Were you ever in the armed forces?

[brum7814]

Yeah, I was a medic in the army reserves from 1999-2010, and did one tour in Iraq during OIF III.   =-P

Thanks for getting this thread back on track. Overall was the experience rewarding? Any stories you care to share?

It was all right.  Some good and bad stuff.  I had a lot of fun traveling around the country and other countries doing different stuff and met a lot of cool people.  I remember one time I was in Ireland with a few people from my platoon getting ready to go back to Iraq and a one or two (can't remember) star general came up to us and bought us all a round of drinks and joked with us for a few minutes.

The best story I have is probably a story of irony.  My brother is in the infantry, and was also deployed to the same FOB I was at during the same time period.  He was in a different unit, but his chu (housing unit) was about a five minute walk from mine on the base.  So, I was able to visit him sometimes.

One day I was on the flatline getting ready for a mission to go train iraqi police officers in town.  I was walking across it to toss this styrofoam coffee cup in the trash when some insurgents set up ontop of a hill outside the base and started firing and fired off either a RPG or rocket and people were yelling get down!  I replied, what ever, and kept walking.  Then, yelled back saying it's not like they ever hit anything anyway (they had terrible aim).  The thing exploded about 50 or so yards to my left and few pieces of gravel from it pelted my face.  I didn't think much of it, BUT later that day after I was done I was on duty at the prison on base checking insurgents that we had captured in for processing.  They had to go through medical screening to make sure they were healthy and didn't get beaten or anything.

Apparently a few minutes after that rocket hit me, my brother was leaving the front gate to do a mission and those same insurgents attacked the front gate.  One of them had a grenade and my brother tackled him and wrestled it away from him before he could throw it and it exploded.  Now, they detained them for questioning for a few hours when they got to prison and dropped off the prisoners is when I first heard about the story.  Two of the insurgents were brothers.  One, was the guy who fired the rocket at me, and the other brother was the guy my brother tackled and disarmed a few minutes later.  Now if that isn't irony, I don't what is.  =-P

It eventually wore me down with the way soldiers became self-absorbed in trying to get promoted by making sure other people looked bad compared to them.  I had a few females conspire to get rid of my platoon sgt, because he actually made them work.  They said he sexually harassed them.  So, he was transferred to another unit, and their friend, another female sgt was put in charge of my platoon.  All she did the entire time we were in iraq is sit on yahoo chatting to people and let those two do recreational activities the entire deployment while rest of us actually did missions.  She was awarded a bronze star at the end of the deployment even though she never left her computer or did one single mission.  Stuff like that eventually made it so I didn't feel like re-enlisting to say in anymore.  It's the same in the business world too.  So, I don't have any delusions about that, but the military should be held to a higher standard.  =-P

[Optiwoman]

So, to bring the topic back around to the orriginal question - No, I never served in any of the armed forces, but I was a military brat.  I spent 6 years in Hawaii, and 4 years in Cuba as a kid. 

 

[hitch0403]

For jcribb

Math 6:24

Math 5:44

[jklawver]

Not myself but my son was a combat enginneer in the army....Thank-you to all that have served in our military and GOD BLESS YOU!!

[jcribb16]

For jcribb

Math 6:24

Math 5:44

Matthew Henry's Whole Bible Commentary  (Regarding Matthew 6:24):

Verses 19-24

"Worldly-mindedness is as common and as fatal a symptom of hypocrisy as any other, for by no sin can Satan have a surer and faster hold of the soul, under the cloak of a visible and passable profession of religion, than by this; and therefore Christ, having warned us against coveting the praise of men, proceeds next to warn us against coveting the wealth of the world; in this also we must take heed, lest we be as the hypocrites are, and do as they do: the fundamental error that they are guilty of is, that they choose the world for their reward; we must therefore take heed of hypocrisy and worldly-mindedness, in the choice we make of our treasure, our end, and our masters."


Barnes' Notes on the Bible (Regarding Matthew 5:44):

"Love your enemies - There are two kinds of love, involving the same general feeling, or springing from the same fountain of good-will to all mankind, but differing so far as to admit of separation in idea. The one is that feeling by which we approve of the conduct of another, commonly called the love of complacency; the other, that by which we wish well to the person of another, though we cannot approve his conduct. This is the love of benevolence, and this love we are to bear toward our enemies. It is impossible to love the conduct of a person who curses and reviles us, who injures our person or property, or who violates all the laws of God; but, though we may hate his conduct, and suffer keenly when we are affected by it, yet we may still wish well to the person; we may pity his madness and folly; we may speak kindly of him and to him; we may return good for evil; we may aid him in the time of trial; we may seek to do him good here and to promote his eternal welfare hereafter, Romans 12:17-20. This seems to be what is meant by loving our enemies; and this is a special law of Christianity, and the highest possible test of piety, and probably the most difficult of all duties to be performed.

Bless them that curse you - The word "bless" here means to "speak well of" or "speak well to:" - not to curse again or to slander, but to speak of those things which we can commend in an enemy; or, if there is nothing that we can commend, to say nothing about him. The word "bless," spoken of God, means to regard with favor or to confer benefits, as when God is said to bless his people. When we speak of our "blessing God," it means to praise Him or give thanks to Him. When we speak of blessing people, it "unites" the two meanings, and signifies to confer favor, to thank, or to speak well of."

[Falconer02]

It was all right.  Some good and bad stuff.

Daaaamn! Glad you're alright though after that rpg incident! Thanks for sharing!

so I didn't feel like re-enlisting to say in anymore.  It's the same in the business world too.  So, I don't have any delusions about that, but the military should be held to a higher standard.

