Stone article quotes an email from Bergdahl to his father. “And life is way too short to care for the damnation of others, as well as to spend helping fools with their ideas that are wrong. I have seen their ideas and I am ashamed to even be American. The horror of the self-righteous arrogance that they thrive in. It is all revolting.”

Among other traumas, the then 23-year-old Idaho native witnessed an Afghan child run over by a U.S. Army vehicle. His fellow soldiers, he recalled, didn’t seem to care.

Also, read the comments.

4 replies

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Highlight:

Ted Rall - "Why Don't More Soldiers Walk Away?" (Original Post) truth2power Jun 2014 OP

The Dishonorable Discharge yeoman6987 Jun 2014 #1

Who want's to go AWOL in Afghanistan? PeoViejo Jun 2014 #2

It isn't about the "mission" or the government. JayhawkSD Jun 2014 #3

because killing is the solution, not the problem, right? reddread Jun 2014 #4

yeoman6987

(14,449 posts)

1. The Dishonorable Discharge

Reply to truth2power (Original post)

Tue Jun 10, 2014, 07:55 AM

Jun 2014

probably keeps most military personnel in line. Yes it is good to be bold and do what is right, but consequences are extreme. Also, keep in mind that nobody forced anyone to sign up especially after 2003. I don't have as much sympathy for those that signed up after Iraq War began.

PeoViejo

(2,178 posts)

2. Who want's to go AWOL in Afghanistan?

Reply to truth2power (Original post)

Tue Jun 10, 2014, 08:36 AM

Jun 2014

Thumb a ride to Pakistan?.....Oh..Wait...

JayhawkSD

(3,163 posts)

3. It isn't about the "mission" or the government.

Reply to truth2power (Original post)

Tue Jun 10, 2014, 12:02 PM

Jun 2014

It's about the guy beside you. He depends upon you. He trusts you to "have his back." His life depends on you doing your job with dedication. Literally. Your bad attitude can get him killed. He has your back, and you owe it to him to suck it up and have his back.

The quotes from Bergdahl sound to me like the self-pitying whining of a immature child. If he was in my platoon I would have shot the fucker myself to be sure he was replaced with someone I could trust. Someone that I could be sure would react to a figure popping up from behind a building by blowing his head off without hesitation, before that figure blew my head off.

It's called "fragging." You got somebody in your unit you think is going to wimp out and get you killed you take steps to make damned sure they don't do that.

reddread

(6,896 posts)

4. because killing is the solution, not the problem, right?

Reply to JayhawkSD (Reply #3)

Tue Jun 10, 2014, 02:03 PM

Jun 2014

sounds like a serious health issue there.

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