My hero! Sniping Iraqi insurgents...

Heck yeah! I'd like to buy that man a beer.

Shoot straight, keep up the good work, and come home safe, Marine.

Guy must be a hell of a shot. Hats off to him.

Good shooting

A female member of the drive-by media interviewed a Marine sniper in Iraq. She asked him, "What did you feel when you shot that insurgent?"

The Marine looked at her a moment and answered, "Recoil, Maam."



CaCrusin

That is beautiful.

Good story. I guess he is using an M14 to get off so many shots so quickly.

Not to play devil's advocate but:

Why do we make heroes of soldiers but not diplomats? A soldier may save 100 lives by killing an insurgent, but what about that diplomat who saves a thousand lives with a few words? I'm not saying soldiers are not heroes, hell, I was one myself so please sing my praises , but why not other people too?

*firmly places anti-flame helmet on head*

Neville Chamberlain is a classic example. Bill Clinton is another.

I prefer 'Peace through superior firepower' to 'Peace in our time'.

Not to play devil's advocate but:

Why do we make heroes of soldiers but not diplomats? A soldier may save 100 lives by killing an insurgent, but what about that diplomat who saves a thousand lives with a few words? I'm not saying soldiers are not heroes, hell, I was one myself so please sing my praises , but why not other people too?

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Because is the diplomat did their jobs in the first place:banghead: , the soldier wouldn't have to do his.

Why not make a hero of a soldier?

Jerry

I like that quote "Recoil, Maam".

I'd love to see some diplomatic prowess with the Israel conflict..... Most diplomacy just postpones the inevitable. The way I see it is if somebody wants you dead, there is little to negotiate. What are you going to give them in return for not trying to kill you..... Jewish virgins? Let them slug it out; Israel is doing the western world a favor.

Why do we make heroes of soldiers but not diplomats? A soldier may save 100 lives by killing an insurgent, but what about that diplomat who saves a thousand lives with a few words?

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Well... for one, the diplomat doesn't risk getting his own backside shot off while employing those "few words"... The soldier is actually putting himself at risk trying to save other people. The diplomat risks nothing.

Besides, isn't it always the politicians and diplomats that start the trouble in the first place?



J.C.

Why don't we praise the diplomats?

Because when they fail they are the ones that send the soldiers in to fix their mistake.

That's what makes soldiers heros and why diplomats aren't.

'Why do we make heroes of soldiers but not diplomats? A soldier may save 100 lives by killing an insurgent, but what about that diplomat who saves a thousand lives with a few words? I'm not saying soldiers are not heroes, hell, I was one myself so please sing my praises , but why not other people too"?

It seems to me that our soldiers are also acting as diplomats.

sniper shots

a friend of mine sent me an e mail of some sniper shots in the hills
of afganistan with a Barrett 50 cal that they say was a half mile away.
the video was taken threw the spotters scope and the amount of damage
to the insurgent was awsome,pieces flying everywhere.
still have the email stored away.

Wise men (diplomats) wonder while strong men (soldiers) die!

a friend of mine sent me an e mail of some sniper shots in the hills
of afganistan with a Barrett 50 cal that they say was a half mile away.
the video was taken threw the spotters scope and the amount of damage
to the insurgent was awsome,pieces flying everywhere.
still have the email stored away.

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I saw that one too. It isn't insurgents. If you watch carefully you can see they are large rodents, like rockchucks. But you can go on believing they are insurgents if you want.

but what about that diplomat who saves a thousand lives with a few words?

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Would that it could be so....
The UN is well peopled with diplomats. Are you aware of their score card saving lives in Africa of late or calming tensions in the Middle East?

S-

The guy's background sounds like an American Vasily Zaitsev.

a friend of mine sent me an e mail of some sniper shots in the hills
of afganistan with a Barrett 50 cal that they say was a half mile away.
the video was taken threw the spotters scope and the amount of damage
to the insurgent was awsome,pieces flying everywhere.
still have the email stored away.

Click to expand...

This was thoroughly debunked as actually shooting rockchucks with a .22-250.

Not to play devil's advocate but:

Why do we make heroes of soldiers but not diplomats? A soldier may save 100 lives by killing an insurgent, but what about that diplomat who saves a thousand lives with a few words? I'm not saying soldiers are not heroes, hell, I was one myself so please sing my praises , but why not other people too?

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Several reasons.

Number one, if the diplomats had done their job so good the soldier wouldn't be doing his. A soldier is sent to war as a last result, they always have been. War is messy complicated and expensive in both money, bodies, and other various resources. Even such empiers as Rome used war last, granted sometimes their position was ally with us, become our vassel, or die, but they still tried deplomacy first.

Secondly, the diplomat isn't risking his life. A soldier is in a position of getting his head blown off while he is blowing off heads. A diplomat may occasionaly find himself in a dangerous situation if he is in a troubled spot in the world but he isn't intentionaly sticking his neck out on the line.

Third, the soldier (when properly used and unleashed, not the screwing around like we do today) is the only true end all. People the diplomat has worked with can change their mind, try renagotiating, etc. A soldier goes in and kills the opposition, the dead can't change their mind and the conqoured lack the ability to. The soldiers answer when properly executed is final for a very long time, the diplomats is not.

Lupinus said it well, but I'll add:

Talk is cheap.

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I think that diplomacy is done in the battle field as well. For instance.....in WW2 when asked for the surrender of Bastogne, the commanding officer replied "Aw nuts"......thus confusing the Germans for hours before they realized that "Aw nuts" meant "suck an egg". Bush couldn't had said it better himself.

Conflict is the open measure of weighted diplomacy.....the more weight you have, the less diplomatic you have to be.

I think we ought to make a bigger deal of our diplomatic succeses. I think that good diplomats are heroes. Not all soldiers are heroic or even honorable. There are plenty who abuse their power, abuse civilians, and abuse their status as a soldier. However, when it is all said and done, the average soldier really is worthy of praise for the sacrifices they endure, even if their performance is commonplace. A mediocre diplomat, on the other hand, does not make the same type of routine sacrifices that soldiers do, even soldiers who are not killed or injured.

I respect both, but for every diplomat making a promise or sealing a deal, which is commendale, there are hundreds of soldiers who have to be willing to lay down their lives to ensure that deal is worth something more than the paper it s written on. American diplomacy=results because American power=economic and military might. UN diplomacy=paper because UN power=hollow threats, wanrings and edicts.