On decompressing
From a discipline standpoint, one incident like this is too many. But from a realistic standpoint, two soldiers charged out of 2,200 flowing through Cyprus on the way home from Afghanistan is a pretty decent statistic.
Shit happens. Time for a couple of Van Doos to pay the piper.
Shit happens. Time for a couple of Van Doos to pay the piper.
posted by Babbling Brooks at 9:40 a.m.
3 Comments:
"Shit happens. Time for a couple of Van Doos to pay the piper."
Wow, so much for giving one's own (just-out-of-combat) soldiers the benefit of the doubt, or if it goes legal, the presumption of innocence!
Anyone remember the movie "The Devil's Brigade", about the 1st Special Service Force, the joint US-Canadian Commando force in WW2? Remember the scene in which during their training, they finally get a pass to go into town?
In a bar, a disagreement between some Commandos and some local gents got physical and escalated to the point where the MPs were called in. In the movie, the CO made all the troops pay for the rebuilding of the destroyed bar, deducting it from their pay. This along with a real ass-chewing and loss of future passes, as I recall. And that was it.
Now I don't know if that incident actually happened with that particular unit.
But the point is that we all know that incidents very similar did, do and will happen with other combat outfits. Have we all become so PC that we expect all just-out-of-combat soldiers to act like Boy Scouts? The wise CO knows effective educational corrective measures other than courts-martial or other administrative legal measures to deal with a bar brawl or other little over-the-line behavior.
Dave, in the second link from the post, you'll find that the two soldiers in question pleaded guilty to assault.
That's why I didn't presume their innocence: they told the world they were guilty.
And in this case, it's out of the chain of command's hands, because the case went to a Cypriot civilan court.
I can only assume you didn't read the linked articles before commenting, because those facts are clear.
I'm all for giving soldiers the benefit of the doubt, where it's warranted. Unfortunately, in this case, it seems no such consideration is merited.
Well put BB.
This is getting quite a lot of play in the papers here, especially Journal de Montreal (for those of you unfamiliar - The Toronto Sun with more circulation, in French and the chance to cover a real hockey team).
They had a big band with reversed type above their mast head yesterday...
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