[quote=“jdsmith”]2 years in Japan USMC, Yokosuka Naval Base armed perimeter security; 10 months in an emergency room in Schenectady NY, 11PM -7AM.
Did I win? AM I the most decorated ex-security guard? 
[/quote]
hmmm…so how many japanese girls did you see getting raped by your fellow service men,who,of course,walked away scott-free???
[quote=“dablindfrog”][quote=“jdsmith”]2 years in Japan USMC, Yokosuka Naval Base armed perimeter security; 10 months in an emergency room in Schenectady NY, 11PM -7AM.
Did I win? AM I the most decorated ex-security guard? [/quote]
hmmm…so how many japanese girls did you see getting raped by your fellow service men,who,of course,walked away scott-free???[/quote]
SNAP! Props for the frog sans yeux.
[quote=“dablindfrog”][quote=“jdsmith”]2 years in Japan USMC, Yokosuka Naval Base armed perimeter security; 10 months in an emergency room in Schenectady NY, 11PM -7AM.
Did I win? AM I the most decorated ex-security guard? [/quote]
hmmm…so how many japanese girls did you see getting raped by your fellow service men,who,of course,walked away scott-free???[/quote]
That would be Okinawa.
[quote=“jdsmith”][quote=“dablindfrog”][quote=“jdsmith”]2 years in Japan USMC, Yokosuka Naval Base armed perimeter security; 10 months in an emergency room in Schenectady NY, 11PM -7AM.
Did I win? AM I the most decorated ex-security guard? [/quote]
hmmm…so how many japanese girls did you see getting raped by your fellow service men,who,of course,walked away scott-free???[/quote]
That would be Okinawa.[/quote]
ermmmm,no
that would be up and down asia,africa,middle east,back home…you name it…
nothing personal JDS,it’s just that every week we’re made nauseous by yet another gang rape story,after which the offending scumbags get extradited for the sake of “fair trial” 
[quote=“dablindfrog”][/quote]
ermmmm,no
that would be up and down asia,africa,middle east,back home…you name it…
nothing personal JDS,it’s just that every week we’re made nauseous by yet another gang rape story,after which the offending scumbags get extradited for the sake of “fair trial” [/quote]
And this has what to do with this thread?
That would be Okinawa.[/quote]
ermmmm, no that would be up and down asia, africa, middle east, back home…you name it…[/quote]
What the hell are Japanese girls doing getting raped by US soldiers in Africa, the Middle East, and “back home”? And why is it that the soldiers are seeking them out in those places? It can’t just be bad luck! 
Some of these comments brought to mind an article I read last week -
[quote]Troops And Crimes
History’s Best-Behaved Military
by Ralph Peters [author, novelist] 8/6/07
The media love to trash our troops. Every crime alleged to have been committed by a soldier or Marine in Iraq is headlined until it seems that those in uniform are so busy with atrocities they haven’t got time to fight.
No accusation is too preposterous for “respected” media outlets to feature, and the left-wing press convicts our troops long before they see a courtroom. Our service members are portrayed (by those who never served) as a sadistic rabble.
But when you look at the facts - the hard numbers - a very different picture emerges.
While crimes committed by our troops can’t be condoned (and they certainly aren’t), official crime statistics make it clear that we have the best-behaved military in history - one that’s vastly more law-abiding than our general population.
The here-at-home numbers are readily available from public sources. So let’s compare some domestic crime rates with the misdeeds of those vicious storm-troopers of ours.
In the 19-month period - over a year and a half - from Jan. 1, 2006 until the morning you read this, misbehavior by our troops resulted in a total of 59 scheduled court-martials in Iraq - 21 of them general court-martials, which are reserved for the most-serious crimes (murder, rape, robbery, assault, arson and so forth). The other 38 were special court-martials, invoked for lesser offenses, such as disciplinary infractions or petty theft.
OK: 59 trials in 19 months, among an average troop population of almost 140,000. Compare that to civilian crime statistics back home, and it’s clear that any of us would welcome the chance to live among such model citizens - even though our troops are overwhelmingly within the age window where criminal behavior is most frequent.
Start with a city that Money magazine rated as “one of the 10 best places to live” in the United States: Ann Arbor, Mich. Home to a great university, the town has a population of about 113,300 - about 20,000 lower than our pre-surge troop numbers in Iraq.
