Jeremy Hall was raised into religion, while on tour he took the time to read the Bible and found what so many have found. That it makes about as much sense as Gary Busey when he talks about... anything. Afterwards he became the victim of threats on his life from his own comrades.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeremy_Hall_%28US_Army%29




Thoughts?

Obviously the US army is not a place of soldiery.

@Raphiel;

I'm not at all surprised. The issue has nothing to do with religion and everything to do with conformity. Combat troops MUST feel they can trust their comrades with their life. The simplest way (lots of grunts are REALLY thick) is shared world views,beliefs and values. The range of tolerated variation is very narrow.

In the army,anyone asked me, I was Catholic. That didn't mean I went to church,nobody in my platoon ever did, but I fitted in. I kept any 'controversial views' to myself. That I should not have had to is irrelevant on the ground. A conscript,my attitude was too keep my head down and be invisible.Did my 2 years as comfortably as I could. I was NEVER charged with any offence,not even in basic training , and was never involved in a fight..

The young soldier in this thread is an idiot,the behavior of his comrades predictable.

(June 4, 2012 at 7:53 pm)kılıç_mehmet Wrote: Obviously the US army is not a place of soldiery.

That's because the main recruits come from our economically depressed areas, namely the Bible belt.

As such, the military at times cannot decide if it wants to invoke the super human "Onwards Christian Soldiers" ideology or not.

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(June 4, 2012 at 8:13 pm)padraic Wrote: I'm not at all surprised. The issue has nothing to do with religion and everything to do with conformity. Combat troops MUST feel they can trust their comrades with their life. The simplest way (lots of grunts are REALLY thick) is shared world views,beliefs and values. The range of tolerated variation is very narrow.

Yes. That is how it works.

(June 4, 2012 at 8:13 pm)padraic Wrote: The young soldier in this thread is an idiot,the behavior of his comrades predictable.

Their behavior is at fault and the CO is at fault for letting his men get out of control.

The young soldier should not be blamed for anything but spreading chaos, which admittedly is quite toxic in military environments. But there should and most likely are protocols for dealing with a disruptive influence.

But can you really hold him responsible for the unprofessional behavior of his peers?

I think not.

Also, if these soldiers are so goddamn unprofessional around an atheist, how are they going to react in a Muslim country?

(June 4, 2012 at 8:13 pm)padraic Wrote: The young soldier in this thread is an idiot,the behavior of his comrades predictable.

That doesn't make it right.

(June 4, 2012 at 8:20 pm)RaphielDrake Wrote:

(June 4, 2012 at 8:13 pm)padraic Wrote: The young soldier in this thread is an idiot,the behavior of his comrades predictable.

That doesn't make it right.

Very little in the US military is "right".

His case was dismissed on grounds he had not used the military conflict resolution systems before proceeding to a lawsuit.

He 'leapt before he looked' as it were.

And the military, due it's history, reserves quite a few powers.

Pat Tillman was an American hero who was shot by his own men and there was no justice.

This ex-soldier should be thankful his 'comrades' did not execute him and cover it up. They could've and the military would back them up out of sheer inertia and unwillingness to have outsiders inspect it.

In the Army, you can't speak ill of your commanding officer apart from the chain of command without facing consequences including a court martial. Correct me if I am wrong, but I also believe on an issue of violating human rights, you cannot legally override your CO...you can only report him after the massacre.

Wikipedia on Pat Tillman Wrote:In addition, in response to a Freedom of Information Act request filed by the Associated Press, the Defense Department released 2,300 pages of documents which were reported to indicate:[27]

- There has never been evidence of enemy fire found on the scene, and no members of Tillman's group had been hit by enemy fire.
- The three-star general, who withheld details of Tillman's death from his parents for a number of months, told investigators approximately 70 times that he had a bad memory and couldn't recall details of his actions.
- Army attorneys sent each other congratulatory e-mails for keeping criminal investigators at bay as the Army conducted an internal friendly-fire investigation that resulted in administrative, or non-criminal, punishments.
- Army doctors told the investigators that Tillman's wounds suggested murder because "the medical evidence did not match-up with the scenario as described."[29]
- There were special forces snipers in the group immediately behind Tillman's platoon.[29]
....
The destruction of evidence linked to Tillman's death, including his personal journal, led his mother to speculate that he was murdered.[30] General Wesley Clark agreed that it was "very possible".[31][32]

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(June 4, 2012 at 8:29 pm)Polaris Wrote: In the Army, you can't speak ill of your commanding officer apart from the chain of command without facing consequences including a court martial. Correct me if I am wrong, but I also believe on an issue of violating human rights, you cannot legally override your CO...you can only report him after the massacre.

"I was only following orders" is an old and fallacious defense.

(June 4, 2012 at 8:20 pm)RaphielDrake Wrote:

(June 4, 2012 at 8:13 pm)padraic Wrote: The young soldier in this thread is an idiot,the behavior of his comrades predictable.

That doesn't make it right.

Have another look at my post: I made no such claim

Moros; it's as likely as not the CO tacitly approved,as would the NCOs and junior officers. Those people are as committed to conservative army arsehollery as any grunt; NCOs and junior officers can be worse..


Perhaps do some reading about the institutionalised cuntishness which goes on at officer training academies of all kinds,everywhere.

To paraphrase"The army is another county, they do things differently there"

(June 4, 2012 at 8:29 pm)Polaris Wrote: In the Army, you can't speak ill of your commanding officer apart from the chain of command without facing consequences including a court martial. Correct me if I am wrong, but I also believe on an issue of violating human rights, you cannot legally override your CO...you can only report him after the massacre.

No. A soldier can refuse to obey an illegal order. However, there are practical reasons why one might choose not to.