Salty

iTrader: (14)

December 9, 2005 (CNN)

While interviewing an anonymous US Special Forces soldier, a Reuters News agent asked the soldier what he felt when sniping members of Al Quaeda in Afghanistan.

The soldier shrugged and replied, "Recoil."

1reguL8NSTi

Hell yes, that just made my night. Gotta love SF in Afghanistan. I have a bunch of SF friends who deployed there that came back with some good insight on the whole situation.

pbchief2

iTrader: (3)

Yup, just talked to a friend that should be back stateside soon over the phone. Damn I hate lag time

jvick125

iTrader: (2)

That's the statement of a true Soldier. I will help pay that guy's salary ANY day.

SilverScoober02

Great Quote.....

riptide2

"I can forgive them for killing my children. I cannot forgive them for forcing my children to kill theirs." (c) Golda Meir, former PM of Israel.

gpatmac

iTrader: (3)

Relevance?

Mach5WRX

iTrader: (9)

It is only one who is thoroughly acquainted with the evils of war that can thoroughly understand the profitable way of carrying it on.
-Sun Tzu, the Art of War

Mach5WRX

iTrader: (9)

Watch what people are cynical about, and one can often discover what they lack.
- General George Patton Jr

riptide2

Sure, I will elaborate.

I do not doubt that the SF soldier in question is a trained professional who excels at his job. However, this thread insinuates that this individual is a good soldier BECAUSE he does not experience any emotions whatsoever while killing. The few responses to the original post appear to share this sentiment.

Now, this begs the question: what is considered to be a normal human reaction to taking another human's life? Personally, I wouldn't know. However, it would appear to me that the society generally considers it abnormal to kill somebody and experience absolutely no emotions about it.

Now, the logical conclusion from the above observations seems to be that it is impossible to simultaneously be a good soldier and a normal human being (a point I personally do not necessarily agree with, but which is primarily derived from the statements in this thread.) This would mean that the individuals who aspire to be good soldiers must relinquish their ability to react to certain stimuli in way which is generally considered 'normal'. If this is, indeed, true, then it's rather bad news, both for the aforementioned servicemen as well as for the rest of our society. Based on that, I find the enthusiasm about the incident (exhibited in this thread) to be somewhat unwarranted.

That's all. I think the quote presents the same idea, only more succinctly.

Unregistered

While you make a good point, I think you need to understand what these guys go through training to deal with killing another human being. They could not perform their job if they felt bad about killing individuals. Its the ugly side of war, in my opinion nothing to glorify but thats just me.

jvick125

iTrader: (2)

You're absolutely right. That's why it's somewhat humorous to hear (or in this case see) this soldier's response to such a question. I'm sure that most of us, are aware of how the military breaks soldiers down and rebuilds/molds them into killing machines.

gpatmac

iTrader: (3)

That just sounds like such a patronizing statement. Like that's bad. I mean, really. Some act like a soldier is such a monster.

Soldiering is nothing new. As a matter of fact, we probably give prostitution a run for the money for oldest profession.

Murder is bad. Killing those, in accordance with a strict set of rules of engagement, who have no such rules; and specifically have nothing restricting their treatment of other non-combatants, is not a bad thing. As a matter of fact it is a good and honorable thing.

Salty

iTrader: (14)

What Jvick and riptide have to understand is that soldiers use these thoughts as a method of coping. Yes, they're trained to perform numerous or specific tasks that may require the use of deadly force. But these same people come back home as loving fathers anxious to start-up the old BBQ for their families and friends.

It's a profession and mindset that doesn't overwhelm their lives like the unstable psyche of a serial killer. Thankfully the so-called "brainwashing" that happens to these elite soldiers during their initial enlistment equates to pride whereas unknowing civilians link it to lunacy and being unstable.

MVWRX

iTrader: (1)

...according to who? I don't disagree neccesarily, but that is opinion. I mean....the 10 commandments didn't come with a list of exceptions...