Life gets more fucking strange

[midget donkeys]

So last week I was contacted by a reporter from PBS frontline news. He was tracking down people from my old platoon from the army to interview for a documentary. I found this vary odd since a platoon is a small unit. So why would anyone be so interested in my particular platoon?

Because people from it have done a bunch of fucked up shit.

Turns out one of the guys from my platoon, Eastridge, got convicted of being an accessary to murdering Shields, a dude from old 2nd platoon. I wasn't great friends with this guy, but I stayed out all night at a bar drinking beer with him in korea and hung out etc.

It know looks Eastridge and some other jackasses were planning to rob fucking banks or already fucking did. I used to do all sorts of missions with Eastridge. I was there when the motherfucker got his purple heart. Everybody in our platoon used to joke about how to do the perfect bank hiests, since it was so similar to some of the missions we would do. Apparently everyone wasn't joking.

And on top of that the medic from my platoon that I used to play guitar with just tried to off himself because he couldn't live with all the shit he experinced during the war.

Here is a news story about it
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/12/us/12soldier.html?_r=1

 

[jrt12]

damn man... thats so sad. you make it through all the insanity over there, just to be taken out by "friends" back home. so fuckin sad...

 

[ElektricEyez]

dang bro! How are you doing with all that crap that happened?

 

[midget donkeys]

I am doing pretty good actually. Married, job, dogs, jam with my buddy in his basement, etc. Thanks for asking.

If you want to read more crazy stuff about this case, here is much longer and in detail news article:

http://www.salon.com/news/special/coming_home/2009/02/13/coming_home_four/

Its pretty strange for me to read since I knew a bunch of the people in it.

 

[Metaltastic]

That's nuts man, I can't imagine what they would've had to go through to become so desensitized to murder (especially Bressler, since he was the one that did the shooting, and looking at that pic of him he definitely looks like a scary motherfucker; did you know him at all?). At least Bastien seemed to have some shred of a conscience (being a medic and all) to have been the one to spill the beans, but then again, he also seems to have been involved in the murder of that other dude (Pfc James), though it figures that Bressler was the triggerman there as well. And reading about the stuff they went through (or rather, the most basic of overviews) and the way they each were suffering, fuck - let no one say war is any cleaner today, with all our modern electronic warfare technology and medical abilities.

And I certainly don't wanna dredge up any unpleasant memories with you, but I remember that story you relayed some time ago about the little kid you worked with in the kitchen, who was later tortured to death by insurgents/terrorists/extremists/whateveryouwannacallthem. I'm sure you're a tough guy dude, and I'm glad to hear you're doing well back in the "real world", but while I've of course never been in a combat situation, fired anything more than a .22 rifle for target shooting, or even been in a real fight, I've watched enough anti-war movies (and played enough anti-war games, especially Metal Gear Solid) to feel a deep sense of sympathy for what you guys must go through; don't think for a moment I have any pretense of having the slightest idea what it's like, I'm just trying to say that I know it's horrible beyond imagine, so yeah, FWIW, my deepest sympathies dude.

 

[Metaltastic]

And I just read the second article you posted; absolutely horrible what Eastridge has gone through, and what makes it even worse is it doesn't seem like there's much hope for him in the future. And the fact that the army was so blatantly negligent in their duties; I dunno, for some reason I just always thought of them as this intensely professional and competent organization that took care of its own, not out of any great sense of sympathy, but at least to ensure that they had stable soldiers who were able to follow orders and restrain themselves, not a bunch of bloodthirsty traumatized maniacs; but I guess that makes them more efficient killers...

 

[Cyanide_Anima]

Man, that's sad. Poor bastards.

 

[midget donkeys]

I knew who the Bresler guy was but I didn't hang around him. He was in 2nd platoon with Shields during the first tour. I didn't go on the second tour with them, my time was up.

I hold people responsible for there own actions. I don't feel sorry for Eastridge to much. I am actually very disturbed that he will be released from prison someday.

I think the second tour was to much for him. No body should be forced to do multiple tours. A person can only take so much, and America just keeps sending the same guys over and over. Then the ones that are bad apples come home and visit the same evil on u.s. civilians as we have been subjecting those "terrorists" to.

Shit like this is why I quit drinking when I left the army. Hell shit like this is why I got out of the army in the first place.

Marcus, I laughed hard when I read your line about the military being highly professional and taking care of its own etc. Only a civilian or a newly brainwashed grunt could say such a thing. The American army can only do one thing: kill. It does that better than anybody. Everthing else to do with the army is completely dicked up beyond description. You just have to experince how retarded it is to fully appreciate it.

 

[P-E]

Hey midget donkeys, seems you've been going through really hard times man. I tip my hat to you, sir, to have been able to endure all of that... and I almost wish I could say I understand what you mean to sympathise but I don't, and pretty much everybody here won't. "The American army can only do one thing: kill. It does that better than anybody. Everthing else to do with the army is completely dicked up beyond description. You just have to experince how retarded it is to fully appreciate it."
That part gave me the creeps man.

That being said :

That's a movie. Damn it looks bad.

 

[Metaltastic]

Marcus, I laughed hard when I read your line about the military being highly professional and taking care of its own etc. Only a civilian or a newly brainwashed grunt could say such a thing. The American army can only do one thing: kill. It does that better than anybody. Everthing else to do with the army is completely dicked up beyond description. You just have to experince how retarded it is to fully appreciate it.

Yeah, like I said, I figured it would be for the sake of having efficient, stable soldiers capable of following orders and restraining themselves to avoid human rights abuses that can cause bad publicity/public support, but I guess with the former the only order they need to follow is "go there, kill that", and with the latter, well, what the public doesn't know can't hurt 'em...

I'd be interested to get Wolfeman's input on this, since he's been in the army for awhile

 

[J.DavisNJ]

And I just read the second article you posted; absolutely horrible what Eastridge has gone through, and what makes it even worse is it doesn't seem like there's much hope for him in the future. And the fact that the army was so blatantly negligent in their duties; I dunno, for some reason I just always thought of them as this intensely professional and competent organization that took care of its own, not out of any great sense of sympathy, but at least to ensure that they had stable soldiers who were able to follow orders and restrain themselves, not a bunch of bloodthirsty traumatized maniacs; but I guess that makes them more efficient killers...

I'm inclined to believe that there are professionals and bad apples in any type of large organization. It is just the nature of the beast I suppose. I can imagine it being way worse in the army though, given the circumstances and emotions involved.

Still, pretty sad story. I guess some can cope with and handle combat better than others. I'm sure they were facing other demons as well.

-Joe