I agree. It's the same the world over-- you're going to find that type of boss person in any profession (such as my last boss).
"This job has to be done by tomorrow morning! Nevermind that I should have given it to you last week! I gotta leave early and go car shopping now! Bye!"

Falconer....as i said in earlier post i support bible and you dont.So of course i dont think flood was a myth and you do.End of story.

Then you are either willingly ignorant or mentally deficient for not studying and understanding reality.

its the way things are said that touches it off or bullying.

Then I'd suggest you read them openly without a specific tone in mind. I also recommend you reread your own posts as yours sound like childish bullying.

Just as Jehovah's Witnesses in *bleep* Germany refused to Heil Hitler and went to concentration camps and/or were killed because of their faithful and unmovable stand.

In a situation of that magnitude, it would be much wiser to play a ruse and work against such horrible atrocities rather than blindly flaying one's hands around saying they disagree and getting killed for it.  Therefore you live to fight oppression rather than needlessly dying horribly and, at most, hope to become a martyr for your faith.

[hitch0403]

Jesus loved his father so much Falconer2 that he was willing to be treated as a criminal and dying an agonizing death for the vindication of his fathers name and being the TRUE God.And also ransom mankind from the bondage of sin and death.

Gods people that died under Hitlers rule i am sure felt the same way.The bible says the greatest act of love one can give to another is your life.

I am sorry if you dont agree.

[Falconer02]

Do you remember the NT verses you are speaking of?  If you can list them, I'll go from there to answer the best I can.

"there is no prophecy of scripture that is a matter of personal interpretation, for no prophecy ever came through human will; but rather human beings moved by the holy Spirit spoke under the influence of God" 2 Peter 20-21

"be subject to masters with all fear" 1 Peter 2:18

"Whoever curses father or mother shall die" Mark 7:10

There are more elsewhere, but unfortunately I can't find the specific one that clearly stated that a xtian must obey the old laws. The original point was there are still commands to obey barbaric laws (in both ot and nt) when society has grown beyond it to see the major flaws in such reasonings. This just seems more of a pick-and-choose whatever fits (Bash gays? Totally! Slavery? Nah.) rather than zealously obeying. And yeah, screw radical Islam. They'll obviously be the last major religion to accept reality and fault.

[hitch0403]

Falconer2...i am not sure if u are speaking to me or Jcribb.

The scripture that reads "all men that work righteousness are acceptable to God"

After Jesus died the Jews were not Gods chosen people anymore but if a Jew acknowledged Jesus as Messiah or the one to come in Gods name they were accepted.As we know many of them put him to death.

Also scripture in Tim reads "all scripture is inspired by God and beneficial for disciplining,reproving and setting matters straight"So this means that man may have written the bible they are Gods thoughts.....Just as a secretary takes down dictation for her boss as an Ex

Gods view on blood hasnt changed in OT or NT.

[Falconer02]

Jesus loved his father so much Falconer2 that he was willing to be treated as a criminal and dying an agonizing death for the vindication of his fathers name and being the TRUE God.And also ransom mankind from the bondage of sin and death

So your god creates man in his own image, realizes they're faulty, and then blames them for the problems caused in the world. Then he has his son come down and 'bail out' the faulty humans into thinking he died for them so they could be washed away of sin-- something originally caused by your god. Explain how that's logical w/o jumping into a weak mythos.

If Jesus is praised for his sacrifice, and yet he's sitting up next to his father in heaven with supernatural powers, how is that a sacrifice when all he did was die and then get transported back up into heaven where he sits powerfully? If anything, he gained more from his death-- with your beliefs in mind, he wasn't erased from existence or ceased-to-be. He's now super popular around the world and is up in heaven-- a place where your god resides! How is it a noble sacrifice when you go from a lesser being to an all-powerful being?

Gods people that died under Hitlers rule i am sure felt the same way.The bible says the greatest act of love one can give to another is your life.

They were killed for no logical reason and therefore it cannot be viewed as a sacrifice. If you want to talk sacrifices, you have to talk about a resistance or people who helped others escape the camps.

[hitch0403]

Also...show me in OT where gays were accepted.S&G got destroyed because of depraved sex.

[Falconer02]

Also...show me in OT where gays were accepted.S&G got destroyed because of depraved sex.

They never were, which is just more illogical bigotry in the book you preach.

[hitch0403]

God created man perfect but that didnt mean they couldnt sin.Choice was involved here.A&E rejected Gods right to rule them.They sided with Satan who also sinned.

In Hebrews it reads,"each one is tried and drawn out by his own desire,when the desire becomes fertile it becomes a sin,in turn penalty of sin was death.A&E offspring are now imperfect because of their sin.

[hitch0403]

To balance the scales of Gods justice it took a perfect sinless life to ransom the life that Adam threw away.Hence thats why Jesus was referred to as ransom.

Think about how Jehovah felt seeing Jesus <begotted son>seeing him treated like a criminal and tortured to death.How would you feel if that was your son?

[Falconer02]

God created man perfect but that didnt mean they couldnt sin

That's a major contradiction. Perfect = without fault. Sin is obviously a fault, so therefore they were capable of fault and therefore imperfect. I suggest you do not attempt to redefine terms from this specific point. Though as it stands now, your reasoning here has a big flaw.

Think about how Jehovah felt seeing Jesus <begotted son>seeing him treated like a criminal and tortured to death.How would you feel if that was your son?

I'd obviously intervene to make sure that wouldn't happen and not sit idly by and do nothing. Such lazy behavior would be malevolent.