Check the “fact-checking zeal” of the right-wing blogosphere regarding Beauchamp, and compare it to their intrepid coverage regarding Jessica Lynch and Pat Tillman.
Discuss.
*** Update ***
Uncle Jimbo at Black Five hoping Beauchamp is physically assaulted:
Well just take a look at this little pissant’s previous literary efforts, and I’ll be honest I would pay good money to knock that freakin’ smirk off his face.
***Your character, or more accurately, your complete lack of it has already been noted and your experiences, being mostly fiction matter little. If any of them happened, you will face punsihment, but as we know telling BS stories is not a crime. As far as writing under your own name, as I noted above JD Johannes had already identified you down to Company (100+ troops) level and you used your first and middle names as your pseudonym you freakin’ pinhead. You were already fronted out and I would assume it was some members of your unit that “politely” invited you to name yourself. You are a disgrace Beauchamp, a wannabe intellectual lacking the brainpower to do much more than embarrass yourself in public. Well Bravo, you have shown yourself to be a back-stabbing petty BS artist. Congratulations on that. Now you need to get busy watching your back, ‘cuz if you think you were disliked and unloved before……Heh.
Being lectured by Uncle Jimbo about intellectual brainpower really has got to sting. We’ll file this under supporting the troops.
*** Update #2 ***
Where in the hell did the notion that I have called for anyone to actually hurt this pissant. You have to stretch my quote pretty far for that and I certainly didn’t mean what you imply.
It is simple common sense that having called the people in his unit complete scum, he would have a need to watch his ass. Odds are he will be removed from the unit just so he doesn’t take a beat down he certainly earned.
Fat drunk and stupid is no way to go through life, Jimbo.
Not only do you cop to wanting to “knock that freakin’ smirk off his face,” you also state that now he has to “watch his ass.”
That is a threat, and not a stretch to interpret it that way, you bloviating scumbag.
The funniest thing in all of this is that there is no way to prove one way or another Beauchamp is lying, but now, even if Beauchamp is lying, he comes out looking better than the asshole armchair commandos attacking him.
** Update #3 ***
Oh no. I will be savaged ‘manana.’
in canaduh
links? i don t read right wing blogs
Gold Star for Robot Boy
“Ring-wing?”
Must be those militant marriage blogs that I, as an engaged man, avoid.
Dreggas
Actually it’s kind of apt, remember these people adored Santorum who compared the war in Iraq
paradox
We have your former brethren strung up by the ankles in a rec’d diary at the Daily Kos over this little incident.
I don’t pretend to understand the Republican mind in the least, insofar as I already knew a long time ago they frighteningly resemble brownshirt thugs, the truth and decency meaning nothing to them.
[shrugs] Baffling most of all to me is the fantasy there will be no consequence for their actions, no price to pay. There is always a price to pay for actions in life, always. What they seek so earnestly to defend in fact destroys them more, but paradox isn’t something they’ve bothered to learn either.
Zifnab
Wait, does that mean Beauchamp is actually just the pseudonym for Joe Klein? I’m confused.
Fledermaus
George W. Bush, the exception that proves the rule
Tim F.
John just suggested that I post an observation that I sent him by IM.
The rightie blogosphere isn’t even an echo chamber per se. In an echo chamber reflective surfaces create a rumbling background that creates the illusion of multiple voices speaking at once. That doesn’t really cover the sort of feedback hysteria on display in a post like Jimbo’s.
Blogosphere right seems to act more like a lasing chamber, a perfectly reflective surface where acceptable ideas back and forth forever without ever changing, exciting the inert gas inside to the point of emitting a violent burst of energy into the outside world. Any dumb idea that fits their absorption spectrum (ZOMG! Amercuh h8rz!) kicks of an unstoppable chain reaction of recursive outrage. They’re so insulated from the world of reasonable people that looniness like Jimbo’s, and worse, will strike them as more and more appropriate as the outrage builds.
With apologies to the good people at Melles Griot, who give me great deals and don’t deserve the violence that my analogy did to their excellent instruments.
Tsulagi
Ooooo…Uncle Jimbo better be careful with that Republican manly man talk and his target audience. They could lose control. He just might get too many pleas for him to order them into diapers.
Bruce Moomaw
Take a look at OPFOR’s piece (listed on Brad Delong’s site) spouting classic military lingo to denounce Beauchamp, and ending with — well, see for yourself:
“Private Beauchamp has just placed himself in an unenviable ‘damned if you do, damned if you don’t’ scenario. If his stories are true, he’ll be facing the business end of the UCMJ. If false, he’ll be exposed as a fraud and a liar, and will have destroyed that budding writing career that he so confidently promised. So we know he’s a soldier. I never doubted that in the first place, he spoke the lingo well enough. But, as Greyhawk noted, the inquiry has really just begun. Now we have to go about fact-checking his stories, which I suspect will turn out to have been grandly embellished. So no doubt wheels are turning over in the 1/18’s command staff right now. Wouldn’t be surprised if Private Beauchamp was standing tall in front of the man at this very moment, under the scruntity of an aggressively curious CO who is demanding details down to the letter about each of his diary entries. Expect a press release soon. The Army is going to move quick on this, now that they have a face to the name. Either way, today is going to be a very bad day for Private Scott Thomas Beauchamp. As a final thought, I think Uncle Jimbo deserves a fair share of credit here. In this post at Blackfive, Jimbo tore into Beauchamp with the precision of a trained pyschologist [sic], nailing him as a primadonna who brilliance is always unappreciated by the buffoons around him…”
No offense, John, but one is forced to conclude that a lot of your fellow ex-soldiers are scum.
jg
So Uncle Jimbo is saying Beauchamp should watch his back because his fellow soldiers might frag him. But if anyone on the left were to suggest Tillman was fragged for doing esssentially what Beauchamp did then that lefty needs to watch his back too, right?
Dreggas
Real Manly Men like Uncle Jimbo know that they are much more Manly when they make veiled threats while sitting behind a keyboard. Probably a quiche eater too.
Bubblegum Tate
A commenter on my favorite wingnut blog got so incensed at people pointing out that Pat Tillman, far from being the wingnuts’ military masturbation material, was actually a Chomsky-loving hardcore left-winger who thought Bush was a total lame and that the Iraq war was, in Tillman’s own words, “so fucking illegal,” she declared that pointing these things out amount to nothing less than slander of Pat Tillman.
For, you see, he couldn’t possibly have been any of those things. He was far too heroic. He simply had to be a pro-war conservative, and to say that he wasn’t is to spit upon his grave (unlike fabricating an utterly bullshit story about his death for use as feel-good propaganda…that, of course, is honoring and exalting him). It was an amazing bit of cognitive dissonance: describing Pat Tillman in the ways that his brother, mother, and squadmates described him was “twisting the truth” and inventing a false picture of him for purely political purposes. Claiming that because he walked away from an NFL contract to join the military, he had to be a right-wing war booster? Oh, that was just “stating the facts.”
Honestly, how are normal people supposed to address such sad little balls of hypocrisy and stupidity?
Bruce Moomaw
Note also Delong’s quote from David Drake (who in the past has declared a soft spot for Newt Gingrich, although he also regards the Vietnam War as a self-serving fraud by LBJ and Nixon) that this sort of thing frequently happens in EVERY war — justified or not — for the simple reason that it’s a WAR, dammit. Paul Fussell noted exactly the same thing about WW II, in which he fought on the front lines in Europe. (And Fussell sometimes comes closer to saying that WW II really WASN’T justified than I, personally, am comfortable with).
Frankly, given what we already know went on routinely in Abu Ghraib (and a lot of other places), Beauchamp’s anecdotes about keeping enemy soldiers’ skulls as souvenirs, sneering cruelly at disfigured soldiers on our own side, carelessly running over dogs and becoming emotionally numb at the sight of still more Iraqi mass graves strike me as thoroughly innocuous. What I really want to know is what OPFOR & Co. had to say when the Abu Ghraib revelations came out.
incontrolados
(OT)
Tsulagi, may I quote you? I’ve been trying to figure out what “man talk” is since one of the local talk radio stations decided to change format to “man talk” starting next week.
I get it now. So, can I quote you on my little blog?
(Sorry for the interruption.)
Back on topic . . . I used to read a wingnut blog last fall that regularly linked to Blackfive. I seem to remember a poem I read there that was along the lines of when killing someone is justified. I’m trying to find it now.
Wilfred
It always reminds me of the joke about the man sent to prison who on his first night goes to the talent show. An old con gets up and says ’15’, everybody laughs, then he says ’32’, guys are cracking up, then ‘9’, people are rolling in the aisles. Totally lost, the new prisoner asks an old lag what’s going on. The lag explains that there’s only one joke book in the prison library and everybody knows it by heart. There’s no need to tell the joke so the cons just repeat the numbers.
New guy goes to the library, borrows the book and after a month knows all the jokes by heart. Comes the talent show he jumps on stage and shouts out ’15’ – nothing. Looks around and says ’32’ – scattered yawns. Finally he bleats out ‘9’ – and gets booed right off the stage. He goes to the old lag and asks what happened: “I said the same numbers everybody else does, the funniest ones, and no one laughed.”
And the old guy says: “It’s not the number, it’s how you say it.”
That’s the rightosphere. They just say the number: WAR/ABORTION/MUSLIMS/MEXICANS – and get the same response from the same prisoners. The ‘how you say it’ is the usual mix of mean-spiritedness, rage and self-righteousness you see in blowhards like Jimbo or the more egregious Redstate buffoons.
paradox
I actually thought of Bush when I wrote the comment, I’m not lyin’. I left it in there because so far Bush has always gotten away with everything.
In the America I know no president ever gets away with lying to kill our troops in a failed war. That scenario just doesn’t happen, and we have 16 months left to find out if it really will.
