RE: Inaccuracy, was RE: [SG] HAMR

John,

Thank you for the apology.  You truly had me heated.  The statement was
made
to support the humorous statement that followed.  As a former 11B I took
the
same Oath as you and would not violate it.  Joking about that is not
such a
hot button for me but I will respect your views in the future.

Nuff said on this.

Bob

-----Original Message-----
From: owner-gzg-l@lists.CSUA.Berkeley.EDU
[mailto:owner-gzg-l@lists.CSUA.Berkeley.EDU]On Behalf Of John Atkinson
Sent: Saturday, March 16, 2002 11:57 PM
To: gzg-l@csua.berkeley.edu
Subject: Re: Inaccuracy, was RE: [SG] HAMR

Sidenotes:
It has been brought to my attention off-list[1] two
points I should make clear.

1)My initial response to Bob's post was a bit too
heated.  While I stand by the substance of what I
said, I apologize to Bob for the manner in which I
expressed it.

2)It's pretty unclear to most people exactally why I
get so annoyed by this point.  Those who propagate
that myth make two unspoken statements in the way they
express it.  Those points are that a)they are in the
military but have no clear understanding of the legal
implications of the oath that they swore, and that b)
they are willing to violate that oath as they
understand it.	All of Western civilization's
development in the past several hundred years has been
based on the control of the military by civil
government through a series of oaths and laws.	A
soldier[2] willing to violate his oath is the most
dangerous development possible from the point of view
of the continued existence of society.	It's
dangerous, and it's offensive to those of us who try
to serve in as professional a manner as possible.
Furthermore, Bob's statement was obviously intended to
be semi-humorous.  I don't find stating an intent to
commit what the writer honestly believes to be a
violation of international treaty (and hence as much a
war crime as shooting prisioners or looting civillian
property) to be even slightly funny or humorous.

John

[1]Best way to argue with me. . . for a variety of
reasons which should be obvious upon reflection.
[2]"Soldier" is here being used as shorthand for
"member of military and paramilitary forces, whether
enlisted, commissioned, or holding a warrant and
regardless of branch of service or actual title
(Seaman, Airman, Marine, et al)."

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