Nobody goes into the service to protect the lives of soldiers unless they have already been in service. It's almost arrogant to say I am going in the service because those guys over their need me, unless you have been in and understand the camaraderie of serviec and the guilt of knowing that those are your friends, your comrades in arms (whether you know them or not) and you should be there with them in case they need help. I can't say that guilt statement is true. I don't think you owe it to anyone to go back in for any reason. You've done your part. However, that doesn't mean that those feelings don't exist. Hell I've been out of the Marines for 20 years. I'm 30 pounds overweight, haven't fired a rifle in years couldn't run with a full pack further than to the refrigerator, yet I still feel an obligation to those serving. If not for my wife and children, if I were single I would probably do what I could to get back in, just in case there was a situation where I could trade my life for some young kid with a wife and child at home. And I hate this F__ing war. I think it was a stupid, arrogant move that we will regret for years.
You enlist in the service because of some abstract concept. "Freedom, Patriotism, the American way, or some impending threat to your country, family or some abstract concept etc..." Only after you have gone through training and served side by side with others in uniform do you develop the camaraderie that allows most people to put their life on the line for the guy next to you because you know or hope he'd do the same for you. Some people have a level of this willingness to sacrifice themselves for others in their blood. Occasionally you will see it in the headlines, someone steps up and risks their safety to help a complete stranger. But if you ask a cop, a fireman, a Marine, a Soldier or any other serviceman 99 out of a 100 times they will tell you I am not a hero. I was only doing my job or I was just doing what needed to be done at the time, I didn't even think about it. For many people who do not inherently have that level of selfless service, the military and the camaraderie it develops produces that level of selflessness. I can't speak for SFC Sebban, but as unfortunate as it is to say, especially if he didn't have a family. I bet he would say he went out the he wanted to. Protecting and helping the men he served with and who served under him. Russel Madere wrote: > Can I ask how his fellow soldiers did not appreciate or deserve what SFC > Sebban did? He didn't give his life for some abstract like democracy or > freedom, he gave his life to save his buddies, those soldiers he lived with > daily. > > Pundits will point to him and claim he died for freedom. That isn't true. > He died warning his brothers and sisters and treating thier wounds before his > own. If he does not get a CSM or other award for valor for these actions > then the Army has lost a modicum of my respect. > > Any soldier who says he fights just for his country and an abstract concept > is full of shit. My fellows fought and served for our brothers in uniform. > We didn't give a shit about the civilian command, except they really liked to > fuck with us. That is why I still have a dark place in my heart for cheney. > > >> This really has to stop. I'm not a dove or a peace-nik by any means, but >> amazing Americans like Mr. Sebban are giving their lives for people who >> don't appreciate it, and, frankly, don't deserve it, in my opinion. >> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~| Deploy Web Applications Quickly across the enterprise with ColdFusion MX7 & Flex 2 Free Trial http://www.adobe.com/products/coldfusion/flex2/?sdid=RVJU Archive: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/CF-Community/message.cfm/messageid:231203 Subscription: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/CF-Community/subscribe.cfm Unsubscribe: http://www.houseoffusion.com/cf_lists/unsubscribe.cfm?user=11502.10531.5