So far the Democrats seem determined to let Bush get away with it, jut like always, but I argued this morning there is way too much time left to skate out on this over the graves of our troops. Bush is already right there at historic lows right now–you’re telling me in all the next 16 months something is not going to give with the enormous forces at work over the Iraq war? Right.
I do not know what the consequence will be, of course, but it’s coming, know it like the sun rises tomorrow. 16 months is just far too long to try and keep even Americans fooled, it can’t be done.
Uncle Jimbo
Where in the hell did the notion that I have called for anyone to actually hurt this pissant. You have to stretch my quote pretty far for that and I certainly didn’t mean what you imply.
It is simple common sense that having called the people in his unit complete scum, he would have a need to watch his ass. Odds are he will be removed from the unit just so he doesn’t take a beat down he certainly earned.
I guess taking heckling from someone like you would have stung, had you even served up anything.
My fact-checking zeal regarding Lynch & Tillman was documented on CNN. http://youtube.com/watch?v=hY9mTlURQlw
Thanks for the morally superior tone, we wingnuts appreciate that.
Cordially,
Uncle J
dan
If that does not qualify as a thinly veiled threat of physical violence – why else would one watch their own back? – I don’t know what is
Tsulagi
Um, yeah, I guess.
By “target audience” in my comment above, I meant the stalwart Vitter Republican type audience. You know, the ones when they’re not too busy dialing for hookers, gay or straight, they make sure to let you know they support the troops. No doubt even have a photo of themselves pointing to their smiling soldier friend to prove it.
Oh, and Uncle Jimbo, given your rant, I suggest you stop at Costco to stock up on Depends. You’re going to need a lot of them.
dslak
Remember, when either threatening others or approving of physical harm being done to them, be sure to phrase your statements in such a way as to establish plausible deniability.
John Cole
Blow it out your fat ass, you two-bit thug.
dslak
John, he went on CNN and admitted that the original Tillman and Lynch stories weren’t true, even in the face of overwhelming evidence otherwise. How much more does he have to do to prove that he’s amenable to facts?
dslak
Okay, I just refreshed myself on the freely available article that Beauchamp wrote. What the hell did he do to deserve such antipathy from the 101st Keyboarders?
Dave
etc…etc…
Wow Uncle J! Now THAT is supporting our troops. No wonder I keep getting told I don’t support ’em. I’m doing it wrong. I thought sending them calling cards was the right way to go about it, I didn’t know I should spit vile insults at them, hidden, of course, safely behind my computer.
Dave
He’s trying to breach their wall of denial.
dslak
There’s a reason we train professional psychiatrists to deal with that kind of thing.
BobJones
I’d also like to note that I haven’t really seen anyone defending Beauchamp, or holding him up as a model for American soldiery. Its not like “the left” was pointing to this knob’s writing as evidence of anything. Beauchamp might be a shitball, and probably is a shitball, but that doesn’t (a) mean he’s lying or (b) explain why the righty blogosphere is going so apeshit over this story.
Maybe they are just can’t handle military information that doesn’t get fed directly to them by the Pentagon’s PR department?
http://harpers.org/archive/2007/07/hbc-90000539
incontrolados
(Thanks Tsulagi :)
what Dave said
(That’s echo chamber, not lasing chamber, no?)
Andrew
Blog fight!
Uncle Jimbo will tag in Alt Althouse who will come in off the top rope yelling, “YOU MUST APOLOGIZE IMMEDIATELY!” But Cole will roll out of the way of her flying leg drop (who wouldn’t, really), and tag in a very confused Greg Mankiw. As Mankiw mutters, “This is not Pigouvian,” Althouse will bodyslam him o the canvas while screaming, “You’re next, Jessica Valenti!”
TR
Hey, if anyone knows how to recognize “a wannabe intellectual lacking the brainpower to do much more than embarrass yourself in public,” it’s that dude.
BobJones
I think that would be more realistic.
incontrolados
I’m watching ‘So You Think You Can Dance’ (don’t laugh) and it looks like the wingnuts got to them too.
One judge wore a jacket and it had a Marine emblem upside down. Then the dances were about peace last night, so an explanation was required.
Squeaky wheel, indeed.
Tsulagi
Okay, now that’s going too far. You need to be more sensitive to Unca Jimbo’s needs.
As on Matt (Dirty) Sanchez’s blog that brings the straight poop on Iraq as does J, he yearns for the same accolades and recognition. I think one comment I saw on Matt’s blog said it best…”Thanks for your service. Keep it up.”
incontrolados
I think you all are forgetting the new and improved Victory! Caucus!
Only this week its blog stats went up from nearly zero to spectacular. Again. And now it’s an aggrigator of all news Iraq.
The Other Steve
It’s interesting how the wingnuttiest of wingnuts always tend to come from reasonable liberal states. powerline, capitains quarters are out of Minnesota. Jimbo is over in Madison, WI(socialist mecca of the midwest).
What’s remarkable about that, is the more they talk, the more they yell, the more they rant. The more their sainted Republican party gets it’s ass handed to it in the elections.
This latest example of attacking the soldiers ain’t gonna help them.
John Cole
Jimbo’s readers took the hint:
Scum.
The Other Steve
When I think of guys like Jimbo, this is what comes to mind.
The Other Steve
That reminds me. Althouse is also from socialist Madison.
Again, what’s up with these freaks?
Tom S
Odd that some the same people who are currently getting their panties in a twist over Beauchamp are the ones advocating a tougher policy in Iraq, like, you know, shoot anything that moves. Shoot ’em, run ’em over with a Bradley, what’s the diff?
incontrolados
But wait. Commenters don’t reflect the host’s opnions!
(Yes, I read Greenwald. Daily)
matt
I know everyone is having fun watching the right wing blogosphere make a fool of itself once again, but I think there’s a larger issue at work here regarding how soldiers deal with what they experience during war.
Obviously talking about it publicly is off limits, less every right wing wacko with a computer gets wood while posting about your impending beat down. I suppose you can talk to some kind of professional, but for some reason that seems a bit unlikely to me.
My sense is that most of these guys just keep it bottled up inside, which is really, really sad.
At any rate, it seems like the right wing keeps their perfect record of trying to support the troops, only to end up doing the exact opposite. It’s just ridiculous at this point..
capelza
Ya know..I would have never heard of Beauchamp if it weren’t for the diligent work of the pearl clutchin’ righties.
This is some kind of grief response to Ward Churchil getting the boot? They won’t have him to kick around anymore, so they’re looking for someone, anyone to replace him? Oh, and I never heard of Ward Churchill til some rightie bloggers went nuts over him, too.
How do they type laying on their fainting couches? Those smelling salts are bad for ya.
Crazy wingnut in a liberal town? Michael “Savage” Wiener in Pelosiland. Or that crazy lady up in Washington state that said that blacks should be grateful for slavery, elsewise how would they have had the blessings of America.
jake
But surely Jimbubba’s reaction is unusual in the extreme!
Or not.
Note, I’m not making a 1:1 comparison between Darby and Beauchamp so calm down.
Andrew
There’s a reason that reactionaries are called reactionaries.
Hate of the other gives their lives meaning. That and masturbating to pictures dead Iraq children. I’m just guessing about that last bit.
matt
I used to actually be an on again off again fan of Jimbo’s. I never much agreed with a lot of his view points, but I felt he made a decent effort to be fair. All of that changed with his Plame “apology”. He’s one of those guys who can admit when he’s wrong….but only with a dozen or so qualifiers and snarky comments thrown in. Even when he’s wrong, he’s not really wrong, wink, wink.
I lost a lot of respect for him with that whole mess, and this current mess more than seals the deal.
The right is in desperate need of some soul searching. When you’re viciously attacking a solider for relaying their experiences, you’ve gone way beyond any sort of political hackery. You’re just being a sucky person.
Larry M
Wow, his response has to win a prize for one of the least self-aware posts in internet history. And yes, I know that the competition is pretty stiff.
Or was he spoofing himself? I mean, it could have been just the typical winger disingenuous bluster, but it’s the inclusion of the words “he certainly earned.” which wins the internet.
Dave
Probably because it’s a non issue in the real world. Soldier writing that fucked up things happen in the stress of war. It’s only
surprisingoffensivesomething to deny when your idea of war comes from watching old John Wayne movies.Dave
This cracked me up in the whole post:
Let me translate:
Ok 101st Keyboardists! We’ve effectively demoralized the enemy! Now we need to build up the survivors! I am checking with my commanding officer as to how best to proceed. Will advise, over!
Moron.
I used to with this assholes would join the military, lately I think that’d be a mistake. They’d be mowing down innocents left and right just to so they could blow their respective wads.
Dave
This keeps gettin better and better.
PK
Matt
“The right is in desperate need of soul searching”
The assumption being that there is a soul there to search.
capelza
I’m making cookies for this!
Patrick
Reading these comments, I would like to put in a bit of perspective as I was a former NCO, though not in Iraq.
I find the stories that Beauchamp tells to be highly unlikely. Here is why.
1. In a chow hall, Beauchamp and his buddy making such loud comments about an injured person with such disfigurement would be immediately addressed by any NCO or officer in earshot. Most likely almost any soldier would take exception to the comments and put an immediate end to it. If such comments were made, you can bet that they were whispered to each other, not aloud. (If I had been in there, I would have immediately taken them outside and informed their superiors, pressing charges against them.
2. Such a disfigured person would not be on the base. They would be in medical treatment, stateside. They would not be sent back into a war zone, civilian or military either. Any other suggestion that they might be there for their job is plain nonsense.
3. The story of finding the mass graves and the soldier taking the skull of a child with tissue still attached is absurd. The tissue would be decomposing, creating a foul odor and possibly exposing his fellow GI’s to disease. In addition, a child’s skull is not going to fit on the head of a full grown person. The GI may had done it at first, but he would have been stopped in very short order by superiors. And he would probably have been charged with some offense.
