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"I'm So Ashamed" - Meet The Drone Operator Who Helped Kill 1,626 People And Walked Away
The face of America's unauthorized offshore wars has changed over the years, and these days it can most often be found watching the infrared screen of a terminal in some heavily-guarded air force base on US soil, operating heavily-armed, remote-controlled drones thousands of miles away, tasked with executing a lethal mission which usually involves one or more "collateral" casualties.
For almost five years, Brandon Bryant was one of those faces, and worked in America's secret drone program bombing targets in Afghanistan and elsewhere.
He was told that he helped to kill 1,626 people, but as time went by he felt uneasy with what he was doing. He found it hard to sleep and started dreaming in infra-red.
What made him stop? "The actual breaking point happened when we were hunting an American citizen, and they were saying he was maybe the next bin Laden. This was an American citizen - these were the people that I swore to protect. I believe that at that moment we were doing the wrong thing and that was when I decided to turn my back and walk away."
There were countless others who were happy to fill his vacant position.
Below is Brandon Bryant full interview with BBC's Witness program about his doubts and the mission that convinced him it was time to stop.
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Nice contrast to the mindless rah-rah bullshit surrounding the American Sniper movie.
Brandon Bryant is just whining because he didn't get the promotion (and other benefits as well) he was expecting.
Wasn't our boy ashamed after he killed one innocent person? He had to wait until 1600 were dead before he felt badly?
Amen.
Brandon Bryant is just another disinfo agent, working now for another government agency. His services in the United States Air Force are fully acknowledged.
It's great to see and hear one of "our boys" with a conscience... even if it took 1,600 victims to finally evoke it. All of the bravado over this "American Sniper" movie makes me want to hurl. For ANYONE with high-tech weaponry - who can murder an adversary or innocent without their even being aware of the killer's presence - to be called a "hero" is ridiculous. They're merely robotons witlessly carrying out orders, pulling triggers or pushing buttons. It'd be great to see them in a hand-to-hand or bayonet-to-bayonet duel with one of our vanquished nations' patriots. Then we'd find out who the heros and cowards are. I would be far more supportive of our military if they were indeed fighting our enemies. But, they appear to be too stupid to know that it's not the "towel-heads" who threaten their beloved freedom... it is the internal enemies printing the counterfeit money and controlling our government - the eternal enemies of all mankind - who deserve their "attentions".
I don't see what all of you guilt-trippers are going on about with American Sniper.
I live overseas and watched the film and it seems like anything BUT a rah-rah KILL EVERYONE AMERICA FUCK YEAH GIT R DUN sort of film.
Kyle is portrayed as a victim of PTSD, he zones out and stares at the tube, his wife is freaked he keeps going back for more (addicted to the combat kill), he is pissed he has to kill kids and women, and the moral ambiquity of combat is pretty damn clear in the film.
It's not anti-Arab or pro-USA at all - I really don't see what the American Left is obsessing about.
so now we have drones-niper to obsess about...meme continues.
that's cool.... we're told by our dear leaders that AQ membership is somewhere in the 3-4K range. This guy killed 1,600 of "them", and then he figures out the numbers don't add up.
This is ALL about getting these pesky emotion ridden critters out of the OODA Kill Loop.
It's obvious as hell.
The (CH)Air Force is basically telling us that there are ALREADY autonomous weapon systems buzzing around...
You just have to read carefully.
You don't know if that drone is being piloted by an operator or an algorithm.
Autonomous Air/Land Combat systems will be an easy jump at this point.
Now that we have the ECAT/LENR Battery to power these fucking battle bots with; we can let 'em rip.
What do you think that show http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BattleBots was about?
It was developing the first generation of Autonomous Land Combat System designers.
“You’re watching them live their lives. You’r watching them do their thing planting a roadside bomb and then go home and hug their children .....”
And the intent of that poor innocent drone targeted muslim is to murder someone. The bomb is meant to kill...
a) a central banker
b) some dumb farm boy who couldn’t get a job so he joined the Army
c) an infidel
d) Jessie Sharpton
e) a politician
f) a bill collector
And the drone operator is also meaning to kill someone that he has no reason to kill, other than orders from the kill happy MIC NEO-CONs. The muslim he kills just wants the american thugs to go home and leave his country and his women and children alone. That's how I see it and I don't like muzzies at all. Snipers and droners are cowards paid to kill not heroes.
Yeah...After you kill that 1,600th person, you kinda start to feel bad.
#fuckingdouchebag
Right, up until 1,599 he was yelling "nothing but net, bitches!".
Well, then here comes the fully autonomous killing drones (aka Terminators) cause of all you wanker bleeding hearts !
And what's the difference between a drone operator killing thousands versus a crewman (or woman) launching a few cruise missiles that take out that many in one attack?
And then you bleeding hearts are horrified at "boots on the ground" killing one on one instead.
So fuck off all of you hippies!
Now where's my Zippo??
And BTW.. "American Sniper" is the "Sergeant York" movie of the modern day IMO.
And it's so popular because this country is sorely lacking people with conviction cause mostly everybody is a sheeple.
As a staunch liberal I think High Frequency Droning is not predatory.
High Frequency Droning has lowered costs, tightened spreads and added liquidity to the war.
There is absolutely no remorse...
Those deaths were like trophies to him as he KEPT COUNT.
He is not remorseful but bragging under the subterfuge of sorrow.
He knows that the End Game is being played out and he just wants to save his own neck.
At least he was not buttfucking the little boys in front of their parents....to extract confessions of "Plotting against America" or some shit.
(Or...Maybe he was before they sent him back here to kill by remote...)
The USAF Remotely Piloted Aircraft (RPV), aka drone program is pretty unique because they have the largest/most expesive/helfire-equipped drones.
