30 US Troops killed by Taliban in single attack.

[Kargathia]

I'm really disgusted by this. Not by the story itself, that is quite tragic. I'm disgusted by the people commenting. Saying "It's war" and "They're soldiers they deserve it" is probably some of the most disrespectful thing you can say. When someone you know dies don't come crying to us.

Can I feel sympathy for their families losing somebody? Absolutely.

Is it a tragedy? Doubtfully. It would be a tragedy when 30 people with no involvement, or wish of involvement in any war would be killed. These are people who by volunteering gambled their lives - and they just lost their gamble.

It's never a good thing when somebody dies, but in this case you're probably more respectful by realising that they knew all along this could happen.

 

[Continuity]

I've never been convinced that those Chinooks are safe, I live near a barracks and see the things flying round on an almost daily basis, plus occasional Apaches. The Chinooks looks like pretty big targets to me.

 

[Esotera]

I'm really disgusted by this. Not by the story itself, that is quite tragic. I'm disgusted by the people commenting. Saying "It's war" and "They're soldiers they deserve it" is probably some of the most disrespectful thing you can say. When someone you know dies don't come crying to us.

This. Soldiers don't sign up to die, and they have a hard enough job as it is. To knowingly go to a country where you will be shot at, and might not make it back, that takes strength.

All death is a terrible waste. The profession of the person who died does not affect this.

 

[Crazycat690]

The only thing sad about it is that the US troops seem to believe they are the star in their own personal war movie.

I would love to know where you picked up this little fact from. Admittedly I'm from Finland and not the US, but I've spoken to many a US, British and Finnish soldier stationed (formerly, in some cases) in Afghanistan and none of them have talked like they think it's war movie. So either you're quoting someone else's insult to soldiers in order to seem clever, or you're just a bit ignorant to the reality of the situation. Either way, think before you write eh? Stuff like that just makes you look like an ass.

Well okay I admit it's more of a stereotypic US soldier, I'm from Finland too lol Well then you know it's late over here? I had to wake up very early to drive to Tuuri so I suppose I'm going to have to excuse myself to alot of people who might find me rude at this hour... Se voitko olla mun suomalainen sisu, perkele!? (Sorry, I'm a part of the 3 per cent who speak swedish )

 

[Kryzantine]

That's the unfortunate reality. This kind of thing can and will happen. Might have just been pure chance, when you're in a warzone like Afghanistan, any attack can happen at any time. All this talk about our technological superiority... bullets still kill people, right? Explosions still destroy helicopters, right?

It's a sad day for our military, but such is the price that is paid for war. At the very least, those men will rest the easiest.

 

[Ironic Pirate]

The news over here said it was an "accident".

Then again, I never believed it was an "accident". I always thought it had been attacked. A multi-million dollar helicopter doesn't just malfunction like that.

And they say we have a "free press".

EDIT: Oh, NOW they're saying it was an attack. God, I really fucking hate the news media, bunch of lying, dick-yanking bastards!

Yeah, they never just make mistakes, do they? No, everyone in the news media is a soul-less, godless flesh eating zombie created for one purpose: lying through their teeth. That is demonstrably true, and everyone knows they're all payed off buy the government with tax dollars. There's no way they're just incompetent, they all have an agenda, every one.

Sorry if that was a little much, but the escapist has a seemingly massive population of Bill Hicks wannabes, and it's annoying.

It's war, people signed up to kill and be killed, this is just part of the process.
To me it's only tragic when civilians get involved, i.e. Oslo is worse, far far worse.

I'm not comparing this to the Oslo attacks, but it's only tragic when it's civilians?
You sir, disgust me, you may not like that, but i don't understand how you can say that.
I don't say that often.

The word tragic implies that a group of innocent individuals was harmed, since the people getting killed were soldiers whom are basically killers in employment of the American government. It's hard to feel sorry for people who are somewhere they have no business being in the first place and have (probably) murdered a lot of people themselves.

Couple things. A soldier is not "a killer employed by the government" and killing enemy combatants in a war is not "murder". The war in Afghanistan is a bad thing, yes, but that doesn't make all the participants baby eating monsters.

 

[sinterklaas]

Condoleances to their families. Can't say I support this war (or any war for that matter), but people dying is always tragic.

If only we could live together in peace...

 

[cryogeist]

I didn't know you could fit 30 people on 1 helicopter.

