Semper Why? One More Illusion Down the Drain...

[bridgit]

'I don't consider myself naive about war, but then I've never been in the military and certain childish notions die harder than others. So when I read more confirmations of the apparent U.S. Marines' massacre of 24 civilians in Iraq, I felt as though one last childhood and journalistic illusion had been shattered.

My illusion was simply this: that the Marines were somehow a cut above the other service branches -- tougher, more aggressive, maybe even more violent, but above all more self-disciplined. It was the Army, after all, that got caught at My Lai, not only in the perpetration of the massacre but also in the subsequent cover-up. In Vietnam, I assumed, the Army was where the greatest breakdowns in discipline occurred -- the most pot smoking as well as the most "fragging" of overly ambitious second lieutenants who unnecessarily placed their platoons in harm's way.' http://www.commondreams.org/views06/0606-20.htm

[Redstone]

1. Never seen a group of Jarheads in a bar, have you?

Redstone

[Jacobin]

3. LOL

:rofl:

The propaganda really does work, doesn't it?

[Redstone]

7. You betcha. Growing up in the 1950s, we boys all wanted to be Gyrenes.

Some of us learned, though. I guess the rest just fell for that "The Few, the Proud" bullshit, or maybe the sword.

Redstone

[bridgit]

12. i know a guy that signed up for the 'signing bonus'...then quit...

[Redstone]

15. You can QUIT? Things sure have changed.

Redstone

[bridgit]

16. he played the 'crazy card', you'd think they would have loved that...

but they didn't

[Redstone]

17. How the fuck could they tell he was crazy? In the middle of a bunch

of Marines?

Redstone

[bridgit]

18. that is part of the mystery eh, something about non-willful asymetrical...

expression perhaps :shrug: hearing you on that one in particular

[Redstone]

19. Or something like that. I'm off to hit the rack. Sleep well, m'dear.

Redstone

[bridgit]

20. Redstone, friend...pleasant-ness & peace to you...

:hug:

[bridgit]

6. yup, in oceanside, but i think i hear you talking...

http://maps.google.com/maps?oi=map&q=Oceanside,+CA :-)

[Redstone]

8. What, is that where they go on leave from Twenty Nine Stumps?

Redstone

[bridgit]

9. pendleton...

:patriot:

[Redstone]

10. Hoo-ah!

Redstone

[electron_blue]

2. My brother was rejected by Army, Navy and Air Force due to DUI's, but

the Marines were happy to take him. You'll have fewer illusions shattered if you assume that, generally, people are the same all over.

[The_Casual_Observer]

4. Whoever wrote that is as naive as a 4th grader in 1962.

I wonder what else the person is clueless about.

[bridgit]

11. ppfftt, most people have no clue the process that brings them milk...

and beef for that matter

[The_Casual_Observer]

13. I'll bet that he was one of those guys who was willing to give jr

the benefit of the doubt about saddam and WMD back in the winter of 2002/03

[bridgit]

14. could be, i remember many with that, "but george bush wouldn't...

kill people and endanger the entire world for no reason would he" :cry: they're all choking on their tears now, friend :thumbsdown:

[HysteryDiagnosis]

5. I met a marine the other day... interesting story he told me.... seems

they had found a mig.... gutted it.... but needed the crew that took care of the ejection seats on the Amurkan planes to remove that part (explosives and such), they wanted no part, (lacking manual and such) but the explosives experts jumped right in. Whilst two master sargeants were transporting it in the back of a pickup truck a bump was hit, resulting in the pickup being disappeared along with the passengers. Seems people of that rank woulda coulda shoulda knowed better.