There are two people that operate the drone once it's airborne: a pilot and a sensor operator. The RPV pilots are fully-qualified USAF pilots - all officers - right out of regular flight school. You must REALLY have to piss someone off to get that job. The only way to get out is to get promoted or quit - they will never fly real aircraft for the Air Force. The sensor operator is an enlisted airman - eight weeks of basic training and one month of Sensor Operator school. Sensor operators don't kill civilians, they only lase them - the RPV pilot is the one that actually pulls the trigger.
Still, imagine someone like Bryant. Three months out of high school and he's blowing human beings to bits on orders. Day after day after day for five years. Some missions have a clear purpose - take out Taliban shooting from a fortified position at pinned-down marines. Others? Abdul's neighbor said Abdul is Taliban commander. Not really, but the two hate each other because of a long-standing unresolved goat rape case. Crash Abdul's terrorist wedding party with a Hellfire - never mind the kids.
Both these guys sit at consoles in places like Nevada, Arizona, North Dakota and Texas. The drones usually don't fly from there - they fly from Afghanistan, Iraq, or whatever other country we invaded latedly. There's a second pilot and sensor operator at those overseas airfields that take the RPVs off visually then hand them over to the U.S.-based crew when they're airborne. The U.S. crews hand control of the RPV back to the ground guys for landing once it gets back to the airfield. These ground guy outside pilots don't know or care where the RPV goes between the time it leaves the airfield and returns.
The U.S. Army and Marine Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV) drones are mostly smaller (exceptions) and operated by an enlisted Unmanned Aircraft Systems Operator 15W (Army - not sure about the Marine MOS). Five months or so of specialty training. Larger, remote drones are launched/recoverd in theatre by operators qualified as outside pilots.
The Navy has an UAV operators, but they treat it as an additional classification for a sailor that already has a standard rating (job). There are minimum rank requirements: Petty Officer 3rd Class (E-4) or above for UAV pilot training, and PO 1st Class (E8) or above for MQ-8 Fire Scout (unmanned helicopter) training.
Nice info. Also shows the separation of different duties that probably allows the trigger pullers to disassociate themselves from the infrared explosions just enough to sleep at night.
Air Force drone crews have the highest rates of alcoholism, drug abuse and suicide in the Air Force, but you don't hear about it - it's secret. They are prone to domestic abuse and violence. The work they do is classified, so the Air Force does not offer or allow any kind of counseling. Not like that would help. They can't complain or tell anyone, and the Air Force sure as hell doesn't want you to know about the suicides or off-duty self-destructive behaviors. Over half of them on active duty probably have untreated PTSD and serious clinical depression. That's what happens when you force normal, healthy people to act out the desires of psychopaths.
I'm surprised that Bryant 1) maintained his moral compass and 2) hasn't killed himself by now. If he talked about a tenth of what he really did, most people would vomit. But the U.S. imprisions and kills whistleblowers, so better for him to just toss out a few bones and shut up.
As bad as I feel for Bryant, THESE are the guys I'm really worried about: "...There were countless others who were happy to fill his vacant position..." We're gonna' need a bigger VA and federal prison in Las Vegas, boys!
Sources? Hell, go to a bar or casino outside Creech AFB. They know the spooks are planted everywhere in those joints and they bitch anyway. Their careers are over - they are going nowhere in the Air Force, ever, and have nothing on the outside. They don't necessarily have objections to to grisly nature of their jobs if the targets were an actual threat. They just have zero faith in their commanders or intelligence or CIA 'tasking'. Some chickenhawk in Washington without the balls to pull the trigger himself gets his chore boys in Creech to do it for him, and that kind of pisses them off.
It's, 'Al Sharpton'.
I liked Jessie Sharpton - lesss typing, larger group.
Whatever, Mr. Crocodile Tears. Until you sell off everything you bought with your misbegotten gains and give all your money to the families that you destroyed you're just giving lip service. You made your bed with sheets of Galatians 6:7, now sleep in it. Enjoy the rest of your time on this earthly plane, because you're going to hell.
I am Chumbawamba.
Yeah, sometimes i have to wonder what book modern Christians are reading cause I don't see any where in the good book where the first century church is cheering on the Roman army and pining for them to invade the known world and put their boot up anyones ass.
"Yeah, sometimes i have to wonder what book modern Christians are reading cause I don't see any where in the good book where the first century church is cheering on the Roman army and pining for them to invade the known world and put their boot up anyones ass."
+1000, best quote of the night.
But It gets better than this.
when I heard about the 69% approval rate of the US torture policy ANMONG CHRISTIANS (WTF) I got up in front of our country church and shared about it.
Within two weeks I was taken out behind the woodshed and verbally beat down with Romans 13
1 Everyone must submit himself to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except that which God has established. The authorities that exist have been established by God. 2 Consequently, he who rebels against the authority is rebelling against what God has instituted, and those who do so will bring judgment on themselves.
So I flat out asked the "pastor"
“So would you say the American Revolution, and the entire formation of this country was an Act of Rebellion against GOD and a Sin?”
No reply.
WTF
I did research on that passage, Turns out, Both Martin Luther and the King James Bible, in their respective translations, were paid under a King or Prince at the time to translate the Bible from Latin, and did so in a vein which paid homage to the patron rulers of the day.
I stumbled upon a web page where a NATIVE Greek speaker says, his original Greek Bible (the new Testament was originally penned in Greek) says the proper translation of Romans 13 is as follows:
Every governing soul including those in highest command or lowest command have no authority if they are NOT ruling as fair and just as God.
the author goes on to say
"
There ya go. It's a statement for revolution. NOT submission to government!! This is according to the GREEK text, which is the ORIGINAL TEXT!"
