Marines like all Special Forces are highly trained with a mind that is one and a half times more alert than the average soldier. It has to be that way, because the situations that they are put in are normally above the normal call of duty. I have said this in another thread and I will say it again for those that never read and thought about it.

When in a combat situation and the fire fight is over, you realise your still alive but the adrenalin is still pushing through your body at a tremendous speed. The mind is not working properly because the adrenalin is pushing you on a high. There is no training that can compensate for the real thing it can only prepare you for the event. Neither can training predict the strength of mind in advance that everyone knows at its best is unstable in the strongest of people. At some stage in a person’s life it lets you down then stupidity will take over.

The militarily, train and expect their soldiers to go and kill while fighting for their country without a conscience. I do not think it right because of one stupid act for any soldier to be given a conscience for his actions on his return home.

Civilians should realise that the wars of today are not like they were in 1940s. It is not about we will fire at your lines and in half an hour you can fire you big guns back at us. Troops looking at the enemy from their trenches while waiting for the big push to attack. It is about insurgency and road side bombs and suicide bombers of both sexes and ages. It’s now a war of nerves, and who can hold theirs the longest. For any person that doesn’t think that atrocities take place in modern warfare had better get in the real world because it is an everyday occurrence.

Yes, I agree that this was over the top, but I don’t see the Americans complaining about the dead that were in that convoy. That road side bomb was set off most probably by someone quite close with a remote. They were justified in taking evasive and defensive action and for persons that have no idea what I am talking about; attack is the best form of defence. If you have not had a rush of adrenalin coupled with blind rage then you have never served in a front line situation in today’s army.

I don’t condone what took place but I understand why it took place. I am ex British SF and proud of it, and I cannot understand why the Americans have made this a show trial. The American Marines have a hard task. I think it disgraceful that the same people that expect them to go and throw their lives away, are the same people that started the war in the first place. They are also the same people that sit in their peaceful suburban house condemning the enemy atrocities while putting their own kin on trial for any charge that goes against their God fearing mind. It makes me sick to the stomach the way that the Americans treat their brave Marines.

It is a fact of life that Special Forces in most parts of the free world will never get the respect they deserve from the people they serve because of the bad publicity. Think on this though, they are doing only what their leaders did before them and what they have learned from them.

The trial is a disgrace and betrayal of the trust the Marines have in their commanders. It shows just what the courts think of the charge by awarding three months imprisonment. Three months is far too long and the whole case is a disgraceful exhibition of civilian and media power dictating how their army should conduct themselves in battle. I would also hazard a guess that those same civilians and media moguls have never seen the butt end of a military rifle let alone used one. Why is this news in the first place? The Americans must like making themselves look bad in the eyes of the world.

Special Forces are the Cream of the Cream in the UK, France and America. When are the American civil population going to start treating them as such? When are the rest of the world’s civilian population going to get from under their laurels and off the high pedestal they have placed themselves? They should either shut up or put up.

Be well IAN 2411