A SERE of all things wise
I can't resist a pun. Even when I'm talking about something deadly serious.
One of my favorite bloggers, The Cranky Yankee, made the following comment on my "SERE Sucker" post. I reprint it here with his permission:
"I went through AF SERE school. We called it Resistance training. I also did more training when I first went into Special Operations. Your friend's story of how his school ended is right on. For us they raised the flag and played the Star Spangled banner. I stood there at attention physically, mentally and emotionally exhausted with tears of pride streaming down my face. That is to this day one my most powerful memories.
I have always felt I made it thru that training with much honor and pride myself with having resisted successfully. My dog tags say Roman Catholic on them. I guess I had to put something.. Anyway during one of the interrogation sessions they tried to get me to lose my temper by ordering me to stand on the bible. I think they ended up more pissed then me when I happily complied. They acted like I had just pimped out my mother. They were supposed to be East Germans who captured us in a Red Storm Rising type scenario. My response was something to the effect of, " aren't you guys Lutherans?" I was roughly bound, gagged and thrown into a footlocker size box for a two hour nap. I ended up enduring more than the average amount punishment during that training mostly because of my temper and my smart mouth.
What makes me angry about the current situation is that having been through this I knew Americans wouldn't do it. In the academic portions of the school it was drilled into our heads that this type of abuse was illegal, immoral and would exact a great toll on those societies that allowed it. There was no moral relevance. We endured based on the belief that our enemies, by engaging in this type of abuse, were surely losing, that they resorted to torture as a last resort, a death throe if you will. It was playing dirty, cheating and revealed the true moral character of our enemy. The worse they treat us the more we believe we are just in our cause and right in our belief of ultimate victory. That is why the current situation breaks my heart. It is precisely the training I received from the U.S. Military that tells me this is wrong.
Thank you Cranky. You said it better than I ever could.
Yeharr
One of my favorite bloggers, The Cranky Yankee, made the following comment on my "SERE Sucker" post. I reprint it here with his permission:
"I went through AF SERE school. We called it Resistance training. I also did more training when I first went into Special Operations. Your friend's story of how his school ended is right on. For us they raised the flag and played the Star Spangled banner. I stood there at attention physically, mentally and emotionally exhausted with tears of pride streaming down my face. That is to this day one my most powerful memories.
I have always felt I made it thru that training with much honor and pride myself with having resisted successfully. My dog tags say Roman Catholic on them. I guess I had to put something.. Anyway during one of the interrogation sessions they tried to get me to lose my temper by ordering me to stand on the bible. I think they ended up more pissed then me when I happily complied. They acted like I had just pimped out my mother. They were supposed to be East Germans who captured us in a Red Storm Rising type scenario. My response was something to the effect of, " aren't you guys Lutherans?" I was roughly bound, gagged and thrown into a footlocker size box for a two hour nap. I ended up enduring more than the average amount punishment during that training mostly because of my temper and my smart mouth.
What makes me angry about the current situation is that having been through this I knew Americans wouldn't do it. In the academic portions of the school it was drilled into our heads that this type of abuse was illegal, immoral and would exact a great toll on those societies that allowed it. There was no moral relevance. We endured based on the belief that our enemies, by engaging in this type of abuse, were surely losing, that they resorted to torture as a last resort, a death throe if you will. It was playing dirty, cheating and revealed the true moral character of our enemy. The worse they treat us the more we believe we are just in our cause and right in our belief of ultimate victory. That is why the current situation breaks my heart. It is precisely the training I received from the U.S. Military that tells me this is wrong.
Thank you Cranky. You said it better than I ever could.
Yeharr
posted by Balloon Pirate at 6:03 AM
13 Comments:
RCCY,
Well it looks like you did leave a mark in your words.
Cool words Cranky.
YEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE! HAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAWWWW!
You mama needs to shave her back and learn to move a litle more in bed!
By golly, tugboat capn. just because you say it, it must be true. Never mind that investigative jounralists reported this. Never mind that no one's denying it.
Gee thanks tuggy. By the way, day is night, big is small, left is right, right is wrong, and Bush is a Great President.
Yeharr
They've done a pretty good number on the tugboatcapn. He sounds like someone else we know.
Actually the only part of the quran story that has been refuted, they love that word don't they, is the toilet flushing story. Everything thing else came out in an FBI report. Read a paper will ya.
They may tell you that you can decide but they don't tell you everything.
YEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE! HAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAWWWW!
Red Peters
Age: 37
Astrological Sign: Capricorn
Zodiac Year:: Sheep
Location: North Carolina : United States
About Me
I am conservative to the core because I know it is the correct way to think!
Too funny on too many levels....
Like I've said before, Crank--I'm glad we're on the same side...
Yeharr
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guant%C3%A1namo_Bay_Qur'an_desecration_allegations
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/7995960/
just for tugboatcapn to get his facts a little more in order before he makes more ignorant statements.
there are obviously 2 sides to this story, as well as questions about the veractity of the prisoners claims etc, based on their own training manual instructing them to lie once captured.
however, contrary to tugboatcapns claims, some of the reports HAVE been verified, as some of the other posters here have pointed out.
if you want to debate a point, feel free to do so, but try to stick to the facts when doing so.
thanks.
and let's not forget that there are a number of classified torture camps throughout the world and that Guantanamo Bay and Abu Ghraib just happen to be the only 2 that have really hit the media. they are specifically bringing in trained interrogators that perform this type of abuse, and feel that they can get away with it because they're not following the Geneva Conventions, nor are they treating them as actual prisoners of war, but as terrorists who are therefor exempt from the protections of the Geneva Conventions. there are also allegations that the reason Abu Ghraib got out of hand is because they had brought in untrained soldiers and personnel to assist with the interrogations and that is how the leaks happened. when the actual professionals and higher ups in the government and military saw what was happening, they pulled out and washed their hands of it and let the soldiers take the fall etc.
just more things to consider here.
(and let's not forget that the US simply isn't allowing any of it's soldiers to be tried for war crimes by the international courts. we simply declined. how convenient. "no thanks, we'd rather not go to court for what we've done." and there really isn't anything the UN or anyone else can do about it either.. which is sad.)
And, of course, we haven't even touched the issue of 'rendition,'where we ship certain detainees and prisoners off to countries that have far less reticence than even we do about torture.
Uzbekistan, anyone?
Yeharr
"By golly, tugboat capn. just because you say it, it must be true."
I thought we had agreed that something is only true if I decree it as such?
BP,
When r u going to post about the signs at stadiums?
not sure i follow, dude. if it's a slam about something i said that pissed you off in the past, refresh my memory so i can piss you off again.
yeharr
u posted on my blog that you would have apost coming up about signs at stadium re: PNC park.
Well, that's not pissy at all! Are you sure it was me?
I'll have to go an look to refresh my memory.
Yeharr
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