Two American soldiers seeking asylum in Canada

[fulcrum9]

Sorry to rant, but when history is misrepresented I get ornery.

Riiiiiiiiiggggghhhttt.

[Lifeindeath]

Heh...thats mature.

[Lifeindeath]

Originally Posted by hmaonic

Hm, I think he's touched on the subject of the samurai and the difference between seppuku (切腹 ?... not sure if that'll come across) and suicides among our armed forces in Iraq. The former was, ideally, a conscious choice arising from their (somewhat twisted-sounding, imo) code of honor. The latter is more likely to be an act born of desperation, depression, or perhaps some other mental illness. One might call that weak but I prefer not to judge those people so harshly. Maybe they weren't great warriors but what difference does that make in an unjust war? That's how I see the situation anyway and I know that's a rather contentious subject. They probably needed some psychiatric help and didn't receive it. They probably shouldn't have been in a war to begin with. Maybe they shouldn't have enlisted, maybe the military should have done something different. I don't know... Should the families of suicides feel worse than the families of those K.I.A.? Why the heck are our troops occupying Iraq, again? Will all these deaths be meaningless?

Good points!

[dys4iK]

Should I start building bunkbeds?

[HiroProtagonist]

The bit that bothered me the most about this article is the same bit Muffhead pointed out "...stop thinking so much". This commanding officer didn't even try to rationally explain any of the "good" (if flimsy) reasons for fighting in Iraq. I wonder if this is because he is trying to suppress his own doubts about the war or simply a repression of intelligent discussion within the ranks.

[tonyb]

Discussion in the ranks isn't something the military is built to do. It's not it's intended purpose, and no one goes into the army thinking otherwise.

When storming a castle, or building, or bunker, or whatever, there's not a philosophical debate or what have you or democratic process. It's the millitary.

A commanding officer can tell you to shut up, and he can even give you a condescending remark to "not think so much". But he really can't order someone to 'not think so much'. That's kind of rediculous.

An army (US or revolutionary or otherwise) that did encourage debate would likely be the worst army ever. That's true in the much maligned US military as it is in the romanticized Che army or Continental Army of the US Revolutionary War.

[HiroProtagonist]

I agree completely Tony and Army allowed to debate itself would be the worst army ever. I explained my point badly. I just meant in this specific case where a soldier was having doubts I think it would be more psychologically effective to encourage them rather than discourage them.