4. The charges about using Bradley’s for chasing down dogs is highly unlikely. It may have happened once or twice, but that would have been it. The story would have quickly come to the attention of superiors who would have put a stop to it.
Also, the driver is supposed to be able to see and chase the dogs on the right side of his vehicle. Anyone who knows Bradleys know that this is an impossibility due to the design of the vehicle. In addition, the Bradley is not a manuverable vehicle in relation to the agility of a dog. So that makes the story more circumspect.
In addition, suppose you are in a Bradley. The driver takes off the pavement in order to chase a dog. IED’s could be present. Are you going to stay with that driver and let him do it again and again? Heck no…..
Now as to Uncle Jimbo and his comments, when he says that Beauchamp should watch his back, it is not a threat, but instead reality. Here is why:
If the charges are false, Beauchamp has lied about his comrades in arms. He has defamed them. In the military, this is not taken lightly. He would easily find himself the beneficiary of blanket parties by his own men. Remedial and corrective counseling. Four wall psychology.
BTW, Beauchamp is not that bright. Using an alias that consists of his first and middle names, and giving enough information that one Blackfive reader was able to pinpoint down to his unit and the 100 or so people in the unit, just proves this fact. His reason for going public is that he knew he had been identified or was about to be, so hopefully by going public, it would provide him some measure of protection.
Now, if it was true, then Beauchamp is/was obligated to report such behavior to higher ups. By not doing so, he has implicated himself as well as his comrades, through his writing, and are subject to UCMJ prosecution. Those he has implicated will not take this well, him inadvertantly snitching on them. They are likely to take some action themselves against Beauchamp.
There are always going to be incidents of this nature in warfare. It is the nature of the beast. But very few do occur, and they are usually taken care of quickly, almost always by immediate superiors before it gets out of hand. Unfortunately, some must exaggerate the actions to achieve their own objectives.
incontrolados
This is why I read you first every day. You have taken over Greenwald’s place, if by a few minutes. But you have.
JW
To All,
You all are very twisted, you have no idea what it’s like to serve this nation with pride. Many of you may have attempted, but you failed. There are so many that do 20 yrs service and still don’t get it, (you were the REMF’s) you will never be anything other. I do thank you for your service and so does the nation. For those of you that have never served, you might want to stay away from any conversation involving it. You have nothing but an idealist outsider opinion and no knowledge what so ever. Not that your not, afforded an opinion, but your dads and grandfathers service gives you, zero IQ in military matters, even if you have a PHD in such.
In the service combat arms and direct combat service support are those that carry the weight, take the losses, and see what causes you to cringe. They also cringe, but they are the ones who make your life a free one and fight and give their lives so others may someday share in that freedom.
So before you judge the character of a combat arms service member and his thoughts about how a POS should be treated, remember your own actions when some ass cuts you off in traffic and what you do or what you would like to do to them. They were just an inconvenience to you.
This soldier and his words, could cost the lives of others!
John Cole
Because the TERRORISTS READ TNR.
Moron.
Patrick
JW,
I could not have said it better myself.
Charlie Mike.
Sig
You could charitably call UJ “inflammatory,” I suppose, but that doesn’t mean that he’s wrong about this guy. In no rational universe could defending Beauchamp’s stupid lies be considered “defending the troops.” Even if his stories are somehow true–which stretches the imagination of anyone who has deployed in this conflict–I would want him and his alleged co-criminals held liable for multiple violations of the UCMJ and the laws of land warfare. Either way, I find pictures of him in my uniform deeply offensive.
Sig
John Cole
Before this comments section gets overwhelmed by posts from hostile military types who think they are talking to ignorant civilians, I was in the military, for close to ten years. I served in the first Gulf War and the aftermath as an M1 tanker. I then spent 6 years in the guard and reserve as a combat engineer.
And guess what kind of unit I was in on active duty? A cav unit, where I drove not only M1 tanks but Bradley Fighting vehcles. So I know it is possible to run over a mangy dog in the middle of a street with an armored vehicle. You may think you are talking all sorts of crazy military speak us silly civilians don’t understand, but I know that steering a Bradley is not some kind of voodoo magic. Hell, I know what kind of ASVAB scores you can have and still be a Bradley driver.
BTW- I was one of the founding milbloggers. I was there at the start, before the obnoxious Uncle Jimbo, armchair commando. I support the troops- even the ones who say unpleasant things that I don’t like. Even the avalanche of retards that will soon be coming here via Jimbo (anyone who reads that fool can’t be too bright).
And, as I have stated before, I don’t know if the things he wrote (Beauchamp) are true, and I really don’t care. What I find disgusting is the desperate attempts to prove that these piddling things did not or could not happen, when we all have documented proof that FAR WORSE things have happened. I mean, fucking seriuosly:
– A GI ran over a dog? OMG NO. OUTRAGE, SLANDER! COULD NEVER HAVE HAPPENED.
– A GI played with skeletal remains in a GY? OMG, NO WAI! NEVER COULD HAVE HAPPENED- WHY DO YOU HATE THE TROOPS.
– GI’s made fun of a disfigured woman? OMG, IMPOSSIBLE.
I mean, seriously, folks. Get a fucking grip.
The funniest thing (saddest) about this whole affair is that but for the outrage noise machine in the right wing blogosphere, no one would have even known what this guy wrote. I sure as hell didn’t until the professional idiots started their link circle jerk and it made it to memeorandum.com. But now, you all have worked yourself into such a lather it is only a matter of time before Howard Kurtz and someone else pick the story up and run with it- and it gets national and international attention. BRAVO. Way to smear the troops, knuckleheads.
Tim F.
Shorter JW:
You only have a right to an opinion if you agree with me.
Wanker.
incontrolados
I let them go and always say hurry up and die. Does that make me unsupportive?
Do you think you are in the ‘poor puppy’ crowd?
Patrick
Excuse me, but why are you trying to distort what I wrote? And you don’t care whether it happened or not? You just don’t like the attempts to question the veracity of the story? In this case, the truth of the story is of prime importance. If it is a lie, shouldn’t it be revealed?
I said that I found the stories unlikely, but that they might have happened, just not quite the way presented. And more than likely that if they did occur, it was not constant behavior. And I explained why corrective action would tend to be taken very quickly.
I salute you for your service. But I must differ with your analysis of how easy it is to run over a dog. Sure, if it was in the middle of the street and you have a straight shot, but when Beauchamp is talking about chasing it down off the pavement and it trying to escape, get real.
And if you are in that Bradley with the driver doing that, are you going to be cheering him on? Or are you going to be praying that there is no IED just waiting for you to hit it?
I would be demanding the driver get that bradley back on the road, and I would never ride with him again.
Avalanche of retards….?
Why do you engage in constant personal attacks? You attack the messenger because he disagrees with your view? Seems rather narrow minded, doesn’t it?
Why not seek a rational and reasoned discussion? Doesn’t that make for more informed people?
canuckistani
Rock on, John. Don’t let these monkeys shout you down with their Tom Clancy jargon and pathetic outrage.
Patrick
BTW, the article smeared the troops. The way it was written could imply that this was common behavior. By asking for verification of the story and determination of its validity, we are supporting the troops.
Your arguments that questioning Beauchamp is not supportive of the troops is a typical disingenuous attempt to suggest otherwise.
incontrolados
Pratrick, hi.
Don’t take it personally, unless it is called for.
John Cole
You personally find them unlikely, yet have no clue if they did not. Guess he needs to be courtmartialed or be the subject of a blanket party like your cohorts at Blackfive are suggesting.
Meet JW:
To which you responded:
Yes, continue mission, indeed. I stand by assessment of what is to come.
ImJohnGalt
I’m going to reserve judgment until Cassidy weighs in. His posts always reflect the moderate, balanced opinion.
Chuck Butcher
My neighbor and part time employee spent a year in Iraq (Oregon Nat Guard) as a dismounted tanker (he’d have prefered his tank). He says the best way to understand Iraq is to take the real world and turn it upside down. Do not think that he has a particularly soft sentimental attitude toward Iraqis. He will go so far as to say that the lives of ordinary civilians are horrid, the ‘Hajis’ are objects of utter contempt.
He’s a nice hard working (he works a full-time graveyard mill job then me half-days doing construction)guy from our little NE OR town but you don’t do that stuff and stay completely sane. It is a daily grind of heat, dirt, and not knowing where the next bad thing will come from. Most fighting for him happened at close range, 30 yds maximum in town, usually less than 200yds in country. That means the effects are obvious – a nasty business.
Punchy
I, for one, very much want to see Uncle Jimbo attack this solider….with his Ninja Stealth Keyboard and his Serated Mouse Cord of Death, or course.
JW
Well John Cole,
Didn’t want all that, but, that being said. We have enough BS floating in the wind over our(US Military) soldiers doing everything wrong. Daily, weekly, and monthly it is all we have to ingest from the media. My point was that with this idiot, we just got more.
I didn’t ask for your credentials, thanxs for the info and your service, but don’t really care, why? Because I didn’t ask for them. Your response was, so to speak disrespectful to your audiance, and your last comment was totally out of the range fan, why? Because, that was exaclty my point. You just missed it, why? Because you can’t read and you felt offended. Wrong.
Sorry but I’m not disgruntled, not a war monger, I just care that we we do everything possible to complete operations, keep respect for our forces and nation, and endure the fewest casualties possible.
One more thing, don’t say bring them home today, the losses of consolidation will be the same as the current dispersion, and those we are fighting for will die by the thousands.
rachel
What or who is ‘manana’? Mañana?
adg
Wait, are we talking about Beauchamp, or the current administration? Or maybe the Kagans?
