# So... have you killed anybody? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [December 5, 2010, 7:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-have-you-killed-anybody/563021 "2010-12-05T07:33:54Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2010, 5:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-have-you-killed-anybody/563021/61 "2010-12-08T17:04:00Z")
I got to check two of the yes boxes. And as noted by somebody above, I’m not much improved by the experiences. Not as awful as all that, but all else equal I’d rather not add any more to the list. And living as I do now, that’s a pretty safe bet. ---
**Author:** ![Hypno-Toad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b2d939/32.png) [@Hypno-Toad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hypno-Toad)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2010, 6:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-have-you-killed-anybody/563021/62 "2010-12-08T18:24:22Z")
I haven’t but the boy who lived next door to me killed his dad when dad wouldn’t cough up drug money. Probably still doing life. I figured him for a bad seed but had no clue how bad. ---
**Author:** ![GiantRat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e47c2d/32.png) [@GiantRat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GiantRat)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2010, 6:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-have-you-killed-anybody/563021/63 "2010-12-08T18:30:48Z")
> [@Randy\_Seltzer](#): > > I’ve certainly tried: I worked on a capital case back in law school, though it’s still in appeals now. > > My brother-in-law killed a bunch of [dudes](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moro_Islamic_Liberation_Front) in the Philippines in the late '90s and early '00s as a US Marine captain, both personally (i.e. with an M-16) and indirectly (e.g. by calling in missiles). Earned a bronze star with a valor device. My impression was that, in terms of traditional military personnel, we were in a largely advisory role. Googling hasn’t digging up much to contradict that, and the Wiki link you’ve included makes no reference to USMC. Could you elaborate or clarify? ---
**Author:** ![Randy\_Seltzer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ee7513/32.png) [@Randy\_Seltzer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Randy_Seltzer)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2010, 7:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-have-you-killed-anybody/563021/64 "2010-12-08T19:03:26Z")
> [@GiantRat](#): > > My impression was that, in terms of traditional military personnel, we were in a largely advisory role. Googling hasn’t digging up much to contradict that, and the Wiki link you’ve included makes no reference to USMC. > > Could you elaborate or clarify? Well, since it was my BIL and not myself, I’m not too clear on the details. Also, I’m not sure how much he wants me discussing his history on a public internet forum. But I can tell you a little more about what I know. He was deployed to fight Islamic militant separatists in the Philippines, and rebels in Somalia. That wiki link is to just one group of separatists, and I have no idea whether he fought those guys in particular. He had missions where he was trudging through jungles in the Philippines, though he doesn’t like to talk about those. Apparently those guys would go village to village abducting boys to join their militias. BIL would bring his team into a village, and there would be hysterical mothers begging them to bring their sons back. He says that on at least one occasion, he was able to bring kids back home safely. In Somalia (I think it was Somalia? Definitely somewhere in eastern Africa), he protected an American embassy. He was once the top-ranking officer around when a bunch of rebels attacked, so he led the counterattack. If you’re thinking you’ve got another phony military story on your hands, let me ease your mind. My BIL has a wikipedia article about him. He once testified on a military matter before a U.S. circuit court, and I read that case in law school. He is extremely google-able. However, I ain’t givin’ you a name. Sorry. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2010, 7:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-have-you-killed-anybody/563021/65 "2010-12-08T19:43:50Z")
Speaking from some experience in these matters, there’s usually a bit more shooting that goes on with our “military advisors” than the Pentagon PR would have you believe. It’s certainly nothing as significant as the full-up warfare of the last 10-ish years in Iraq & Afghanistan. But when you put DoD advisors in the field with host country troops and local revolutionary guerillas or narco-gangsters are also nearby, “stuff” tends to happen now and again. Our ROE was pretty simple: Don’t start anything. But if something starts, do what it takes to finish it sucessfully. ---
