03-20-2012, 09:59 AM
(03-20-2012, 12:11 AM)Cracker Wrote: A soldier never acts "entirely on his own." They are OUR soldiers. They act in our name. They are accountable as government property to their superiors. You can't apply civilian justice to our military.
They don't just wander on and off bases. Alcohol IS NOT ALLOWED is Muslim countries on our bases. More than one person dropped this ball.
If we punish only the one soldier, nothing will change. Our men and women will continue to be driven past the point of sound functioning. Fix the problem, don't just hand out punishment.
Some of us are more invested in this war because it cost us more than a few words on a screen. You won't understand and I won't explain, but the simplistic views I see here just make me shake my head.
You aren't the only one shaking her head. And, you don't know about personal investments others might have in this war. And, nobody said that others shouldn't be punished IF they are complicit; some just asserted that it doesn't change the fact that Mr. Bales holds personal responsibility for his own actions, no matter what.
I do not believe that because someone is a soldier that they are no longer an individual and that they are owned by me or society in general. I have more respect for soldiers than that. Yes, they work as a team/unit to represent our country's interests and I support and appreciate them. But, they are a group of individuals working as a team. Some will be better people than others, same as any work environment. When one steps outside the team charter and acts on his own, it is "he" who is responsible for that decision and those actions. If he was traumatized and not thinking clearly at the time, or if his superiors were negligent in allowing him to maintain his job, these factors can be addressed in court.
Hopefully, potential future incidents of this nature can be minimized by evaluating the mitigating factors involved and making appropriate changes in maximum number of deployments, alcohol prohibition enforcement, and/or whatever it is that my be determined to have contributed to this crime. I don't disagree with you there.
On everthing else, I think we'll just have to agree to disagree on this one.
