U.S. Iraq war casualties reach new milestone

[rjs246]

3,653 heroes and counting

what are the Vegas odds on when they reach 4,000?

So I share your general "this war is nonsense" stance. However, a post like this, which seems to sarcastically refer to soldiers giving their lives (for better or worse) as 'heroes', makes me think that you need to be run over by several heavy vehicles.

If you're not being sarcastic by calling them heroes, my apologies, but the fact is that these people are being told to do a job and they are doing it, potentially to their peril, and last thing that they deserve is skinny ass ineffectual hipsters calling them names.

Mock our leaders and war-planners all you want. Few will argue with you, and I will heartily ridicule those that do, but try to rein it in.


Or don't. Ultimately I don't care if you look like a douche. I just hate being embarrassed for people who make fools of themselves.

[Diomedes]

We're supposed to all get in line behind this ridiculous idea that all soldiers are heroes, especially the ones who die in battle.  That's a bunch of bullshtein.  Surely a few of them were doing something heroic when they died--people die doing heroic shtein every day all over the place--but for the most part they're just soldiers dying for lies.  Their job is to kill people and get killed at the direction of a corrupt government which spoon feeds the rest of us the hero worship Kool Aid from cradle to grave.  They've even got people like you pushing it.

I'd rather these soldiers weren't getting killed, but that's as far as I go.

[rjs246]

Your hipster ass is doing nothing other than sitting back and casting judgment on people who are tasked with protecting you. If you're comfortable with that then there's nothing more to say.

[ice grillin you]

i dont want any soldiers dying it sickens me everytime one does...and i have the utmost respect for what they do but no more so than a coal miner who dies in a mine accident that was due to the neglience of the mining company

[Diomedes]

3,707

[Phanatic]

Great interview...

http://www.comedycentral.com/motherload/index.jhtml?ml_video=92011

[MURP]

[SD_Eagle5]

Top 10 companies profiting from Iraq war

[Diomedes]

3,760

[Diomedes]

3,800

This month has shown a nice let up in fatalities.  "only" 58 so far.

[Sgt PSN]

Obviously I'm happy to be back in KC because I love it here and hated life in NC.  But more so than that, the job I'm doing now (different than what I did out here before) makes it a lot easier for me to leave work at the end of the day and not have a guilty conscience. 

When I was in NC on recruiting duty, obviously many, if not all of the people I recruited would end up going to Iraq.  That's something that really took it's toll on me mentally because I simply don't think we're over there defending this country. 

Now, my job is basically doing the exact opposite of recruiting.  The command that I'm at in KC is the headquarters for the entire inactive reserve component of the Marine Corps.  Everyone signs and 8 year contract to enlist but it's broken down into 4 year incriments.  4 yrs active duty, 4 yrs inactive.  So if someone gets out after 4 years they still technically belong to the gov't for 4 more years and can be recalled to active duty at any time.  My unit is responsible for doing all the recalls. 

During the month of September we've got X amount of Marines being recalled and coming out here for screening and possible involuntary activation.  My job now is basically to talk to these young men and women about their options......the most important one being that if they volunteer to come back on active duty for a year, they get the option of choosing where they spend that year at.  Which means that they can go do a job at any Marine Corps base they want and can specifically request a job that will not require deployment.  This will automatically void the possibility of them getting sent back to Iraq/Afghanistan but at the same time it will still count towards their service obligation. 

I talk to large groups of Marines each day about this stuff and it really helps me sleep better at night knowing that I'm literally helping these kids dodge the bullet.  Most of them have already been over at least 2 times and many of them did 3 deployments in 4 years.  As far as I'm concerned, they've done their job.  Yeah, some of them may have to put off school for a year or leave their jobs and maybe even leave their families behind but at least they're a hell of a lot safer and will be able to take leave and visit home whenever they want and call home whenever they want. 

Needless to say, damn near everyone I talk to now wants to get more info on this stuff and I don't blame them one bit. 

[Diomedes]

3,835

The last couple months have seen a drastic downturn in casualties.  August was 84, September dropped to 65 and so far in October only 29.  The last time the daily count was below 1.5 was March of '06.

[PoopyfaceMcGee]

That's a good thing, right?

[MadMarchHare]

Wait'll the Turks invade.  That should get the numbers back up for you.

[Diomedes]

That's a good thing, right?

It's less of a bad thing...there's a difference that ain't simply rhetorical.