Makes you wonder sometimes...

[Hawkeyenuts66]

He was shooting people in a free fire zone. Some may not have been V.C. or NVA.

That would definitely be a rather different assignment. He definitely has some "moral flexibility".

 

[strummingram]

So, you're against violence in every situation? Really?

Would you shoot a serial killer to save a child's life or would you let the child be killed since you are totally against all forms of violence?

I think I've answered this at least twice before. If I am in a situation where baser instincts take over, I respond by doing everything I can to protect/save the victim. I'm not thinking about it. I act on instinct. Instinct is built on survival and fear. However, since we are speaking in a context where THAT IS NOT HAPPENING, then I will advocate for peace, forgiveness and love to prevail. If I concentrate on, or reinforce my violent tendency or likelihood, then I strengthen it. If people- the human race- all existed without even the slightest compulsion to want to take the life of another, then these "what if's" are fictions. It's a collective understanding and belief that must happen.

 

[Capernum]

how soldiers in war can kill so many and watch horrific acts then come back home and lead perfectly normal lives. How can they turn that on then off again?

Look up Moral Injury, there's actually a lot of research on this. The author I am most familiar with is Dr. Rita Nakashima Brock.

 

[dbq hawk 32]

I think I've answered this at least twice before. If I am in a situation where baser instincts take over, I respond by doing everything I can to protect/save the victim. I'm not thinking about it. I act on instinct. Instinct is built on survival and fear. However, since we are speaking in a context where THAT IS NOT HAPPENING, then I will advocate for peace, forgiveness and love to prevail. If I concentrate on, or reinforce my violent tendency or likelihood, then I strengthen it. If people- the human race- all existed without even the slightest compulsion to want to take the life of another, then these "what if's" are fictions. It's a collective understanding and belief that must happen.

What a bunch of childish nonsense.

 

[strummingram]

What a bunch of childish nonsense.

Much like Ollie, the contrast you offer to mine is appreciated.

 

[MichaelKeller99]

The high suicide rate amongst veterans is actually somewhat of a myth.

The suicide rate for the military is actually not all that much higher than the general population. Each day, 85 people in America commit suicide; of those, 22 are veterans. The percentage of the American population that are veterans is 25%.

80% of the military is male and males have a much higher suicide rate than females do. So, naturally, the rate for suicide would be higher amongst any 80% male group than a group that is mostly female, which is what the American public is.

Some other interesting facts:

The majority of the suicides of veterans were committed by veterans that were over 50 years of age; something like 70% of these veterans were at least 50 years old.

Most of the veterans that committed suicide since 2001 never saw combat; I believe 75% of them did not. So, most suicides over the past 13 years were not related to the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.

This is sheer stupidity. Do a lot of suicides (with no Clinton(s) involved) require the use of large capacity magazines?

 

[TJ8869]

This is sheer stupidity. Do a lot of suicides (with no Clinton(s) involved) require the use of large capacity magazines?

The ones that occur in the privacy of their own home, probably not.

The ones where a suicidal person decides to go to his local shopping mall or movie theater and kill a couple dozen innocent people before killing himself, yeah. Large capacity magazines tend to play a role in those incidents.

 

[MichaelKeller99]

The ones that occur in the privacy of their own home, probably not.

The ones where a suicidal person decides to go to his local shopping mall or movie theater and kill a couple dozen innocent people before killing himself, yeah. Large capacity magazines tend to play a role in those incidents.

Those aren’t suicides, they’re mass murders. And making high capacity magazines illegal won’t change a thing.

 

[TJ8869]

Those aren’t suicides, they’re mass murders. And making high capacity magazines illegal won’t change a thing.

It’s both a mass murder and a suicide. A suicide in which the person decides to take as many people with him as possible is still a suicide and absolutely should be included in any plan to improve veterans’ mental health.

Banning high capacity magazines won’t stop mass shootings, but it could potentially limit the death toll in some of them. The idea is at least worth discussing.