JW
Now Cole,
I see that you are very thin skinned, and have no control over your emotions. To bad, some of the guys that respond here seem too be very endeared in the thoughts posted. You feel offended by all that don’t look through the same window. You may very well be one of those personnel I was talking about. So you go ahead and do your own thing, cuz all is well, it’s your blog.
I didn’t post a response to gather anyones ire, so thanx again for your service and good luck with whatever it is you do.
In closing,
Incontrolados, you are a fool, and one of the idiots to open my post with, very twisted
John Cole
Well, actually you did, although it appears you are too stupid to realize you did:
You told anyone who didn’t have military experience to STFU. I have military experience, and I served this nation with pride. Piss off. Thanks for doing a nasty job and everything, but seriously, piss off. Part of the thrill of serving my nation with pride when I did it was doing it selflessly and not expecting that it made me better than the rest of my fellow citizens. You apparently missed that and see some form of entitlement for your service. So, again, seriously- piss off.
And thanks on your input on what should be done over in Iraq, and I know this will come as a surprise to you, but you have no say in the matter past your vote in the elections. Those loser civilians get to make that call, too.
In other news, a very prescient comment from Matt Yglesias’s blog the other day:
Commenter nailed that one, didn’t they?
adg
Wait, are we talking about Beauchamp, or the current administration? Or maybe the Kagans?
JW
Now Cole,
I see that you are very thin skinned, and have no control over your emotions. To bad, some of the guys that respond here seem too be very endeared in the thoughts posted. You feel offended by all that don’t look through the same window. You may very well be one of those personnel I was talking about. So you go ahead and do your own thing, cuz all is well, it’s your blog.
I didn’t post a response to gather anyones ire, so thanx again for your service and good luck with whatever it is you do.
In closing,
Incontrolados, you are a fool, and one of the idiots to open my post with, very twisted
Fwiffo
Tally me manana?
Actually, he seems to be referring to some sort of four-assed, unholy, Isle of Dr. Moreau man-banana hybrid. And it’s probably a gay manana. Indeed, I imagine all mananas are gay, as I’ve never heard of a womanana.
Actually, John, I’d be pretty worried. It seems you’re going to be savaged by a lusty gay manana!
Jon Swift
Of course, Uncle Jimbo doesn’t say that Beauchamp should be fragged. Not in so many words. Exactly. But accidents do happen.
JW
Cole were you ever assinged to TASS
The Pirate
I wonder if there’s been a run on brown shirts lately.
Tsulagi
Wait a minute, I thought this was supposed to be manana. Well, at least some good comedy now. Hopefully just a preview.
First, Patrick. We get numbered points of why events could not have occurred as Beauchamp described them. Well, numbered up to 4 anyway. Nope, couldn’t have happened. But then he ends his lengthy analysis with…
LOL. So we have it couldn’t have happened, but it does happen sometimes. I just know it didn’t this time.
But wait, it gets better! Close behind Patrick we are awed by the clairvoyant JW and his powers…
Any more known truths you care to share with the class that were directly beamed into your head? Guess I could do the old “you know what happens when you assume” thing. But let’s just go with what you provided. No kearning of the Bradley or M1 tracks required…you are one stupid MF.
To help you out, I’m using the second half of the slang definition of REMF. But you already knew that, right?
I have absolutely no doubt.
capelza
“Next up: Warren Commission report disproved using a Hot Wheels Terrordactyl Track.”
I forgot how good TBogg could be…that’ll keep me laughing all night.
Anyhoo…so, my husband shot a water buffalo from his chopper in that other war. Has he besmirched his Dress Blues? Please try telling him that, you whiny little brats.
Instead of asking yourselves why on God’s Green Earth “The White House has refused to give Congress documents about the death of former NFL player Pat Tillman, with White House counsel Fred F. Fielding saying that certain papers relating to discussion of the friendly-fire shooting “implicate Executive Branch confidentiality interests.” (see the Washington post) and why the bloody hell the White House has anything to do with it, you shrill out on THIS.
But noooooooo…you, by your screeching (that’s Michelle) and bellowing anyone in the blogoshere can not avoid, so many more people now DO know about some kid published in a magazine that hardly anyone even reads anymore. I bet it will show up on TV now, thanks to you all. Way to keep the “bad news” out of the media. But that’s not what you wanted at all is it?
The military is used and abused by this administration in staggering ways, and you focus on some grunt. Mind boggling.
Tsulagi
Translation of one stupid MF: “You see, because I called this first I’m to be considered the adult, clear thinker, and to be held in awed esteem.”
Michele taught him that trick while fluffing her pom poms. Surely uses it at every opportunity while continuing his apprenticeship.
LOL. You and Patrick are just precious! Have you two been together long?
TenguPhule
Shorter Uncle Cassidy: Just because I come into this bank wearing a mask and holding a gun is no reason to assume I’m robbing it. I’m just there to make a deposit, really!
Pwned by a Bush-quote.
DonkeyKong
John, read this email exchange I had with one of Jeff Goldsteins little orks at Protein Wisdom after the 06′ election. He wanted to challenge me to a fight.
Fearless little fuckers when they get mad.
From: Me
> >To: Dumbshit(not real name,but should be)
> >Subject: IF YOUR SERIOUS BUDDY
> >Date: Wed, 8 Nov 2006 23:26:16 -0800 (PST)
> >
> >I live in East Oakland, Ca. off of High St. Chairman Moi.
> >
> > Your want to fight somebody you have never seen………not smart buddy.
> >
> > If you want to fly or drive out, you let me know.
> >
dumbshit wrote:
> And fighting? If you insist–I’m of a size and level of martial arts
>experience where fighting generally doesn’t scare me–but I’m not going to
>be putting myself in any legal jeopardy by letting it look like I’m issuing
>a violent threat. That’s not terribly smart, either. In fact, it’s carries
>jail time in my state and probably yours. I will come out to the Bay,
>though, if you like. In fact I’ve been aching to make another visit. But as
>for a contest, I can only propose liquor, shot for shot. You can rest
>secure
>in the notion that violence is your choice, and I do not intend to harm any
>part of you but your liver.
>
>Give me a little while to get the airfare together.
>
From: Me
>To: dumbshit
>Subject: RE: IF YOUR SERIOUS BUDDY
>Date: Thu, 9 Nov 2006 09:06:47 -0800 (PST)
>
>You are the one that wanted to fight to defend your honor or whatever. You
>will come out if I like? Buddy I don’t care. Your the one who challenges
>people to fight over the internet.
>
> So are you coming.
>
> Yes or No.
Reply:Dumbshit
>
No, you know what? This is just stupid. I had downed an entire bottle of
sake and several beers and went shooting off the mouth at something I
should’ve brushed aside. Playing the “come say it to my face game” is
idiotic and pointless–I live nearly 4,000 miles away–and I’ve always
thought poorly of those who do it. Flying across the continent over a petty
insult isn’t honorable in the least–it’s batshit crazy in fact. And my
honor is better defended by admitting that I was being an asshole. I
apologize.
Reply:Me
There is a lesson in all this bro, I’ve been in fights before. As a rule I only fight when I have no choice, and even then I’ll do my best to walk away. That is what being a man is all about. Not strength but brains. However I’m big enough before a fight that I can’t avoid to issue a promise. “Win or lose, your going to get hurt.” It’s a promise that anyone looking at me knows I can keep.
Good Luck to you Bro, and no drinking and blogging.
They ar like children, without the sense of wonder and evental maturity.
TenguPhule
Shorter JW: I wet my pants!
Because it’s never the crimes that are the problem for the Right, it’s the reporting of the crime to the world that’s the real danger.
Andrew
Boy, I’m really sorry for linking to the Tard Blog a few threads ago. I didn’t realize that they were internet savvy enough to follow trackbacks. So, anyway, just remember that they are easily distracted by small candies and, above all, stickers.
So lookit, if we just give JW et al. a cough drop and a Bush/Quayle ’92 bumper sticker, he should be distracted until Tuesday or November.
Mike P.
John Cole twitches a bit, and exclaims “Jimbo, you magnificent bastard. I read your book!” and proceeds to batter, bludgeon and bash ole’ Jimbo right back to wolf’s lair.
elchubs
The thing that pisses me off the most is that we’ll probably find that this turd is full of shit but all the attention given to his bullshit stories will take the focus away from REAL fucked up things that are going on over here.
Though I have to say that this dude is typical of the kids that join the newer softer army……they think that the army owes them something and are quick to whine when things get tough.
LOL Shouldn’t that come with some kind of weather advisory?
arch
TNR published three “dispatches” that have some fair implausible claims in them. B5, MM, CY and some other pro-American blogs challenged editor Franklin Foer, pointing out the inconsistencies. TNR doesn’t have the best reputation for truthfulness. Foer refused to disclose his source.
The army public affairs officers, who have issued guidelines about military members blogging, investigated the facts and found the information inaccurate and fabricated. There was no disfigured female contractor. No mass graves were unearthed. Bradley fighting vehicles are not available for dog killing joy rides.
Once Beauchamp was identified his fellow soldiers (who were the subjects of these false claims) are not pleased with him, but the officers and NCOs will ensure that no harm comes to him. He will probably clean a lot of toilets and mop many floors before he exits the service, but blanket parties and code reds are more Hollywood than GI.
I know many of your commenters are not interested in having TNR print the truth, since it would not support their distorted world view. Folks at pro-American blogs know that the truth matters.
ConservativelyLiberal
I recently tore into someone here about the use of ‘tard’ as we recently lost someone dear in our family who would be referred to as that by some less compassionate people out there. Frankly, I do not see what the good is in referring to someone who is an idiot, fuckhead or moron as a ‘tard’, which is a condition that someone is born with. These idiots are this way by choice, and the mentally handicapped are not. If you knew the young lady who recently died, you would have a different opinion about using this word so loosely. It really pains me to see people use this word as a derogatory or insulting term. If anything, it is too good of a term to use on these assholes.