**Author:** ![Fatwater\_Fewl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/4491bb/32.png) [@Fatwater\_Fewl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fatwater_Fewl)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2010, 9:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-have-you-killed-anybody/563021/66 "2010-12-09T21:57:55Z")
I’ve never killed anyone. I do know (though not very well, thankfully) several people who have. One is currently in custody for killing at least two prostitutes in the Toronto area. He’s a suspect in a couple other murders as well. One broke into an old lady’s home and robbed and killed her. One was involved in the robbery and murder of a Catholic priest at a country church many years ago – it’s claimed he didn’t do the actual killing, but he was there. Two separate people who drove while drunk and killed pedestrians. I’m not sure how or if it changed any of them, although the guy involved with the priest’s death has always seemed very gentle, very inward, and very lost. I don’t know what he was like beforehand. ---
**Author:** ![SanDiegoTim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/85e7bf/32.png) [@SanDiegoTim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SanDiegoTim)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2010, 10:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-have-you-killed-anybody/563021/67 "2010-12-09T22:09:27Z")
From another/related thread… Previous to June of 1989 I did not own a firearm. I didn’t (and still don’t) have any poblem with either perspective of gun ownership. For Fathers Day that year I received a rifle, to be used mostly for “plinking” and/or target practice. Couple of months later, our daughter came frantically running into our bedroom at 1:00 AM saying someone was breaking into her bedroom. Long story short, the perps were two convicted and armed felons (attempted murder) and no one else will ever have to worry about either one of them. We lived in an average suburban neighborhood leading avergae lifestyles. Nothing unusual one way or another. The detectives catagorized it as a “one in a million” type invasion. Had I not owned a firearm and/or hesitated to use it, the probablility is that I would not be responding to this post. I cannot imagine anyone convincing me to give up ownership. As my experience demonstrates, you just never know." ---
**Author:** ![Hari\_Seldon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hari_seldon/32/5173_2.png) [@Hari\_Seldon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hari_Seldon)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2010, 10:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-have-you-killed-anybody/563021/68 "2010-12-10T22:06:51Z")
I don’t know how many calculus and linear algebra students I’ve killed. I did know one murderer. He started grad school around 1960 and I finished in 1962. Around 1969 I think it was, he walked in to a seminar and started shooting. He killed his thesis advisor, shot a finger off the department head and then killed himself. If, after 9 or 10 years, not getting anywhere, I might have done the same. My MIL’s housemaid had murdered her husband and done time for it. I don’t know the story, but I assume there was one. ---
**Author:** ![Angel\_of\_the\_Lord](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/angel_of_the_lord/32/2949_2.png) [@Angel\_of\_the\_Lord](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Angel_of_the_Lord)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2010, 11:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-have-you-killed-anybody/563021/69 "2010-12-10T23:03:41Z")
My dad served in Vietnam, and has a Bronze Star for valor. Once, before I was born, my mom asked what he got it for. He said it was for killing people, and wouldn’t elaborate. It’s always freaked me out a little bit. I mean, even though he was a soldier, that’s my _dad_, you know? As for me. . .I’ve never killed anyone. Don’t think I’m terribly likely to, either. ---
**Author:** ![Rysdad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/7cd45c/32.png) [@Rysdad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rysdad)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2010, 12:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-have-you-killed-anybody/563021/70 "2010-12-11T00:12:46Z")
My best friend’s nephew killed a guy in a drug deal gone bad. He was found guilty of 2nd degree murder. I think he’s got about 7 years left to serve (out of 17). Me, I’ve never killed anyone. ---
**Author:** ![Count\_Blucher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c5a1d2/32.png) [@Count\_Blucher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Count_Blucher)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2010, 2:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-have-you-killed-anybody/563021/71 "2010-12-11T02:59:37Z")
There was a couple who used to sit at the ‘kids table’ (married 20 somethings w/o kids) in my wife’s family at family [del]spectacles[/del] receptions for baptisms, communions, mile-stone birthdays etc. He owned a construction co. She was a gym instructor. They were fun people to talk to & sympathize with back when we used to get the “So, when you having kids?” quips days. Their answer was ‘when dogs have cats’. They were the last people I thought who’d have marital problems. Another person who sat at that same table found them both dead, murder suicide. Rumor was she was cheating blatantly. Supposedly, it was a very messy crime scene. ☹ [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-have-you-killed-anybody/563021.md?page=3)