quote:

Originally posted by Yan ... I didn't want to depress most of the thread starters.

Most are already pretty depressed, just a little more fuel to the fire isn't going to hurt them.

quote:

Originally posted by Lumps I'm curious to how his parents feel about this. Very honorable though, I say. edit :: It's just too bad that it takes something like this to get that recognition. Although I disagree with the war, I do feel ALL soldiers should receive a medal of honor.

his parents think he did his duty

___________________

www.friskyradio.com

I saw this on CNN. It amazes me that someone that young would be so selfless.

___________________

insignificant cor member alliance

A tragedy.

quote:

Originally posted by Halcyon+On+On Even when a vast majority of the Americans who are there at this time are there simply because the military pays for college?

well when a vast majority of them are coming from the rural areas and have a lot harder time getting the money for college what would you do? now im not saying that there is no money for them to go to school but when you can go do something for 4yrs and get 60k for college thats a good deal! especially since you can leave the services with a degree in something and get a job and then use the GI bill to go to school for a degree in something you like.

quote:

Originally posted by gehzumteufel well when a vast majority of them are coming from the rural areas and have a lot harder time getting the money for college what would you do? now im not saying that there is no money for them to go to school but when you can go do something for 4yrs and get 60k for college thats a good deal! especially since you can leave the services with a degree in something and get a job and then use the GI bill to go to school for a degree in something you like.

Oh, I'm not saying it's not a great deal.

For those who make it out alive.

For others, it's a gamble - they risk their lives so they can go to school because for some, that is the only option for success in our society. So when people come to the government and say "hey, why are you sending our children to die for a conflict over political and economic agendas?", the government can say "Hey, fuck you, they volunteered".

Just sort of sad that in the land of the free, so many are led by liars and crooks to give their lives and well-being for the promise of perpetuating the cycle. Just sort of sad that to get an education, you have to be a part of the war machine. Of course this isn't the case throughout - there are many ways to go about paying for a college education, but pretty much every young person I have known who joined the military has not done it for glory or for their friends and family or for the oppressed indigenous peoples of _____, but because they are promised free education.

Just sort of sad that war has become a big business with corporate incentives. Just sort of sad that, once more, the government-funded eugenics program targets low socio-economic households and exterminates young males so that the cycle of poverty and subsequent uneducation is stymied.

___________________
There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio,
Than are dreamt of in your philosophy.

his GF is super hawt.. woww... wonder if she's available....













































i keed I keed!

___________________

quote:

No one wants to die. Even people who want to go to heaven don’t want to die to get there. And yet death is the destination we all share. No one has ever escaped it. And that is as it should be, because Death is very likely the single best invention of Life. It is Life’s change agent. It clears out the old to make way for the new. Right now the new is you, but someday not too long from now, you will gradually become the old and be cleared away. Sorry to be so dramatic, but it is quite true.

--Steve Jobs (1955 - 2011)

Pentagon Bans YouTube, MySpace Access
By LOLITA C. BALDOR
Associated Press Writer

WASHINGTON — Lt. Daniel Zimmerman, an infantry platoon leader in Iraq, puts a blog on the Internet every now and then "to basically keep my friends and family up to date" back home.

It just got tougher to do that for Zimmerman and a lot of other U.S. soldiers. No more using the military's computer system to socialize and trade videos on MySpace, YouTube and nine other Web sites, the Pentagon says.

Citing security concerns and technological limits, the Pentagon has cut off access to those sites for personnel using the Defense Department's computer network. The change limits use of the popular outlets for service members on the front lines, who regularly post videos and journals.

"I put my blog on there and my family reads it," said Zimmerman, 29, a platoon leader with B Company, 1st Battalion, 28th Infantry Regiment.

"It scares the crap out of them sometimes," he said.

"I keep it as vague as possible," he said. "I'm pretty responsible about it. It's just basically to tell a little bit about my life over here" he said.

He's regularly at a base where he doesn't have Defense Department access to the Internet, but he has used it when he goes to bigger bases. He'll have to rely on a private account all the time now.

Memos about the change went out in February, and it took effect last week. It does not affect the Internet cafes that soldiers in Iraq use that are not connected to the Defense Department's network. The cafe sites are run by a private vendor, FUBI (For US By Iraqis).

Also, the ban also does not affect other sites, such as Yahoo, and does not prevent soldiers from sending messages and photos to their families by e-mail.

Internet use has become a troublesome issue for the military as it struggles to balance security concerns with privacy rights. As blogs and video-sharing become more common, the military has voiced increasing concern about service members revealing details about military operations or other information about equipment or procedures that will aid the enemy.

At the same time, service members have used the Web sites to chronicle their time in battle, posting videos and writing journals that provide a powerful, personal glimpse into their days at war.

"These actions were taken to enhance and increase network security and protect the use of the bandwidth," said Col. Gary Keck, a Pentagon spokesman.

The Pentagon said that use of the video sites in particular was putting a strain on the network, and also opening it to potential viruses or penetration by so-called "phishing" attacks in which scam artists try to steal sensitive data by mimicking legitimate Web sites.

"The U.S. Army's not going to pay the bill for you to get on MySpace and YouTube," said Maj. Bruce Mumford, of Chester, Neb., who is serving as the brigade communications officer for the 4th Brigade, 1st Infantry Division, in Iraq. "Soldiers need to know what they can and cannot do, but we shouldn't be facilitating it."

Warnings of the shutdown went out in February, and allowed troops to seek waivers if the sites were necessary for their jobs. Often insurgent groups post videos, including ones of attacks or — in some high profile cases — of U.S. or coalition soldiers who have been captured or killed.

"I guess it's a good general policy," Zimmerman said about the ban on MySpace and YouTube." If people could be trusted not to break operational security, then they wouldn't need to have the policy."

If the restrictions are intended to prevent soldiers from giving or receiving bad news, they could also prevent them from providing positive reports from the field, said Noah Shachtman, who runs a national security blog for Wired Magazine.

"This is as much an information war as it is bombs and bullets," he said. "And they are muzzling their best voices."

The sites covered by the ban are the video-sharing sites YouTube, Metacafe, IFilm, StupidVideos and FileCabi; social networking sites MySpace, BlackPlanet and Hi5; music sites Pandora, MTV, 1.fm and live365, and the photo-sharing site Photobucket.

___

Associated Press writers Robert Weller in Denver and Maya Alleruzzo in Baghdad contributed to this story.

___

On the Net:

Defense Department: http://www.defenselink.mil

___

Copyright 2007, The Associated Press. The information contained in the AP Online news report may not be published, broadcast or redistributed without the prior written authority of The Associated Press.







Find this article at:
http://www.ajc.com/news/content/sha...es_Blocked.html

My first reaction I think would be to throw the grenade out a window, instead of cuddling with it.

quote:

Originally posted by Sunsnail My first reaction I think would be to throw the grenade out a window, instead of cuddling with it.

I'm sure he thought of that.

___________________
If you choose to pull the trigger - should your drama prove sincere - do it somewhere far away from here.

quote:

Originally posted by Sunsnail My first reaction I think would be to throw the grenade out a window, instead of cuddling with it.

They probably cooked the grenade off (throwing it in at the last moment)

To be honest you say that would be your first reaction, but you never know what you'd do until your put into that situation. Since your such a hand grenade expert how about we put you in a Humvee and lob a few Willie Petes in?

___________________