Wednesday, February 29, 2012

An Open Response to a Load of Dung.

Before I start my Open letter in Response you need to know its a response to this article.  I'm not going to go through it bit by bit and I'm not going to quote it.  I'm a college student and I really don't have time for that kind of nonsense.

So here's my response (because as you'll see they disabled commenting)

Dear Sir/Ma'am,

I am this "Doc" Bailey you spoke of in your article.  Before I even start my reply I need you to understand one thing.  Doc is a title.  It is earned by field Medics and Corpsmen, bestowed to them by the Infantry they serve.  It is not "given" out or even official.  It is a sign of respect from one professional to another.  That you didn't bother to actually get my first name suggests either you didn't do your home work, or you're just trying to get screen grabs.

I should also note that I did not start the ball rolling on this whole thing.  It was actually another soldier who was far angrier about the film than I am, who started the group "2-16 Vets against Liars (ie Ethan McCord)".  That group was closed by facebook moderators.  I started the second group 2-16 (and 4th IBCT) Vets for Truth.  Why? because McCord is one guy, and as a sole voice doesn't even come close to representing the rest of the Company that was on the ground, or the pilots who were in the air.

As an aside the Pilots of Crazyhorse 1-8 and 1-9 have refused to come forward and name themselves for fear of retribution.  This is not widely known, but imagine if they did.  I doubt very highly that wishing that a car mysteriously hit them, or that they could be punched in the face would be the least of their worries.  I believe that some idiot DA would use the MEJA, to try to prosecute them, and there might be someone that actually hits them with a car.  All in the name of "peace" or avenging perceived war crimes of course.  You don't have to take my word for it.  The anti-war movement tends to be quite militant in its views.

I would also like to point out to you that thus far I have seen no evidence of "death threats", and even the wishing of doing potential bodily harm is not in itself a crime.  People said all the time that they wish someone would punch Bush, or assassinate him (even made a movie about it).  This was considered "free speech" back then.  What has changed?  To be clear saying "I want to punch McCord in the ovaries" while humorous, is not an actual threat against his life, also if you study trends, while death threats (real ones) are scary, they almost never precede actual violence.  Why?  Because unless someone is an idiot, to threaten actual physical bodily harm then to carry out said harm means one literally can't get away with it.  They pointed the finger at themselves. 

I also take issue with the hysterics displayed by Ethan.  Stating you're going out to buy a pistol because your feel afraid for your life is a bit of a joke.  Yes there are people who truly fear for their lives that go and buy pistols all the time.  But McCord talks about "protecting his family".  At what time was his family ever brought into this?  I have yet to see any evidence that any of the 2-16 Veterans of the "Surge" would ever intentionally harm women and children.  Likewise when you look at the things that former infantrymen might do, sure they could kill him.  Most of them could hit a target at 300 meters with no difficulty.  Some of them can hit targets as far as 800 meters away.  They are fully versed in tactics that, should they have friends assist, McCord wouldn't have a chance in the world of defeating.  These are tactical realities.  Is that scary?  Sure if you forget one thing, these men are professionals.  They will only kill their enemy.  Despite the perception that Ethan Stabbed them in the back, he is not their enemy.  Sure he's an asshole, but not an enemy.  

Indeed while these men can kill Ethan, and all sorts of ways that I'm sure has you biting your nails,  they won't.  They would rather face him, man to man and "have it out".  They want to hear from him, to their face why he betrayed them, then they would "go out back" and settle it.  Sure they'll give him a lot of bruises.  They wouldn't leave him near death, they wouldn't use weapons, or beat him to an inch of his life.  That's not how infantrymen settle things.  They will challenge Ethan to a fight.  They will fight till there's a clear victor.  One or the other can "tap out", or they can pass out.  This might seem brutish or barbaric to you, but it actually works far better than most of the alternatives that you see.  Even if Ethan wins, he will be made to understand just how strongly the issue is for these men.  If he loses, well, in the end what they really want is for him to admit he was wrong.

Lastly I want to speak of PTSD.  I do not know if it is a joke to you.  I do not know if you think this is a funny little game where you can turn us all into little psychos, that are really just victims crying out for attention, but even the mention of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder in your article was way, way, WAY off base.  I know that it's the new buzz word like ADD was in the 90's  (believe me i have first hand experience on that one) but its clear that both you and your viewers have no idea what the symptoms, causes, and reasons behind PTSD are.  Believe it or not people suffering from PTSD are the exact opposite of Rambo.  They won't freak out and go on a rampage destroying a small Washington town in the process.  If anything they are withdrawn, and their feelings of being so far apart are what cause so many of them to self medicate.  They do not act out in the way characterized in your article.  Take it from this (former) military health professional. 

I take issue with the responses to your article.  I take issue with the article and the presumptions in it.  I take issue with how you present me.  It is clear that your Bias has lead you to make false assumptions and to hype non-issues.  I doubt highly that anyone actually threatened McCord's life, and I doubt McCord's life is in any danger, unless he forgot basic firearm safety and has a Negligent Discharge while cleaning (or playing) with his shiny new gun.  That actually is far more believable that the idea that there is someone stalking him waiting for a moment to take out both him, and for good measure, his family.  You really need to check yourself.  Saying stupid stuff like that is kind of why no one trusts "journalists" anymore.

Sincerely,
"Doc" Bailey

PS please be sure to tell Ethan to get all appropriate licenses.  It really would be a shame if he was pulled over and didn't have a CCW.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Want to give a statement, to the victims' families, whose lives were destroyed that day Crazyhorse 1-8 reigned death on them?


"It is forbidden to kill; therefore all murderers are punished unless they kill in large numbers and to the sound of trumpets"´-Voltaire

The Mad Medic said...

I never kill without good cause. Neither do I blare any trumpets, or seek fanfare for said killing.

The ONLY one I feel even the slightest remorse over is the family in the van, and there. . . you really SHOULDN'T have picked up the weapons when you were moving the bodies.

Everyone else killed 12 July. No sympathy whatsoever. They were trying to kill Me and mine, and the two press critters should have known hanging out with JAM was a bad idea.

And thank you for illustrating a point I made in my last post.

Outlaw13 said...

As soon as members of the JAM apologize for setting off roadside bombs, indiscriminate firing of rockets and mortars in an urban areas, storing weapons and fighting from Mosques, wiring up mentally handicapped children with suicide vests and then sending them out to find Americans and then remotely detonating them, we might start to consider thinking about saying we're sorry for shooting people that were involved in attacks on our fellow Soldiers.

At least that's how I feel about it. Annon's outrange is kind of one-sided to say the least.

MM I don't know how you can swim through that cesspool that is Firedog lake...God bless you.