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RE: Malaysian airlines plane shot down over Ukraine
July 17, 2014 at 11:16 pm
(This post was last modified: July 17, 2014 at 11:18 pm by The Grand Nudger.)
It is, but we live in a shitty world. If we didn't, there wouldn't be any "generals" to worry about their careers in the first place. Officers have to make snap judgements with limited information that sometimes leads to hellish consequences. Had he not acted, in the face of an actual threat (theorizing an incursion), there would still be people calling bullshit on his decision - possibly for the very same reasons. Rock and a hard place.
I am the Infantry. I am my country’s strength in war, her deterrent in peace. I am the heart of the fight… wherever, whenever. I carry America’s faith and honor against her enemies. I am the Queen of Battle. I am what my country expects me to be, the best trained Soldier in the world. In the race for victory, I am swift, determined, and courageous, armed with a fierce will to win. Never will I fail my country’s trust. Always I fight on…through the foe, to the objective, to triumph overall. If necessary, I will fight to my death. By my steadfast courage, I have won more than 200 years of freedom. I yield not to weakness, to hunger, to cowardice, to fatigue, to superior odds, For I am mentally tough, physically strong, and morally straight. I forsake not, my country, my mission, my comrades, my sacred duty. I am relentless. I am always there, now and forever. I AM THE INFANTRY! FOLLOW ME!
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RE: Malaysian airlines plane shot down over Ukraine
July 17, 2014 at 11:24 pm
(July 17, 2014 at 2:13 pm)Chuck Wrote: Would that be the same Malaysian plane which disappeared on route to Beijing about 4 month ago and hasn't been heard from since?
Sorry for the bad taste in attempted humor. Don't be sorry.
I thought of that, and then started imagining different 'scenarios'.
Like maybe, instead of being shot down, the plane landed in Ukraine, but every one on is 10 years older because from their perspective they had been flying for that long....
Does anyone have JJ Abrams number and/or can channel Rod Serling?
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RE: Malaysian airlines plane shot down over Ukraine
July 17, 2014 at 11:36 pm
(July 17, 2014 at 11:16 pm)Rhythm Wrote: It is, but we live in a shitty world. If we didn't, there wouldn't be any "generals" to worry about their careers in the first place. Officers have to make snap judgements with limited information that sometimes leads to hellish consequences. Had he not acted, in the face of an actual threat (theorizing an incursion), there would still be people calling bullshit on his decision - possibly for the very same reasons. Rock and a hard place.
That makes a bizarre sort of sense from his point of view I suppose. Doesn't justify the stupidity or increase my faith in the human race though.
Luke: You don't believe in the Force, do you?
Han Solo: Kid, I've flown from one side of this galaxy to the other, and I've seen a lot of strange stuff, but I've never seen *anything* to make me believe that there's one all-powerful Force controlling everything. 'Cause no mystical energy field controls *my* destiny. It's all a lot of simple tricks and nonsense.
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RE: Malaysian airlines plane shot down over Ukraine
July 17, 2014 at 11:42 pm
(This post was last modified: July 17, 2014 at 11:51 pm by The Grand Nudger.)
Nope, sure doesn't. People can make "bad decisions" - more accurately, decisions with negative consequences, for all the right reasons. In the case of military personnel, the gap between our ideals of a perfect or better world and the reality of the world we live in are often very easy to spot. He did what he was trained to do, what he had an obligation to do, and ultimately, what he felt he must do. It aint the player, it's the game.
This is just my opinion, and it's only marginally related, but the mark of an officer is decisiveness in the face of uncertainty.
I am the Infantry. I am my country’s strength in war, her deterrent in peace. I am the heart of the fight… wherever, whenever. I carry America’s faith and honor against her enemies. I am the Queen of Battle. I am what my country expects me to be, the best trained Soldier in the world. In the race for victory, I am swift, determined, and courageous, armed with a fierce will to win. Never will I fail my country’s trust. Always I fight on…through the foe, to the objective, to triumph overall. If necessary, I will fight to my death. By my steadfast courage, I have won more than 200 years of freedom. I yield not to weakness, to hunger, to cowardice, to fatigue, to superior odds, For I am mentally tough, physically strong, and morally straight. I forsake not, my country, my mission, my comrades, my sacred duty. I am relentless. I am always there, now and forever. I AM THE INFANTRY! FOLLOW ME!
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RE: Malaysian airlines plane shot down over Ukraine
July 17, 2014 at 11:46 pm
(This post was last modified: July 17, 2014 at 11:48 pm by ignoramus.)
The connection between the 2 planes may not be as silly as it sounds.
Most of us by now would have heard of the Diego Garcia theory for the first plane.
This new one would now be be the second one to have been blown out of the sky.
Poor buggers.
No God, No fear.
Know God, Know fear.
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RE: Malaysian airlines plane shot down over Ukraine
July 18, 2014 at 11:16 am
(This post was last modified: July 18, 2014 at 11:20 am by Autumnlicious.)
Slave to the Patriarchy no more
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RE: Malaysian airlines plane shot down over Ukraine
July 18, 2014 at 11:25 am
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RE: Malaysian airlines plane shot down over Ukraine
July 18, 2014 at 11:31 am
(This post was last modified: July 18, 2014 at 11:32 am by Autumnlicious.)
Slave to the Patriarchy no more
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RE: Malaysian airlines plane shot down over Ukraine
July 18, 2014 at 12:23 pm
(This post was last modified: July 18, 2014 at 12:24 pm by LastPoet.)
Shit, to paraphrase Carl Sagan:
Think of all those emperors and generals that in vain glory, claim possession, of a fraction of a dot...
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RE: Malaysian airlines plane shot down over Ukraine
July 18, 2014 at 12:48 pm
(This post was last modified: July 18, 2014 at 12:55 pm by Anomalocaris.)
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