Confessions of an Army Ranger
Last week I was feeling an itch for electronic goods so I made the journey to the electronics mega store known as Best Buy. My friend Pez-D-Spencer works there too so I thought I’d stop by and say hello. I searched the store for at least half an hour and couldnt find him anywhere. Quickly I found myself gravitating towards the department where I feel most comfortable, the essence of my existence, the cell phone department. Coincidently I found Pez over there talking to a customer, this guy he was talking to looked like a mutant science experiment from the future. This guy had long hippie hair, a bandanna around his forehead, a huuuuuge gut and a left leg wrapped in metal, plastic, wires and leather.
I walked over to Pez and stood out the corner of his eye so he knew I was waiting, I wanted him to get the message and speed up his little customer interaction. This guy, the science experiment, was very talkative and maybe too forthcoming with his personal info, it wasn’t long before he revealed he was a war veteran and in my opinion apparently disturbed from his experiences. He told us everything..
War Vet: I’m retired now, I was in the military for 30 years, thats how my leg got like this. I stepped on a land mine in Somalia in 1993.
Yours Truly: You were in Somalia during the Battle of Mogadishu?!
War Vet: Yea I was one of the Army Rangers assigned to rescue the downed pilots in the black hawk helicopters. Those damn Somalians, we didn’t kill enough of them, I dont really like Somalians!
Yours Truly: Right, I can imagine.
War Vet: When those guys got stuck we killed anything that moved, Men, Women, Children, anything to get our guys out of there!
Yours Truly: Uhhh….That’s..
War Vet: Yea I really dont like Somalians! One of the guys who got shot down was this black guy. They cut off his head and dragged his naked body through the streets…A lot of Somalians died that day, hahaha!
Yours Truly: Wow, umm so when did you step on the land mine? (Me trying to slightly change the subject, I obviously had nothing I wanted to say about that. Not infront of him anyway.)
War Vet: 2 days after the battle of Mogadishu I was walking through a field with my group and then BAM! Half my leg was gone.
Whenever I talk with veterans, which is a lot for some reason, I always end up talking to the craziest most messed up guys with the most disturbing stories. Do I doubt that he killed women and children? No not at all, we already know that happened from first hand accounts. However was it necessary for their survival? I dont know, I leave that up to the guys who had to go through it. Necessary or not though, its very sad.
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There are American solders in the Iraq war who have been put on trial for torture, rape, and killing unarmed civillans. I suspect these trials are just for show and there are alot more who get away with doing the same or much worse.
Very sad that Randal here are so fast to speculate of “trials for show” and perceived atrocities he fails to back up. As for this event at the Best Buy, the pain of having been shot at and seeing our brothers die is far harder to stomach than just making claims of “hating those Somalians.”
Hopefully this was a real soldier who; sounds like he is healing pretty good (if you want to know the truth) and not just another poser who was trying to shock you with stories because he is tired of telling the story of how he had a car fall on his leg when he was working on it in the driveway. We run into those all day long. It is easier to claim being a warrior than accepting their own mistakes.
If you were there, you would know that many do not talk about the killing done. Some 300 plus skinnies, yes; women and children that carried weapons and were shooting. When they mass together and start shoving each other forward…are you going to only kill those that displease your eye?
Randal you are entitled to your opinion because brave men have lost legs and lives protecting that right, those you are criticizing with out proof. You are misled and following those with no understanding of the real situation.
In Iraq Soldiers are put in very tough situations. They make tough choices, and sometimes mistakes happen. Training helps soldiers in challenging situations. But not everything can be prepared for. Trials help determine when the soldier was at fault or not and we have to have them as we have in the civilian world as well.
Will there be bad eggs that do bad things? You bet’cha. The very nature of being in the Army offers people the opportunity to go to another country with a weapon, and shoot at people. Think about that. If you are a psychopath, are you not going to be drawn to that situation? We try to screen all those cases out but it is pretty hard to catch them all. But, I can guarantee that we catch 99.9% of all those cases in theater that happen. Very rare do Soldiers get off the FOB without a leader and a bunch of other Soldiers.
Randal next time you make claims of atrocities, bring the proof and we will act on it. But pointing your finger with speculation is a liberal deflection technique.
That’s quite possibly because they’re the ones most likely to tell their tales.
Ranger Dad, you don’t need proof for things people in the Iraq experience every day and what the rest of the world knows. Unlike the Western media, the media in the other part of the world does report these things. Just because your media refuses to report such cases doesn’t mean it doesn’t happen. Only time news makes it to the Western media is when an Arab/Muslim sucide bomber blows something up that kills people.
You basically just asked for proof of why 1+1 is 2.
For your information, a warrior does not kill innocent people. A murdered does.
