Referring to the water run, of course. The soccer video was posted while I was watching the first one. The part in the soccer play where the barrel of the rifle was used to hit the ball back was actually pretty funny.
Yea, my bad. It’s a simple video, actually. A soldier is standing beside his vehicle in full battle rattle kicking around a soccer ball with some Iraqi children.
Thank you for the video Bear_Nenno.
That part made me wince a little.
For those that can’t view **Bear Nenno’s ** video link, it shows an soldier kicking a soccer ball around with some Iraqi kids. Looks a little like a warmup drill kinda deal, where each person gets the ball and passes it to the next guy.
I’m not saying it’s a bad video, or that it’s bad to play ball with the kids…it’s just the image of a soldier in full battle gear, and carrying his weapon while doing this looks kinda surreal to me. If he really needs the armor and weapon, why is he playing soccer?
One always has it more than an arm’s length away from the body. Ya dont really need it to go take a piss, but you take it.
The soccer thing looks like a well why not situation. Looks like he’s waiting around for the guys in the background who come out of that building to finish up whatever business they have in that area. I gonna guess those kids ran up to him to satisfy their curiousity and he pulled out that soccerball from the vehicle.
He seems pretty skilled. That, and it looks like a pretty nice ball lead me to believe it’s his ball.
NEVER… not always.
In other situations I’d agree but I suspect that those kids are pretty used to seeing the full dress and are used to rifles. As sad a reality as that is, in that context using the rifle as a simple tool didn’t bother me. What was amusing was how the soldier didn’t think of the rifle as anything but an extension of himself and I find that sort of automatic, unthinking action has humor in it. (I never claimed to have a “normal” sense of humor.)
What I see overall in the video is the soldier reinforcing the idea that he’s not there to hurt the kids and can be trusted. Quite a contrast to the water bottle video.
Thank you!
The dicks in the first video are Grade ‘A’ jerks. They are scum and idiots and doing their country a disservice. It would be nice if they were caught and busted in rank and given a long restriction.
I feel really bad for that one kid, if he survives this shit, he might grow up to be a world class runner. What really stinks, is after that long run, I bet you he was really thirsty.
Bear_Nenno, it looks like you found one of the good guys that we can all be proud of.
Jim
That’s fine, but I wouldn’t ever let a kid play with someone holding an automatic weapon. It’s not exactly that I found that disturbing, but mightily unsafe. Even more so in Irak, where they probably shouldn’t stay anywhere near a soldier, armed or not. In fact, they probably shouldn’t stay anywhere in Irak.
As for the first video, of course, the OP didn’t overact. Complete, utter assholes.
My Bolding
Just curious, a chance to learn something new.
Is Irak how Iraq is spelled in France and are the Iraqis called Irakis?
Jim
That was pretty appalling, but compared to the other stuff we’ve done it’s pretty tame actually. If that was the worst we’ve done we’d be in pretty good shape.
Yes for Irak. Iraqis are called Irakiens. Though it’s not the first time I’m remembered it’s not the proper spelling in english, I keep forgetting, or rather not paying attention.
Thank you. I would not worry too much about it. I wish I had a second language I could write in half as well as you write in English. It really is impressive. I struggle enough with English as my primary language.
Jim
Yep, it sucks that those American kids/soldiers, most of whom don’t want to fucking be there, and have their tours extended out of the blue, sometimes freak out and fuck with the local kids.
Nothing like them seeing their buddy’s legs and arms blown off by IED’s planted by cowardly psycho religious extremists.
I am not arguing that we shouldn’t be there or not, but those young soldiers have no fucking choice, and I would bet if you rode around all day wondering when your shit will be blown up on the road, you might freak out a bit also.
Yes, they fucked with the kid, so fucking what, it’s a surreal twilight zone thing over there, and shit happens.
I don’t buy that explanation. Those soldiers didn’t seem like they were freaking out to me. They seemed like they were deliberately being cruel, joking all the while because it was a mere game to them. They were having fun doing this.
There’s a big difference between that, and losing it because you just saw someone’s head get blown off.
Argent Towers, I am saying that the whole experience of the day to day bullshit they deal with can cause callous behavior. I am not condoning it, but am saying that that’s what happens in war.
Yes, fucking with the kid is wrong, but the whole fucking overall thing is wrong, and I won’t condemn the troops on the whole because of this single bullshit incident.
I quoted mstay because his post seemed to imply a pattern of behavior among our whole force over there.
Neither would I. I just think that the actions of these soldiers are due to flaws in their character, not some kind of external stimulus.
Most soldiers don’t do things like this. Those that do, should not be in the army.
Or by people who don’t like foreign invaders who “fuck” with their kids. And wives, and brothers, and friends . . . It’s also funny that you call people willing to strike at the most powerful military in the world “cowardly”. Whatever else they are, I serious doubt that they are cowards.
And if those soliders get kidnapped and beaten to death by that kid’s parents or siblings, it’s also “a surreal twilight zone thing over there, and shit happens”. Right ? Or it that only true if the victim is Iraqi ?