Originally posted by: FanFiltration
The issue on this topic was that these soldiers stood around chuckling and teasing a disabled animal, and had made it all into a big joke for amusement only. This is just one example of their mental state, and these guys have guns. Make of it what you will, but I think it's clear that there was other options open to them other then the sadistic actions shown in the film clips. Why did they just not quickly shoot the dog? Yes that would have been the humane and cost effective thing to do. But no, they just stood around and acted like a group of high school boys making jokes and taunting the poor thing. Also, in the one film a soldier is saying how funny it was to see the limping dog in pain.
The issue on this topic was that these soldiers stood around chuckling and teasing a disabled animal, and had made it all into a big joke for amusement only. This is just one example of their mental state, and these guys have guns. Make of it what you will, but I think it's clear that there was other options open to them other then the sadistic actions shown in the film clips. Why did they just not quickly shoot the dog? Yes that would have been the humane and cost effective thing to do. But no, they just stood around and acted like a group of high school boys making jokes and taunting the poor thing. Also, in the one film a soldier is saying how funny it was to see the limping dog in pain.
Do you know how old the average soldier is? 18-20 years old. So they ARE a group of high school boys making jokes. Dude, seriously, this is how they cope. How would you cope with seeing friends killed day in and day out during war. You cope by making jokes of things that are less sick then watching a friend die.
The mental state is that they're over in a shit hole country doing whatever they can to stay alive in case some IED blows up and kills them or a friend. The only other option would be to outright shoot the dog. Instead, they chose to have some fun with it. The ONLY reason this is even an issue is because todays soldier has access to cheap, easy to carry video cameras that he can use to upload the video to the Internet.
This would have been a non issue in Vietnam or any other war because you wouldn't have known about it. Since you know about it though, it suddenly becomes an issue.
I don't believe what's needed is better training though. What's needed is better screening for what these guys are accessing on the Internet. I think you'll find any commander hard pressed to come down on his subordinates over shooting a dog that was probably going to die anyway. This is just one more case where the guys in combat should not have access to the Internet or should have anything they end up filming screened.