Happy Memorial Day

That does not look to me to be an authentic fighting man of United States military. Where is his insignia? What type of weapon is that he is carrying? His cammo pattern appears something less than genuine issue. And, I’m not expert, but his boots do not apear to be G.I. –I think this guy could be a washed up police man who just got himself a life long job working for Halibuton. Can this man’s connection to The US Military be verified?

Yes, those are definitely Army uniforms- no one else has those uniform- they are standard issue digital cammo. He is carrying an M-4 Carbine, which is a smaller lighter version of the M-16. If you look at the top picture, you can see his infantry insignia on the arm of his uniform. Also, those boots are the boots issued with that particular army uniform. Consider the man verified as US Military.

I’m a soldier, so let me set this straight. That camo pattern is the new standard issue (it’s based on pixelated digital images). The insignia are removable with velcro backs. The boots are the new Army issue, matte color. Although, they look very worn out. Almost as if he’s been in them for a few years. As for the weapon, it’s special issue, but still US Army (probably an AR-15).

I may not support this war, but be careful before mouthing off about soldiers if you know nothing about them, sir.

Its not a special issue, as pointed out above, its a m-4 carbine with a red-dot scope.

It’s obvious the first commenter is in that bunch that thinks everything is made up and a big lie.

He’s probably one of those “bush planned 9/11″ whack jobs.

Bison said: “I wish all the war mongering no-con’s kids had to go threw exactly the same life struggle that the boy in this picture has to endure every day.”

Much better that he had been put through one of Saddam’s plastic shredders, eh?

Ok. Well im a fucking idiot.

Thanks for setting me straight, I’ve need that kind of discipline my whole life and never got it. Please spank me.

Bison says:
May 29th, 2007 at 2:26 pm
I wish all the war mongering no-con’s kids had to go threw exactly the same life struggle that the boy in this picture has to endure every day.

I wish you whould go ‘threw’ grade school again and learn how to spell.

Yeah, it’s not like the “establishment” has ever doctored a photo! Or, are there some whack jobs out there who are not aware of this activity..?

http://www.prosebeforehos.com/alec/05/29/happy-memorial-day/#comment-22425

Uh your an idiot. Its not the picture that implys anything but your false caption.

“Uh your an idiot.”
Uh, talk about irony. That should be *You’re* an idiot.

Can’t a guy just post an interesting pic for the sake of “Hey check this out”? Or does everything have to have an political/conspiracy/poor me/I’m smarter at posting than you are spin to it?

Spend time praying for those in leadership and stop whining about them. Maybe we wouldn’t be in the mess we are in. Everyone is so quick to judge everyone else. Why can’t we work together in a positive way?
Sheesh!

Yeah, over abundance of prayer got us into this mess. GWB says that GOD told him to invade IRAQ…it is a shame that GOD didn’t know that there WEREN’T any WMDs there.

I think it’s awesome how he pays no attention to the kid. Essentially saying “sure, you can hide behind me”. God bless our troops. May the “leaders” who abuse them for political/monetary gain come swiftly to Justice.

Can’t we all just get along? Happy memorial day, alec.

It appears that his unit patch is 82d Airborne. Non-standard boots. All else looks real to me. (Captain, USA, ret)

I don’t know why people went off on political rants, this picture is proof of the living contradictions in Iraq (and the world for that matter). The boy and the soldier, vulnerability and security, one depending on the other, each the reflection of the other. It’s very much a tragic comedy, life and death, and we humans are just actors on the global stage.

If I was there, I sure as hell would not hide behind a GI for protection…

People in Baghdad know the drill and try to stay as far away from them as possible.

Most of you guys just need to calm down. Its a picture that some guy thought was interesting based on what *he* things is interesting. As for your thoughts on the whole war thing, good for you, but do you think we care?

I think the Iraq invasion was a mistake. Bush & Co. invaded for quite dubious reasons.

Just wanted to get it out of the way, which side I’m on.

Now the pic … scared kid: we get armies of therapists sent into schools when there is a shooting here in the free and safe world. An army of therapists probably couldn’t put that kid back together. The soldier: that’s what America used to stand for; could still stand for. There’s still time for redemption, but first it’s probably going to get a hell of a lot worse. I feel sorry for that soldier and that boy. If they live, it probably won’t ever be over.

Those are not issue boots. They indeed are regulation, and very common among U.S. soldiers, but are “personal purchase”.

To all you posters who like to tell people to keep their views to themselves, I would just like to say, I don’t think so.
Someone posts a photo of war in Iraq and we’re not supposed to comment about the war?
This war is wrong, that kid should not have to live like that and to be honest these people were better off under a brutal dictator then they are now.

a good pic …
why is a subject of debate suddenly … ?

alec…GREAT pic!! As for the neolib, Leftinistra, jihadi-sucking troll posters here, kiss this vets’ ass.