In 2005 (the last year for which statistics are available), that ideal place to live recorded 1,476 crimes that, if committed by a soldier, would have required a general court-martial - plus a further 2,282 thefts and similar infractions that, depending on the details, would have been handled by either a general or a special court-martial.
Twelve months in Ann Arbor, 3,758 court-martial-equivalent trials. If all the crimes had been taken to court, which one doubts. Nineteen months in Iraq, under the complex stresses of combat? Fifty-nine court-martials. Guess that bastion of ethical liberalism in Michigan needs tto go through basic training.
But let’s give peace a chance: The most dogmatically left-wing city in the United States is undoubtedly (the People’s Republic of) Santa Cruz, Calif. With a population of some 55,000 - about a third of our current troop numbers in Iraq - Santa Cruz, where the Age of Aquarius reigns, had 503 violent crimes in 2004 (the latest statistics available) and a total of 3,665 crimes that would qualify for court-martials.
Extrapolate those numbers to match our current troop strength, and you’d have a requirement for more than 10,000 court-martial equivalents. If Santa Cruz were as serious about punishing its criminals as our military is . . .
The military doesn’t do warnings and probation. If a soldier does the crime, he or she will do the time or pay the other relevant penalty - court-martials directly reflect the number of crimes committed. That means that our troops in a combat zone have had less than 1 percent of the crime rate in Santa Cruz - whose City Council in 2003 was proud to be the first in the United States to adopt a resolution denouncing the war in Iraq.
Nor are these hotbeds of peace, love and shirked responsibility alone in being criminal empires compared to the good order prevailing in our military. Take a genuinely decent American city, Lynchburg, Va., with a strong religious tradition, 11 colleges, universities and technical schools and a population in 2006 of 67,720 (about half the pre-surge number of troops in Iraq).
In 2005, Lynchburg suffered 857 criminal acts that would’ve demanded general court-martials in the military and a further 1,805 thefts, many of which would have resulted in special court-martials.
Yet Lynchburg is particularly well-behaved. The stats for many cities are far worse.
Now set those facts against the hypocrisy of so many in the media toward our men and women in uniform. Did any of the reporters wailing about the deplorable behavior of our troops in a half-dozen incidents over four years bother to put those crimes into perspective?
Our troops are performing remarkably well under difficult conditions, and our military does a solid job of screening out sociopaths. But, inevitably, some slip through (the private-for-life who recently conned The New Republic might qualify). And it’s the one scumbag among 10,000 honorable men and women in uniform who gets the press attention.
Of course, we rightly demand model standards of behavior from our troops, as we do from law-enforcement agents and officers. And today’s U.S. armed forces deliver, taking good order and discipline very seriously. We all should be proud of how selflessly and honorably our troops have served as the jackals on the home tear at the military’s carcass.
I learned an important lesson myself in digging out these statistics: I knew, of course, how decent our troops are. I served with them for almost 22 years (and testified at two court-martials in two decades). But on future trips to California - my favorite foreign country - I’ll be sure to give Santa Cruz a wide berth.
I’d hate to be the victim of an atrocity.
Ralph Peters’ latest book, “Wars of Blood and Faith,” is on the street.
This piece first appeared in the New York Post
exilestreet.com/Columns/Pete … roops.html[/quote]
Sorry to burst any balloons…naw…not really.
good article, TC.
nice try TC,but pretty crap comparison really.
in any town,pleasant ville or not,you’ll find an eclectic mix of individual,ranging from DrJekill to MrHide.
as far as i know,there aren’t many towns that check up your background/criminal files before letting you settle in!
the troops,however,are sent to sort out conflicts,and whilst doing so,are supposed to represent,in a good light (one would expect so)their country.
anyone should be carefully screened before being part of what should be “the elite”
in recent years,the combination of laws against discrimination and the forever growing need for a larger contingent of troops has meant that any ol’joe can get a sit on the next USAF flight to Iraq.
and that’s 59 cases reported…i think that those victim of soldier’s gratuitous abuses have very few channels to report/seek punishment.
MODS:please split this thread to a new one,i think this debate is worth pursuing.
