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Rendezvous with Death

By The Armorer on January 14, 2004 | | Comments (13) | TrackBacks (2)

This combat video is not for the faint of heart. But some of you out there ask what it's like.

Well, this is as close as I can get you. It's not work-safe if you don't work for the military. Not for the squeamish or children. Definitely rated R for combat violence.

But, in the final analysis, this is what we warriors do. We kill people, break things, and control what's left - at the direction of the civilian leadership of this nation.

As for the Iraqi soldier's in this video, well, they had a rendezvous with death - and sometimes in war you find yourself between a rock and a hard place with nowhere to go, nowhere to hide, and no way to surrender. At that time and place, it sucks to be you. Sometimes you see death coming. Sometimes it seems the hand of Mars just reaches out and smacks you. These guys got smacked.

To save my bandwidth (and improve your playback) it's better to download it than to stream it. Here it is. If it makes you unhappy - you were warned.

I have a rendezvous with Death At some disputed barricade, When Spring comes back with rustling shade And apple-blossoms fill the air - I have a rendezvous with Death When Spring brings back blue days and fair.

It may be he shall take my hand
And lead me into his dark land
And close my eyes and quench my breath -
It may be I shall pass him still.
I have a rendezvous with Death
On some scarred slope of battered hill,
When Spring comes round again this year
And the first meadow-flowers appear.

God knows 'twere better to be deep
Pillowed in silk and scented down,
Where love throbs out in blissful sleep,
Pulse nigh to pulse, and breath to breath,
Where hushed awakenings are dear...
But I've a rendezvous with Death
At midnight in some flaming town,
When Spring trips north again this year,
And I to my pledged word am true,
I shall not fail that rendezvous.

Alan Seeger, 1917

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Who Said War Doesn't Have It's Own Savage Beauty? from The Anti-Idiotarian Rottweiler on January 14, 2004 8:13 PM

Well, it certainly wasn't this Bloody Thirsty Dark Sith Lord, that's for sure. Of course, beauty is in the eye... Read More

More on the Apache video from murdoc online on January 17, 2004 3:33 PM

That video of the Apache attack on some men and trucks is really making the rounds. It is featured on ABC's premium site, and there is apparently more footage there. I'm not a subscriber, so I don't know what they've... Read More

13 Comments

By Teresa on January 14, 2004 4:17 PM
Good Shooting guys!
 
By Indigo on January 14, 2004 4:25 PM
This has been popping up everywhere, and I haven't yet heard any negative comments. Maybe I'm not in the right place at the right time. IMO it should be viewed by everyone -- happy or not. Too many Americans avoid reality.
 
By blaster on January 14, 2004 6:02 PM
This video has made it to the news now, so it is definitely everywhere. Here is a commentary from another place I saw it posted: Isn't that the greatist gun in the world? By the way, the unit that did that is right next door to me. I also fly the same aircraft over here so here's the real story. The weapon they're dropping in the field is a shoulder fired heat seeking missile. There were serveral more found in the vehicle along with RPG's. This is the same weapon that took down a Chinook a few months ago and killed 31 soldiers. The Apaches were blacked out (no lights on) so that's why the terroists thought the had a chance to ditch the weapons and get away with it. They had been followed for some time and ground units were enroute, however when you see someone go for one of the only weapons that can take out your 40 million dollar helicopter along with you, you pull the trigger. Although I wouldn't hand out a tape like that, they completely did the right thing.
 
By Bill H on January 14, 2004 8:40 PM
The only nit I have with that tape is I wouldn't have waited for movement against the truck before pulling the trigger. Then again, I'm not an Apache pilot, nor am I privy to the circumstances. From this son of a Jarhead, GO ARMY!
 
By Moriarty on January 14, 2004 10:05 PM
Just a quick comment on the (inevitable) yattering that is sure to arise - that this video trivializes killing: I've never served in the military, but I certainly know death. I've been immediately present as lives of every age have ended, some peacefully and some horribly and traumatically. Through acts of omission and comission, I have assisted in the act of dying. I have had to tell mothers, fathers and families that their loved ones - sometimes children - have died. I'm a physician, sworn to protect and preserve life and its quality. Some might imagine that I would watch this video with horror. I do not. You see, none of my patients assumed guilt for their fate. None bore arms against me, my family or my country. That enemies of my nation died, in the manner they did, gives me the faint satisfaction in knowing that there is at least some small measure of justice in the world.
 
By John of Argghhh! on January 14, 2004 10:35 PM
Moriarty - exactly the way I deal with it. Absent the innocent caught in the cross-fire, which we in the Anglosphere above pretty much all else strive to avoid - everybody I ever did this to in some way or another made choices that put them in my sights. I don't lose sleep over them. And I was fortunate enough in the combats I was involved in, directly or indirectly, to be almost positive that no noncombatants died as a result of anything I did, so I don't have any of them to be concerned about. I feel more guilt over the animals I killed in survival training than I do over the soldiers I killed in combat. But that's the subject of a different post, I suppose.
 
By Behind Enemy Lines on January 15, 2004 7:46 PM
Sir John, Your last post over after AIR cracked me up, swishing away after gathering up your skirts! But you're right, i didn't realize the faux pas of grabbing your content and commenting over there; albeit that is where i first saw your link to it. My apologies.
 
By Uff Da on January 15, 2004 9:45 PM
Amazing footage but I didn't see them drop anything.It looks like they were out plowing a field.Maybe something was in under the tractor the second guy was pulling out.The MAS 49's.308 or 7.5?
 
By Behind Enemy Lines on January 15, 2004 10:24 PM
Yes, there is a story at ABC news.com which describes the whole deal. The snippet is just of the "good" part. you have to be a subscriber to ABC.com (something i would never do) to see the whole clip.
 
By Uff Da on January 15, 2004 10:54 PM
Went to ABC and got the rest of the story.It looks like a righteous bust.Thanks
 
By blaster on January 15, 2004 11:13 PM
Plowing at night?
 
By John of Argghhh! on January 15, 2004 11:34 PM
Uff Da- 7.5 inasmuch as is possible, I prefer my stuff in the configuration of the military user, not the product of the fevered imagination of a "Century Wizard" trying to find a way to get the public to buy 'em. Make's 'em more challenging/expensive to shoot, but from my collecting perspective, that's true to what I'm after, tools of the trade, vice tools of the 'murican consumer!
 
By Behind Enemy Lines on January 15, 2004 11:39 PM
Plowing at Night? Have you never heard Santana's Moonflower? Nocturnal Farmers Unite!
 
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