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A Secret War, Strange New Wounds and Silence From the Pentagon
NYT via Yahoo ^ | November 5th, 2023 | Dave Philipps and Matthew Callahan

Posted on 11/05/2023 10:26:22 AM PST by Mariner

When then-Lance Cpl. Javier Ortiz came home from a secret mission in Syria, the ghost of a dead girl appeared to him in his kitchen. She was pale and covered in chalky dust, as if hit by an explosion, and her eyes stared at him with a glare as dark and heavy as oil.

The 21-year-old Marine was part of an artillery gun crew that fought against the Islamic State group, and he knew that his unit’s huge cannons had killed hundreds of enemy fighters. The ghost, he was sure, was their revenge.

A shiver went through him. He backed into another room in his apartment near Camp Pendleton in California and flicked on the lights, certain that he was imagining things. She was still there.

A few days later, in the barracks not far away, a 22-year-old Marine, Lance Cpl. Austin Powell, pounded on his neighbor’s door in tears and stammered, “There’s something in my room! I’m hearing something in my room!”

His neighbor, Lance Cpl. Brady Zipoy, 20, searched the room but found nothing.

“It’s all right; I’ve been having problems, too,” Zipoy said, tapping his head. The day before, he bent down to tie his boots and was floored by a sudden avalanche of emotion so overwhelming and bizarre that he had no words for it. “We’ll go see the doc,” he told his friend. “We’ll get help.”

All through their unit — Alpha Battery, 1st Battalion, 11th Marines — troops came home feeling cursed. And the same thing was happening in other Marine and Army artillery units.

(Excerpt) Read more at yahoo.com ...


TOPICS: Foreign Affairs; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: demons; dybbuks; ghosts; spooks
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To: Mariner

NYT and Yahoo? We’re talking “not believing a single word” raised to the billionth power. There may be a story there, but whatever it is, it’ll be two or three alternate universes separated from ours. Eff both organizations and the DemocRAT sewer they daily ooze from.


21 posted on 11/05/2023 11:46:04 AM PST by Da Coyote
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To: Mariner

Has a Jacob’s Ladder sound to it. Might be a feeler to a movie script. Would make an interesting one. Only one way to clean yourself of that kind of guilt one might be feeling.


22 posted on 11/05/2023 11:48:44 AM PST by Dogbert41 (“Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God” -Matthew 5:9)
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To: Mariner

How do I know this is story is true? Sorry to be cynical, but it’s The NY Times. One has to ask what their motivations are.


23 posted on 11/05/2023 11:58:55 AM PST by ConservativeInPA (Rebuild the Temple.)
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To: Mariner
The only thing remarkable about their deployments was the sheer number of artillery rounds they had fired.

Ammunition brought from a foreign country? Ammunition with toxic waste added as a 'twofer' profit for foreign countries? I'm guessing this is real - it's not a psychological problem but a poisoning problem.

24 posted on 11/05/2023 12:09:30 PM PST by GOPJ (The reason Biden won't protect our border is he wants cash kickbacks for doing it. )
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To: Leaning Right
But for me the bottom line is that we have no business having troops in Syria. None at all.

+100%

25 posted on 11/05/2023 12:15:52 PM PST by Jim Noble (The future belongs to those who show up)
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To: Vermont Lt; All
"I can only imagine the “shock wave” impact of thousands of large rounds being fired over a short time. That has shake your head a bit."

It's not the shoot-er who gets beat up by the shock wave, it's the shoot-ee. For the shooter-er, all it is is muzzle blast (which ordinarily will have a shock wave associated with it). It's a pretty good thump but it's also directional. The bulk of it goes down-range along with the round. The crew standing behind the gun only get a secondary effect.

The largest artillery barrages in history were in WWI, some of which lasted months. If the gunners were susceptible, it should have showed up then. But it din't. Shell shock generally only gets to the guys on the receiving end.

26 posted on 11/05/2023 12:16:21 PM PST by Paal Gulli
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To: Mariner

It’s sad that the VA didn’t recognize PTSD decades ago.


27 posted on 11/05/2023 12:17:40 PM PST by Blood of Tyrants ( "It is easier to fool people than to convince them they have been fooled."- Mark Twain)
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To: BenLurkin

“fictional”

I haven’t heard of ghosts before. But mental trauma among combat troops, including artillery units is real. But for most there is a God-given mechanism called memory loss that properly heals.