DBF -
Cite proof to give credence to your…uh…err…thoughts/beliefs/determinations/suppositions/whatever.
we’ve been there before,but if you insist:
rawstory.com/news/afp/US_soldier … 42007.html
tvnz.co.nz/view/page/411749/913555
melbourne.indymedia.org/news/200 … omment.php
[quote]This is not the first time U.S. soldiers abused a Filipino woman. This is not the first time U.S. soldiers showed pure contempt for a Filipino woman and, in effect, Filipino women in general. The reported details of the rape committed by the six servicemen show that contempt: the driver who witnessed the incident reportedly said that after the woman was raped she was dumped on the road like a pig.
The six US Marines allegedly involved in a rape case should be tried in the Philippines. We warn against any move on the part of the US embassy to cover up the wrongdoing as it would reflect on the US’s inability to rein in its forces not only in the Philippines but elsewhere.
Back in 1995, three US service men pleaded guilty to raping a 12-year old girl in Okinawa, Japan, where the US also maintains a military base. Another incident of rape in Okinawa was also reported in 2001. Elsewhere US military personnel have been embroiled in other controversies such as prisoner abuse (including sexual) in Iraq, sexual harassment and assault in Korea, etc.
In our own history there have been reports as well of US military personnel who raped and physically abused women and children in areas near the former US bases,
but none ever resulted in a conviction
. The initial response of Philippine government should be followed through in light of the sensitivity of the situation, or in real terms – because of the millions of dollars in military aid attached to the continued enforcement of the Visitng Forces Agreement.[/quote]
So it’s 59 cases out of how many serving? 1 million for all armed services? the 162k that are in Iraq now? Compare those stats to an avg. city.
The incidences of rape committed by American soldiers in South Korea, the Philippines, Iraq, Japan, and elsewhere are generally lower than that of the local population.
dablindfrog is taking a handful of ugly examples and try to tar all American servicemen with the same brush. It’s a standard racist tactic - “See, they’re all like that. American soldiers are all running around the world raping our women and getting away with it.”
Funnily enough his outrage doesn’t seem to extend to the Filipinos, Koreans, Iraqis, and Japanese killing and raping their own people, which they do on a much greater scale percentage-wise than American soldiers.
Is this an American hating thread, or a serviceman hating thread?
It’s hard to beat the African troops loaned out to the UN for civillian abuses.
The US military dock here in HK at least once a month. I’ve found them to be remarkably polite and well behaved for the most part, has to be said, and that’s while many of them are here to party.
However, when you have a bunch of predominantly younger blokes, and a macho grog culture, there will be trouble.
HG
[quote=“jdsmith”]Is this an American hating thread, or a serviceman hating thread?
It’s hard to beat the African troops loaned out to the UN for civillian abuses.[/quote]
a bit of both really,because what i find disgusting is how the US army will always try and take care of the offending scumbags who rape/kill
if the American govt really wanted to show the example,why don’t they give those “rogue” elements the same sentences reserved to any other civilians?
You have no understanding of the military justice system - which has evolved from a kangaroo court in the 30’s & 40’s to something quite fair and effective.
This is quite opposite to the court systems you might find in countries where the US military serves.
Hmm…have we ever heard any complaints about how the Taiwan court system is geared against outsiders? Now bet your life on it.
[quote=“dablindfrog”][quote=“jdsmith”]Is this an American hating thread, or a serviceman hating thread?
It’s hard to beat the African troops loaned out to the UN for civillian abuses.[/quote]
a bit of both really,because what I find disgusting is how the US army will always try and take care of the offending scumbags who rape/kill
if the American govt really wanted to show the example,why don’t they give those “rogue” elements the same sentences reserved to any other civilians?[/quote]
uhm, because they’re not civilians?
The UCMJ is far more strict than any civilian laws that I am aware of.
And what? No comment on the African UN troops who raped, abused and defrauded the people they were charged with defending?
It seems to me that one of the problems is that victims don’t really see that the serviceman in question has been punished, even if said servicemen is found guilty by court martial and is suitably punished.
Now obviously, the US are not going to hand a miscreant over to a third country for trial, but some more communication from the US to the victims about the punishment and what it entails wouldn’t go astray.
Or even serving part/all of any sentence in the country where the crime was committed, providing prison standards were adequate, might go a long way to giving the appearance of just results.
What you say about the perception is very true…but I dunno…if what I read in The Damage Done was even half true, I don’t think serving time in local jails is a solution.