[antidisestablishment]

I’ve not been in combat, but I have many friends who have and are. I was active duty USAF for ten years and have spent another ten in the reserve. My son is a Navy corpsman, and I am deployed right now, though I work at staff level.

I have to admit that I love seeing terrorists killed. I can also tell you that things are not the same. When I was here years ago, we all felt that we had a mission and were making a difference. Clarity of purpose is one of the distinct and positive characteristics of war—even in the midst of all the confusion.

Now I watch ISIS taking areas that we bought with blood and see innocent people tortured and killed. I am not a big interventionist, but I am sickened by our lack of effort-we destabilized this area and we have a moral obligation that we have not kept. I do believe that not going to war can be worse than war.

[rlmorel]

I think we are largely in agreement, especially that last paragraph of your post.

And I also don’t have any issue in taking satisfaction with terrorists getting greased. There was a video a few years ago of a bunch of Marines who called in an airstrike on a building that had a bunch of Iraqis holed up in it who had taken out a few Marines trying to take them down. When the ordinance hit the building and blew it to smithereens, the Marines whooped and hollered as if their team had just scored a touchdown.

I am certain that anti-war people who saw that were horrified, these barbaric men turning killing into a game and cheering wildly, or whatever.

When I saw it, I understood it completely. It is one thing to sit outside and watch and judge, as many do. It is another thing to be inside it.

Thanks for your service, FRiend.