I do wish people would stop ****ing on about Sgt Blackman.

[Burney]

First of all, you aren't allowed to shoot wounded, disarmed enemy combatants. It's one of the rules.
Second, if you're going to do it, don't make a fúcking production number out of it, announcing that you're going to do it, doing it and then admitting you just broke the Geneva Convention while you know one of your colleagues is recording your actions.
Third, if you do all this and get caught, spare us your fúcking sob story.

[Herbette Chapman - aged 15]

Third, if you do all this and get caught, spare us your fúcking sob story.

Oh dear B. Expect to be pilloried any moment now by Charlie for failing to get the whole point (fella he shot was an irisher ya see).

[Burney]

Oh dear B. Expect to be pilloried any moment now by Charlie for failing to get the whole point (fella he shot was an irisher ya see).

I doubt it. Sir C knows that the military runs on rules and that when egregious and unignorable breaches of those rules occur, examples must be made pour encourager les autres.

[Sir C]

First of all, you aren't allowed to shoot wounded, disarmed enemy combatants. It's one of the rules.
Second, if you're going to do it, don't make a fúcking production number out of it, announcing that you're going to do it, doing it and then admitting you just broke the Geneva Convention while you know one of your colleagues is recording your actions.
Third, if you do all this and get caught, spare us your fúcking sob story.

There is obviously a humanitarian case for applying the coup de grace in extremis, but, as you say, discretion is all in these matters.

Still, it's hard not to sympathise with someone making poor decisions in a combat environment from which most of us would be running away with liquid faeces literally pouring out of our trouser legs, squealing for mummy. Pontificating from a nice safe, warm office is easy but a little fúcking rich, really.

[Burney]

There is obviously a humanitarian case for applying the coup de grace in extremis, but, as you say, discretion is all in these matters.

Still, it's hard not to sympathise with someone making poor decisions in a combat environment from which most of us would be running away with liquid faeces literally pouring out of our trouser legs, squealing for mummy. Pontificating from a nice safe, warm office is easy but a little fúcking rich, really.

He dragged a wounded, disarmed man to a place where he couldn't be seen by our persistent ground surveillance system and then shot him. That's not a bad decision taken in the heat of battle, it's calculated murder and the court had no option but to find him guilty and punish him accordingly.
Most servicemen or ex-servicemen I've heard on the matter may have some sympathy for his claims of combat stress, but few I've heard have a problem with his conviction, since he's plainly guilty.

[Sir C]

He dragged a wounded, disarmed man to a place where he couldn't be seen by our persistent ground surveillance system and then shot him. That's not a bad decision taken in the heat of battle, it's calculated murder and the court had no option but to find him guilty and punish him accordingly.
Most servicemen or ex-servicemen I've heard on the matter may have some sympathy for his claims of combat stress, but few I've heard have a problem with his conviction, since he's plainly guilty.

Good to hear that your vast experience of the heat of battle enables you to judge the clarity of his thinking at that exact moment, wd you.

I agree with your point, tbh. I'm just wary of judging him from a moral point of view.

In short, we weren't there, man.

[Burney]

Good to hear that your vast experience of the heat of battle enables you to judge the clarity of his thinking at that exact moment, wd you.

I agree with your point, tbh. I'm just wary of judging him from a moral point of view.

In short, we weren't there, man.

Where have I made a moral judgment? My point is entirely based on the legality or otherwise of his actions - which is a fairly open and shut case.
The morality of what he did is neither here nor there. What is at issue is whether he has been correctly treated according to the law - which he has. Everything else is just background noise.

[eastgermanautos]

Where have I made a moral judgment? My point is entirely based on the legality or otherwise of his actions - which is a fairly open and shut case.
The morality of what he did is neither here nor there. What is at issue is whether he has been correctly treated according to the law - which he has. Everything else is just background noise.

You made a moral judgement by proxy, saying that the colleagues wouldn't have had a problem with it. I think a similar point is made by Clint Eastwood in American Sniper btw.

[eastgermanautos]

You made a moral judgement by proxy, saying that the colleagues wouldn't have had a problem with it. I think a similar point is made by Clint Eastwood in American Sniper btw.


Just saying. :-) What the fvck do I care whether you make a moral judgement or not. Good on you man.

[redgunamo]

You made a moral judgement by proxy, saying that the colleagues wouldn't have had a problem with it. I think a similar point is made by Clint Eastwood in American Sniper btw.

The old "no-one I know thinks that .. " superiority construction? I see.

That's actually rather perceptive. For you.

[eastgermanautos]

The old "no-one I know thinks that .. " superiority construction? I see.

That's actually rather perceptive. For you.

Yeah well. A stopped clock, you know.

[redgunamo]

Yeah well. A stopped clock, you know.

Indeed. We all have our moments.

[redgunamo]

Yeah well. A stopped clock, you know.

Also, nice of you to mention Clint without sneering :-)

[barrybueno]

He has no Honor B...

[redgunamo]

He has no Honor B...

Word up, B

http://40.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lt2k3qYQnw1qzi7tqo1_1280.jpg

[Ash]

Still, it's hard not to sympathise with someone making poor decisions in a combat environment from which most of us would be running away with liquid faeces literally pouring out of our trouser legs...

Isn't that what puttees are for?

[Sir C]

Isn't that what puttees are for?

Lord no. Puttees were like gaiters. Do you wear gaiters, a? I wear gaiters if conditions are particularly muddy.

[Ash]

Lord no. Puttees were like gaiters. Do you wear gaiters, a? I wear gaiters if conditions are particularly muddy.

I know what puttees are for really. I was jesting.

No, I don't wear gaiters. I find something a little bit puddle-jumpy about them tbh. I pull my thick socks up over my ankles, like puttees.

[Sir C]

bout them imo

I know what puttees are for really. I was jesting.

No, I don't wear gaiters. I find something a little bit puddle-jumpy about them tbh. I pull my thick socks up over my ankles, like puttees.

:-( But don't your trousers get dirty?

I don't use sticks. Why do people have those sticks? Like they're going skiing, but they got no snow.

[Burney]

:-( But don't your trousers get dirty?

I don't use sticks. Why do people have those sticks? Like they're going skiing, but they got no snow.

I think the economy of the Lake District is largely dependent on the sale of those sticks to tourists, so do t knock them.

[Ash]

:-( But don't your trousers get dirty?

I don't use sticks. Why do people have those sticks? Like they're going skiing, but they got no snow.

A bit, but the idea is for the socks to get most of the mud. At which point I should admit to seeking the dryer line around the more swampy bits - which could be construed as puddle-jumpy itself, perhaps.

Nope, don't do sticks. I can see a use for them as arm-extensions on a steep downward scramble - the sort of terrain that I usually descend on my arse to keep the centre of gravity low. Not sure I want to carry them uphill though and I would feel *really* old with them.