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‘Combat Obscura’ Pulverizes Romantic Ideas About American Marines And War
The Federalist ^ | 3/27/19 | Susanna Hoffman

Posted on 03/27/2019 8:07:12 AM PDT by Sopater

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To: Sopater

So what? War is hell...as they say.


41 posted on 03/27/2019 10:31:26 AM PDT by hal ogen (First Amendment or Reeducation Camp?)
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To: Lurker
No, this footage shouldn’t be publicized, I believe on moral grounds but legally he used government time and equipment — if you’re you use company resources for a pet project the proceeds go to the company u less otherwise specified by contract, right?

Someone up-thread said “no one wants to know how the sausage gets made,” and I believe that completely encapsulates this situation.

Ever since Vietnam, this sort of thing just gives people who have no right to an opinion the ammunition they want to make our military look bad. Yes, war is ugly, and footage like this will never look nice. Violently killing another human, even in the most justified of circumstances and noblest of causes, is going to be a horrible and ugly thing to see. Mush-heads who can’t appreciate that have no right to be put in a position where they can judge the actions of our military.

For the record I have never served, in combat or otherwise. My first thought was that consuming copious amounts of weed in a warzone seems like a bad idea. Probably the grunts are self-moderating and if someone uses weed to the point that he’s endangering his buddies the other grunts will deal with the issue. But guess what? I’ve never watched my friends die and I have no right to speculate on the situation. Moreso the millions of dipshits out there who will pee their pants in rage at seeing what they perceive as not-gentle-enough handling of Taliban corpses.

42 posted on 03/27/2019 10:31:45 AM PDT by TheDandyMan
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To: TheDandyMan

“ I believe on moral grounds but legally he used government time and equipment“

You missed the part where the DOD said he could keep the footage.

Have a nice day.

L


43 posted on 03/27/2019 10:33:10 AM PDT by Lurker (Peaceful coexistence with the Left is not possible. Stop pretending it is.)
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To: Lurker

I didn’t miss that. Regardless of what the DoD says I believe they had a good case to NOT let him keep it and should have pursued far harder.


44 posted on 03/27/2019 10:36:11 AM PDT by TheDandyMan
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To: ssfromla
It is and I don't appreciate it being released when my son and other marines are still in Afghanistan and Syria.

Why? Did you have a problem with "Restrepo"? People need to see the truth and just maybe start pressing our government to get us the hell out of there.......

War and killing in Afghanistan has become as much a part of their culture now as baseball and football is here since the Russians first entered the country back in 1979. The Russians accomplished nothing and wisely got out after 9 years.

We've been there for 18 years now with nothing to show for it and no end in sight.........

45 posted on 03/27/2019 10:50:26 AM PDT by Hot Tabasco (ui)
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To: Red Badger
Sounds like an updated movie version of “Sand In The Wind”..............

Yea, I was thinking this sounds a lot like Restrepo, maybe a bit more focused on the negative though.
46 posted on 03/27/2019 10:56:02 AM PDT by Svartalfiar
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To: Svartalfiar

“Sand In The Wind” was a novel of Marines in Vietnam. Total fiction. Part of it was where Kerry got his lies he testified before Congress about..................


47 posted on 03/27/2019 10:57:41 AM PDT by Red Badger (We are headed for a Civil War. It won't be nice like the last one....................)
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To: frog in a pot

All I can tell you is what I learned about Afghanistan something like 40 years ago. Of the 60 Peace Corps Volunteers in my group, 3 stayed in country more than the first month—those 3 were secretaries assigned to the Peace Corps headquarters in Kabul. Everyone else came home, nearly all with amoebic dysentery which took a long time to clear up once they came home. Most came home with a pound or two of hashish as well. (I never made in country, so I avoided both).

England, the superpower of the 19th century fought four wars in Afghanistan, none ended well and a one ended spectacularly badly, as in after being promised safe passage to India from Kabul, were wiped out, men, women and children at the Khyber Pass.

In the 20th century the USSR invaded Afghanistan only to leave a few years later with its tail between its legs. My point was and is that invading Afghanistan has been historically easy and leaving it has been shown to be difficult. No matter how good an idea it might have been at the time (and it may have been, I don’t know) we will leave the place and it will revert to what it has always been.

Do you know the national sport is a game like polo but played with a dead goat, sometimes stuffed with sand to make it heavy. Knives were outlawed in the game some years ago, but it illustrates how Afghanistan rolls.


48 posted on 03/27/2019 11:06:06 AM PDT by hanamizu
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To: Sopater

I’ve watched parts of it. Boredom, drugs, and psychologically damaged young Americans.

Unfortunately, I know some of these damaged goods personally. In fact, one of them is here with me right now.

Our Wars of Adventurism are a travesty, and sadly the realization by these young men why they are really there helps create a total disconnect to their humanity.

Seeing someone who has to keep their life back at home in a “safe bubble” to have some semblance of normalcy or contentment contributes to my anti war stance with Syria, Afghanistan, Venezuela, et al.


49 posted on 03/27/2019 11:20:18 AM PDT by sockmonkey (I am an America First, not Israel First FReeper.)
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To: Ruy Dias de Bivar

Don’t be talkin bout the Herd Now! https://skysoldier.net/173rd-Airborne-Brigade-Association-Foundation/


50 posted on 03/27/2019 11:24:25 AM PDT by ABN 505 (Right is right if nobody is right, and wrong is wrong if everybody is wrong. ~Archbishop Fulton John)
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To: Ruy Dias de Bivar

My dad, when he did talk, told of things he saw in Europe with Patton’s Third Army, no different than this.

I’ve herd Vietnam vets say the same.


Similar to WW2 Navy grandfather. He absolutely would not talk about combat but was happy to talk about Honolulu hookers and lighting farts on fire aboard ship. These guys do whatever they can to cope with month after month of violence and death. The times may change but the warrior doesn’t.


51 posted on 03/27/2019 11:35:50 AM PDT by lodi90
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To: TheDandyMan

Sounds like an opportunity for people comfortably ensconced on a couch in an air conditioned room to sit in judgement and condemnation of men facing tension and situations most humans will never be subjected to.
...............................................
My thoughts exactly. Just one more attempt by leftist ideologues to weaken our resolve to do whatever needs to be done to defeat the enemy. Collateral damage is always a fact of war and it always will be. End of story.


52 posted on 03/27/2019 7:58:12 PM PDT by fortes fortuna juvat (Civilization is held together by the hangman's noose.)
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To: ssfromla

It should be banned and confiscated.
..............................
This is one more reason why the current Commandant should be replaced. He’s a Democrat shill who just the other day undercut the President’s efforts to secure the border by whining that the Corps’ operations are compromised by his border policies.


53 posted on 03/27/2019 8:06:31 PM PDT by fortes fortuna juvat (Civilization is held together by the hangman's noose.)
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