28 posted on 11/05/2023 12:22:14 PM PST by elpadre
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To: Mariner

I’ve stood near the 5” on destroyers and cruisers. The shock wave is significant. Being perpendicular to the muzzle, or beyond, even more so.


29 posted on 11/05/2023 12:22:19 PM PST by ETCM (“There is no security, no safety, in the appeasement of evil.” — Ronald Reagan)
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To: dfwgator

George Carlin was usually spot on. It is a real shame that he’s not with us today.
Here’s his talk on how the brutally honest term “shell shock” morphed into the gentler-sounding “PTSD”.

https://youtu.be/hSp8IyaKCs0?si=U24ym0zNunjpSfV7


30 posted on 11/05/2023 12:30:25 PM PST by Leaning Right (The steal is real.)
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To: Mariner

Hi.

PTSD. Know many soldiers with it.

I was never in combat, but 1st ID tank quals on the range near Custer Hill will rattle your cage.

5.56mm


31 posted on 11/05/2023 12:30:39 PM PST by M Kehoe (Quid Pro Joe and the Ho have got to go)
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To: Mariner

I hate the nyt slime balls. Such bs. All made up cognitive dissonance.


32 posted on 11/05/2023 12:37:03 PM PST by Track9 (You are far too inquisitive not to be seduced…)
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To: Vermont Lt

Yes, during the testing in 80’s guys had blown ear drums, blood running from their faces, etc., just from the concussion of firing. They had limits of the amount of rounds you fire, like one a minute and such. Eventually they got the shock absorbed from the cannon, but in peacetime their is a limit on how many rounds a crew can fire.


33 posted on 11/05/2023 12:45:43 PM PST by Jumper
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NBC News:
Russia is firing a staggering 20,000 artillery rounds per day, a senior U.S. defense official estimated, while Ukraine is firing from 4,000 to 7,000 rounds daily.


34 posted on 11/05/2023 12:55:13 PM PST by Chode (there is no fall back position, there's no rally point, there is no LZ... we're on our own. #FJB)
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To: Leaning Right

We had bureaucrats lie to our face about the numbers of troops in Syria, and to the President, and nobody cared. Congress failed to hold them accountable, nor has Trump admonished them. Who knows what really takes place in Syria.

35 posted on 11/05/2023 1:02:09 PM PST by Theoria
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To: Mariner

What a fantastic plot for a movie.

I didn’t know the NYT previewed treatments within their pages labeled as ‘news’.

Er... /s


36 posted on 11/05/2023 1:04:24 PM PST by logi_cal869 (-cynicus the "concern troll" a/o 10/03/2018 /!i!! &@$%&*(@ -)
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To: fightin kentuckian

Good point.


37 posted on 11/05/2023 1:32:58 PM PST by piasa (Attitude adjustments offered here free of charge)
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To: Antihero101607

I’ve fired both the M2 and a single shot Armalite .50 caliber. I wire plugs and electronic muffs. While you can dampen the sound to safe levels the concussion from the muzzle will literally shake your entire body like a bowl of Jello.

L


38 posted on 11/05/2023 1:38:41 PM PST by Lurker ( Peaceful coexistence with the Left is not possible. Stop pretending that it is. )
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To: alexander_busek

With a US keyboard, I would have spelled it Grafenwoehr.

Can’t find any umlauts!

From Wikipedia: the Danish/Norwegian Ø is like the German Ö a development of OE, to be compared with the French Œ.


39 posted on 11/05/2023 1:49:37 PM PST by Alas Babylon! (Repeal the Patriot Act; Abolish the DHS; reform FBI top to bottom!)
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To: BenLurkin

Fiction, fantasy, fooling the masses with outright lies, the NYT has done that for a long time. I had a two semester course that REQUIRED each of us to subscribe to the NYT.
It was during the time that Fidel Castro and company were killing their way to Havana. Hiding in the mountains but openly rooted for by the New York Times.
Subtle, but as plain as can be.
The Times has been communist club flunkies for a long time.
I have not read the paper for a long time. The paper is better used for insulation or starting small fires and barbecues.


40 posted on 11/05/2023 2:00:25 PM PST by BatGuano (2020 = Stolen Election. Believe it! Molon Labe.)
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