There was a following argument, entire thread is found
http://forum.prisonplanet.com/index.php?topic=83179.0
I am glad the topic is debatable. Antoher web page states the Romans 13 passage is an “interpretation” and not a direct ranslation.
My wife is Japanese and their bible has been under scrutiny, and some scholars are going back to the Greek, and these Japanese Scholars point to Romans 13 as the “Poster Child” example of mistranslation also.
Funny thing, I did not realize I painted the pastor into a corner with my American Revolution question until later.
How can he answer either way?
that yes according to Romans 13, Thomas Jefferson, author of the Declaration of independence, and ALL the Co-signers are sinners and that the very formation of this country is an act of rebellion?
Or No, USA get a pass on that passage of scripture because of how wrong King George was treating us? if so, then when have we all suffered enough wrongs to refresh the tree of liberty with the blood of martyrs and tyrants.
I also asked him,
What if we lived in a Arab country, under an established government, and ISIS came to town kicked some ass and established authority, and started killing Christian children?
Since ISIS would then be the new authority, according to Romans 13, do we have to all submit, and bring out our kids for the beheadings?
No answer from him on that one either.
So we have not been back since.
It sounds like this "pastor" is a member of the Clergy Response Team.
http://www.dailypaul.com/330905/a-clergy-response-team-insider-reveals-t...
BINGO!!!!
And I'm willing to bet a pile of gold and silver that the church is registered as a 501(c)(3) non-profit, relegating it to service of the Rapacious Mollech of government rather than being beholden to the god they claim to worship.
I am Chumbawamba.
How can you bet something that you lost in a tragic boating accident?
Of course it was meant in a metaphorical sense ;)
-Chumblez.
Bukowski wrote, "How you gonna shit with a 2000 year old Christian cork jammed up your ass." Seems somehow appropriate here.
Fuck the bible.
For a long time I hated the idea of God, then I grew up and realized it wasn't God, but the various bibles and preachermen.
I am not Christian but I will defend their right to believe as they please. Yours is an example of what I call an examined belief. You do not have blind faith, you have a dynamic, active, engaged, living faith. This is Christianity at its best.
Kudos. And good work. Much respect.
You're totally correct! Ditch that "church"...it has been infiltrated by the State. Game over for them. You don't need them.
Or maybe you should give a copy of Romans 13 below to your pastor...see if he actually takes it and reads it or just runs away from it like a little bitch. Then you'll know which side he's really on.
This book is about the misinterpretation and misuse of Romans 13 and how these Statist clergy and churches have been taken over to indoctrinate the people into worshipping the State first.
Romans 13: The True Meaning of Submission
By Chuck and Tim Baldwin (father and son)
http://store.infowars.com/Romans-13-The-True-Meaning-of-Submission_p_600.html
Description:
Romans 13: The True Meaning of Submission (paperback, 2nd Edition) by Attorney Timothy Baldwin and Pastor Chuck Baldwin is a classic synopsis regarding a Christian's duty to civil government. The authors show with overwhelming evidence that submission to government is limited and that the obey-government-no-matter-what argument is false. It discusses sound rules of interpretation and construction, incorporates biblical reasoning, and uses hundreds of Scriptural proofs for its conclusions.
Many Christian pastors and leaders today are erroneously reviving the divine-right-of-kings argument used in the Dark Ages, which created some of the most horrific human affairs in history. They, like the grandfather of Communism, Georg Hegel, argue that government is Divinely sanctioned to do anything it pleases and that God requires people to submit regardless of God's standards of justice. This argument has been used by virtually every tyrant since Jesus' life, including Adolf Hitler.
This false doctrine is doing more to bring America and the rest of the world into slavery than perhaps any other thing. Holders of this doctrine are creating self-fulfilling prophecies of America's destruction. Romans 13-The True Meaning of Submission challenges this absurd interpretation of the Bible and Romans chapter 13.
Perhaps more than any other resource, Romans 13: The True Meaning of Submission will help you achieve a much greater and deeper understanding of and appreciation for the Biblical teaching regarding a person's duty of submission and relationship towards government. There is hardly a subject today more needed in political, philosophical, and theological studies.
"This is a book that should be in the home of every Christian who is concerned about liberty and who desires to help others understand that Paul was not advocating passivity in the face of growing tyranny." -Joel Skousen, author of Strategic Relocation and editor of World Affairs Brief
Read the Douay-Rheims version. The protestant "translations" of the time were skewed to provide support for the superiority of civil government over the Church.
I stumbled upon a web page where a NATIVE Greek speaker says, his original Greek Bible (the new Testament was originally penned in Greek) says the proper translation of Romans 13 is as follows:
Every governing soul including those in highest command or lowest command have no authority if they are NOT ruling as fair and just as God.
the author goes on to say
I hate to inform you that the NATIVE Greek speaker lied through his teeth.
Here is a link to the passage in Koine Greek, Wesscott and Hort text, with keys to literal translation from available Thesarus and Lexicons...
http://studybible.info/IGNT/Romans%2013
Personally I would translate egchousias as "powers"...But that is just me and my bias.
But here it is in one of the most LITERAL, WORD FOR WORD, translations available, the Concordant New Testament...
You can check out most translations available and it will agree. Personally I prefer the most stringent literal translations as translator bias is minimized.
The Philosophy of the people at the now defunct "Concordant.org", in their interlinear version, used just ONE WORD for every single time the greek word appeared.. Let the reader infer what is meant from the context.
Anyway here is the Concordant Translation...
