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NOT ALL SODLIERS ARE GOOD
Spin off from someone saying that soldiers are good in the other thread:
I'm not sure if I've ever told this to anyone.
I was a soldier's angel about 5 years ago. soldersangels.com specifically. I signed up for a solider in Iraq, so I could send him girlscout cookies and MAXIM magazines and write him letters so he didn't feel so lonely. In return he wrote me letters...not about the war or anything, we just talked. It was nice to feel good about helping him, ya know?
Then one day he sent me a cd he made of pictures of him and his hot army buddies over there. Woohoo right? Yeah no. One set of pictures was of them POSING for pictures with Iraqi POW's. They had like burlap sacks over these guys heads, and their hands tied behind their backs. The soldiers were posing with the prisoners by smiling while holding knives to the prisoners necks. I think about how terrified those soliders were. What if it was the other way around? To me that was cruel and unusual punishment. I mean the captives were probably thinking these guys were going to slice their necks at any point. They don't speak the same language, you know?
And these AMERICAN soliders were doing this just to get what they thought was a 'cool picture.' FFS. It made me sick to the stomach, and I never talked to or sent the guy anything again and I never actually contacted the website about it. I actually think I still have that cd somewhere, but seriously. They aren't all peachy keen good ol' boys.
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Re: NOT ALL SODLIERS ARE GOOD
No, they aren't. My father served in Viet Nam and I know for a damn fact that he wasn't an angel.
I have a lot of military in my family, and yet I do not have blinders on about them. Just because you wield a gun doesn't make you right or good.
Nope, they are not. Not all soldiers are motivated by patriotism, or helping their country. I know more than a few Army guys who joined solely to go kick ass, and that would not surprise me at all. However, that doesn't mean the guys with the bags over their heads weren't sick fvcks either.
And my DH is in the air force. I'm not some whacko who hates the military.
No but neither are all civilian men... The military represents a small portion of the rest of society. So of course there are going to be 'bad' soldiers.?
But just like the rest of society the majority are great humans. I am sorry you had a bad experience with one soldier.
I on the other hand am married to an amazing soldier and know 100's of others that are Great outstanding men and women.
I'm the daughter of a veteran. And I just have to say, it is impossible to teach a group of people to kill at all costs, and then teach them to graciously bestow appropriate and ethical treatment upon the people they capture in war time.
It just doesn't work. Its not that I am excusing this behaviour, because I find it barbaric. But I have always believed, that the same people taught to kill people, should not be guarding them in prisons.
Those have to be separate and distinctly trained individuals. Because the brain does not switch from "its and targets" to "respect and decency". It doesn't and cannot work like that, and never has.
I'm sure. hence why I didn't say "all soliders are bad." I said "not all are good."
And this is part of the reason that the military is really hurting for psychologists/psychiatrists.
I was just pointing out though that it falls under the rules of percentages...?
I just think stories like yours make many people (not you) assume that all soldiers are bad.
I was told before that my husband is a 'baby killer', "terrorist", murderer and much worse. Which is because I think people assume the small percent that were like the soldier you met is actually the majority.
After 15 Months in Iraq I know my husband doesn't deserve to be lumped by some (not you) into a category of a 'bad' soldier.?
I just didnt want people on here to read your post and make that assumption... because some people might.
?
If you haven't read The Lucifer Effect by Phillip Zimbardo, I highly recommend it. He ran the Stanford prison experiment and testified in the Abu Ghraib trials. It discusses the effect of having almost ultimate power over others with little oversight.
Thank you! I will read this. It sounds very interesting.
And murder is subjective. In war, murder gives you accolades and badges of honour. Even in injustice wars. The black and white is muddied. The right and wrong is too. I think it is ok however, to try hard to put humanity back into difficult situations. Its not "whatever, its WAR."
I'm sorry your husband had to hear those things.
Gah! Not the stanford prison experiment. No, I banish that from topic.
I had to do a unit on that thing in both my Psychology and my Sociology class. NOOOO MORE!
Thank you for posting this. I agree with a lot of what is being said here, there is never "all good" or "all bad" in any group of people, and I agree with Lanie's point about mindsets. That's something that not a lot of people consider.
However, it took a lot of guts to post something so personal and ugly and uncomfortable, and I just wanted to say thanks for posting that point of view.