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What do you mean by "Scared kids"? These soldiers we send into combat are adults and trained professionals. If anything they should be better able to assess a s

What do you mean by "Scared kids"? These soldiers we send into combat are adults and trained professionals. If anything they should be better able to assess a situation in combat with boots on the ground, not flying above the area thousands of meters away firing missiles. Additionally, there is nothing stupid about what Rand Paul is doing. The American government is based on a system of checks and balances. Rand Paul is doing the job he is paid to do.

tptacek 14y ago
Many of them are adults and trained professionals, but many of them are also literally teenagers. As for Paul, reread what I wrote. I said something specific, and you generalized it to rebut something else that I did not say.
dctoedt 14y ago
> What do you mean by "Scared kids"? These soldiers we send into combat are adults and trained professionals. If anything they should be better able to assess a situation in combat with boots on the ground, not flying above the area thousands of meters away firing missiles. I believe we have some combat veterans among the HN crowd; you might ask them whether you've got a realistic view of the stress of a combat situation.
- tptacek 14y ago
  Can I just say real quick that when I said "scared kids" the thing in my head was Kent State? I have a generally high opinion of people who serve in the military. I couldn't have done it. I don't think they're all dumb kids.
  - deleted 14y ago
    [deleted]
  - dctoedt 14y ago
    For clarity, I wasn't responding to you, Thomas. The people I've known who have been in combat (including my dad) have uniformly said that of course they were scared, but they did their jobs anyway as best they could. And yes, most of them are basically kids.
lostlogin 14y ago
Trained professional? All of them? Have you about the atrocities in Iraq and Afghanistan etc? They might be mostly professional, but that isn't good enough unfortunately.

tptacek 14y ago

Many of them are adults and trained professionals, but many of them are also literally teenagers. As for Paul, reread what I wrote. I said something specific, and you generalized it to rebut something else that I did not say.

dctoedt 14y ago

> What do you mean by "Scared kids"? These soldiers we send into combat are adults and trained professionals. If anything they should be better able to assess a situation in combat with boots on the ground, not flying above the area thousands of meters away firing missiles. I believe we have some combat veterans among the HN crowd; you might ask them whether you've got a realistic view of the stress of a combat situation.

tptacek 14y ago
Can I just say real quick that when I said "scared kids" the thing in my head was Kent State? I have a generally high opinion of people who serve in the military. I couldn't have done it. I don't think they're all dumb kids.
- deleted 14y ago
  [deleted]
- dctoedt 14y ago
  For clarity, I wasn't responding to you, Thomas. The people I've known who have been in combat (including my dad) have uniformly said that of course they were scared, but they did their jobs anyway as best they could. And yes, most of them are basically kids.

lostlogin 14y ago

Trained professional? All of them? Have you about the atrocities in Iraq and Afghanistan etc? They might be mostly professional, but that isn't good enough unfortunately.