My prayers for his family. Rest well good sir.

May his soul rest in peace.

Something went wrong with my post.

Anyway, May the guy R.I.P.

Wow...19.. No father should ever have to outlive his son.

What's an IED?

@ destijlcat,

That an anon can outpity you is a sign something is wrong with your lfe.

/ unwaranted self importance

Resquiescat in pace.

...19. Another great American soldier and gamer has died in an illegal and unwarranted war prompted by the lies and gilded interests of the Bush administration. I feel so sorry for his family and hope that our next president will work hard to support our troops and get them out of that shithole, =(.

@Pandralisk

Please. Save your politicking for another time and place. Give the man his dignity.

I don't know what to say. I'm always at a loss for words when somebody dies. I only hope neither of them suffered.

It is a shame anyone so young should die. Seems unfair that old men start wars in which young men are sent to die.

My best to their families.

@destijlcat

I should ask you the same thing - if you don't care for this sort of thing, why are you here?

Leave us be - we're trying to pay our respects.

@GO

Stalin was right. It's because of Dennis that we know of these two. They are not statistics because we know them.

@Jonnell

An Improvised Explosive Device. Basically a home made bomb. These commonly use artillery shells and a mere cellphone as a detonator.

@destijlcat

Being a soldier is a real job, not that you'd know anything about that by your tone.

And as to why we're paying our respect, I suggest you go get your stupid ass blown up and see what happens.

@ destijlcat

The service is a real job - you may not like the war, but the soldiers didn't create the war, they merely chose to join the army. You're being a incredibly huge douchebag, and I'd ask you to step outside to "discuss" a few things were we in the same room.

My respect and condolences to their families for their loved ones sacrifice.

I was a soldier in the US Army for 7 years, ended up with an Honorable/Medical Discharge due to my back being horribly screwed up (and not in any warfare or anything, just from normal day-to-day stuff). Soldiers have to put their lives on the line to fight for whatever they are sent out to fight for, at a moment's notice. Wartime is not fun, not by a longshot, and even those who survive are often haunted by what happened during the war, for the rest of their lives. Being placed face-to-face with the realities of human mortality, and where survival is questionable at best, that is very difficult for most people to cope with. Unlike a video game, where you can get shot and "respawn", in war, if you get shot, that's it. At best, you are seriously hurt, but far more likely, you are mortally wounded.

The soldier doesn't have the luxury of dealing with the political motivations and reasons behind the war he or she is in, while thrust into the middle of the battlefield. The soldier doesn't have the luxury of thinking about anything most of the time, but has to run off instincts, training, and the trust that his or her fellow soldiers are watching his or her back. There is but one thing that in the heat of a battle a soldier has the time to focus on -- kill or be killed, succeed in the mission or most likely die.

There may be people here who don't agree with the war in Iraq, who disagree with the politics behind it, who may have even trumped up extra ideas and thoughts about the motivations behind why that war is won, true or not, and then holding to them with such conviction that they are absolutely convinced they are right, and trying to convince them otherwise will be a fruitless gesture.

Regardless of this, what the article was about is that two soldiers, American citizens, hell, human beings were killed in that war. Their family and friends, and anyone who knew them are now going to have to figure out life without them, and the pain from losing someone is quite acute. My condolences and prayers go to their friends and family, for the world is a lesser place without them.

Let's try to stay on topic with this one, and not turn it into some grandstanding about a particular political position or belief.

@Xlorep

I agree whole heartedly my friend. I don't really know much more that needs to be said.

to Xlorep DarkHelm thats the nuremburg defense, look it up

to everybody else laugh out loud its been along time i had to do so little to get a laugh

GryphonOsiris what the f-ck does stalin have to do with any of this

Fifty bucks says that destijlcat is either thirteen or a guy with no job living with his parents.

Sucks what happened and all, but there are a lot more troops dying over there, and we only care about the one that plays video games? What?

Death comes to everyman - hopefully, in spite of udder idiocy, I would hope that no one trashes the memory of a person over an agenda or politics. Even if they happen to be the family members of those who do trash the memory of others... Death will come visit us all at some point, for us personally or a close loved one.

One thing is certain - agree or disagree with the war. He died for what he believed in, with honor - that much certainly can't be said for many people. indeed.

It's amazing how immature, trivial and childish some people can be. No wonder this world is such a fried mess.

@ destijlcat

Obviously you either didn't read the quote or didn't comprehend it.

Either way, nothing I could ever possibly say could break the soldier hating attitude you have. I frankly pity you you for being so narrow minded and so self righteous. The vietnam era concept of the baby-killing draftee hyped up on drugs is a dead one. The standing military is an all volunteer force, that is to say they all willingly agreed to serve. And no matter what you think, they didn't sign up because they wanted to fight, to kill, or because the are mindless drones, but because they love their country and wish to defend it. It may be a new concept to you, but it's called self-sacrafice. The willingness to do that which is neither asked nor expected of you because you believe it is the right thing to do.

Now I know you are going to try and twist it saying the SS did the same, yadda-yadda-yadda, but that is the same argument used 30 years ago by people who said all veterans were murders.

Frankly, you have no idea what most soldiers go through because to you they are mindless automotons who just march and kill. Spend a week on a military base, talk to the families of the service men and women, see what they go through every day just so you can sleep comfortably at night, see what so many of them have given up to keep you are yours safe for those who mean them harm, talk to the veterans who had seen front line service and lost battle buddies, and perhaps you might learn something.

@ Blackice

Eh, comes from being a 4th generation military family. My Grandfather apparently would dig into to poepple like this guy and leave them in tears, would do the same to Jehova's witnesses too. Of course, my grandfather served in the invasion of Guam so you can imagine he had little patience for 'these' kinds of people.

@GryphonOsiris

Well put. I won't even dignify destijlcat with a direct response, because I am quite familiar with what the Nurenburg Defense is, which is nowhere even remotely what I was stating (that is, the notion that someone was "just doing their job", and therefore aren't accountable for their actions, which I never even began to claim). What destijlcat ended up doing is pulling Godwin's Law real quickly, as GryphonOsiris pointed out.

As others have pointed out, destijlcat is a troll, plain and simple. He is looking for a reaction, a strong, negative reaction to his statements, and barring that, he'll probably go away. So, like BlackIce put it, just ignore his ignorant drivel.

@ BlackIce

Though, a friend of mine from school's Grandfather was with the 82nd at Bastogne. With no disrespect to my grandfather, the bloody bastards of Bastogne will always win, hands down.

@GO

If we're playing by those rules, The guys and girls from Stalingrad get the medals.

You are correct, the 82nd was in the Battle of the Bulge, but not at Bastogne. Need to watch that movie again.

Nah, Battleground, 1949.

@ GO

Take heart that destijlcat is by far the minority.

I come from a family who has members in almost all the branches of the armed forces. I will simply leave this at I have a medical condition that makes it so I cannot enlist and honestly I wouldn't. I don't feel I have what it takes to fill those shoes and face the peril that soldiers are facing daily in a war zone.

What you've said here means a lot to this online GP community. Thank you for sharing your personal experiences. It means a lot to me and I'm sure it means a lot to many others here, posters and lurkers alike.

My condolences.

@ destijlcat: How old are you?