Let every soul be subject to the superior authorities, for there is no authority except under God. Now those which are, have been set under God, 2 so that he who is resisting an authority has withstood God's mandate. Now those who have withstood, will be getting judgment for themselves, 3 for magistrates are not a fear to the good act, but to the evil. Now you do not want to be fearing the authority. Do good, and you will be having applause from it." 4 For it is God's servant for your good. Now if you should be doing evil, fear, for not feignedly is it wearing the sword. For it is God's servant, an avenger for indignation to him who is committing evil." 5 Wherefore it is necessary to be subject, not only because of indignation, but also because of conscience." 6 For therefore you are settling taxes also, for they are God's ministers, perpetuated for this self-same thing." 7 Render to all their dues, to whom tax, tax, to whom tribute, tribute, to whom fear, fear, to whom honor, honor." 8 To no one owe anything, except to be loving one another, for he who is loving another has fulfilled law."
If you want to compare translations from other Bibles then this is an excellent resource site to have on your favorites...
http://studybible.info/version/
I guess you need to learn the lesson that everything which you read on the Internet may not be FACTUAL.
We have more than enough disinformation. Let's not spread any more.
FWIW...And yes...I am a sinner because I do concern myself with the things of the World, as, for instance, its unjust Governments and others' LIES... I am not supposed to be concerned with tomorrow as today's problems are more than enough to handle. I am supposed to place my faith into Jesus Christ to see me through.
So I am an unfaithful servant, storing up goods here on Earth not knowing what the morrow will bring. Foolhardy am I...
But I am an absolute utter failure at repenting from my wickedness and I condemn myself to Hell as a result.
Heads up. I am not a good Christian at all.
But I detest misinformation...
Right, thus missing all the nuance, subtext and context of the original text...which is why the King James Version is still the ideal English interpretation as far as I'm concerned as rumor has it that the gematria was also preserved, and I believe that is most critical.
I am Chumbawamba.
Issac Newton sought out the gematria in the original Hebrew and Greek Tongues and spent a great deal of his life attempting to decode it, Chumba.
If Newton could not determine the gematria encoding, and you cannot argue against the fact that he was the brightest of his contemporaries, I do doubt that King James' translators would fare much better.
Now I may be mistaken...but...
So if I submit willingly to tyranny, tyranny will reward me?
With what, waterboarding? Seizing my property? Seizing my children? Seizing myself?
Anybody wanna know why I don't go to church?
Bailing on the church is akin to beginning the process to free your mind.....
So far as I am concerned - church = state.
So, chumbawamba means pompous, judgemental asshole in what language? No penitence is good enough unless it involves cash, eh? You think the families of the 1626 victims would feel better about the loss of their loved ones if they could just divvy up the huge paychecks this guy received? And if he did give them all of his money that would put him on the good side of The Almighty? If you want to be self-righteous try to make more sense when doing it. If I remember my Christian teachings the Almighty looks kindly on those that repent. Hell is meant for arrogant posers, among others.
ps. there is no hell-ashes to earth. poppycock stuff for weak minds...
Dividing his gains is just the start of a true pennance as nothing can replace the lives which he destroyed....
He needlessly and immorally took over 1600 lives.
Even written within the US Military Code of Conduct is a Military Law which states that you are not to follow unethical orders.
Perhaps he may have been castigated as was Bradley Manning had he protested.(Now "Chelsea" due to torture and brainwashing techniques imposed upon that poor soul...)
Just who is being judgmental. You had best take a good look in the fucking looking glass, ALICE.
But this has got to stop.
So, chumbawamba means pompous, judgemental asshole in what language? No penitence is good enough unless it involves cash, eh? You think the families of the 1626 victims would feel better about the loss of their loved ones if they could just divvy up the huge paychecks this guy received? And if he did give them all of his money that would put him on the good side of The Almighty? If you want to be self-righteous try to make more sense when doing it. If I remember my Christian teachings the Almighty looks kindly on those that repent. Hell is meant for arrogant posers, among others.
ps. heavan is the universe with many unkowns...
"This is ALL about getting these pesky emotion ridden critters"
Machines dont have PTSD. humans do.
Please Brandon Bryant do us all a favor and commit suicide along with all the other army fuck's
Wait til they release a few thousand of these screwed up gamers on the real enemy.........the tea part/gun rights gang on this site.......shouldn't take long to clean things up and restore our "freedoms" Boooorah
"the tea part/gun rights gang on this site"
Please explain what the Taxed Enough Already party and our 2nd Amendment Right have to do with any of this?
This is one of those posts that probably needed a sarc. tag. His last word in his post was my cue to assume is was mucho, cynicism/sarcasm.
Good mourning MsC, I guess my /s detector hasn't woken up yet.
hehehhe........sure its sarc but the state WILL be going after us because we ARE their enemy.....
Sorry, I do get overly sensitive when people start blaming those who enjoy their 2nd Amendment rights and feel taxes are too high get blamed for everything, sarcasm or not.
Whatever you take away from that tripe, the fact is most of it is probably made up:
http://mpmacting.com/blog/2014/7/19/truth-justice-and-the-curious-case-o...
I am Chumbawamba.
Everyone should take a few minutes and watch the video you posted about Jesse Ventura and his winning lawsuit. In my mind, it casts doubt on Chris Kyle's assertion of being the best sniper ever. He is a proven liar of major proportion. Still, he was an expert marksman, saved a lot of our soldiers lives, and had no reason to embellish his history. It's sad that he did, just as it is sad the way he died.
If you want to learn a little about a true American hero, and an incredibly brave, ferocious warrior, let me introduce you to White Feather.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lnKvyrMf9EE
An amazing and humble man.
To me, there is a vast difference between a skilled marksman with his life on the line, and who lives among his targets, and a drone operator who lives thousands of miles away. In fact, I have far more respect for the sniper, just as I have more respect for the chopper crews who fly in close troop support with their lives on the line than I do for the high altitude fly boys who make their run and head home to a warm safe bed. Killing up close and personal vs. anonymous killing. Does it really make a difference? To me is does, but there are no easy answers, as I fully acknowledge thanking God that we could call in air strikes and artillery when needed during my time long ago.
