I have been wondering about this for a long time and i really started thinking about it around 3 weeks ago. This was when i began my bombing training. I can now drop 1000 pound laser guided and 500 pound unguided bombs from a harrier GR7. I became i fighter pilot because i loved flying and the RAF is in my history but the dropping of bombs never occured to me to be an issue. I am going to Afghanistan for my first 4 month tour in 9 months next february. I will almost certainly have to drop bombs and i have no doubt in my ability to do so but it is the moral issue i am questioning. I myself try to focus on the positive side of it ie the lives i save by doing so and i think about my brother who is a royal marine whose life has been saved by close air support on a number of occassions and that seems to justify it. However my mother is very religious and thinks all killing is wrong. For me it is not a religious issue as i am an atheist however i think it would be quite souless to say that atheists dont feel anything whilst killing. I myself think that it is a good job done if i drop a bomb and also feel a sense of professional pride but i understand there are lots of people who dont feel that way. I want people to give their opinion on this however i dont want this to turn into a thread about the Iraq war please keep it specific thank you.
Woody, nobody is truly evil. You can be misguided or crazy, but not evil. You can do horrible stuff in the name of <Insert Deity Here>, but that does not make you evil. Evil, in the end, depends on who is looking at you. Your mother might consider it evil, and I do not. When you drop bombs, do so in the knowledge and hope that you are trying to help people, although in a somewhat brutal way.
ok fair enough if thats what people feel i just want to know what people think. But do u not recognise that i save lives not just kill them or do you stand by the fact i am evil. I feel i am just very proffessional about my job like everyone should be. Its just that my job requires me to do certain things.
Also i dont mean pure evil obviously i just wanted the thread to stand out. But consider Wittman that if i wasnt doing it someone else would be anyway.
Okay, I thought you were meaning pure evil. But now since I have an understanding of it. I think that you family might consider you evil but people may not, kind of like what hojoko said.
Well, first of all it is your job. I wouldn't call you evil. It isn't like you are going to go comment homicidal murder in the Middle East. It sucks to kill people, but it happens. This is a fickle issue. I need some more caffeine before I can respond better, lol.
@ Wittman my family doesnt consider me evil. My mother just because she is religious belives killing is wrong but she doesnt think i am evil i just wanted to know what you guys think.
@ hojoko I do not belive in a deity i just belive that i am doing my job to the best of my ability. The values of the RAF teach integrity, discipline, teamwork and excellence. That is what i belive in when i am dropping bombs that i am doing the job to the best of my ability and am getting the job done.
I am going to Afghanistan. Will be stationed at Khandahar airbase. My primary role there is as close air support. IE the boys on the ground either radio in when there is trouble or i am in the air during an operation. Terry taliban will be on the recieving end though.
^^Hey skip, I think he is bombing Iraq, but he doesn't want the thread to go that way....
Anyway, I do NOT think you are evil. Killing does not equal evil. I would say killing is evil if you are doing it because you are actually killing a specific person for no gain accept for your own. I know alot of people could type out more instances, but just bare with me.
You are bombing for your country, and you aren't really killing for your own gain. You are fighting for freedom, for our country, etc.
Hey Ash, I also think I need a Monster. Typing has become all of a sudden really tiring......zzzzzzzz
@ Skipper i am saving lives as well as tking them. Does that make any difference?
@ Estel the war in Iraq is over i am in Afghanistan it is a completely different conflict going on there. I am not American i am not fighting for freedom i am not that naive. I am fighting because i want to help out the boys on the ground and get them home safely. I think my brother being a soldier affects the way i see it just because i would happliy drop a playboy on 50 taliban to save him however that may seem bad to some people. I am not saying i enjoy it either. You can be out there for weeks and not have to drop a bomb but then have to drop all your bombs and fire off all your rockets in one sortie. But even when you do that you kno you are doing it for the right reasons. That may sound a little sycophantic bu thats what i belive but i still want to hear what other people think tho.