Quote Originally Posted by Total_Blender
Just to clarify I am not in the military, but if something like that happened under my watch I would not be very pleased with it. Maybe a Do discharge was a little extreme, and yes, I would definitely send anyone hurting animals to a psych evaluation. Many of the sickest murderers (Dahlmer, etc) began by torturing animals and an indicator of major psychological problems.

And about us "broadcasting it when a soldier does it"... it was the soldiers themselves who broadcast it when they video'ed it and put it up on youtube (assuming it was them who posted it). Maybe them posting it was a cry for help or something, but still when they are taking pictures and videos of their misdeeds, they should understand that doing crap like this reflects badly upon their services.

But if no one here in the states judges the actions of the units fighting over there, who will? Should the military operate in total secrecy, to avoid scrutiny from the public who support it with their tax dollars, and who staff it with their sons and daughters? Should we let these guys go over there and do stuff like this and assume when they come back to the States they will be OK?
I honestly feel as though the military should work in secrecy. The less we are in the public eye, the more we can carry out. It has only been since Iraq kicked off and the media being embedded has their been so many issues with things. Its war... and when you are the only one playing by the geneva conventions rules, things get a little lost in translation. I am coming from the Special Ops community where i get to work for the most part in secrecy... amazingly enough the only time you hear about us is when a mistake is made which is honestly a journalistic dream which usually turns out to be a bunch of BS later on in the research portion, but the damage had already been done. In saying this, it means you dont hear anything about the good that is done. Even now, you never will. Good news doesnt sell newspapers. And lets not forget, the people over their fighting are tax payers as well. I send 600 a month to taxes each month which is amazingly enough 1/5th of my paycheck.

Its not for you to JUDGE anything that goes on over there... until you can get out of your arm chair, put on some boots and get them dusty, your judging priviledges are non existant. That is why we have the geneva convention, that is why we put our own selves on trial and punish ourselves. Its an internal operation. Again, noone else plays these same games that we do.

What makes me laugh the most about your post, is that above you say "in MY company" .... well, you dont have one, nor will you ever. You will never be put in that position so its easy to stand on the outside and look in and say i would of this, i would of that...... but you dont know anything until you are there. I guess i can talk until im blue in the face... but i have 4 trips over, so i guess im afforded that right, however, you guys who have never gone will only read and not hear.