That it took so long, and so many kills, for this young man to become revolted by his own actions is not too surprising. I think this is a form of PTSD, and it may be especially devastating on a personal level. My guess is, we will see a lot more of this from drone operators, as they reflect on what they have done. The war time experiences and actions never leave the soldier - never, but at least the boots on the ground know they are fighting for their own lives. That always meant something to me, but going to a screen and using a keyboard to kill faceless humans continents away would be a much more difficult thing to live with.
Regardless, don't hate or blame the soldier. Hate the politicians, and the bankers, and the empire builders of the MIC. Hate the propagandist, and their handmaidens in the media who brought us glorious terms as 'shock & awe' and 'embedded'.
not understanding your down vote...
in my world, to have to kill up close and personal, even on a national scale, fits with the first principle of no initiation of aggression. there is no sin in self defense.
it seems to me that honorable self defense and defense of the innocent that are attacked would more likely to be up close and personal.
the honor, or lack of it, rests in the principle behind the violence, not the distance.
this kid is going to be haunted by demons or not, depending on whether he truly believed he was doing something honorable.
if he believes he truly did wrong, he deserves the chance to make amends.
every saint has a past, every sinner has a future.
I get and appreciate the sentiment, however, once directly engaged in combat situations, your loyalty is to your fellow soldiers. It is is not abstract. You are not thinking about the situation in terms of just or unjust, moral or immoral. It is simply what can we do to survive and bring everyone through. If the kill is direct and the victim would have just as easily killed you, there is a certain comfort level if future reflection.
just to be clear, no disagreement with your point. i recognize what you're saying about defending fellow soldiers.
the soldiers being there in the first place, the willingness to commit to a just mission, is a decision many of these 20somethings are making without the benefit of years of accumulated wisdom or perspective on the situation that calls for them to be somewhere in the world 'defending' us. i use quotes, because if i were ever to commit myself to using deadly force, i'd be damn good and sure its for a just cause, in defense.
these days, with the US acting as world empire, joining the military doesn't offer one the chance to be real sure that one's service will be used in a just way.
there's a shitload of moral ambiguity in the air we breathe. just because i have the luxury of typing this in relative safety from my keyboard doesn't mean that i'm above it all. it just means that i want to take responsibility for my actions.
i am absolutely disgusted in how MY country's military is being misused - and one day the f**kers at the helm will have justice served and we can think about putting the country back on a true moral footing. would i sacrifice to see the monsters doing all this evil brought to justice, HELL YEA - till that time... i watch, and pray.
i suspect i'm not alone, especially in this forum.
Thank you for your comments and intelligent reflection.
You used the phrase "these days", which should remind us of a very important distinction between then & now.
My battlefield was RVN, and most Army soldiers with Infantry or Artillery specialties under the rank of E-6 were draftees. When you got your notice to report, you either did as you were instructed, or you were a deserter. Then your options were go to jail or flee the country. Very few of us had any real knowledge of false flags, or Banker/MIC collusion. That we would fight an unjust war was inconceivable to most of us during the Viet Nam era, especially in the early years. As it drug on, and the body bags continued to come home, the questions to TPTB became ever louder. Dissension grew with education as the public paid closer attention. Eventually, the government realized it was losing the support of the people, and I can tell you from first hand experience, the ranks of the conscripts were becoming very restless. Nobody wanted to die for the cause.
The power brokers learned a very vital lesson from Viet Nam.....they needed a mercenary army!
Well, the draft was abolished to the cheers of the general population, but it was one of the biggest mistakes in our history, paving the way for the neo-cons and would be empire builders to sic the MIC on the rest of the world.
Does anyone truly believe that we would waste 15 years fighting an amorphous war, one we were lied into, on multiple fronts in the Middle East with draftees? "Hell no, we won't go" was the uniting chant on college campuses all over America in the late 60's & early 70's. It would have been the same by soon after we went into Iraq, or even prevented the Iraq folly in the first place.
So, bottom line, today's soldier is undoubtedly a better trained, better equipped, and more willing soldier....but is that truly what we need? Is a mercenary better for our country than a conscript? Our Founding Fathers didn't think so.
Fuck Chris Kyle, fuck drone operators, and fuck the troops. If it weren't for these meathead murderous man-babies, the politicians, bankers, and propagandists would be an impotent bunch, indeed.
"The Congress shall have Power To raise and support Armies, but no Appropriation of Money to that Use shall be for a longer Term than two Years."
-Article 1, Section 8, Clause 12
Sorry, but you don't get to selectively cherry-pick the Constitution based on your brainwashed HOO-RAH tomfuckery. Follow it completely or you're not following it at all.
sorry for the down, but people willing to sacrifice their own lives for what they believe to be a just cause deserve better. as for the quote from the Constitution, yea fine, but the authors reminded us on several occasions that it only has worth defining the rule of law for a moral people.
i'm not willing to concede that all who serve are immoral. fucking far from it.
go see Unbroken with your 8 year old son (i just did) and i defy you not to weep for what we've lost.
Thanks for that link chumbawamba - a truly good read!
I agree with the PTSD part about veterans and the focus was obviously more for the American side and perhaps "honoring" Chris Kyle. (Though there is a piece on Salon about Jesse Ventura masterfully winning lawsuits against the Kyle Estate for defamation and soon to be another with against the book publisher for using his name to promote the book without researching the inaccuracy). I also agree it wasn't a rahrah git some America kill everyone type of film. Clint Eastwood tried to show this bluntly by showing Chris's decline as he killed more people and not liking how people praised him.
I think Clint Eastwood attempted to give show a bit of the Iraqi's... but the effect was truly comical.
