The things soldiers put up with to server this county

[demonfoxkiller]

Four seconds in Afghanistan: Was it a crime, or combat? - latimes.com

this story hits home for me because when i was in Iraq i had a soldier that made a call like this. and when the smoke cleared it was just a civ on the battlefield. i was transferred shortly after and not even two months later that young man put his rifle between his knees, his chain of command was charging him with murder. it make no sense to me to send us over there, show us that our lives can end in less then 5 sec and then punish us when we make the call to save ourselves and other, regardless the outcome

 

[OfftheRails]

What a fucking mess.

 

[TinderPlus]

absolute bullshit, they should put themselves in his shoes for those 4 seconds and see what they would do. I probably would have done the same thing.

 

[BOT#00001]

One of the soldiers in my battalion got put on trial in Italy in absentia for the shooting death of an Italian body guard who had just paid the ransom of a reporter. The fact that they were dealing with the kidnappers was not passed along. They approached a snap checkpoint and sped up when given a warning to stop.

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/03/06/international/europe/06cnd-italy.html