"bad news from Afghanistan ...." Topic

I put up his picture so folks can see what he looks like. It makes him seem more human to me that way, gives a different perspective, he's not just the bitter sniper I see online.

Actually Areux, you better be sure you have the right man on the picture. If anything happened to him, well, i mean it could be seen as though you put his picture up,so he was attacked or something for his comments.

Are you doing this,in the hope of a vigilante attack on him?

The picture comes from his Amazon Author's page fro crimey sake. That is already public domain and easy for anyone here to find, especially as he pimps his books as he trashes others.

link

In response to the OP, it looks like "payback" and "payback" gets easier when unit identity is divulged from the getgo. And to be clear, I don't agree with those kinds of politics.

So now we can be voted off the Island……

I dunno, that's a slippery slope, I think. It has a sort of French Revolution feel about it. I think democracy needs certain limits.

Yeah. Leave that stuff to the big man. The other way would have the whiff of the schoolyard bully and gang culture bout it.

I've only stifled two people and I unstifled them a moment or two later as I felt a bit guilty.

Has it been confirmed it was an rpg? It's unlikely they knew who was on board when they shot at it right?

The Editor 12 Aug 2011 10:26 p.m. PST

So now we can be voted off the Island……

Better than letting "the dictator" do it, right?

*NJH: No, it's not. It's your site, your rules, and your duty to enforce the rules.

Mob rule is the very last thing needed in this hobby.

Agreed.

Bill, this is *your* island. You make the rules, we agreed to abide by them. If anyone (including me) can't abide by the rules of society, then they should not be a part of that society. You would be perfectly justified to boot anyone out and not allow them back on, and the hoi polloi don't need to know any details.

Lion hits the nail on the head. This is Bill's island and he makes the rules. He's been pretty good about enforcing them so his decision – not ours.

Wow.
I wound up getting dog housed for what I said on this thread? I feel kind of Justine Jones (of "The Devil in Miss Jones" fame) in that I'm not angry about the punishment, but I'm bitter that I didn't do anything bad enough to warrant it. I want a do-over! ;-)
Ah well.

Ok, a couple of quick points:

>>>Guys, posting a picture of him? What's that going to achieve?
Alot actually.
I personally don't think there is anything wrong with "outing" a tr..err..trouble making poster. The thing is that the "people" who play the trolling game tend to abuse the relative anonymity of the 'net to behave in ways they would never dream of in a real world interaction. Yanking that cloak of anonymity off and forcing them to stand by their online behavior will often scare them into behaving or at the very least leaving. In reality the chances of anyone acting against a problem child in real life is very, very remote. But most "outed" trolls react badly to it. I suspect it's embarrassment that their real name is now associated with their childish online behavior.

I post to a couple of political blogs, and like most political forums you have people from the other side causing trouble. (a few are there to dsicuss and debate, but most just want to name call, harrass, and cause trouble) On one particular forum, we've chased off three of our more annoying problem children by "outing them". I can imagine the cold chill that shot down their spine when they sw their real name, address, phone number, and a google earth pic of their neighborhood posted. None of the three came back, and the site is a better place for it.

>>>The other way would have the whiff of the schoolyard bully and gang culture bout it.

Not really. It's more an example of democracy in action. But a better solution is the "flagging" system that is a feature of the Disqus software that many forums use. There is a "flag offensive post" button at the bottom of each post. If a post gets enough votes from distinct IP addresses, the post is removed. It works very well in silencing trolls. All but the most crazy will eventually get bored and move on when their posts come to have shelf life measured in minutes.

>>I've only stifled two people and I unstifled them a moment or two later as I felt a bit guilty.

I've never stiffled anyone here…even the most annoying folks. I didn't use "kill files" back in my USENET days either. I've always felt it was a bit cowardly. But that's just my opinion…

Martin

I can imagine the cold chill that shot down their spine when they sw their real name, address, phone number, and a google earth pic of their neighborhood posted.

*NJH: All that info about me is public knowledge, as it is about everyone. There are very few secrets anymore, and thinking that one is posting anonymously is a delusion.

But many people think that the Interwebz are anonymous. There's a reason I use my real name on gun-related sites, and oddly enough, Ken Burnside requires you to use your real name over on the AV:T/SqnStrike forums. Said it just about eliminated flame wars on the forum.

Of course, my signature block on the gun forum says "Yes, that is my real name. I won't say anything to you here that I wouldn't say to your face, and I don't care what 'Big Brother' knows about my interests." I have never gotten any grief on that forum.

But now we're flogging a dead horse. Bill, can you snag a dead horse emoticon?

This is my first appearance on the Modern boards but I just wanted to come over and add my condolences for the loss of so many servicemen and women in this incident.

Also, as a Brit and a former RN officer, I wanted to voice my utter contempt for the opinions of Dave Hollins on this subject.

Colin

Since what Hollins posted has been deleted and I haven't read it, did he really say "military service personnel deserve what they get if they sign up."?

If he did he is very much in a minority in the UK and deleting stuff is one thing but it would be useful to see what he actually said in order to form an opinion.

Bill

Not quite. It was not so much military personal as Americans. Either way, out of order.

I think the important thing is to once again see how Special Forces troops (and Chinooks) are being misused. taking out all the regular troops – using nothing but drones and Special Forces.

And when they asked why they were using Chinooks, the idiot General in charge actually said that they had done this 1000 times before without an incident. Well, being stupid 1000 times is eventually going to catch up with you – and the PR fallout from this one incident destroyed six months of successes.

I guarantee that if that general had been along that night, he wouldn't have been riding in a Chinook.

@ Edwulf,

Well, if that is true all I can say is it was monumentally rude and insensitive, and entirely unnecessary.

Bill

Hi All

From various reading related to this subject it appears that the Chinooks are being used because they handle the altitude associated with Astan better than the other USA transport Helos [like UH60].

Of course several could be used [if available] with the team split between them

From what I have read in the newspapers by the 'armchair generals' the main criticism is the absence of escorts but how they would have stopped a taking a pot in the darkness with his RPG is not clear.

I'm not sure what the other complaints about the Chinook are exactly. I though it had a pretty good rep.

Agreed x brigade. It was disappointing.

I know I'm a little late to this throw down and I don't want be a Arm Chair General but if you read the book Operation Red Wings the very same thing happened. This was the operation to rescue the last SEAL back in 2005 the SOF rushed into a LZ that wasn't preped by Gunships before the SOF guys made their landing. And a RPG gunner came out and popped the Chinook with a rocket. Now that being said the Gunners in the GunShips do have night vision and can see heat so it probably would have helped a lot.