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It’s more than that, though. Add to it the weight of trying to aid some of the most godawful people on the face of the planet.

Here’s another war story for you:

My Company responded to a large deep-buried IED only a few blocks east of our position while in the Dora neighborhood of Baghdad (just south of the Green Zone). A Humvee patrol had been rolling through and was blown up. It was real bad. Dense residential area, 2-3 completely trashed Humvees, one of those burned to practically nothing.

I moved my PLT in on foot from about a block away. I smelled barbecued chicken in the air, I swear to God. I almost remarked on how it was making me hungry, when I suddenly realized what I was smelling—flash-cooked Soldiers. Another Platoon from the Humvee unit was working to dig out the bodies from the burned-up wreck. The bodies were completely charred, but still recognizably human, somehow. Soldiers in the other badly-damaged Humvees had lost limbs in the attack.

While they had that duty, my commander had us canvas the area to see if anyone knew anything. Of course nobody saw/knew/heard anything.

The thing about this IED is that it was “deep-buried” and estimated to be about 100 pounds of home-made explosives. So, some hajis managed to dig a 5-6 foot deep hole, drop 100 pounds of explosives into it, and fill it back in without ANYONE in this dense collection of homes seeing anything? Right.

That’s not even the outrageous part. The haji whose house was right in front of the blast crater had the gall to demand some money to replace the windows that were blown out by the explosion. To this day, I’m glad I wasn’t the one who talked to that POS, or I’d likely be on trial for killing an unarmed man.

These people are not worth it, yet we keep giving it our all.

Unbelievable, FSE. The restraint it would take to serve in such an environment is beyond what I can comprehend.

Latest article from CNN. Lawyer on Bales: 'There may be explanations'

"A lawyer for Sgt. Robert Bales said Tuesday "there may be explanations" for the alleged shooting this month by his client of 16 Afghan civilians, but -- even if that is what happened -- the government will have a difficult time making its case.

"I don't know if the government is going to prove much," lead attorney John Henry Browne told CNN about the shootings of nine children, three women and four men in a village in southern Afghanistan. "There's no forensic evidence, there's no confessions."

He added, "Nothing really justifies killing women and children in a noncombat situation. But there may be explanations if that's true. And right now I want to say once again, I'm not sure that's true."".............

..............."He said he had met with Bales had met with three of his lawyers, including Browne, for 11 hours and that Bales was in shock and doesn't remember what happened. "That's common with concussive injuries," he said. 'You remember certain things; you don't remember other things.""............

........"The military will also conduct a separate investigation into the circumstances surrounding Bales' assignment to the combat outpost in southern Afghanistan, the top commander for U.S. and NATO troops in Afghanistan said Tuesday.

The administrative review, which will take place separately from the criminal investigation, will be conducted by U.S. Forces Afghanistan, Gen. John Allen told the House Armed Services Committee.

The investigation will consider how Bales was assigned and why he was assigned to the combat outpost, Allen said. "It will look at the command relationships associated with his involvement in that combat outpost," Allen said.".........

The investigation will examine other administrative, training and command channels "to see if anything can be attributed to the incident," the official said.

Karzai doubts U.S. account of rampage The official said the investigation will go beyond Bales' time in Afghanistan and will look at deployment decisions and training he received prior to arriving in that country."...............

(WOW, I smell a big CYA coming from the military with this probe.)