ajzepp Posted February 21, 2011 Share Posted February 21, 2011 Historically, flyboys are kind of like that. Same reason people act like !@#$s in their cars...they have a significant separation from the reality of what's going on around them. Could that be viewed as a sort of coping mechanism? I would imagine that those of us who have not served in the military can watch a video like that and, when done with no perspective, sort of feel that the pilots are cavalier and unfeeling. Yet I would imagine that when you're actually doing the job, knowing that your life is on the line every minute of every day that you're engaged with the enemy, especially when you often times cannot know when a threat is presenting itself, that you'd have to find ways to sort of lessen the intensity a bit. Is that sort of what we're witnessing? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
boyst Posted February 22, 2011 Share Posted February 22, 2011 War. HA. what is it good for? absolutely nothing. Ok, I chimed in, this is a fun thread. We need to bomb more things, Nuke the whales. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marv's Neighbor Posted February 22, 2011 Share Posted February 22, 2011 As I've said before, this would all be OK IF the Politocos would let us WIN and get it over with! Whenever I look at the Viet Nam Memorial I always ask WHY??? What did that accomplish??? Ditto Korea, Desert Storm, Iraqi Freedom etc. etc. No disrespect to those who serve, I'm a Vet myself, but the continual loss of life with neither goals nor objectives is just plain stupid! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gary M Posted February 22, 2011 Share Posted February 22, 2011 I'm retired military, and I found it gravely disturbing. We view it as if its a video game and no one realizes that those are people. I realize its tough to pick out the bad guys from the civilians, but we seemingly are indiscrimate about who we are killing. Al Jazeera claims we are killing thousands of innocent civilians too. I was in nukes, and never had to get my hands dirty so to speak. But the exclamations of glee from the pilots seemed odd and callous to me. From listening to the aduio, it sounds like they have eyes on the ground to identify the targets. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DC Tom Posted February 22, 2011 Share Posted February 22, 2011 As I've said before, this would all be OK IF the Politocos would let us WIN and get it over with! Whenever I look at the Viet Nam Memorial I always ask WHY??? What did that accomplish??? Ditto Korea, Desert Storm, Iraqi Freedom etc. etc. No disrespect to those who serve, I'm a Vet myself, but the continual loss of life with neither goals nor objectives is just plain stupid! Desert Storm freed an invaded and occupied country. That had a pretty clear goal and objective that was decisively met. Not fair to lump it in with Korea, Vietnam, OIF...and Bosnia, for that matter. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cugalabanza Posted February 22, 2011 Share Posted February 22, 2011 Desert Storm freed an invaded and occupied country. That had a pretty clear goal and objective that was decisively met... Ah, the early 90's! What a great time. Bills regularly winning playoff games, US Military looking supreme and efficient, cool indie music on the radio. It's been downhill ever since. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DC Tom Posted February 22, 2011 Share Posted February 22, 2011 Ah, the early 90's! What a great time. Bills regularly winning playoff games, US Military looking supreme and efficient, cool indie music on the radio. It's been downhill ever since. The military looked supreme and efficient in early 2003 - you won't see any better operationals than the invasion of Iraq for a long time; the Marines' maneuvers at al-Kut are part of the curriculum at Sandhurst, they were considered so brilliant. It's just that while they do big technological set-piece operational battles really well, the military really sucks at more manpower-intensive occupation and counter-insurgency. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dante Posted February 22, 2011 Share Posted February 22, 2011 Historically, flyboys are kind of like that. Same reason people act like !@#$s in their cars...they have a significant separation from the reality of what's going on around them. Re: thousands of innocent civilians...they should stay out of the way. Seriously, the US ROE is restrictive enough that any collateral damage from a strike is almost certainly NOT by pilot intent, no matter how gleeful they sound about it. Most of the video I've seen (not this one - like you, I find it disturbing, for the same reason - but others) shows the pilots and gunners taking great pains to identify targets and getting permission from higher-ups on the ground before engaging. While intentional murder of civilians does occur (witness the "Stryker dozen" in Afghanistan), it's decidedly the exception rather than the rule. Honestly, I want uncaring fuks as soldiers. It's war. Fight to win or don't fight. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bills99999 Posted February 23, 2011 Share Posted February 23, 2011 Honestly, I want uncaring fuks as soldiers. It's war. Fight to win or don't fight. And I think the brass wants them more than just a little bit on the stupid side Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dayman Posted February 23, 2011 Share Posted February 23, 2011 We also have super bad ass laser beams in the near future that will just shoot any missile out of the sky. http://www.foxnews.com/scitech/2011/02/18/navy-breaks-world-record-futuristic-laser-getting-real/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jim in Anchorage Posted February 23, 2011 Author Share Posted February 23, 2011 From listening to the aduio, it sounds like they have eyes on the ground to identify the targets. I think so. I doubt if they are just flying around picking random targets. And saying "good shot, good kill" hardly sounds like"glee", just pro's doing a job. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DC Tom Posted February 23, 2011 Share Posted February 23, 2011 I think so. I doubt if they are just flying around picking random targets. And saying "good shot, good kill" hardly sounds like"glee", just pro's doing a job. Not necessarily on the ground; most of those are helicopter footage, and standard doctrine used to be (and probably still is) for attack helicopters to operate in pairs, one spotting and one shooting. And no one pops off antitank missiles at individuals without prior authorization - it's a hideously expensive way to kill one or two guys (or a mortar tube ). As for "glee"...I don't hear any, save for the guy marveling at 4 2000-lb bombs dropped from a B-52 (which, honestly, probably killed no one - it's not exactly a precision weapons platform). Most of the guys who might be considered to sound "gleeful" sound more stressed than anything. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DrFishfinder Posted February 23, 2011 Share Posted February 23, 2011 No real point, just thought some of you might like this I drive in Miami. I could use about 50 of those. A day. Plus one for every car with a "Miami Dolphins" bumper sticker. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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