Seriously, I wanted to laugh when they showed the butcher guy - did I really see it... was he seriously in a nazi-esque evil bad guy leather trenchcoat under the broad daylight sunny Iraqi skimpy bikini beach weather?
Then the Syrian Olympic sniper who was on call 24/7 who jumped across rooftops to take the shot in 30 minutes or it's free? Every time he gets the call he longingly reminices at his glorious Olympic past?
Then the innocent family that got slapped around by troops for living in their home in a warzone and getting their hands cut off by the butcher. The choppiness of the scene made it seem so simple.
Maybe a lot of my gripes against the movie could have been caused by rushed in editing to keep the movie shorter or what not.
You could sum it up to this: they tried to make a Hurt Locker and failed. The final trump card to make the movie watchable by the masses would probably be the patriotism card.
What is wrong with you guys? You need to get out more often - as in out of the country.
Nobody, Nowhere gives a shit about how OTHER nations and cultures are portrayed in THEIR film and culture. What is this delusion you have that somehow the Iraqis should be portrayed as anything?
You should see how non-Chinese are portrayed in Chinese language movies. Cartoonish would be a compliment.
@Leraconteur
"he is pissed he has to kill kids and women"
Yet he kept going back and doing it. He must not have been that pissed off.
That is the PTSD. It's called addicted to combat and death wish.
Extreme example is Christopher Walken in Deer Hunter. Russian Roulette until you lose.
That's what I saw - Kyle addicted to the adrenaline of combat, PTSD, fucking up his marriage. Going back for fourths.
I started reading the book a long time ago and put it down because the man obviously enjoyed killing way too much. I found it sickening, just as I find the patriotic Ra-Ra marketing campaign surrounding this movie.
Leraconteur
Sorry, but the Hollywood "SNIPER" propaganda apparently has duped you and many others.
It is a hubristic propaganda film that misleads about the reason for the US invasion and occupation.
It glorifies "efficient" assassins and denigrates the immorality of overseas militarism.
It misrepresents the victims of that militarism, and their victimization.
It poses an arrogant "morality" whereby the killing and damage done by foreign invaders and occupiers is portrayed as "righteous" in self-serving disregard of any wider context. (i.e., I was only following orders.)
http://www.globalresearch.ca/american-sniper-hollywoods-racist-propagand...
You and I saw a different film.
I saw no propaganda that mislead about the invasion, I saw no glorification of efficient assassins, and no misrepresentation of the militarism.
It's presented as fucked up, and you have to centre of mass kids and their moms, and then you come back and zone out to a blank tv whilst you hear combat in your head, and then some PTSD zombie blows your brains out, and your marriage is effed up, and you spend your time counseling guys with missing body parts. Yeah, such great propaganda/sarc. Did not stir on shred of patriotism in me.
I know why the invasion happened and what TPTB say is bullshit but unlike you who live in America still, I know the difference between a movie and reality. I core dump films when the credits roll, sorry you can't.
It's a MOVIE, you do understand that right? Not reality? Fiction? Miss that point did you?
Your entire country (The US of A) needs to empty out and travvel someplace else for 10 years to normalise your brains - you guys are all stuck in the Matrix.
Even the ones of you who think you are not.
Go live a real life outside of the USA, and cut off the media loop all of you seem to be stuck in, or stuck reacting to.
Murderer.
go fuck yourself
Wait 'till YOU are on the "target list" of these "Government Employees Heroes", because of some transgression (real, or imaginary). Your opinion might change very dramatically.
"Just doing my job, and picking up the cheque at the end of the month".
That target list will really be a "Job Queue" for the AutoDrones.
Not some dick on a terminal stick.
The target's EMID will be uploaded.. and their mobile provider contract will be terminated in spectacular fashion.
There won't be some meat puppet who feels bad about it either.
Just a cold algo looking to upload another target on a vector with it's fuel rendezvous.
Just 20 years ago your comment would have been "Sci Fi Fantasy". Now? ENTIRELY feasible, with existing "Public Domain" hardware, so in practice a reasonably proficient RC multicopter pilot could do just this right now with "off the shelf" products (e.g. popping a Bluetooth "tile" into your victims clothing, and using the "App" for homing puprposes. ( https://www.thetileapp.com/ ) "Want to murder someone in broad daylight? There's an app. for that!"
So, one starts to wonder re. the (undisclosed) capabilities of the MIC and their "Police State" cronies, especially seeing as many "not that big" multicopters could easily carry the weight of a small automatic handgun. Placed even approximately correctly, a 0.22" rimfire round can kill very effectively, hence the popularity of such small, light but effective close range weapons as produced by, e.g. Beretta.
Just another thing to keep us all awake at night. . . . . .
yup, food for thought.
the linked video shows a much funner use, but the point you made is exactly right on.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HCN7n9xxcDw
In-Situ (at your fixed site aka Home), these little roto droids will not be too hard to deal with.
They make a lot of noise.
They are dainty little things with little propeller devices that look like high speed fishing line winders to me.
They have shit for runtime.
Non autonymous models are subject to RF interference.
They are not hardend.
A toy vortex cannon can knock one down.
Screens will keep em out of your house.
If they get "popular" for use against me... I will collect em and re-sell them on e-bay!
Here is a example of Drone use for disruptive purposes:
http://globalguerrillas.typepad.com/globalguerrillas/2014/12/the-faa-dro...
This is the type of activity I'd expect to see these small drones used for.
Shit like assasinations in sensative areas, vehicular ambush, etc.. Then disruptive stuff like above.
Most of the current systems I am aware of could not operate in a non-permissive environment.
If the "target" had a decent RF/GPS Jammer running, that drone would be a flying brick.
So, very narrow spectrum of use, with an advantage to the guerilla insofar as the technology deployment base right now.