I just ask for this consideration as it really is painful to hear this tossed around as an insult when it should not be one. I blew up on the other person who was using it, and I am trying to be polite about it now. People who are born with disabilities like that have no control over the lot in life that they drew, these assholes do.
___________________________
IMO, John has it right and he is clear and concise about it above, civilians and military personnel are not any better or worse than each other. Some civilians avoid the service, others (like myself) wanted to go in but life dealt us a hand that says otherwise. I have tremendous respect for those who serve, and I am a military buff since that was the only choice that I had left.
Many members of my family have served honorably; my father served in the air force, my Mother’s oldest brother served in the Green Berets, my older brother served in the Army and so on. Just about every family in the US has or had members of their family serve honorably.
Anyone who is a guy knows that some men have a cruel streak in them, and some can do pretty stupid and sick things. That is a reality of life, and to deny it is to lie. As distasteful as it is, shit happens. Whether or not what Beauchamp wrote is fact, the matter is that the possibility exists that it is true. Just as the possibility exists that he embellished it is true.
What I find disturbing is the response from both sides in this case. The left wants to take what he said as the gospel truth and to think the worst of all servicemen, and the right wants to persecute and punish him for stabbing his brothers in the back. Both sides ignore the fact that what he has said is really inconsequential to everything that is going on. That, and what he said is not even horrible compared to what has already come out of the war over there. He has gone public now, and let the cards fall where they may in the investigation of this.
But to hear those who support the troops say that violence against this guy is fine with them, that is plain wrong. Two wrongs do not make a right, and it shows that they do not support the troops unless they toe a line they have drawn in the sand.
Uncle Jimb0 is a perfect example of a total loser, a person who has no problem using violence to solve what he views is a problem. If that is what he thinks it takes to be a real man, he is an absolute loser of the worst sort. He thinks it takes a real man to issue a threat from behind a keyboard? Wow, I am not impressed one bit. If anything, it makes him look like a total wimp. I believe in karma, and I believe that he will reap what he sows in life. As will we all.
I don’t know what else to say except to say that when I see good Americans like our servicemen at each others throats, it is a pretty sad sight. I am sure that it looks that way to the rest of the world who may peruse sites like this.
Infighting in the world of politics is almost a given, but in our armed forces it does not seem right. We may respectfully disagree, but I guess we have to respect each other first. Maybe that is the problem here. A total lack of respect, on both sides.
Either way, it is a sad sight to see. At least for me.
over_educated
My favorite part are the post “debunking” Beauchamp… These long screeds are deliberately written in the “I’m a rational person style” contain absolutely zero actual substance.
The arguments they present pretty much boil down to: “That could never have happened because it is against SOP.” Because lord knows nothing is ever done against the SOP’s in a war zone.
Hey kids… The burden of proof is not on Beauchamp, the
EYEWITNESS observer! It is on you, the keyboard commando. Pretty much everything hey has said so far has been corroborated by existing facts (i.e. he was where he said he was, they did indeed find a bunch of dead iraqui childrens remains).
My favorite bit is this part:
“Such a disfigured person would not be on the base. They would be in medical treatment, stateside. They would not be sent back into a war zone, civilian or military either. Any other suggestion that they might be there for their job is plain nonsense”
Are you honestly arguing that folks with facial scars are not allowed on a military base? What military were you in? The Klingon defense force?
I sincerely and honestly hope the ghosts of every dead soldier hound these scumbags until their dying day.
dslak
Is there really any of that going on here? I don’t read any of the so-called lefty blogs regularly, but I certainly haven’t seen any of it from the posters here who consider themselves to be liberals.
It’s okay to accuse conservatives of doing something wrong without having to say something bad about liberals, too. It can be scary at first, but eventually you will be able to criticize the behavior of one group without needing to mention the other.
John from OPFOR
Bruce, I’m not sure what you mean by “classic military lingo.”
As for Jimbo, he’s a friend who made an accurate call on Beauchamp. You can read his (Beauchamp) diaries and make up your own mind on that end.
I am somewhat concerned by what I’m reading here. There seems to be some sort of desire for Beauchamp’s accusations to be true. But if they are true, Beauchamp is accountable under the Uniform Code of Military Justice.
This isn’t like the whistleblower in the Abu Gharib scandal. Beauchamp was there, and under our strict military law, he was responsible for making appropriate reports up the appropriate channels.
On the milblogging end, we suspect that these allegations are false, or at the very least grossly embellished. However if they are true, we want Beauchamp and all his fellow soldiers brought to proper justice under the UCMJ.
I would be careful, all of you, about being too eager to defend this young man. He is either guilty of lying, or guilty of standing idle while his fellow soldiers committed some terrible crimes. Just something to chew on.
And Bruce, to answer your question….I felt the same way about Abu Gharib as everyone else. Disgusted. It was used as a rallying call by Shi’ite extremists in the south…and the greater Muslim world, for that matter. Soldiers died because of Abu Gharib, which is just another reason that we suspect Beauchamp is lying.
ConservativelyLiberal
IMO, most of the people in the middle are reasonable and hold views that I would call mainstream. The ones on the extreme sides (left & right) hold opposing views. Some on the left believe the worst of our soldiers, and I have seen them post as much on left wing sites like DK. Some on the right feel that soldiers walk on water, and I have seen them post as much on right wing sites like RS.
IMO, the truth is in the middle. Most soldiers are honorable, but there are some who give the rest a bad name. Just like it is in the civilian world. Intellectually lazy people like to paint with a broad brush, it is convenient and it fits their world view. People on either extreme tend to be intellectually lazy, if something does not fit their world view then it is derisively dismissed out of hand.
I am not a liberal or a conservative (note the name I use, it could just as well be LiberallyConservative), both sides hold views that I agree and disagree with. Problem is, I agree and disagree on issues that they both use to determine the purity of the ideaology they hold so dearly. So I am not seen as acceptable to either side. That is why I am a registered independent, no party affiliation. I can see the points made by both sides, and neither side has a lock on the ‘truth’, whatever it may be. Both are right, yet both are wrong. Hey, nobody is perfect.
When I post here, what I say may not be directly related to just what is said here. I visit lots of other sites, but this is the only one that I post at. That is why I speak in more general terms, but when I see something I disagree with here, then I am more specific.
In this case, some liberals are willing to accept what was said by Beauchamp as gospel, and some conservatives are willing to believe that everything he said is an absolute lie. I bet the truth is somewhere in the middle.
That is all I am saying. But I will admit that even I do not have a lock on what the truth is, I can only relate what I feel as viewed from my perspective. Thus, it is only my opinion, and nobody has to even pay a bit of attention to it. Either way, I do not think anything I say will ever change the course of events.
Just think of me as the peanut in the gallery…
dslak
That would be a reason to hope, but not to suspect.
Is no one capable anymore of defending a person’s claims versus defending that person’s character? First, the conservative blogs claim that Scott Thomas can’t possibly be a soldier and that his claims can’t possibly be true. Then it turns out that he is a soldier and his claims are – at the very least – within the realm of possibility. How does that in any way amount to “being too eager to defend this young man”?
dslak
I see where you’re coming from, ConservativelyLiberal, but you seem to wearing the ‘mainstream’ or ‘independent’ label the way liberals or conservatives might wear theirs.
People’s views aren’t irrational because they deviate from the ‘mainstream’ perspective of your own, but because of the evidence (or lack thereof) in support of them. Positions such as all soldiers being cold-blooded murderers or else being incapable of any great wrong seem prima facie wrong because they are so clearly contrary to our own experiences and assumptions about human behavior. Outside of cases like those, surely the reasons behind the positions are more important than whether any particular positions is more likely to be accepted by liberals or conservatives, respectively. If we want to seriously claim to be interested in anything other than partisan mudslinging, that is.
John Cole
I haven’t defended this guy one bit. I don’t know if what he said is true, nor do I really care. I have, on the other hand, had a load of fun taunting and mocking the legion of hysterics who are so easily whipped into a frenzy by the Malkins and the Hewitts. If you folks had a mind of your own, you might be dangerous.
And really, just a touch of perspective here before everyone here overdoses on your hyperbole. ‘Terrible Crimes?’
Sniggering with friends about someone with scars? Knowing someone who ran over a dog? Knowing someone who took a war souvenir? Those are there terrible crimes? Give me a break.
The next few days are going to be funny, with varying milbloggers each trying to be more manly with their disapproval of Beauchamp. That jackass Uncle Jimbo is already laying the groundwork for physical violence, it won’t be long before there is a chorus of jackasses trying to get this guy to have an “accident.”
over_educated
“I am somewhat concerned by what I’m reading here. There seems to be some sort of desire for Beauchamp’s accusations to be true. But if they are true, Beauchamp is accountable under the Uniform Code of Military Justice.”
Hmm, as opposed to uncle Jimbo’s rabid attempts to “prove” it is false?
I don’t care either way whether the accusations were true or false, because, to be honest, I don’t think even if they were true they are that serious.
I mean its not like we are talking about torturing folks or killing civies here. We are talking about a guy who observed rude, insensitive behaviour and did not report it. I know that all of the 101st fighting keyboardists would be the first to report members of their company to the NCO for making a rude comment in the chow hall, thus cementing their popularity with their comrades in arms in a war zone. Are you seriously suggesting that beacuase he didn’t report relatively minor incidents to his NCO that makes him unreliable?
The point isn’t whether or not the events Beauchamp described occured (although I have seen no credible evidence to suggest that he was lying, and by credible I mean something beyond the variant of “well that just could never happen!!!” and sandbox reenactments). The issue is how apeshit the wingnuts have gone over this guy and the swiftboating and threats that followed. You are liars, hypocrites and cowards, and you have my pity.
