there's one at http://s96920072.onlinehome.us/TPC.htm with a soldier and two kids holdin a sign that says: still safer here than at Michael Jackson's.
i'm just too lazy to find it, it's quite a bit of months old
Solders are nether peacekeepers or warmongers. They do what they are told by the powers that control them. They are however human as such they have all the human traits. US (and the solders from the other collation forces) will show kindness and caring to many. They will also show anger and vengeance to their enemies due to the deaths of their buddies. This is war as it was and will be.
What is the point of this thread? A few pictures of GI's posing with kittens and stuff doesn't mean that the US army has transformed itself into the RSPCA - any more than pictures of GI's torturing Iraqi POW's meant that it had transformed itself into the Waffen SS. An organisation as large as the US army will inevitably contain it's fair share of saints and it's fair share of sinners. And putting people into front line combat will bring out the best in some people and the worst in others. So please spare us the kitten pictures. If I really want to puke I'll stick two fingers down my throat.
awwww Johnno, dont be like that. I fully understand and agree that they dont change the army into the RSPCA, but bad news is fast to spread, and with no counters (good news is not very salesworthy), any little that goes to address the balance cant hurt.
I respect and value soldiers but not american ones. Yes the pictures are touching but they won't bring back all the british people the americans killed through friendly fire. They robbed a young man of the ultimate award of the victoria cross because they were too bloody stupid to identify a british tank in an area where the enemies have no tanks. They shot down a british jet becase the american operator entered the transponder code wrong.
Everyone makes mistakes but that goes beyond a mistake.
But thats categorising all american soldiers together....not really fair. I agree there were some REALLY STUPID mistakes made, but there were also so REALLY BRAVE men out there, on ALL sides. I respect all Soldiers from all sides, they were prepared to put their life on the line for what they believed in. My contempt rises with the higher coofftopicnds. the grunts (and i dont mean that disrespectfully) have little or no control over their objectives.......
Some soldiers are better than others......same as every other 'industry'. Experience, ability, and natural aptitute makes all the 'real' decisions in a man. Respect the players, hate the game.
OK, maybe I'm being cynical, but I don't need pictures of soldiers with kittens 'n' kiddies to appreciate what the soldiers in Iraq are really doing. And before some hayseed accuses me of 'bashing the USA' or something equally dimwitted, I will spell out that I'm talking about all the coalition troops, and I think that leaving the dirty politics aside, on the whole the troops are doing a good job in very difficult circumstances. So I'm not bashing the troops.
Nope, it's the pictures I object to, because they are just cheesy propaganda. Hitler and Stalin were always having their pictures taken with kids, to make themselves look like nice guys. If Osama Bin Laden sends out a picture of himself stroking a kitten will it convince you that he's a nice bloke? No.
I'm sorry, but I think this sort of stuff just insults our intelligence and it annoys me.
Brave men yes, but 'putting their life on the line for what they believe in' is wide of the mark. These guys are all professionals. If their superiors send them to invade Iraq then they invade Iraq. If they sent them to invade Sweden then they would invade Sweden. They obey their orders and they get paid at the end of the month. They aren't civilian volunteers. Whether they agree with the war or not is irrelevant, they have to obey the orders they are given.
No, i know that, but I mean they believe in the armed forces and what they represent. I dont mean they full heartily agree with every single order their given, but they believe in the overall idea that the balance of what they do is right. else they wouldnt be there to be ordered.
People dying from friendly fire is nothing new. Look at history. Look at the numbers for past wars. It happens much less now. It is a fact of war. It also is something that they try very hard to prevent. Look at Tillman’s death.
I believe that JTiedes's intent in posting those soldier pics was to show another side of a soldier.... be it a US soldier or not. We do forget that these men ARE human and we tend to speak of them as an evil entity.
So these cutsie pics of soldiers with kittens or babies make you sick... what about the pics of service men working day & night on the relief efforts over in So. Asia .... over 1,000 U.S. military personnel are arriving to help along with Australian and New Zealand military, the Pakistani navy and Singapore who sending eight helicopters, a Navy ship and more than 500 military personnel.