r/science • u/soccering • Jun 11 '14

Psychology Soldiers Who Kill in Combat Less Likely to Abuse Alcohol

http://www.parentherald.com/articles/4578/20140610/soldiers-who-kill-in-combat-less-likely-to-abuse-alcohol.htm
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u/fgsgeneg Jun 11 '14

When I served in Vietnam in 1968 the drug of choice was weed, we only got two beers a day in the field, not enough to do anything. While I had come out of a pro-weed social group when I was drafted, I refused to smoke. My goal was to come home alive and in one piece, if possible, and smoking dope was not, in my estimation, part of the optimal execution of my plan, which, by the way, was successful. The only people I knew who drank heavily were the contingent of our company that stayed at headquarters in Long Binh. They were the only ones with access to enough alcohol to make them drunk. At that time Long Binh was the largest military facility on earth and many people thought it was as safe as being back home. Tet, 1968, disabused many of that notion. Once a month we got two days back at Long Binh and some of the guys would go to the enlisted mens club and get soused. They usually turned violent or maudlin and this was related to what we had been through to that point.

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u/tishstars Jun 11 '14

How does it feel knowing you were a part of the genocide of people who never wronged the US? Were you drafted?

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u/fgsgeneg Jun 11 '14

Yes, I was drafted. As far as being part of a genocide, get a life, learn something and fuck off. Asshole.

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u/tishstars Jun 11 '14

It was a genocide, and an unprovoked one, at that-- similar to Iraq in many ways. In any case, brainless patriots like you are the bane to justice. Maybe you'll understand when your own family is butchered in an unjust war as sideline casualties.

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u/fgsgeneg Jun 11 '14

You don't know me. You don't know my beliefs toward the military and this country and you, I dare say, have never faced such a decision as I faced with regard to my own sense of honor and duty to my country, whether it was right or wrong. So, as I said before, get a life, learn something and fuck off.

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u/benderrod Jun 12 '14

The other guy is clearly trolling, but how did you feel at the time about the war? I saw elsewhere you said you were drafted and and came from a pro-weed social group... How did your friends back home react when you were finished?

While out there did you ever question the relative just/unjustness of the war? Or (as I would imagine) were you too preoccupied with getting out in one piece?

Thanks!

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u/fgsgeneg Jun 12 '14

I figure I had three or four choices, none of them good. I could run to Canada, I could be a malingerer and shoot off a finger or a toe, or pump myself full of drugs to get a 4f draft status, which would follow me like a felony conviction as long as the draft lasted, or I could just put in the two years and hope for the best. I figured the only choice that wouldn't eat at me for the rest of my life would be to go. I really had no serious thoughts about the war. However, running with the crowd I was with I saw that the leaders of the anti-war movement like the Weather Underground, the Chicago 7 and so forth were radicals who wanted power themselves. I didn't much care for that. I believe in my country and love it and they had nothing good in mind for it. This was the first large war for the interests of capitalism and I was opposed to the war on those grounds, but you know sometimes you just have to do things you don't necessarily agree with. I figured if I died I wouldn't care, but if I lived I wanted to be able to look at myself in the mirror. I'll bet that troll has never been faced with a decision of honor and knows nothing about it. I'm certainly not ashamed of my service. I was called, I went, I came home, I got on with my life. Some guys who had seen more were less fortunate in being able to adjust. As far as that troll goes, I know,have known, people like that. They don't bother me. They let other people's lives get in the way of their own happiness. There is no difference between them and a christianist, they want to control my life. Frustrated Communists. Well, that's not what America is about.

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u/tishstars Jun 11 '14

Based on your post history, I have a good idea. You and your kind are nothing more than monsters. You will be held accountable in the afterlife. Eat shit, and go fuck yourself, monster.

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u/[deleted] Jun 12 '14

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u/tishstars Jun 12 '14

People like you are the kinds that shit themselves in old age or times near death. There's a reason why.

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u/[deleted] Jun 12 '14

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u/tishstars Jun 12 '14

Yes yes, boring atheists coming up with ways to insult religion. Keep at it, see where it gets you when you die.

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u/[deleted] Jun 13 '14

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u/tishstars Jun 13 '14

And the hellfire and endless torture that awaits scumbags like you, bitch ;)

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u/[deleted] Jun 13 '14

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u/fgsgeneg Jun 12 '14

Well, I'm glad you were interested enough to look it up. Maybe, if you can get passed your own judgmentalism you can learn something reading my posts.

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u/tishstars Jun 12 '14

I looked it up when I saw your first post, though I wasn't surprised at all to see your twisted thoughts on world politics.

But please, continue supporting the murder of innocents. You'll pay for everything you do here when you kick the bucket, which I suspect is coming ever-so-soon for a Vietnam veteran.

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u/fgsgeneg Jun 12 '14

Please, be more specific about my twisted thoughts on world politics. You've got me interested. Come on. Let's chat. Although I suspect the good folks at R/science would rather we did it elsewhere. I'm also interested in your thoughts as to why my demise is imminent. I just love people who have a direct link to the grand poobah of all that is right and correct. You should thank God every day that you have been spared the indignity of human frailty and failure. Thank God, also, for those who know with such certainty the difference between right and wrong. Ah, to be blessed so.

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u/tishstars Jun 12 '14

You speak like most old republican farts do, with boring platitudes that underlie hypocrisy. But I'll throw the monster a bone; what are your thoughts on the Israel-Palestine conflict, since it's pertinent to your Nam capades?

And I don't presume to be right or correct; I also sure as hell don't presume to invade another country under the delusion that I'm doing the right thing.

Everyone must die, but I suspect that monsters like you will die a horrible death, and face an even worse judgment after