Wilfred
Maybe he is lying. But the rest of your comments are slippery to the extreme. Several commentators, including Cole and myself, have pointed out that the truth of his comments are irrelevant in light of other things that have happened, yet you claim:
No doubt. But perhaps you’d care to comment on any of the thousands of claims made against the Army for wrongful death, destruction of property and animals.
Did soldiers report these incidents, or did Iraqis? Is Tracy a liar, too?
You seem well-informed about Beauchamps. Perhaps you could indicate a site with the names of all the soldiers who have come forward, as you insist they must, to report on the misdeeds that have led the Army to pay out millions in compensation while destroying any chance to win the ‘hearts and minds’ of the Iraqis and the Arab world. After you get through destroying this kid Beauchamp, of course.
How about a lost of whistelblowers, John, somebody who didn’t stand by ‘while his fellow soldiers committed some terrible crimes’. The Army has only released 500 cases of what it admits are thousands. Chew on that.
scarshapedstar
Face it, John: they never gave a shit about you. As soon as you stop giving the dittoheads their Two Minutes Hate (or Two Minutes Wank, rather) they’ll move on. Your typical brownshirt is like a 800-pound john with psoriasis, a club foot, and problem flatulence. It doesn’t take long before the hookers stop taking his calls, and then he starts stalking them, seeing whose car they get in and then driving by and shouting about how he’s gonna get syphilis.
Zifnab
Speaking of Pat Tillman, the rightwing’o’sphere I’m sure will be up in arms against the latest allegations. Not sure if this was already hashed through but…
~link
So, unless this is being misread, it means Patrick Tillman – the would-be NFL star who quit his career to fight for his country – got fragged by his own fellow soldiers. And this is what the massive cover-up was about.
I’m so happy we have brave and intrepid reporters on the right. Otherwise, who would expose travesties like this, eh? This administration and its supporters deserve each other.
warvet48
I note that none of you really seems to check out what this Beauchamp has written. And for those that did, you just accept that what he says is truth? For myself and many others on active duty and exmilitary, this man’s lies are harmful to everyone serving in his unit (and the military as a whole). It labels them as lowlife’s and thugs.
If someone called your sister and/or your mom a whore, would you be angry? I would think so.
If they said it and it was true, your anger would be tempered because it was true.
Our animosity towards the young private is because of our devotion to the troops and the harm that his BS can bring to them. I don’t imagine any of you will see it that way, but that’s just too damn bad.
John from OPFOR
Wilfred, I’m unsure of your source there. I do know that our soldiers face a real challenge on the Iraqi roads, between IEDs and VIEDS. As a rule, convoy vehicles usually display signs on their front and rear bumpers warning Iraqi motorists to maintain a 50 yard (???, unsure on the exact distance, will have to check) safety distance.
In practice, I know that Coalition vehicle drivers will tap the rear bumpers of motorists who need to move out of the way. Common sense would dictate that such aggressive driving would cause a fair share of accidents.
But again, that’s the challenge we face. Tapping bumbers is a security precaution, enables the vehicle to stay in motion and reduces the IED threat. I do hope that we find a more pro-active way to combat the danger though.
As for soldiers reporting on atrocities. I’m glad you brought that up. Just recently we had two separate unauthorized killings in Iraq, one in the north and one east of Baghdad. Soldiers in each unit reported the crimes through the proper channels, and the guilty parties are facing charges.
This is precisely why, Wilfred, that Beauchamp is not a hero or a whistleblower. He failed to report the crimes, instead anonymously writing about them in a magazine, where no action could be taken. His motive was to be published, not to do the right thing.
Imagine if the Abu Gharib whistleblower had done the same!
I think the largest misconception I’m gathering from these comments is a tacit misunderstanding of how we’re trying to win in Iraq. Goodwill, not bullets, is how we’ll stabilize the place…if the place can be stabilized. But that’s another debate.
The point is…soldiers know that atrocities like the ones Beauchamp described are similiar to losing a battle. If a dog is run over, or a grave desecrated…it loses us hearts and it loses us minds.
But the point that I’d really like for you to take away here Wilfred, is that Beauchamp is not a whistleblower. Keep in mind that he was anonymous and had published three separate diary entries before he was outed, and that he made no move to properly report these incidents.
warvet48
Oh yes, and by the way I retired from them military having served during both peacetime and war. I am 100% disabled from the first Gulf war. Do I think this guy diserves an a$$whooping? You bet. Either he’s lied and is causing irreparable harm to fellow soldiers. Or some of his stories may have an edge of truth, then he failed by not stopping it or reporting it to his command. From my knowledge of the military, it is more likely the stories are false (and I say that after having discussed it with many others as well). You can dislike me and my thoughts, that’s fine. I served so you could say your opinions in these open forums. Have a nice day.
over_educated
“Imagine if the Abu Gharib whistleblower had done the same!”
Yeah, because there is no difference between whistleblowing about the torture of hundreds of prisoners and whistleblowing about nasty comments in the lunch room.
I’m sure every time a soldier makes a joke he is saying to himself “Holy shit!!! Am I losing the hearts and minds of the Iraqi’s?!?!?”
And wait a minute, don’t you all support torture and want “the gloves taken off” in Iraq? Now all of a sudden running over some Iraqis dog requires a full-sclae investigation?
Do you even read this stuff before you post it?
Did you ever think, stop the press, that the reason Beauchamp didn’t report his behavior is because he didn’t think it was serious enough to warrant reporting?
I’m sure the wing-nut response will be: “But, but he wrote about it in TNR!!!”
Uh yeah… Personal war diaries are pretty common writing devices. This book is required reading at many military academies:
http://www.amazon.com/Fields-Fire-James-Webb/dp/0553583859
Are you going to comb through it and complain about every instance where Jim Webb didn’t report uncouth behaviour to his NCO? I mean, after all, thats why we lost the hearts and minds of the Vietnamese…
Idiot.
dslak
Either Baeuchamp is a hero, or he is an America-hating Islamofascist commie. He admits to doing bad things, so he’s obviously not a hero.
Ergo, nothing he said can be believed.
Tim F.
Actually, whistleblowing abu Ghraib did no good until someone leaked pics to the press. The government had to be embarrassed into acting.
John Cole
I think you mean “idiots.” There are a number of them, sadly, and not just one.
BUT THEY SERVE SO YOU CAN WRITE THAT HERE ON THIS BLOG. NEVER FORGET!
Wilfred
John: Google ‘claims made by Iraqis, new york times’ The link is too long to write here. The story also links to the PDF of the 500 government files released to the ACLU.
We have already lost the hearts and minds of the Iraqis. Arabs are an intensely historically minded people. Incidents like abu Ghraib, which we leave behind instantly, linger with them for decades, a phenomenon exacerbated by every new incident. That’s why supporting the troops means bringing them home.
John from OPFOR
Well I know a losing battle when I see one.
John, I’m disappointed though. I blogrolled you when I first stood up my blog because I thought your commentary was even and responsible, even though I disagreed with it. To be met with nothing but sarcasm and smartass comments here…well, sucks. I’m sure you could care less about a dumb link, but geez..
You guys have made up your mind on this already, and that’s fine. I’ll save the comments for my own blog.
Zifnab
The Abu Gharib whistleblower had hard photographic evidence. And if he hadn’t, who would have believed him? You’re saying that US Government workers can electrocute a man while standing half-naked on a plastic bucket, but they can’t run over a dog, because such accounts degrade the military?
We’ve heard countless tales of soldiers acting unconscionably – the massacre at Haditha and corpse burnings in Afghanistan to name a few – and these stories aren’t even unique to the current War on Terror. Pick up a book on Vietnam or Korea or even World War II. US Soldiers aren’t saints. There is nothing in Beauchamp’s story that you wouldn’t hear about in a particularly seedy bar in Alabama. There is nothing in his story that shocks me more than the stories told by my Vietnam POW uncle. And under the Rumsfeld military, where ethical standards are at the lowest of all time lows from the top down, I find the claim that “the US military would never let such violations take place” laughable.
r4d20
Uncle Jimbo is 100% pure bitch.
John Cole
I think I have been remarkably even-keeled on this topic- Beauchamp is either telling the truth about events he witnessed, is a company shitbird who has an axe to grind and is making everything up, or something in between. I have deemed all of it irrelevant.
I am sorry I can not buy into the hysterics, but really, a guy claiming his buddies taunted a disfigured woman and ran over a few stray dogs (and I love animals) scores pretty low on my outrage-o-meter.
Meanwhile, the WH is claiming executive privilenge about Tillman, troops are being charged for equipment lost on the battlefield and having their credit ruined, tours are being extended and there is no clear plan for victory or even closure in Iraq, the military is stretched to its breaking point and it is going to take years to rebuild, and Bush is going to veto any military spending plan that has a 3.5% pay increase for the troops.
BUT OHMYGOD SOME SHITBIRD SAID SOMETHING THAT UPSET THE KEYBOARD COMMANDOS! HANG HIM!
Seriously, get a grip.
over_educated
“Well I know a losing battle when I see one.”
Translation: Well I guess ther is no convincing you yahoo’s with your “well-reasoned arguments” and your “demand for logical argumentative consistency.” I’m going to go back to my blog where my poor debating skills and inability to grasp even simple facts and arguments isn’t challenged by my horde of dittohead commenters. Ta!
The Other Steve
Your concern is rather premature. Nobody here gives a rats ass about the claims.
We’re enjoying making fun of the fucktards who are spinning themselves in circles trying to prove that nothing this guy said was true.
Reenacting running over dogs on your desk with a toy was the best though! You go girls!
The Other Steve
Right! I love TNR, they are the truthiest source of opinion on the planet. All hail TNR.
LOL!
Cyrus
This was posted about three times for no reason that I could see, and as far as I could tell the mistakes were reproduced faithfully.
