Drip, drip, drip.

I'm reposting Lcpl Max Uriarte's cartoon and post from his website and cartoon Terminal Lance. I can't really say it any better myself - so why bother trying.

Well it happened again, folks. It was only a matter of time before someone outdid the efforts of LCpl. Motari with his infamous puppy-toss video. I’m sure you’re all aware of the recent video that surfaced online of the Marines in Afghanistan that are peeing on (what we assume anyway) a few dead Taliban combatants. It’s been all over the news, I actually found out about it last night watching the local Bay Area news on TV.

My initial reaction to the video was something along the lines of, “What? How stupid do you have to be to film something like this and put it up online?” Many people are reeling in disgust, the very idea that someone could do such a thing to another human being is outrageous to most Americans. But then again, most Americans have never stepped foot in a combat zone, let alone killed anyone.

My question for the average person then is what is the line? The powers of the United States government have given Marines not only a license, but a mission to kill the enemy overseas in brutal combat. You can’t simultaneously praise the legal killing of other human beings and then be angered when you see the reality of it. When it’s all said and done, what difference does it actually make? The Marine Corps isn’t upset that these Marines relieved themselves on a dead enemy, they’re upset they got caught.

I guess I look at it the same way I look at why I don’t give a shit about eating free-range chickens and grass-fed cows. These animals are being raised to be slaughtered and eaten, regardless of how good or bad their lives are. In the end, does it really make you feel better if the animal had a good life and then found its way onto your plate?

If there is a line, it is a line of ethereal and subjective principle, not fact.

I’m not saying it’s in any way right, or that I would have done it myself; but to condemn these Marines for this is somewhat of a moot point considering the reality of it.



I myself as a leader am a real stickler these last few years for professionalism and self discipline, but that wasn't always the case. Once upon a time I was that young kid - much like those in the video. Would I have done something like this? Yeah, probably back when I was 20 years old... yes. War can really twist your way of thinking. I'm 32 years old and I enlisted when I was 17. I spent a lot of years in between building up my maturity and discipline. I didn't have the benefits of that experience when I was 20 years old - the way these kids lack it now. War is a powerful force, one that can easily overwhelm the minds of younger, less mature Soldiers and Marines. That after all, is why the military puts me in leadership positions. To first teach and train young Soldiers to navigate the ethical maze war can present the combatant with. Second, to set the example of mature behavior, and last to put a stop to events like the one in the infamous Marine video before they end up on CNN.

How do I deal with the strong and complex emotions of combat? I don't humanize the enemy, I completely dehumanize them in my mind. To me they aren't feeling, thinking human beings, they are simply targets. I feel the same about them as I do the pieces of cardboard we shoot on the range. To think of them otherwise, at least in my mind, is to invite anger (or fear) into the equation of battle. Anger (or more accurately rage) clouds judgement. It can make you use bad tactics or no tactics at all, exhausts the body and mind, and might just cause you to do something stupid. Things like beat a detainee, shoot a civilian or yes... piss on the body of the mother fucker who tried to kill you.

However, no one with the maturity to understand this exercised the moral courage to stop these Marines from doing a stupid thing. Might I add this was not a criminal thing, simply a stupid one. One that will likely ruin their careers, which is a shame. Obviously they were skilled enough to locate the enemy and destroy them - no easy feat in Afghanistan. I think their careers are salvageable and should be because of that fact. But out of political correctness these kids are going to be crucified. They'll be lucky to get kicked out of the Marines with bad conduct discharges after NJP, and not do any jail time after a courts martial. This in a sensible world would be considered insane, but we in the military no longer live in a sane world. Ask yourself this; would General George Patton or Chesty Puller give a rats ass if this had occurred? You know the answer.

My first thoughts after seeing the video were that of a story my Grandfather told me about WWII. He had gone into a cave on Saipan to clear it. In the dark, a Japanese Soldier fired his rifle at my Grandfather, thinking he'd stepped around a corner inside the bunker. He was wrong, my grandfather had only stuck his rifle around, and the shot missed him. While the enemy Soldier cycled the bolt on his old Mauzer style rifle my Grandfather threw a grenade. The concussion nearly knocked him out, and he staggered out of the cave with his ears bleeding. The next day his squad returned, and found the Japanese Soldier who had tried to kill my Grandfather dead outside the cave. They were sure it was him, as his arm had been blown off by the grenade and his copious blood trail led back to the spot my Grandfather had thrown it. My Grandfather felt a rage well up in him that only a combat veteran can know. He began to kick the body in the mouth, dislodging the corpses many gold teeth which he collected. He took another grenade from his web belt, pulled the pin and having collected the gold teeth, stuffed it under the corpse of the Japanese Soldier. It blew him to pieces. 60 years later my Grandfather, veteran of Guadalcanal and Saipan wondered at how war could make him do such a thing. Years later he could barely summon the blood lust to kill a fish. He fed stray animals, and never hurt anything again. The moral of this story, is even the most peaceful person can be twisted by combat, even for a little while. It's an assault on your emotions, and can drive you to do things you wouldn't think you were capable of. Everyone hears this when veterans speak... only now glimpses of this escape the war in the Middle East and make their way back the States where Americans who never see the horror of war can view it. Take it out of context, and not understand it. Thank god there was no YouTube in 1942.

As for the hyperventilation on the part of the media and the left, it's funny how they can ignore this or their fellow leftists pissing on an American flag... but urinating on the bodies of the people trying to kill you is a war crime.