Blackwater down

[WheelGunMom]

TX1911fan,
I don't think it's an immunity issue. Remember the "assumption of the risk" defense covered back in torts class in law school? So long as the Blackwater employees knowingly and voluntarily assumed the risk of death/serious injury when they took the jobs in the center of an active war zone, I see no way the families can now sue.

 

[ArfinGreebly]

No, Ma'am.

We at the FBI do not have a sense of humor that we're aware of.

"Crossed the line?"

Somebody's clearly not familiar with my writing style.

And replace the batteries in your sarcasm/irony detectors.

Follow the first part of the thread. Bunch of unsympathetic material. Mercenaries.

I don't do personal attacks. Don't need to.

I DO, however, engage in ABSURDITY AMPLIFICATION.

Some guy, recently out of the .mil, realizes that 1) he's not done doing something useful for his country, 2) can't go back into .mil for whatever reason, 3) there's a company that will hire him and pay him well for his most recently practiced skill set.

He joins this company, volunteers for dangerous duty, gets killed.

But, because he GETS PAID BETTER (which could, y'know, have something to do with specialized intensive training), and because he's "obviously" some kind of "gun nut" (hey, who else would do that kind of work?), and because he's not wearing the honorable uniform of our duly authorized .mil, he is therefore BAD -- or at least not really good -- and deserves no sympathy, 'cuz, hey, he volunteered for dangerous duty.

Unlike, for example, our army and marine recruits. Who volunteered for dangerous duty.

Go ahead, I'll wait. Read the thread, in sequence. Yes, Virginia, I was making a point. I'll admit, the framing -- in the absence of any context -- seems a little over the top.

Gets your attention, though, doesn't it?

Zoogster understood.

These guys aren't allowed to be "official heros" 'cuz they're civilians.

It's worth noting, though, that THEY DO A SOLDIER'S JOB, AND DIE LIKE SOLDIERS.

My heart goes out to their families.

 

[jwalk]

ArfinGreebly
Thanks, I read it over and over but couldn't tell where you were coming from. I stand corrected.

 

[ArfinGreebly]

My Apologies

And for the record:

I apologize to anyone whose sensibilities were offended by my clumsy attempt at irony (sarcasm).

I'll get better at it, I promise.

 

[cowboybobb693]

ArfinGreebly. I'll admit that I'm not familiar with your writing style and my sarcasam meter does not need the batteries changed. I don't wear tin hats. I find your comments to be highly offensive.
These gents were performing a job that soldiers were unable to perform,whether it was due to the military not having the aircraft / soldiers etc....Or just one of the assignmets the they were contracted to perform.
If you read what they were doing PRIOR to being shot down, they were flying cover for a VIP convoy. Private contractors are used for such operations so that our military can perform the jobs that they were sent to do, take out the bad guys.

 

[blacksuit]

Wow, reading some of the post here I thought I was on AR15.com. Why hate these guys for doing their jobs? I am sure they have their fair share of pricks but lets not think that they are all crap heads....:banghead:

 

[ArfinGreebly]

cowboybobb693

I find your comments to be highly offensive.

You must be referring to this comment:

These guys aren't allowed to be "official heros" 'cuz they're civilians.

It's worth noting, though, that THEY DO A SOLDIER'S JOB, AND DIE LIKE SOLDIERS.

My heart goes out to their families.

I'll try to work on that.

 

[cowboybobb693]

ArfinGreebly.
The comments that I find offensive are " they deserved to die" "bout time they got killled" and the classic "serves em right"
Being a retired soldier, I have a place in my heart for people that put themselves in harms way, NO MATTER WHAT THEIR REASONS ARE.

 

[foob]

it's funny to see how when guys started pouring into the cities with guns (National Guard and Blackwater), you heard less and less about shooting and looting

Er... you know in a police state, where all guns are illegal, where any weapon is confiscated, where police do continuous no-knock search and seizures, where wiretapping is ubiquitous, where police can be the judge, jury, and executioner, where fear rules the public, will probably have less shooting and looting too.

What's your point?

I apologize to anyone whose sensibilities were offended by my clumsy attempt at irony (sarcasm).

I'll get better at it, I promise.

I knew it was sarcasm the first time I read it. It was so over the top I'm surprised anybody thought otherwise.

 

[OrvilleYertleson]

They are being paid by our government to do jobs that the military doesn't want to (can't?) use soldiers for.

They take high risk jobs like...Guarding convoys of equipment. They also do executive protection, which frees up special operations units to go do more important missions.

Our government (and US companies) have been using private security contractors all over the world for years and they have never been considered anything but...private security guards or bodyguards. But when you add a political handgrenade like Iraq into the mix you get...Mercenaries. It is just a different application of Godwins law.

and ManedWolf: I am sorry, but I don't understand how you can condemn an entire company because an employee had the audacity to *gasp* use profanity and yell at your friend.

My understanding is that they were in NO acting as a private security company for private clients. I haven't heard any complaints about them killing people so perhaps the *gasp* profanity and yelling served it's intended purpose of causing people (including your friend) to steer clear of them.


Also, when I checked the definition of Mercenary I got this: "a professional soldier hired to serve in a foreign army." Which is most definately not what Blackwater is doing. They are serving our army and US interests in the middle east and are doing so by providing defense.

You might be able to make a case about the status of the employees of Executive Outcomes and Sandline back in the day, but that isn't what is happenning now.

 

[just one question]

....

ArfinGreebly.
The comments that I find offensive are " they deserved to die" "bout time they got killled" and the classic "serves em right"
Being a retired soldier, I have a place in my heart for people that put themselves in harms way, NO MATTER WHAT THEIR REASONS ARE.

For crying out loud he was praising the blackwater guys and calling out the people who said things along the lines of "they deserved to die" and meant it. He has had one of the few decent post in this thread.

I wonder why people are going after him and not the people who really do want them dead (what a "high road" thread this has been so far)

 

[cowboybobb693]

Praising the BW guys ?????? How did you come to that conclusion ??

 

[pax]

Thread closed.

Some folks need to look up the word 'sarcasm' in the dictionary, set down their keyboards and quit attacking other members.

pax