As for “why we are there” and “why they are not here…yet” go here and begin your education into what this war is really about. Morons.

http://takeourcountryback.townhall.com/g/bda7cdd4-da40-4c3f-a781-a8a23877567f

“find America’s attention is elsewhere”

Look at the direction of where the kid is running from, and look where the paratrooper is looking.

You’re a blind ass-hat!

>I think this is a pretty good metaphor for the situation in Iraq. The innocent Iraqis, as
>portrayed by the child, when looking to America in their search for the now distant memory
>of safety, find America’s attention is elsewhere, as portrayed by the soldier’s
>indifference. Nice find Alec.

When you’re protecting somebody, do you stare at them the whole time or keep an eye out for additional dangers? Car bombs don’t always come solo. If you think the soldier should be focusing on the child instead of assessing the situation, please don’t try to ever protect anybody.

Also, if the soldier was indifferent, he wouldn’t be in the picture. The very fact that he’s there indicates his desire to protect.

First of all David that SOLDIER is wearing the ‘ ALL AMERICAN” double “A” patch that belongs to one of the finest divisions in the military,82nd Airborne divison,if you are in fact a soldier you would have recognized it.

How like a troll. First, we have an absolute twit spouting off about things he knows nothing about. “Where’s his insignia? ” Why, right where it belongs, don’t you recognize the EIGHTY-FREEAKING-SECOND AIRBORNE patch ?

“His cammo pattern appears something less than genuine issue” Well, color me suprised. If you can’t recognize the insignia of the lead element of the XVIII Airborne Corps (Sorry, 101st), I’m pretty sure you’re ignorant of cammie patterns as well. My WIFE, with no military experience, saw the “AA” immediately.

And, of course, we HAVE to mention Halliburton. Those of us who know anything about Iraq talk about Blackwater, Aegis, Global Strategies, and others. (Try Google) I’m not too sure what division of Halliburton (Drilling, Fluid Systems, or Product Optimization) handles the big bad security nazis. Oh, that’s right, Halliburton is an energy services company. But it’s become an “eevil buzz-word” that ignoramuses (ignorami?) trot out to “prove their point.” What they prove, of course, is their bottomless ignorance.

Oh, and Anonymous ? A little clue: Asking “Hmm, what kind of uniform is that? ” is a neutral question. Starting with “That does not look to me to be an authentic . . .” is saying “I don’t believe you” right up front. Since this is also being portrayed as generally positive, the comment implies “That’s can’t be right — I don’t believe in such positive news.” So, yes, it WAS mouthing off. And from an ignoramus so abysmally clueless he couldn’t recognize the 82nd insignia. I call bullshit! The first poster was never in the Army if he doesn’t know the “AA”

Then we have Harry, “Saddam was a criminal, but so are the ‘people’ ” who equates our current Administration with Saddam Hussein’s. However you feel about our current administration — and you might be surprised how opposed to it I am — making ANY comparison between an invasion backed by 18 UN resolutions, conducted under rules of engagement that are extraordinailry strict, with (comparitively) light civilian and military casualties to the butchery that was Saddam is vacuous to the point of insanity.

Moving on, we find another idiot, “The US military just last week was shelling entire neighborhoods in Sadr City, and you think the Iraqi people want that sort of indiscriminate “protection”?” implying that the shelling was widespread and careless. I can tell he never called a shot in his life. And I think he meant air-strikes, since that was what I’d heard happened. And those are always aimed, since ferrying the damned things is expensive. But “shelling” evokes much more moving images. . . and accuracy doesn’t count.

Oh, and let us not forget the breathtaking idiocy, from a protected class who’s never been raped or beaten:

“Humanity is a single species on the planet, and there is no excuse for armed conflict.”

How butt-stupid do you have to be to ever make a sweeping generailzation like that. However you feel about the war in Iraq, speaking in absolutes like that is the mark of an eight-year-old. No matter what is happening in Iraq, this prize-winning idiot seems to think that NO armed conflict is ever just. Can I hire two refrigerator-sized ex-cons to sodomize you for an hour just to see if you fight back ?

When you make that Nobel-Prize-In-Stupidity-Winning statement, there is NOTHING you can say that will ever convince me that you are worth listening to. On anything.

Let’s face it, we may disagree as to where to draw the line, but if you genuinely believe that there is NEVER a reason to kill, please get a vasectomy. Our gene-pool is murky enough as it is. Of COURSE there’s some people that need killing. Whether or not “Person X” rises to that level IS debatable. And SHOUULD be debated. Intelligently.

Then we come to Bill D, the bright spot in a field of cow pies. His comment “May the “leaders” who abuse them for political/monetary gain come swiftly to Justice.” clearly expresses his disagreement and disdain for the administration without impugning the intelligence of the troops, or their dedication to the mission. If anyone wants to learn how to “support the troops but not the war” they could take lessons from Bill

Except for Bill, this pretty well sums up far too much of the anti-war movement, ignorant, clueless, and belligerent about it. PROUD that they know nothing, EAGER to demonstrate it.

