Children in Naibkhel
Some kids in Naibkhel. This was one of the last villages our unit visited before redeploying home. Little buggers swiped two cameras from a truck...took an hour to find them and get them back. Fortunately, they were the exception, and not the rule.UPDATE: I hope nobody thinks all the kids there were scoundrels. Not so.
posted by LTC John at 8:26 AM
3 Comments:
Hey. Instapundit has a great link to a WaPo editorial written by a Marine Major heading back to Iraq for the third time.
I wrote about it on my blog, as it reinforces so many of the things I have been saying. My reasoning on the subject, which is based on my general knowledge of history, seems clear enough (and I never rule out the possibility that I can be wrong). But I always feel that, because I have never served in the military, my opinion on the subject bears less weight than that expressed by you guys who have been in the thick of battle. I thank you for doing the things that I, for various reasons, chose not to.
Now don't you go and turn the fallacy of subject matter experience on yourself. Your opinions as to anything are as valid as their logic and evidence. My complaint about folks critical of the war effort usually center around the lack of evidence and the non-constructive nature of their arguments. Damnit, we need decent argument to make any headway.
Anyway, don't turn into one of those "every man thinks meanly of hmself for not having been a soldier" types. There are enough of us to get 'er done.
Nah, I'm not down on myself for not joining. It's more thinking about the road not taken. My grades in HS were decent and I was courted by several recruiters. But I was picked on quite a bit cause I was short (actually I wasn't picked on that much, it just seemed like it), and the concept of boot camp seemed to be more of the same. Plus, though I never revealed it to anyone and tried to convinced myself otherwise, I knew I was gay and didn't want to be in the position of getting court marshalled, as then my parents would find out.
PS. I should not have said "always". Poor choice of words. I should have said "sometimes". And that thought is really meant to acknowledge that a soldier may have a better grasp on aspects of the Iraq discussion simply because of his or her experience in the military. I also know that sometimes there is great advice that comes from someone on the outside because there is less emotion to cloud that person’s judgment.
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