Well, those soldiers knew the risks when they signed up.

like i said before
chinooks are huge

 

[steampunk42]

news like this always make me bummed. i got a bunch of friends fighting over there, and a couple more in training who will be there soon. when ever i hear news like this where the shit only seems to be getting worse sucks for everyone. only hope my friends make it back safe, and those about to there are safe for their tour. i don't care if this war is right or wrong at this point, i just care that those i love can at least come back still living then it's a good war in my eyes.

 

[zelda2fanboy]

Why does this still have to go on? What's our goal? What's their goal? Why are we still there? Why, why, why?

 

[Warforger]

That's the bloody truth of war folks, people die.

Yeah, but usually not in this large a number.
We all know people die in war, but does that make it any less tragic than a murder, or even a string of serial killings?
And if thirty people had died due to a serial killer, you wouldn't be saying that people just die.

Well it's one thing for a helicopter full of 30 people to be brought down and another for say each soldier being taken down on the ground. This would've been the equivalent of someone blowing up a passenger jet full of say 100 people, it's not that he or she have the super skill it's that they were in one vulnerable basket and no way out, now they would've have super skill if they went into say a restaurant and killed 100 people. The insurgents simply got lucky and it was a major mess up. But no when I saw the news I didn't care, I mean those things are reported all the time. Why not something different, like I don't know people criticzing the US for supporting Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan? You know some of the most oppressive nations on the planet that the US supports because of natural gases and terrorism? I mean I feel sorry for the families but this happens alot, but the addition of Seal Team Six makes it stand out.

 

[HerbertTheHamster]

It's goddamn war, 30 people would have been chickenshit 40 years ago

they knew the risks anyway

 

[Kargathia]

That's the bloody truth of war folks, people die.

Yeah, but usually not in this large a number.

Actually, that's sort of depending on your perspective. When looking more than two months back it's more akin to "usually they don't die in these small numbers".

Well for the US military incidents this large haven't happened regularly since Vietnam.

US soldiers don't have a monopoly on dying in a war you know. And I hope you're not suggesting that it only matters when US soldiers die.

Why does this still have to go on? What's our goal? What's their goal? Why are we still there? Why, why, why?

Because you're damned if you do, and you're damned if you don't.

 

[fundayz]

>implying that it's the dead soldier's fault they were deployed to Afghanistan

It IS their fault that they were deployed to Afghanistan.

They were not forced to go, they signed a contract that explicitly said they could be called to serve in areas of armed conflict.

Yeah, America should be ashamed of itself for going after the people who murdered thousands of civilians...

No, America should be ashamed for PERPETUATING A 10 YEAR WAR THAT HAS HAD ZERO RESULTS and cost their own people BILLIONS UPON BILLIONS of dollars.

America should be ashamed for using their OFFICIAL military force to escalate unrest in the middle east and kill THOUSANDS UPON THOUSANDS OF CIVILIANS. America should be ashamed for DROPPING BOMBS on CIVILIANS THAT HAVE NO AFFILIATION WITH TERRORISTS.

The American Military is no better than the extremists they fight.

 

[Bunnymarn]

Can I ask something; would you still feel compelled to create a thread or even comment on this event if it had been 30 Taliban or Afghani civilians?

 

[The Virgo]

The news over here said it was an "accident".

Then again, I never believed it was an "accident". I always thought it had been attacked. A multi-million dollar helicopter doesn't just malfunction like that.

And they say we have a "free press".

EDIT: Oh, NOW they're saying it was an attack. God, I really fucking hate the news media, bunch of lying, dick-yanking bastards!

Yeah, they never just make mistakes, do they? No, everyone in the news media is a soul-less, godless flesh eating zombie created for one purpose: lying through their teeth. That is demonstrably true, and everyone knows they're all payed off buy the government with tax dollars. There's no way they're just incompetent, they all have an agenda, every one.

Sorry if that was a little much, but the escapist has a seemingly massive population of Bill Hicks wannabes, and it's annoying.

They knew that a helicopter fell out of the sky somewhere over 7,000 miles away and who was on board, but didn't know that a rocket hit it? Uh-huh, right. The news media has either lied or warped the truth so many times that I look upon everything they do with skepticism. At the very least, until they knew for certain, they shouldn't have said "accident".

By the way, surprise that you were the one who replied, because I had actually been looking for you. I have to ask you: where did you find that GIF, the one you're using as a profile pic? I have to know, it's so awful and evil it's fantastic! Bambi getting eaten by killer whale = win!

 

[Ithera]

Nice shooting from that Taliban gunner. I suppose this might net him a "Order of Bin Laden"?

When you hang around a war zone this is a risk one takes, a sad but an unfortunate reality. I wish their replacements better luck.

 

[DarkRyter]

War. War never changes.