Farewell part 2

[Me300]

Well, My original BCT ship date is 2 weeks from tomorrow (Tuesday), and this time 2 weeks from now, I should be on the bus to head down to Oklahoma City for final processing. Hopefully, things will work this time and I'll finally get to go. So again, wish me luck, or, if you're Banker, despise me and wish me death. I can't wait.

[ReflectingGod]

Well, good luck mate! Don't forget to pay us a visit sometimes...

[Rkiver]

I hope you never have to fire your weapon. I hope you never have to raise your weapon. I hope you are polite when in another country and treat those there with respect. I hope you are never attacked, I hope you are never bombed, I hope you never kill a fellow soldier in those oh so frequent friendly fire incidences.

I also hope your team win at CTF.

Best of luck. Hopefully you will be back in the future to post again.

[doormat]

Heh. Good time to join: when you finish basic you'll just have to keep your head down untill the administration changes. But anyway:

1) Don't shoot at the British. We're on your side.

2) Don't shoot at people who have surrendered: it looks bad on CNN.

3a) Don't obey any order to violate the Geneva conventions. (Nothing destroys a life so quickly - Just look at Pvt England. "I was obeying orders" is no defence: the statement "no-one has ever been convicted for following orders" is not true.)

3b) Get a copy of the Geneva conventions and the Articles of War. Read them.

4) Did I mention not to shoot at the british?

[FrostShard]

5) Don't listen to doormat. He loves America really. Good luck!

[Linker]

Do everything uber style. Do a spinny back/side kick and a hard jab in the back of the head with your weapon for me. Try not to get shot.

[Me300]

Thanks everyone.

I hope you never have to fire your weapon. I hope you never have to raise your weapon. I hope you are polite when in another country and treat those there with respect. I hope you are never attacked, I hope you are never bombed, I hope you never kill a fellow soldier in those oh so frequent friendly fire incidences.

I also hope your team win at CTF.

Best of luck. Hopefully you will be back in the future to post again.

That's the best thing about my MOS.
When I'm done in Fort Leonardwood, I'll be going to sunny California in a quest to learn some foreign language. Right now it looks like it will be Arabic, Korean, Farsi, Mandarin, or possibly Russian. I'll be doing that for 1.5 to 2 years.
Wanted to go in as a 19-K (Abrams Armoured Crewmember), but with an ASVAB score of 93 (on little sleep) the people at MEPS told me I was to smart for that.

[poortwistedme]

Be careful, send postcards, etc.

[Curiosity]

2) Don't shoot at people who have surrendered: it looks bad on CNN

Unless they pose any conceivable risk to anyone in which case unload every bullet you have in to them. Your safety and that of your buddies is paramount. What kind of jackass would compromise their safety because they're worrying about some traitorous tv footage?

[ReflectingGod]

2) Don't shoot at people who have surrendered: it looks bad on CNN

Unless they pose any conceivable risk to anyone in which case unload every bullet you have in to them. Your safety and that of your buddies is paramount. What kind of jackass would compromise their safety because they're worrying about some traitorous tv footage?

And what sort of jackass would shoot an unarmed man who has surrendered?

[Montyphy]

And what sort of jackass would shoot an unarmed man who has surrendered?

The kind of jackass who noticed the C4 strapped around the guy's body perhaps?

[doormat]

When a man takes an oath to serve as a soldier for any free and democratic society he is recognising that he may die in the execution of that oath. He considers his life to be less important than the principles of liberty and democratic freedom. Any true soldier will tell you that it is better that ten soldiers die than a single innocent civilian.

Gen. Sir Mike Jackson said that the problem with the american armed forces is that they are told that they are heros all the time. They get a medal for shooting a rifle, a medal for passing out, a medal for being deployed... and when they find themselves in real combat situation they discover that they aren't heros: the're just ordinary people with some basic training and a gun, and shouting "Sir, Yes Sir" won't bring their friends back to life. Then they get jumpy and shell-shocked and they do things that, if you told them about them in the calm and quiet of their homes, they would consider very wrong. Like Me300 said, it's the less inteligent people who find themselves holding an iraqi at gunpoint with the sound of gunfire still ringing in their ears and being shouted at in a language they don't understand, thousands of miles from home.

It's a training problem. Jackson famously did a kit inspection of some american troops in iraqi: he found no toilet paper, 20 US flags and loads of deforming ammunition (which is illegal under the Conventions.) They had been told that toilet paper would be provided (good luck with that), that they were heros and would be raising the US flag over the enemy by teatime, and they hadn't been told the basic rules of war.

If you can overcome that, Me300, the US army has some of the best equipment and the most dedicated troops in the world, and represents a real chance to make a diffrence. Just don't believe them when they tell you that you already have.

[Rkiver]

Yes they did have toilet paper. What do you think the flags were for?

[edd8990]

Remeber the two golden rules:

1. No tk'ing
2. No lagging

and you'll be fine.

[Rkiver]

3) Flash/bangs are not fireworks.