People are criticizing my dad, Jim Webb, for killing a man. Here’s what they’re missing.

[decocker 7,198]

always liked jim webb. and his son makes a good point here..

As a Marine infantryman myself, I have experienced the complex emotions of combat. On the one hand you may not even see the face of an individual who fires a round so close to your head that your ears ring, or blows up the improvised explosive device next to your vehicle that potentially kills or maims your friends. On the other, there’s an intensely personal reaction. After all, this isn’t a person who is besting you in a debate about gun control, or some other social policy, over a beer. This is a person whose intent is to end your life, and that is as clear cut an enemy as you can think of. Additionally, many, if not most, of the veterans I have talked to have read the Navy Cross citation that chronicles the incident surrounding my father. For those unfamiliar, it states:

….Observing the grenade land dangerously close to his companion, First Lieutenant Webb simultaneously fired his weapon at the enemy, pushed the Marine away from the grenade, and shielded him from the explosion with his own body.….

We who know the complexities of combat understand the character displayed in the above sentence. When put into the proper context, it is clearly far more than the sound bite being dissected by political pundits.

In fact, seeing the reaction to my father’s story in recent days has highlighted for me the almost stunning level of ignorance that the general public has about war. CNN introduced him as a “war hero,” and yet people were surprised and even uncomfortable when they were given a glimpse of what that might have entailed.

This country has been at war for almost 15 years, and as I think about the ridicule leveled at my father in the past 24 hours, I can’t help but imagine what these same people must think about the service of my own generation. In their eyes, did we simply spend some kind of twisted ‘semester abroad’ in a place with plenty of sand, but no ocean? Or conversely, do they ignorantly dismiss our experiences, as they have my father, as those of cold callous killers?

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/checkpoint/wp/2015/10/15/people-are-criticizing-my-dad-jim-webb-for-killing-a-man-heres-what-theyre-missing/

Edited October 15, 2015 by decocker

[The Nature Boy 7,659]

I fully support our service members. I do not support my govt for continuing to bomb and be involved in a conflict with no purpose or goal.

[eieio 1,594]

ridicule leveled at my father in the past 24 hours

Who is doing the ridiculing?

[JohnR! 5,495]

I wouldn't take the comments from the GnOP noise machine seriously. These are the same people who support Trump, for whom John McCain is not a hero because he was a POW. The comments about Jim Webb are just the latest installment in the daily swill dispensed by Trump and his ilk.

always liked jim webb. and his son makes a good point here..

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/checkpoint/wp/2015/10/15/people-are-criticizing-my-dad-jim-webb-for-killing-a-man-heres-what-theyre-missing/

[decocker 7,198]

I fully support our service members. I do not support my govt for continuing to bomb and be involved in a conflict with no purpose or goal.

imo, the only way to fully support service members is to make sure they're only involved in a conflict if absolutely, beyond the shadow of a doubt, necessary. needless to say, mission (not) accomplished.

Who is doing the ridiculing?

i don't know. i didn't watch the debate or aftermath.

I wouldn't take the comments from the GnOP noise machine seriously. These are the same people who support Trump, for whom John McCain is not a hero because he was a POW. The comments about Jim Webb are just the latest installment in the daily swill dispensed by Trump and his ilk.

i think the american people are too soft. we can't stand seeing the realities of the wars we fund.