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I don't want to beat a dead horse here, but john-boy's claim's about Infantrymen got me going. john's words, "most soldier's can't kill another man face to face, and if they do, they suffer psyche damage." I saw nine months of Infantry combat between July 1969 and July of 1970, and never saw an Infantryman fail to shoot an enemy soldier if the situation called for it. Whether at 200 Meters or two Meters. Sure, they are Human and didn't feel good about it later, but there was no "psyche damage. The feeling was "He's dead and I'm alive, Hoorray for me and screw you." John's words: "Typically, the men who do the face to face killing have previous felony convictions." What pure, unadulterated horseshit. Since Teddy Roosevelts time, convicts have been unwanted by the Military. Good old Teddy. Best President we ever had. His words: " I wish for no men of bad character in my Regiment. Thieves, confidence men and convicts are to stay well away from the Volunteer Cavalry." When the Army was scraping the bottom of the barrel in 1944, someone got the bright idea to enlist 1,000 Federal convicts into the Army. They had to be non-violent, car thieves, burglars,etc., and spread into different units. Only the commanding officer knew their background. Failed experiment. More than 700 deserted and almost to a man the rest became "stockade rat's" for insubordination, AWOL, and theft from they're fellow Soldiers. (Often beaten to a pulp in the course of this). No Felon was ever knowingly drafted or enlisted again. In 1968 about the first thing we did at the U.S. Army reception station was give two set's of fingerprints. "Why two, I asked the PFC doing the fingerprinting? "One set goes to the Army Records Office so if you get you head blown off they can still identify you. The other set goes to the FBI in case your a killer. Well, there it is john, how did all these steely eyed convict killer's get into the Military? Are the Infantrymen in Iraq meekly stepping out of the way so the convict platoon can be brought up? Felon's with juvenile records WERE drafted in WWII. One comes to mind. Eddie Slovik. Shot for cowardice. Now, make sure you don't answer. As RIKA said, I can hear the sound of your cockroach feet scurring away.