Ramblings of a Jackhole

A buddy of mine shared this in coversation when talking about his first combat experience.

The first time I saw combat, it was intense, but fast. I mean the actual events were a blur in my mind. I vaguely remember what I did beyond taking cover behind a tree up on the small ridge before the command to fire was given, but I do remember my training and instincts kicking in. Plus the ringing in my ears was distinct. Maybe it was because we always wore ear protection when we did practice shoots, but my hearing was a bit messed up right afterwards.

The thing I REALLY remember though was seeing the aftermath of what happened. Dead, some burning, some dismembered (a 40mm grenade to a truck fuel tank goes BOOM!), and some just all torn to hell BODIES everywhere. 16 enemy total that first time ambushed by us since we were observing, and they suddenly were moving right towards us not know we were there, and we had to act first.

The scene afterwards is burned into my memory, and I will never forget it, and it is one of those events in my life that I reflect on when I start feeling “down”, or upset, as thinking about that reminds me of how much worse the world is in places elsewhere. I remember puking my guts out when I saw the carnage. Literally on my knees emptying my entire stomach because I just wasn’t prepared for what I saw, and it really shocked and horrified me right at first. Whomever said “war is hell” knew what they were talking about. I am proud to have served my country, but some of the stuff I was involved with while doing so, such as the combat experience, I’m not proud of. I’m not ashamed of it, but anyone that would be proud of taking the life of another human being isn’t right in the head if you ask me.

I think my buddy makes a great point. Glorification of killing is a bad idea. However, I will always hold in the highest regard those men and women of the military that fight, and kill when necessary, to protect our freedoms and way of life.

This entry was posted on Thursday, January 13th, 2005 at 2:00 PM and is filed under Military, My Thoughts. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.