17 Oct. 2024 M14 Picture of the Day

[eb in oregon]

I wore the Army uniform during three wars. The Vietnam War, and both Gulf Wars though I only got to the last one at 57 years old. I've not been in combat but trained for combat for 24 years. I've known many veterans of war back to WWI during which my paternal grandfather served in the 77th Division, my uncle Rudy in the Marines. My dad in the pacific theater during WWII. The bottom line is war is the ugliest of human endeavors and there is nothing cut and dried about it. Evil and bad things happen done by good men because of circumstances beyond individual control. Paratroopers shot Germans surrendering during the Normandy invasion as there was no other choice. To let them live only allows them to kill you later. Remember "Saving Private Ryan" and who shot CPT Miller? A very real possibility. While it seems inhuman to murder prisoners and wounded survival is one of the strongest of emotions and the survival of self and comrades is critical. That however really isn't the same as outright murder such as the incident at Mai Lai which was indisputably a war crime. At least these days most wars don't involve killing everyone indiscriminately as in the old days, that however is always a possibility and it is happening in many places all over the world this very day. We are the same creatures were were 10,000 years ago and have not progressed all that much, we just have better technology.