I often weep for the anti-war movement. They have degenerated, Anakin Skywalker-like, into spoiled, whiny brats. I long for those who would carefully investigate the issues and debate rationally. WE NEED THEM. Sadly, they are rare in the arena.

Great picture! very sad situation though. You may not support the War or our troops but thank God for them. War is reality. You have idiots who think the War is about the oil. How do you explain war since the beginning of time? You have idiots like hollywood stars Alec Baldwin, Sean Penn, Fat Rosie Odonnell who are against the war but are violent people toward their own spouses. Hyprocrites! Liberals; this is what happens when Jesus Christ, the Son of our living God is not our foundation for living. Our founding Fathers believed this and that is why they took much of our Constitution from the living Bible. Go ahead and continue to take God out of our American lives. America will get worse in violence!

To David the first comment I see on here…

you are truely a moron. you obviously have no clue about anything and yes the man and the image can be verified because my company owns the sector that that Mosque that was bombed was in. As far as you questioning him being military, have you never heard of ACUs, M4 and after-market boots? And what the hell are you talking about “insignia”? Its funny that your conspiracy theories evolve so deep that you even question the geniune nature of photographs taken in an experience above anything you will ever do in your life.

Wow- What a lot of ignorance and hate filled rhetoric!

Yep- it’s a GI doing his job, in his country’s uniform.
The symbolism is SO POWERFUL. A heads up soldier protecting a young child.

Too bad so many liberal nitwits have to foam at the mouth, instead of coming up with a positive suggestion.

Oh, by the way, announcing that you are leaving a fight is called declaring defeat.

The sectarian RIF (Radical Islamic Fundamentalist) violence is NOT being caused by the presence of US troops. It is being caused by the extremists in the “Religion of Peace” that want to establish a world wide caliphate.

I grieve for the ordinary citizens of Iraq who want to raise a family peacefully.

The US led coalition tried to set up conditions for that to happen.

Bush, Rumsfeld and Co made a big mistake in trying to go to war on the cheap.

What’s the way forward? Cut and Run didn’t work out so great in SW Asia in the 70′s.
Ask any of the victims of Pol Pot.
Let’s not repeat the mistakes done by the Congress in power at that time.

Come on – somebody say something smart!

AnnHines says:
…to be honest these people were better off under a brutal dictator then they are now.

Really. Would you be better off under a brutal dictator than you are now?

What good reason is there to stay at war?

“1. Al Qaeda was in Iraq and developing terrorist cells to attack the US with Iraqi government support.”

Our concern wasn’t only Al Quada in Iraq (and yes, they were there, with the approval of the Management in the Land of the Ultimate Control Freaks — even if there were no direct operational ties); it was the whole breadth of international terrorism Saddam supported, fanning the flames of violence in Israel and elsewhere … including providing safe haven to at least one of the 1993 WTC attackers. Furthermore, if Baathist Syria and Shiite Iran can pursue common interests, so could Baathist Saddam and Sunni Al Quada … but not any more, thanks to America.

Think past the very next move on the chessboard.

“2. Iraq was developing biological and chemical weapons of mass destruction to use on civilian populations”

Read the Duelfer report — Saddam had everything but the stockpiles, ready to restart his efforts in that regard once the bribery of the UN perpetrated by Saddam via Crude-For-Food took effect.

“3. He’s a baaaaaaaaad dude”

Do you know why we used proxies like Saddam over the years? Because people like you convinced our leaders that America should NEVER use its military power in a direct, timely, resolute, and decisive faction. So they made the best of a bad situation … and we are now paying for your success in promoting such folly.

Bottom line: no totalitarian ruler in history, with the will and the capability to expand his rule beyond his borders, has stopped doing so on his own accord … they all had to be confronted with the credible threat of force to be stopped.

And, we were not credible in the eyes of those like Saddam and bin Laden … because people like you kept convincing us to stay our hands against such thugs. As a result they became stronger and bolder.

Now, we have leaders who have learned that hard lesson … the question is, will we still have them on 21 January 2009? Or, will we repeat the MidEast history of the last 30 years, and see still more die?

Now, let me add to the list …

4> To keep Iraq, a relatively advanced and very prosperous nation, from — ONCE AGAIN — being hijacked to support terrorism.

5> To continue to move towards ending the scourge of totalitarianism in the name of radical Islam — NOW, before millions die as, with our backs against the wall, this becomes a classical, nation-on-nation World War. This ain’t Vietnam … if they carry the day, this enemy will not stop with Iraq.

6> “Anbar Rising” — google it, instead of regurgitating the same old, gnat-strained snapshots and factoids that have been thrown, like poo on the wall at the monkey house, whenever y’all think some might stick to the President you think was “selected, not elected”. The Iraqis who were once cold to — or even shooting at — us are now working with us.

Just walking away, won’t end this war. It will just bring it to the most vulnerable spots among those who can stop the killing; i.e. within our own civilization … unless we continue to act with RESOLVE to put a stop to it, and stand with those who have chosen to stand with us against this enemy.