Finishing em off

[frisco-kid]

Right on about the media being with us. Alot of us would have had our asses in a sling, considering some of the things we did to get through it all. Hell, puting a couple of rounds into bodies before approaching them was pretty much SOP; especially if you coundn't clearly see their hands. This wasn't taught in P-Training, but had been learned the hard way by a few guys, I'm sure. And yeah, some of them were wounded. Oh well.

Ron: Always glad to know you're on our side. I'd be in your squad anytime, Bro.

[revwardoc]

I was under the impression that "Rules of War" were only attached to countries that had officially declared a state of war. Those diaper-heads in Iraq are nothing more than thugs who only deserve to be treated accordingly. Hiding behind some ridiculous religious dogma doesn't make anyone a soldier. I can only assume that you combat vets had more respect for the NVA than you would have for an enemy who wore no uniform. I believe that when it comes to terrorists, the only rule is: Don't fight fair; fight to win!

Kill 'em all
When in doubt;
Let God
Sort 'em out!

[Robert Ryan]

Glad the marine was not court martialed, he only did what any other of us would do in the same situation.

[b3196]

Two miracles!!!
Im agreeing with Keith that Tom is agreeing with James and yes there is a god....
James, with Paco coming in April...you know what this means....You need to be there
Bob K

[the humper]

The numbers are correct for the total Dead in that period of time, world wide, 54,000. The KIA's incurred in K. were 34,000+ for the 37 months and 2 day excursion!!!! Not quite a thousand a month KIA.

SF
NC

[Jerry D]

Thanks for the Update on the KIA's "Humper" the site I refrenced from must have used the before memntioned worldwide deaths. Always good to get up to date intel.

[lilripple4vets]

If I need information from a prisoner, he is going to die, its just a matter of how much pain he is willing to go through before he tells me what I want to know and then he dies.

Ron....

If word got out that all prisoners would end up being shot, then there would be no incentive for them to part with any information. Not only that, but the enemy would do likewise with any soldiers they happen to capture. I am sure there are many former P.O.W.'s (not to mention their loved ones) who are glad their captors, for the most part, played by the rules of war.

I agree with you that the more civilized a society is, the less tolerant they are for killing. I wonder if Bush took that into consideration before he ordered our troops into a less-civilized part of the world.

Nancy

[exlrrp]

Originally posted by Paco James!

As I always knew....you and I can agree on at least ONE thing!

(Pighmpr's doin' fine after the operation. Now, gotta talk him into Psyco Mtn. Know your gonna have a problem gettin' there due to the new digs in Oregon....but will miss your cantankorus ass there! But understand. )

ABU BROTHER!

Packo

I luvya, dude, even if I scream at you sometimes and call you nasty names--its just like the rest of my family
Abu, Tom, stay good

James

[DMZ-LT]

Nancy . No one in my platoon was ever captured and we never took a prisoner. Your right

[exlrrp]

Originally posted by 39mto39g The problem as I see it is one of civilization. The more civilized a society is the less tolerent they are for killing.
And the rules of war. Rules for a war are stupid. 1st rule-there are no rules, The end.
To me if you go to war, you kill them, thats it. Ambush is ok snippers are just fine. If a civilian comes along with his hands up hes just an eaiser target. Booby traps, deseption are ok.
If I need information from a prisoner, he is going to die, its just a matter of how much pain he is willing to go through before he tells me what I want to know and then he dies.


If Im going to war I want to be on the side that doesn't take prisoners, that uses tourture, that uses ambush, that used snipers, that uses booby traps, that bombs civilians, that uses assasonations, that leaves the enemy skinned and still alive along a trail.
I will win.
Ron

Well, we tried all that stuff in Vietnam but it didn't work so good, or had at least mixed results, anyway. Not that it wasn't a good effort, tho.
Its all very interesting to me, because of how it completely fucks with my sense of ethics, both Pre-war and Post-war.
"I condemn the bad in others, yet do the worst, which I abhor"
Seneca
Ol Seneca hit it right on the head as far as my own experience. I mean I'll wring my hands over needless death like a good Christian but when the fighting blood gets to boilinng in me, I'll do everything you detail above. Yr right!! There's no rules once you get out of sight of management, which we did all the time in the lrrps, frequently in the 327.
"War is no place for a civilized person, they just don't have the stomic for it. "
Again I agree fully, even factoring in the usual gonzo spelling.
It's an intersting process, coming in and out of civilization, in and out of combat. It's hard to turn that on and off on a 9:00 to 5:00 basis--I bet You and Andy and Bob know (God bless you!) all about this. Evrybody I knew, lrrps and 101st grunts, were just as badass off the job as on--thats why they kept us out in the field a lot, one can assume, to cut down on the discipline procedures.
True fact: I could count my official days off in Vietnam on one hand--that had a few fingers shot off. So we just TOOK em!! When we could and where we could. And they (the management) knew better than to give us too much shit, other than for forms sake, say, because there's only certain types of people that will or CAN do that job well and they are few and far between.
I was talking to one of my son's friends recently, he spent 4 years in the 90s in the 82d, as a grunt, between wars. Todays version of a paratrooper. It was so cool, someone to sit around openmouthed while you trot out all the old stories again. Well, they WERE pretty bodacious for a teenager. (self: Airborne Ranger [lrrp]: age 18. If that sounds like bragging to you, well, paste it in yr fcking hat!)The time they dropped us on a platoon of the fuckers. The time the heavily armed, hostile peasant peed on me (self:hiding in the bushes; it is possible to freeze and quake simultaneously) The time Woody backed the MPS out of the bar, naked, with a grnade, pin pulled, while Stuart and I stole their jeep. The time I blew the Claymore on those VC medics. The time my pals disarmed some ARVN Colonels and sent em packing with taunting jibes in their ears (We never saluted ARVN--they didn't like that) The time in Ban Me Thuot on Tet when the NVA broke up me and Stuart's Beer and PussyFest '68 and I had to run back to the base barefoot, then set in a bunker getting mortared until the 173d came and saved us. The first man I shot in the back (age 18--there's that bragging again) Getting tossed out of Green Beret bars for--get this!--fighting!
Well, it was an exciting war, at least the little part of it I saw. I haven't even told the half of it, always get accused of bragging when I try. Well, I'll just say I learned some subtle but effective ways of making my presnce felt. Like only a few thousand did.
And that is the place where I learned that the only important rules in life are the ones you make up and follow. It's basically between you and God. Thats why I would never have wanted somene "embedded" with me, they might have had an awful acccident or something.Yes, yes, thats what might have happened while we were out, oh, say, saving lives. It could get a little messy sometimes, accidents DID happen. All very simple and believable
I don't want to take on to much like a badass, in most cases I was a young boy just trying to keep up with some of the hardest cases in the world who played by no rules at all. Goggling, openmouthed, eyes popping would describe me a lot, hoping that, despite the long odds, things would still; turn out good (this helped a lot in my future career as a contractor)

I like the world to see me as a nice kindly person who at least tries to get along with everybody(Yes, I know, B, its just for camouflage)
But that hard core teenager with no rules didn't die in Vietnam, I still keep him around for Doomsday Defense and he never failed me yet. But its like riding a tiger sometimes he gets loose yet and creates havoc. They trained him too well

Ciao Ron, stay good
Come and see me in OR, a great place for hunting and I'm getting some new guns--have my own firing range, archery, too

James