Does no one else see the inherent danger in issuing fully automatic weapons to people this stupid?
It would be against the rules for me to call you as I see you in this forum. However, as you don’t warrant a pit thread, allow me to simply say that I vehemently disagree with your characterization.
A guy is in combat in Iraq, and sees his wife as his soulmate, the thing he lives for, and the woman who makes what he does bearable and worthwhile. He’s just been injured in the line of duty, and they tell him he has to choose between his finger and his ring. He chooses the ring, and moves on, and is even then not uproariously pissed when the ring ends up lost.
Heaven forbid we should have people like this fighting for our country. How horrendous that someone might value a symbol of love over a finger that would likely have been useless to him anyway. What travesty that he didn’t lose his mind with outrage when the hospital lost that very symbol.
Indeed. People like this shouldn’t be carrying automatic weapons. People like this should be in a position to help us think clearly enough that automatic weapons aren’t needed in the first place.
TellMeI’mNotCrazy, you’ve made be reconsider my post from earlier.
I’m yet again proven to be an ass. It never fails!
EJ - We’re talking about a guy who made a conscious decision to have a finger (a non-regenerative body part) amputated, versus damaging a piece of jewelry which was not only replaceable, but quite likely repairable.
On second thought, maybe this is exactly the type of person that makes an effective soldier.
Nah, an ass never reconsiders. I’m honored to have my thoughts on something taken into consideration 
As much as I hate to agree with Fuji, you are a moron. And if your wife appreciated such a gesture, rather than be appalled, you married a ghoul. What good is great-grandma’s ring ever gonna do for anybody?
OOPs, got directed here from a BBQ pit- apologize completely for direct insult Earthworm. I was just incredibly shocked to find someone willing to give up body parts for jewelry.
Your replaceable is my irreplaceable. I can see where the guy’s coming from. If the doc told me he was going to cut off my wedding band “to save as much of [the] finger as they could” on my “mangled left hand” I think I’d tell him to save the wedding band, too.
You disagree. That’s fine.
But I find your arrogant derision to be in poor taste.
About as much good as mangled ring finger. The American flag is just cloth and ink. Yet, people have given not merely limbs, but lives, to defend it. Are they morons too? Symbols can have meaning and value far beyond a bit of flesh.
It’s not like I’m advocating you chop off a fully-functional arm to save a tennis bracelet you got from the local Kay’s Jeweler. The finger’s already gone, man. It’s just a question of how much stump you get to carry around for the rest of your life.
You disagree and/or don’t understand, that’s fine. But I hardly think that makes you a moron.
Two thoughts, here.
1.) Keep in mind that the soldier in question was a **combat-injured 19 year old newlywed. ** We can sure as hell disagree with what he did (as it appears his wife does), but criticizing what is basically a gallant kid in a horriffic situation seems unkind at best.
2.) Even considering the insane pressures of trying to save lives in wartime, I would have hoped the MDs would have tried a little harder to keep an eye on the ring, given the circumstances. Couldn’t they have hung it on the guy’s dogtag chain as soon as they took it off, or something? It would have only taken a second. (Service personell and MDs, please pardon me if this is impractical or impossible in real life.) I just hope nobody swiped the damned thing.
If the guy’s finger was not too badly injured, then I think he’s a moran. However, if his finger was very badly injured and it was just a case of taking a bit more of his finger off, well I still think it’s stupid to be honest. But I wouldn’t consider the guy a moron.
Why, because his value system is diferent than yours? How very open-minded. :rolleyes:
The thing is you just can’t tell, when you are sitting bleeding and in pain, what the prognosis is on your finger. It can look pretty damn awful and still have some functionality saved. I’d risk the ring for any shot at keeping my fingers.
No doubt, but that’s where the MD’s come into play. I doubt they’ll agree to amputate if there’s a reasonable expectation of recovery.
So tell me the meaning behind this particular move. Now his wife REALLY knows he loves her? Now that the all precious ring is lost, how will they go on?
BTW, if an officer actually gave up soldiers lives to go recover a flag, I would want him court martialed.
I think the Red Hot Chili Peppers said it best when they said “If you have to ask, you’ll never know.”
If I had to make the choice between saving my wedding ring or my finger, and I picked the ring, my wife would divorce me for being an idiot.
Personally I’m pissed the doctors even offered the guy a choice. I would suspect the guy was hurt and in shock yes? Not really the best time to be making life altering choices.
They should have just snipped the ring off, put it with the guys personal effects and saved the finger if they could.
I can’t. I don’t know what was in his mind, or what the ring meant to him. And neither do you. I do know that at that particular moment, the ring meant more to him than his mangled finger. So, what of it?
Who said anything about officers giving orders? I was talking about people giving up their lives of their own volition. Not the same thing at all.