… what war are you talking about? Somalia? You mean the place where the US sent it’s troops to take out two lieutenants of a guy who stopped listening to them, kinda like Saddam? Look up Muhammed Farrah Aidid for more info. It’s so funny how when people argue how the operation in Somalia was about peacekeeping, freedumb spreading, protecting the public from boogie man from the other side of the world etc. What kind of an army sends in their most battle hardened unit without any peacekeeping experience into country to do peacekeeping? Well that’s what happened in Somalia. Delta Force was the one that went in during that humiliating incident.
Or are you talking about Iraq, where Saddam stopped listening to their masters in Capital Hill. America’s war has nothing to do with freedom or whatever you are talking about. Only thing America’s wars do is create more and more enemies.
I can’t speak for all the Western world, but here in the US the media hates the President and the war and reports all the negative stories they can find, including atrocities. Haditha, Abu Ghraib, Mahmoudiya, Ishhaqi, Hamdaniya, etc. have all been BIG news here.
What Western media do you watch/listen to that has ignored these events?
This “Ranger” is a complete phony. A legend in his own mind if you will.
No one assinged to Task Force Ranger lost their leg to a freaking land mine, before, during or after the battle. And none of the air crews had their heads cut off. Both of these points are fact.
3/75 91-95.
His accounts seem suspicious however thats close to what happened in Somalia; who cares kill them all. The order was anonymous from the top commanders led by Jonathan Howe to who ever was the operational commander on the ground. You tell the people your soldiers went there to feed innocent starving children and to capture a “warlord” who tried to loot their feed but the real story can be found at the relationship between former oil giant Connoco and seniour Bush…. It seem all modern wars that America embarked is about oil and innocent by standers like Somalis and Iraqis are killed on the process. I wonder how far this blood money would go… at the meantime Somalia is in mess just because Americas intelligence apparatus have implanted number of trouble makers in there to do some dirty work after they left. It lasted for 10yrs and when the public kicked all nasty warlords and mercenaries out who were on the cia payroll they return in real with B52 bombers and cruise missiles by bombarding small villagers to the ground. Yes, USA is winning on the fight against terror and search of oil.
Grumpy,
You wrote,
BUt you leave out the many other media reports that call it colateral damage and say this is a small price to be paid to get rid of Saddam Hussein, and of course they leave out that the U.S. had helped to bring Saddam Hussein into power and had supported him when he was committing his worst atrocites.
If the media was giving the complete truth about Iraq, why has the people of the United States and its alliies not been able to stop what their governmnets have been doing. Are people linving in democracies responsible for waht their governments do?
Ranger Dad you wrote,
How come these solderis have not been able to fight to have the proper equipment to fight the war? The governemnt and corporations make billions of dollars from war and they are not able to provide the soldiers witht the proper equipment. Also when they soldeirs come home they can not get the proper medical care.
I am in the medical field and know for a fact that they are receiving the “proper medical care,†Randal. Thank you very much. It is a rare case of Soldiers whom are in overwhelmed medical administrative units that you heard of in Walter Reed that lived in messy rooms. The medical care was never an issue! Read read read Randy. Those units are revamped to provide adequate supervisory skills that make them clean their rooms like they should have been doing in the first place. Just because you are a hero and are injured does not mean you lay on your butt and let mold grow on you. You get up and clean the room. Sorry, I was there and can say this. You can only echo the “western” media who does report things in a severe slant.
As for Jina’s consumption to the world’s free press; if you think the rest of the world’s media is capable of telling the truth you are with out eyes. I suppose you refer to the Al Jazera, the bastion of truth for all free peace loving Islamic peoples? Give me a break. If so, why do you not join their ranks and go to Iraq to report the truth? See the way they ask questions and how they slant EVERY case to make it about an evil New World Order. Proof? No, I do not need proof. I need people like you to get off your key boards and see the world. Go out, see what you talk about. Then come argue your point.
Speaking of having a “point,” Ranger Dad, I don’t quite see yours yet.
Well that’s too bad, ’cause we do. Where’s your proof of Al Jazeera slanting “EVERY” question to make it about a new world order or whatever else you claim?
He made his point in his first post, Esra’a. After that he let himself be distracted by Randall’s red herrings.
You give me a break you mental midget, I don’t watch al Jazeera nor am I a Muslim. Ehh…
Go back to Al Jazeera Jina, you crazy Muslims are all the same! God bless America.
it seems likes people who have no idea about what happens during combat assume that nothing bad should ever happen. when it comes down to it, its not about hate for a people, or following orders, its doing what you need to do to keep your brothers alive.
obviously you missed the point that somebody has to fight for freedom, obviously you are too selfish to do it.
thank you RANGER dad.