Reply #92: Reply: [View All]

Amazing how you reach a judgement about me on a few messages on the internet.

Let me give you a little incite into my world. I am a proud officer is the U.S. Army. Right now I am in the Guard but it is really the same thing. I am responsible for the lives of my men and I take it very seriously. I know my men and their families. At some point we will be in Iraq. This is a given. Do I want to go? Hell no. Did I think this war should have been fought? Hell no. That being said, I have a responsibilty to the people in my unit. I will go to Iraq and I will do what I can to bring my people home. The harsh reality is that I may fail. Being in a combat MOS we will probably be frontline troops. If it comes to a point where I have to choose between calling in WP from fire support or losing some of my people I will call for fire. Now of course that is not how calling for fire actually works but I think you get my point. Killing is killing. There is no good way. There are alot of horrible ways to die in combat. War is hell, plain and simple.

Wanna here what we dream of at night? A tank has a crew of 4. The driver sits in the main body of the tank away from the rest of the crew. He has his own hatch. The loader is in the back left of the turret with his own hatch. The commander is in the back right of the turret with his own hatch. The gunner is in the front of the turret without a hatch. The gunner can not exit quickly. Lets say my tank takes a solid hit from an anti-tank weapon that happens to penetrate the armor. Here is what happens inside the tank: The round vaporizes metal as it penetrates which showers the crew. Fire rages through the compartment. If you are luck the fire suppression system is triggered. Either way you can not breath because of the smoke or the fire system. You can not see either. At this point you have to try to get the gunner unstrapped (he better not be strapped in) and out of the tank. The odds are no one is going to make it out though. They will burn slowly burn to death because the impact was so great they went into shock. Not pretty is it?

Do I sound cold? Maybe. You see, I am well aware of what weapons that are available to me. I would not be shocked if WP was used but then again it seems unlikely. It is only really effective for troops in an open area. Definitely not in a city. WP is mainly used for screening. There are just better ways to kill troops. It is not being cold hearted. It is facing reality during a discussion on a message forum. The reality is that some of the people killed in a war die a painful death. If I have a choice between my men getting killed or the enemy which do you think I will choose?