'Not Us. We're not going.'
Read the article by Kelly Kennedy about 2nd Platoon, Charlie 1-26.
The platoon was devasted by losing nine of their 45 men in 11 months in Iraq, including five when an IED exploded under their Bradley Fighting Vehicle. Their company commander Capt. Cecil Strickland is quoted as saying
“If my guys had stayed at Adhamiya, they would have taken the gloves off. We were afraid somebody was going to get in trouble."
A month later, another company went on a mission that 2nd platoon had been scheduled to do. They hit an IED and lost four men. After this, 2nd platoon would not go on any more missions, because they were afraid their anger could set loose a massacre.
This decision did not meet with a unqualified approval. Strickland says, “I didn’t want to punish them,” Strickland said. “I understood what was going on. But they had to understand you couldn’t do something like that and have nothing happen.”
So he is aware of the potential for trouble, his men did the only thing they could do responsibly, but Capt. Strickland puts more weight on blind obedience than on doing the right thing. Still, Strickland claims to be understanding:
“I understood why they did what they did,” he said. “Some of the NCOs, I was disappointed in them because they failed to lead their soldiers through difficult times. They let their soldiers influence their decisions. But on a personal level, I applauded their decision because they stood behind their soldiers. I was disappointed, but I thought they had great courage. It was truly a Jekyll/Hyde moment for me.”
Sounds more like a Hyde moment to me. Capt. Strickland would have liked the soldiers to act as if they had not suffered the trauma that they had been through. Pretend things are alright and muddle through. Sort of like the bulk of the country who are doing their best to ignore the war.
The platoon was devasted by losing nine of their 45 men in 11 months in Iraq, including five when an IED exploded under their Bradley Fighting Vehicle. Their company commander Capt. Cecil Strickland is quoted as saying
“If my guys had stayed at Adhamiya, they would have taken the gloves off. We were afraid somebody was going to get in trouble."
A month later, another company went on a mission that 2nd platoon had been scheduled to do. They hit an IED and lost four men. After this, 2nd platoon would not go on any more missions, because they were afraid their anger could set loose a massacre.
This decision did not meet with a unqualified approval. Strickland says, “I didn’t want to punish them,” Strickland said. “I understood what was going on. But they had to understand you couldn’t do something like that and have nothing happen.”
So he is aware of the potential for trouble, his men did the only thing they could do responsibly, but Capt. Strickland puts more weight on blind obedience than on doing the right thing. Still, Strickland claims to be understanding:
“I understood why they did what they did,” he said. “Some of the NCOs, I was disappointed in them because they failed to lead their soldiers through difficult times. They let their soldiers influence their decisions. But on a personal level, I applauded their decision because they stood behind their soldiers. I was disappointed, but I thought they had great courage. It was truly a Jekyll/Hyde moment for me.”
Sounds more like a Hyde moment to me. Capt. Strickland would have liked the soldiers to act as if they had not suffered the trauma that they had been through. Pretend things are alright and muddle through. Sort of like the bulk of the country who are doing their best to ignore the war.
posted by Tommy Times at 6:33 PM
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