“Thin-skinned” is hyphenated. Also, you don’t need the comma before “and.”
I don’t know what you mean by “endeared.” Did you have some other word in mind? Also, if you were talking about any personnel other than “REMFs,” I didn’t see it. It seems to me that either you’re saying that the experience John Cole claimed counts as being a REMF (which sounds a little odd), or you’re saying that he doesn’t actually have the experience he claimed to have (how do you know?), or you didn’t notice what experience he claimed to have.
There is no z in “because.” To be fair, though, kudos for correctly using “it’s” and “your.”
You should have had an apostrophe after the s in “anyones.” There is no x in “thanks,” and “In closing,” is not a complete sentence, so you probably didn’t mean to set off what follows it as a separate paragraph.
This is gibberish. “One of the idiots to open my post with?” I assume from context that you mean “one of the idiots I referred to in the opening of my post,” or simply “one of the idiots I opened my post with,” but there’s no way to tell from this itself. There should be a period after “twisted,” but I guess it doesn’t matter, since this is a sentence fragment.
Also, you mixed up “to” and “too” twice in the same sentence, you fucking ignorant wingnut brownshirt!
The Other Steve
We’re sorry. This blog is anti-Idiotarian. We tend to offend idiots with sarcasm and smartass comments. It’s nothing personal.
ConservativelyLiberal
dslak, I just try to be a realist at this end. I think the truth is that some, if not all, of what Beauchamp stated did happen. If it did, I would not be horrified as it is nothing compared to what has happened in the past over there.
I agree with John, just for the reason I stated above. These guys who are coming in here as military men or supporters that are saying that Beauchamp lied are lying themselves when they say that what he has alleged never could have happened. Bullshit, it damn well could have and they damn well know it. When they hold the men of the military up as paragons of virtue, I can’t help but think that they are debasing not only themselves, but the military that they say that they honor. If what Beauchamp says is true, how many of them are going to come back in here and apologize for what they have said? Probably not a single one.
Regarding Tillman, while I am in disbelief that he could have been deliberately killed by his own men, I will not say that it never could have happened. Like what Beauchamp said, it very well could be true. Burning his clothing and bullet proof vest, refusing to allow a full medical exam/inquest, the deliberate abuse of his memory as a political statement, the withholding of information from his family, that emails between attorneys stating that they staved off what could have been criminal charges, the presidents claim of executive privilege regarding details of his death, the three shots in the face at close proximity to him while he was said to have identified himself, the press conference after his death and more are all disturbing and damning.
Or are the military supporters going to claim that fragging or fratricide is something that a soldier would never do? If they say that then we all would know exactly where these people stand, and that they are bold faced liars. This shit does happen, why else would we have words to describe the events?
The statement:
makes absolutely no sense. Absolutely none. If anything, what it says to me is that ‘when details of Abu Gharib leaked out, it hurt the image of the military. We can not allow that to happen again.‘
These people who purport that our military is perfect are full of shit. Nobody is perfect. Nobody.
Brian
“Savaged” seems to mean ‘extremely minor and not very creative or rational flame war’.
Um…gotcha, Balloon Juice?
Cain
The reason you’re being met with sarcastic comments and what not (BTW no offense to you, since you’ve met such comments with aplomb) is that we’ve repeatedly said that nobody cares about what is being said.
Instead, we are trying to point out that the right wing blogosphere instead, is blowing this minor incident out of proportion. Consider, that this stupid thing is on the front page of every right wing blogroll but yet nothing on Walter Reed, Veteran Health and what not. Issues that should be front and center when in regards to the troops and vets. Things you should be propositioning your government to rectify; not bloviate on minor incidents. None of us gives a damn about the contents of his diary. You cannot use the “Support the Troops” meme and not be even handed.
Every time you use “well say what you want we fought for you to say those things”. If it’s true then shut up and let us say it and at least for Gods sake allow us to debate it. We get totally worked up when people throw shit like this in our faces like somehow we must genuflect and shut our mouths because suddenly a military man is speaking. Sorry, that’s not how this country works. If you don’t agree, then you shouldn’t be fighting to preserve it.
Make sense? Let’s move on…
cain
Fwiffo
So, then nobody’s at all worried about Uncle Jimbo’s rampaging gay banana-man?
1charlie2
John Cole,
Curiosity, what was your MOS ?
John Cole
1charlie2:
Active Duty: 19k10- did OSUT at Bravo 2/13, Disney Barracks, Ft. Knox, KY then went to A Trp, 1/11th ACR
WVARNG- 12b20, with Det. 1, Co. C, Moundsville for several years, then with the main unit in Salem for a couple years, then finished my Guard duty at Camp Dawson as an instructor in MOS requalification school, teaching soldiers 19k skills.
Go ahead and have one of your folks look me up- I have my DD 214, and await any attempted smears about my service they want to try to dish out- because, even though I have been honorably discharged, I am OFF MESSAGE AND IN THE WAY OF THE KEYBOARD PATRIOTS.
John from OPFOR
yeesh John, all he asked you was your MOS. No need to be such a spaz about it.
John Cole
I have watched the people using military resources to examine Beauchamp’s record with the whole purpose of ruining him on Jimbo’s thread, I see nothing to indicate they wouldn’t try the same with me.
Unfortunately for the smear artists, I have no blemishes on my record. Served honorably and fulfilled my committment,never had an article 15, etc.
Tsulagi
Damn, it doesn’t look like the sun rose on manana. John from OPFOR wasn’t too bad, but a little circumspect message pearl clutching just doesn’t satisfy.
To sum up, I think elchubs said it best…
Poor, poor elchubs. He just doesn’t get it. He doesn’t know that he can’t do his job if something, anything is posted on one of tens of thousands of blogs that isn’t properly squared away with The Message. The mighty 101st Fighting Keyboardists know the truth.
Some good stuff from over_educated…
And also…
No doubt.
And for the Malkinettes, this is what matters…
Andrew
I think Jimbo may have meant manamana instead of manana.
Trooper
Wow.
I’m pretty moderate in my views- but I am a soldier.
The problem with Beauchamp is that he has betrayed his brethren.
Soldiers depend on each other for survival. This is especially true in an infantry unit.
This need for cohesion creates very interesting group dynamics.
Ultimately the group, who depends on each other for success and survival must be certain that each individual can be trusted to the fullest. This includes tactical prowess and protecting the collective honor of the team/squad/platoon etc.
The problem with Beauchamps writing is not he wrote those stories but the wrote them as fact.
By writing these stories as fact he violated the confidence and trust of his comrades and impugned the honor of the company/platoon and squad not to mention Soldiers in general.
As a result Buechamp will deal with some very pissed off guys who feel betrayed. When bonds of trust in extreme circmastances (as in a war) that feeling of betrayal can be very intense.
You can discount my post if you wish but I know this having been there.
I reserve judgement on Mr. Buechamp to the degree that the Officers and NCO’s will investigate his claims to see if they are valid and the truth will be known.
I do however feel betrayed by a fellow Soldier. If his claims are true then he should have reported them to his chain of command. If they are not he should have never presented his writing as fact.
I have lost people I know in Iraq that were there doing the right thing and serving honorably. It is difficult not to be angered when their sacrifices and other Soldiers efforts a besmirched in this manner.
Thanks.
Dreggas
In two words Horse. Shit.
We’ve been sending troops with brain injuries, those who lost limbs and others right back over to Iraq and have been since at least ’04.
Willem van Oranje
Trooper:
and by reporting these incidents to officers and NCO’s, the brethren’ would not have felt being betrayed?
The Other Steve
If he reported this as violations of UCMJ to the commanders, would he not have been violating the confidence of his comrades?
Another question, again out of curiousity. What angers you more?
Soldiers doing bad things.
People reporting about soldiers doing bad things.
Think about it.
1charlie2
John Cole,
Wow, not sure what nerve I touched. Not sure I care any more.
I was curious because I knew both a 19K and a 14R. One went to school at Bliss and one at Knox. You’d mentioned that you’d driven both, and I was wondering if the career progression was OJT or included both schools.
For some reason, everyone here is prickly all out of proportion to the questions being asked. I’ll take my curiosity and go.
John Cole
My apologies 1charlie2. After watching the feeding frenzy at Jimbo’s, you can understand why I am leery of these patriots.
Steve J.
Fat drunk and stupid is no way to go through life, Jimbo.
Well, I think Jimbo could go on a diet, so you may have to change that statement, Mr. Cole.
:-)
Sirkowski
Oh shit, the pretend soldiers are coming out of the woodwork!
JW
Cyrus,
If, I need a critique on my grammer, I will contact you. I use apostrophes to denote a pause in speech. I generally write as if I were speaking directly to you. You seem on the other hand to perfer, to stay in the shadows and have your minions defend your words. Besides, I thought, you may speak some new type of or derivative of bonics. Maybe I should get the latest copy of Rosetta Stone for Cyrus. No really, if that is all you have to say about my comments, that’s cool with me. Other than that, it was a total waste of space. According to the new-bonics is TenguPhule pronounced Ten-gu-fool.
Again to Cole,
None of the others, I really would like to see your opinion, outside the box. I have read everything you have posted on this specific subject. You seem to change your mind at whim. Don’t allow my comments, comments from your regulars, or those who oppose your comments change your thought process. You know what you see as right or wrong, stick to your guns.
bluliner10
John,
Snuffy, yes those people (and reading your comments doesn’t change my opinion that the most any of your readers bring to this earth is CO2 to feed trees while they live and provide nutrients for worms and dirt after they die) only want to believe the very worst in me, I suppose you and anybody else who wore the uniform. They grab any and all stupid and useless pieces of innuendo and go racing for the door to trumpet how morally superior they are to the rest of us. I respect their right to air their opinions, just don’t believe for a second that I won’t air mine as well.