They dont keep me up at night.
all good, except every potential target would have to have RF jamming running in a full time coocoon 24/7. methinks that anyone that might consider himself a potential target is maybe going to see some rate hikes come security bills due.
and this tech is getting better all the time
and its become ubiquitous quickly.
AT&T and Verizon aren't going to let you off the hook just because you were obliterated by a Hellfire missle. The fragments and puddle of whatever is left of you will still be expected to honor your contract.
They are planning to target the Obamaphone users first folks.
They will only target you when you are late paying your Cell Phone bill.
Terminate your PHONE SERVICE TODAY.
You are only carrying the means which they will use to kill you.
And you are paying for that? Along with taxes?
Yes maybe they will get you by tracking you using a different method.
But damn...You do not have to pay for it, you do not have to Financially Support it, do you?
Terminate your Cell Phone contract today. It is just your Death Sentence.
THAT IS NOT PARANOID. The World happened without Cell Phones in the past and can happen in the same fashion in the future.
TT,
I like you more all the time. You are cut from the same cloth as many ancient ZH Posters were.
I picture you as a sort of John Locke/ Robert A. Heinlein Hybrid.
Ya know there is a patent for a hellfire missile guidance system that can use an EMID (among other things) as a target indicator.
In any event,
Have a great day.
Well please, allow me to retort. Judgeing by the up & down arrows. Go FUCK YOURSELF!!!
Worth noting that this piece of trash is an example of those who a lot here seem to think are going to miraculously stand up and save the republic.
Somehow I doubt it. More likely they will be targeting the likes of us. He mentions that many were standing in line to take his job. That doesn't surprise me.
"After I murdered 1,600 ZH'ers and their wives and children I realized it was wrong".
There's no reasoning with a Sick, Psychopathic Scum Fuck such as him & others in the MIC / Pentagram / District of Criminals.
To Nuremberg with all these war criminals, their bosses, and the Kissinger / upper echelon filth that order it..
I left out empathy. These Elite inbred Scum Fucks lack it too.
They delight in making people suffer.
USA is but one nation with this challenge. As some become aware - there is not only a new crop of indoctrinated youngsters to replace them but also fewer and fewer realistic opportunities for the newly aware to move into. As western nations learn to love sitcoms, not family, morals or tedious ethics... each becomes a little more selfish ("what about MY rights?" for whatever is the flavour of the day). This in-built dissatisfaction for a lack of immediate personal gratification is IMO a significant reason why twits from various employments will become hostile... just check the attitudes of those able to give you a huge fine for not having a perfect pool fence 'cause ya shoulda known the regulations (not laws) changed 5 min ago...guess what? A number of these characters are ex-defence or wannabes who never quite made it.
Since our industries have be shipped east and our small business numbers dwindled every year... guess where the wannabes caring about flavour of the month rights go? Into regulatory arms against us!
"Worth noting that this piece of trash is an example of those who a lot here seem to think are going to miraculously stand up and save the republic."
We still have a republic left to save?
Nicely put +100
Yea, as to "hero" and "internal enemies." Let's all have a long debate about who they are. We do have external enemies as well. "Towel heads" as you like to say. But we're using "good" ones to help us in Syria and Iraq. Just as we did in Libya. The real stupidity and tragic waste in our efforts overseas is that the current and previous administration, at a minimum, are hopelessly in love with and were hopelessly confused about the Muslim threat that's been around for 1,400 years or so.
Nay, as to "robotons," and "stupid."
The point about warfare in any age is not to maximize the enemy's ability to get close to you with clubs, spears, bayonets, and swords. It's about minimizing friendly casualties and making the fight as outrageously unfair for the enemy as it is humanly possible. The astonishing Capt. John Smith excelled at individual combat but it doesn't decide anything. Wholesale slaughter does. Get real.
He had to be really, really, really, really, really sure...
Fuck him. No sense of conscious even after the 4th or 5th?
It's the propaganda that is endlessly hammered into them. Try talking about this with most people, you'll want to pull all your hair out its so frustrating. They have it hammered into them that they are terrorists, enemies of his country, we have to fight them over there so we don't end up fighting them here, etc. I'm not excusing what he did at all, and ya 1600 does make him a pretty fucking slow learner, but think about how many others never realize this. There are thousands
Nah... He liked doing it right until the point that he didn't.
If I killed a single person, other than one that intended to kill me, even by accident, I wouldn't sleep nights.
1600????
Slow learner, or what?
My thougth exactly. He would have no problem killing any Canadian or European citizen, but when it is an American, it suddently make a difference?
Well thank you very much!
Hard to get a promotion with your hands covered in tats...even in the military. Dude looks like he just got out of prison.
Yes, I'm his judge. I wouldn't recommend him.
Here's a Brandon worth watching. He works hard for his $$$ and doesn't hurt people doing it.
Brandon Westgate - Emerica MADE B-Sides.
Now that was an impressive feat of skill and persistence. And he doesn't wear one of those stupid looking helmets that the sissie bicyclists wear. Thank you. Well worth the 13 1/2 minutes
great video, more of a skier myself
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yKP7jQknGjs
Sammy says ouch! (On a few of those falls)
there's a difference?
oh yeah, the mess hall taste better
Have you met him?
Agreed, we'll call him "the American Droner"
Movie soon.
There is a much better way to clear one's conscience.
At least 1600 bankers walk the earth, carrying US citizenship.
Holy shit! My simple math says that this fine patriot is 10x more Murican' than super sexy hero Chris Kyle. Wow!!!!!!!!!
Kyle was a piker. When this drone sniper guy dies his funeral procession will have to be 2000 miles long.
