Subject: RE: Soldier dismissed for shooting a book Big Sexy - I see your point as well as I see the Preacherman's, but you have to look at this in another way. As a member of the military, you swear to uphold certain rules that not only consist of the Constitution and the laws of the Uniform Code of Military Justice (That is the rule book by which all military personel are held responsible and tried in courts martial or through Non-Judicial punishment, if so directed by their commanding officer), but you are also held responsible for upholding the laws and customs of the country that you are in, if it is not The United States. This last part is where you see a lot of the "bending over backwards" that makes some people angry. I recall a trip I made to Egypt for an operation where we had to attend classes for 6 weeks before we left. We had to learn certain things that would normally be overlooked in the States as normal activity, but would so offend our hosts. The one that I struggled greatly getting my crew to follow was not to use the left hand when reaching out or handing an object to someone (especially since I had three left-handed Marines out of seven). The Egyptians take this as a great insult because that is the hand that they customarily use to cleanse themselves and it is thus "dirty". Was it hard to get used to this stuff? Yes. Was it impossible? No. Was it necesssary? I believe so. In any case, this soldier violated his command and general orders to some degree. At the least, he dis-honored himself and his country with behavior that caused harm to the mission of his unit (a charge under the UCMJ that would be dealt with with Non-judicial punishment). At worst, he caused great dishonor to his country with "conduct unbecoming of an enlisted soldier" (a charge that requires a court martial hearing under UCMJ). As I understand what has been released thus far, he has been given something in between the two, which would be his commanders decision. As far as the difference between shooting a person and a book, the morality of being a soldier is hard for some to deal with and is the reason that I don't believe that a draft is the correct thing to do at any time. Some folks don't have the make-up for it. It doesn't make them less American or patriotic or valuable to the country. It means that they don't have the mental ability to handle the cause and effect rationale of being put into that position (that's not an insult, so please don't take it that way). That being said, the most important thing I want a soldier with a rifle to have is "common sense". I don't believe that this person showed that he had that, at least at this moment in his life, so I am quite glad that they would take his rifle away from him. |