The left of center and far left have done all they can to demolish what is the United States, so-called intellectuals and peace at any price fans, who will say what they wish, without fear of reprisal, making spurious accusations and generally mistaking free speach for a vulgarity-fest because they think they are creative and a few four-letter word bombs make them sophisticated. And yes, John you can count yourself among them. I don’t have an anger management problem, but I do have a problem with being labeled a murderer, a mercenary, a baby-killer, etc. I have a problem when people think that we routinely commit war crimes, and laugh it off as good yucks because it was funny when PVT Joe wore a skull on his head. You, John should know better than most that the movie Platoon was such an insult to those who served in Vietnam and continue to do so. But NO, this is how we are, heartless cruel killing machines with no respect for anything.
Ah, but you are an advocate, a few soldiers receive their bills for gear destroyed or lost that was not filed as combat loss and suddenly the Army…
Pat Tillman may have had 3 rounds in his forehead it must be murder because his diary said…
Just like a certain member elected to my Congress decided to label my brother Marines murders and War Criminals, long before there were any facts, the Press is too eager and ready to jump on the misbehavior meme, then your readers just jump right in and enjoy the bash fest. So if a national magazine reprints lies and bs, if it could happen, must be okay. Well, I challenge that you and your readers do try to see the truth, do some research, but it won’t happen. They are too lazy and too angry and too wrapped into their own delusions as to their importance.
So John, please GFY also and have a nice day.
Andrew
Think of it this way: the wussy left, comprised mostly of drag queens, college professors, and welfare mothers, has soundly defeated the brave culture warriors of the right. That don’t say to much good about you, does it?
John Cole
Seriously- a little wine, some butt sex, a column in the TNR, and a fictionalized autobiography is all it took to permananently fuck up the culture warriors.
I have only changed my mind about one thing- you are not in the military. You are too stupid to pass the ASVAB.
searp
Bluliner10:
Soldiers misbehave, that is why there is the UCMJ. This is reality. You seem to think either that they don’t misbehave, or that “leftists” think that this misbehavior is rampant, or that we should just shut up about it.
I ask you: why do you think this? Is it because of a single movie made 20 years ago, or this article? What put the bug up your butt?
Now as to the importance of the article, I personally yawn at these things, because while I am certain that they do occur, I think they occur very infrequently. I am proud of the discipline of our soldiers in a crappy environment.
I am sure I would also qualify as one of your “leftists”, although I reject that label, and certainly any insinuation that I am destroying the country. I went to Iraq because I could help the soldiers there. Yup, pretty simple for me: I don’t have to agree with your political opinions to want to help you, you are my fellow citizen and in the crap, that is and was enough for me.
You do the us against you thing too well, and you disarm the country, not those leftists. We’re in it together or we’re screwed.
JW
Hey john,
I still have not gathered that, I have never pointed you out, not insinuated any such thing, especially or directly towards you. I made the comment, that you seem to be holding onto(about non-military personnel, staying away) this was only pointed at(how peers deal with peers) in a military way. I don’t mean fragging, or blanket party, but unit cohesion allows peers and if needed, NCO’s to deal with problems like this. It’s not the end of the world, but it could cause trouble where it’s not needed. My point was if you have not served, don’t make comments on how too correct this.(that was the specific area that they would have no business in) All other areas of thought and comment were open.
John Cole
The rambling incoherence of your posts is truly a marvel.
I have served. What is your point (in thirty words or less, please)?
Sirkowski
Uh, get over yourself, we don’t even know who the hell you are.
JW
John,
I write as if on the phone or face to face. I have not directed any comment toward you unless I addressed you by name.
Maybe you should go back and read, think about a “conversation” that we may have had.
By the way, I came back to your blog. ???
I guess that letting you all read between the lines of my posts is out of the question.
John Cole
JW-
You are making no sense. I have reread your posts, and they still make most sense- and I make my living making sense out of nonsensical things written by kids.
What are you asking, trying to ask, implying, trying to imply, asserting, trying to assert, etc?
The Other Steve
And you wonder why it is so easy for us to spoof you guys. LOL!
JW
Well John,
Let me go back, and see where the interferce came in, at least between you and I. I will get back to you.
Chuck Butcher
Many years ago I was a hotshot firefighter for the USFS, we lived in dirt, heat, smoke, and danger for way too many hours in an environment that was totally unpredictable other than that danger lurked. We dealt with it, not quite the way the “civilized” would have us, we became less couth (ok completely uncouth) and took great pride in being the baddest asses on the mountain, unfazed by whatever came along. Our jokes were rank, our talk rude, our “table manners” a joke. We adjusted to our environment, we did not become murderers but we were not nice to be around and didn’t care much.
Brian (ONG dismounted tanker) noted to me in a discussion prompted by this comment thread (my account of it) that a soldier never knows what his day is until it’s done, he went 9 months without seeing an IED and got blown up and two weeks later blown up again. He adjusted to living in dirt, heat, destruction, and danger; an adjustment that isn’t quite appropriate in civilized America. He’s adjusting to America, but his fit isn’t exactly correct. Some things he finds humorous aren’t exactly mixed company subjects and his reaction to a run over dog was, “So what? They don’t even like dogs.” The reality of his daily life there made the fate of some dog completely immaterial, and this is a guy with his own over pampered pooch who thinks my 145# Great White Pyrrenes is the coolest thing ever.
I’d really like see something like sense involved in discussions of the reality of our troops’ lives. Guys whose days involve getting shot at, blown up, and seeing those results all around them are hardly going to members of Miss Manner’s School of ‘Ettycat.’ None of that makes them baby killers but it also doesn’t leave much room for being mama’s darling nice boy. This caterwauling from the right’s appologists is plain stupid and devalues what the troop’s service entails and what they give up by being there.
Now I’m a way left Democrat and I think George II is damn near a criminal or is one and if that makes me a tear down America subversive to you, you are an ass. I make my living putting together houses and I’ve risked my butt and my livlihood for this country. I’ve opposed the war from the time George mentioned it, still do, and if you can find one single bash of troops in my blog or this comment, you need help becoming literate. The stupid irrational “traitors” response of the very right Right to criticism of their sacred cows exposes the insecurity of their positions and their inability to put together a rational argument in their support. Listen up, Rush Limbaugh isn’t a hero, he’s an overpaid fat drug addict entertainer whose most dangerous occupation involved badgering his maid to find him Vicodin, parroting him only makes you sound stupid, come up with your own inanities.
ConservativelyLiberal
Well JW, how ’bout we make a deal then? If you wish to perpetuate this ‘us versus them’ crap, how about you stay the fuck out of civilian matters? After all, now that you are a military person, only military matters should be under your purview. Or does your view of being or having been in the military make you some kind of Super Civilian?
Since our nation of civilians is led by civilians, and the military serves that nation, then it is only logical that we civilians will comment and make decisions about you. That is the way it is, and if you don’t like it then you never should have joined the military in the first place.
I have to say that my respect for some in our military has only gone downhill after this Beauchamp debacle, and I have always held the military in high regard. I know you military nuts are not representative of the whole military, but you guys sure don’t help your cause. In fact, IMO you guys are your own worst enemies. I have not even read what Beauchamp said, nor do I care to. But you nuts went ballistic over nothing, and you all look like fools. Hardly anyone knew of Beauchamp, and now, due to the efforts of you guys, everyone knows about him. And the comments about violence against him by his so-called brothers in arms only shows how intolerant you guys are of anyone who does not toe your line.
As someone else observed, if Beauchamp had kept this within the military, would have he been treated any differently by guys like you? I doubt it. He crossed the ‘green line’ and would get a ‘blanket party’, would ‘bump into walls at night’ or whatever other ‘justice’ you guys would deal out to him.
Chuck Butcher, who posted above, comes off as one of the people who served that I admire. He admits the reality of men who work together in bad environments, and he is honest about it. But nuts like bluliner10 and some of the other shrill military guys need to be pointed out to other ‘civs’ so they can see how ‘us against them’ you creeps are. Remember, you chose to serve our country, and like it or not, that sure the fuck includes us.
As searp said above:
Damn straight. All for one and all that. But you operate with the support of us civilians, and when you lose us don’t blame us. Blame your leaders, they are the ones who are making a mess of things. That is who I blame, not the people in the military who are doing their best in a mess that they were dragged into.
You people are not perfect, and if you think you are then you are nuts. Nobody is perfect. Nobody! You military people who speak so derisively about us ‘civs’ are no better than people who point at a black guy and say ‘nigger’. That is the attitude that you carry around with you, that civilians are less because they have not served.
If that is what you want to believe, then our military is one fucked up place with idiots like you in it. You are your own worst enemy, and in being such, you make yourself our enemy. Remember, united we stand, divided we fall. And since civilians hold the reins of power, you may not like it but you have to listen to us.
Unless you want a military dictatorship, and if that is the case then you are nothing more than traitors.
John Cole
The first thing you said to me was:
I decided you are an asshole after that, now I think you are insane.
JWW
Well,
You bring it back to the top. Seems you can’t stay away from BlackFive for idea’s. You only rag on Jimbo, is that because you haven’t the nads to spew your garbage against the others. Yeah Jimbo is at home, so are you. Haven’t you the basic set of balls to disagree with those at home as well as those deployed. Maybe that would make you feel, as pissant as you are and have to suck up the friction. No, you continue playing it safe. You were and continue to be “you”.
JWW
Well,
You bring it back to the top. Seems you can’t stay away from BlackFive for idea’s. You only rag on Jimbo, is that because you haven’t the nads to spew your garbage against the others. Yeah Jimbo is at home, so are you. Haven’t you the basic set of balls to disagree with those at home as well as those deployed. Maybe that would make you feel, as pissant as you are and have to suck up the friction. No, you continue playing it safe. You were and continue to be “you”.