THE 'RAH RAH BULLSHIT' ALLOWS YOU TO HAVE SELF CENTERED, SELFISH VIEWS OF THE WORLD...ENJOY IT, BECAUSE SOMEDAY, YOU WON'T BE ABLE TO POST YOUR CRAP !
And he's just one of how many? So exactly how many people have been killed by these murderers? I'm guessing the numbers are astronomical and far more than publicly acknowledged.
This documentary is how the Cabal says to the goyim, look - we can kill 1600 with impunity. Now get into line or you're next.
they hate you for your freedom and democracy...
That's why we're getting rid of those things. We'll continue blowing up wedding parties, though, because that's obviously not why they hate us.
Ya, I'd say you're right, and the 'terrorists' won if that was their goal. If they hated us for our freedoms, they outta love us now.
and our taxes...
To late. He will go to hell.
He's living in hell and has given his confession. More than most.
Where is this hell?
Detroit might be a good place to look.
Fucking hell... The WEDDING SINGER assassin... Grrr ~ fist bump [I guess] for calling out the BS... I sure fucking hope you mean it!
Meanwhile, a female protester whose offense was attempting to personally deliver a loaf of bread and a letter to the Commander of a US Drone base as an appeal to Stop This Murder is going to prison for her "offense."
http://commondreams.org/views/2015/01/23/my-future-prison
BTW, to anybody with kids over 9 yo or so, I strongly recommend having them watch the movie Ender's Game, which addresses this rah-rah video battle gaming and killing for "our side" under the patriotic "follow orders" mentality from the perspective of kid recruits in a compelling future war. Don't know why it wasn't a hit movie . . . maybe because the ending was an incredible surprise and moral lesson that conflicts with the prevailing political ethos.
Very powerful while being extremely entertaining. I'd never seen anything quite like it.
Expose your kids to something that will get them thinking and feeling about how shit really works going into the drone future. I'd see it as a little immunization for a kid of either sex (though it looks like an entirely "guy" flick) and opening the door for some crucial discussion during that short period when their eyes are still open from seeing the flick.
The reviews and descriptions of the movie do not in any way do justice to the power or complexity of the movie itself . . . most complain, like usual, that it wasn't as good as the book. But how many kids--especially boys!--read fucking books anymore?
Better lesson for boys than either Hunger Games or Divergent. Hands down.
Well, I had opened my gun safe looking for some old deeds and when I came back into the room I caught my son reading through my copy of the Anarchists Cookbook.
Does that count? ;-)
lol. So please let me know what he thinks of the movie! Crank up the big screen with blue ray and surround sound and let 'er rip. It'll keep your testosterone throbbing for a couple hours . . . then make you cry, nmewn, so be ready with the kleenex.
Which movie, Enders or Sniper? But I guess some movies & books are moar worthy than others, in some peoples eyes...lol.
I can honestly say I've never had a desire to see a book or a movie burned ;-)
Enders, man. I haven't seen Sniper and won't until it's out in blu ray--I just dont' believe in getting ripped off at the theater.
Me either, I can wait.
This cartoon segment beautifully captures the whole "war of terror" concept in just 3 minutes.
Beauty and the Beast - Kill the Beast
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rh98Kscctw4
His second kill shot was a kid...and 1600 + people later he walks away. What a hero.
hell awaits him...
sorry sometimes just wont do...though its the very least he can offer to those he murdered on behalf of the dying empire of debt and death.
there are no excuses for being the foolish tool of the ruling elite and the governmet the MoneyChangers control...
DEATH TO THE MONEYCHANGERS.
But the piece of filth was ok with murdering brown people.
The American person he didn't want to kill was "brown", but nice try (not really though)
He sold he's soul to the devil.
What did he get in return? Looks like a whole lotta nothing. Bad deal.
Proof that 'they' are using the information from Milgram's experiment to get people to participate in killing people.
Before you criticise this person read this and associated reading
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Milgram_experiment
Milgram's experiment was designed to measure the willingness of individuals to obey an authority figure even though it conflicted with their conscience. Later, Milgram himself suspected that most of the participants knew it was all a set up and therefore continued further in the experiment than they ordinarily would.
ugly tats
Just a tad of self-loathing. And well deserved, I might add.
Was only following ORDERS. Let's get an APOLOGY from Barry, what? Let's not hold our breath.
All you paid .gov TROLLS, your pay cheques are coming to an end shortly. You're only following what you signed up for, i know. SCUM
Nice to hear.
Unfortunately there are others ready to replace him.
Those others should (hopefully one day will) be hunted down like animals.
Obama and the Congressional representatives who voted to fund these extra-judicial killings should be impeached.
Brought to trial.
Then publicly whipped with a.cat o nine tails....
“Impeached”?
You’re joking, right?
By impeachment, a person goes on trial before Congress. Do you think its members will risk exposing those billions – maybe trillions – in bribes they have stuffed in off-shore banks?
Yes, Obama and members of Congress should be held accountable for what they have done.
But, what do you do when all forums of redress are dominated by criminal and useless classes?
I suggest that we employ the only historically-proven method of redress that has held such people accountable: First-Amendment assemblies. Of the thousands of slave uprisings in human history, only three were powered by such assemblies: only three advanced the cause of liberty, instead of tyranny. Isn’t it time for another?
well, we're not members of the ICC, so what is the other recourse without resorting to violence?
That Tattooed Freak looks like one of Satan's Minions. 15 minutes of fame. That is one creepy looking Mother Fucker.
His problem is this: as soon as the gets to end his miserable life, he gets to meet with all his victims... He better believe that after life doesn't exist...
Hopefully the same will happen with Obama and.anyone.that stood and.clapped at the SOTU speach.
Consider the possibility that he won't meet his victims, but that he will instead live the experience of every single one of them; their fear, shock, terror, and death agonies, in real-time.
Yet parents proudly boast when their children join the US military...