Military Man Blogs About His Own Death

[NY Jester]

Wow, this soldier, has been blogging for 5+ years and in the chance of his death he wrote a "farewell" post only to be published should he be killed or die. Andrew Olmsted was killed in action January 3rd, 2008, His blog was published January 4th 2008 and has received over 100,000 views.

Full Story Provided by The New York Times

Read the Blog Here

[Fonz]

That's a sad story. Being killed by a sniper bullet is even more sad...

[Useless]

Originally Posted by Fonz

That's a sad story. Being killed by a sniper bullet is even more sad...

I stopped thinking it was sad when I read all of those quotes from Babylon 5. I know some of my fellow Americans won't like me saying this about a fallen soldier (oh well), but the guy seems like a douche in his blog.

[RageCash-Ben]

Originally Posted by Useless Warrior

I stopped thinking it was sad when I read all of those quotes from Babylon 5. I know some of my fellow Americans won't like me saying this about a fallen soldier (oh well), but the guy seems like a douche in his blog.

wow thats really harsh

[munchie]

Originally Posted by Useless Warrior

I stopped thinking it was sad when I read all of those quotes from Babylon 5. I know some of my fellow Americans won't like me saying this about a fallen soldier (oh well), but the guy seems like a douche in his blog.

Everyone's a saint once dead but who I am to judge?

[papagmp]

Wow - and he's somehow more special that the tens of thousands that never wrote a blog to make others pity him if he got killed......

I did over 22 years in the military - and no UW, you won't piss us off.

[Useless]

Originally Posted by RageCash-Ben

wow thats really harsh

I realize that it seems harsh to many, whether it's because it's a dead soldier or simply some dead person. Hell, some people won't even joke about Anna Nicole Smith, but I was giggling when she was still warm and covered in vomit. But I digress.

I served four years in the active U.S. Army. (88-92) My friend lost his nephew on Easter day during the first year of the war and I attended his funeral at the local National Cemetery. The family had me gather all of the videos he made while in Iraq off of his laptop and burn them to cd. He made his first good-bye video while sitting in a plane somewhere in the UK while he and his unit were first en route to Iraq. He made another somewhere in Samarra, where he was later killed. Mostly, he was bidding farewell to his fiance if anything were to happen to him. I believe he said, "if the inevitable happens to me" in one of them. It was simply poor word choice when he was alive, but somewhat ghostly to watch two weeks after he had perished.

I'm certainly not anti-military or even anti-war. I don't agree with this war and that probably has a lot to do with my opinion on that guy's blog posts. Also, as a former soldier, I feel he was stepping way over the line with his political commentary. But mostly I really disliked those damn Babylon 5 quotes. If I had time to leave a good-bye to my family, I doubt that I'd be geeky enough to quote a science fiction show. Austin Powers possibly. But not science fiction.

I'm not sure what the grace period is after a military person dies before it's politically correct to speak about them honestly, as you would any other deceased person, but I'm not sure that I even care. I just can't see why him getting killed means that I can no longer voice my opinion from this distance. If he had a friend or family member on this board, I wouldn't have said anything.

BTW, I was much more concerned about the war and the troops during the first few years due primarily to the fact that there were a tens of thousands of military personnel over there without a choice. This war was thrust upon them and they shouldered the burden proudly and courageously. If you are sitting in sunny downtown Baghdad today, you had time to make a choice.

[hashbury]

Just because you die dosent make you a great person. Its sad that another human being died but thats life. If your going to judge someone. A person should be judge by the way they lived there life not a blog.
Thats my ramble of the day

[Useless]

Originally Posted by hashbury

A person should be judge by the way they lived there life not a blog.

Apparently he lived his life by watching a lot of Babylon 5.

[hashbury]

Ive heard of that show but have never seen more than 5 mins of it. Dont think i will ever care to see more than 5 mins of it either. Not a good way to be remebered. Id rather be known as a good father and husband when i die.

[Bobc01]

I suppose there's a moral to this, if you don't want to get killed, don't join the army.

As it is, give any real soldier an oppurtunity to go to war and they'll jump at the chance.

It's the armchair faggots sat at home that make all the fuss about it.

[papagmp]

Originally Posted by Bobc01

I suppose there's a moral to this, if you don't want to get killed, don't join the army.

As it is, give any real soldier an oppurtunity to go to war and they'll jump at the chance.

It's the armchair faggots sat at home that make all the fuss about it.

I disagree - I considered myself a "real soldier" and I never "jumped at the chance" to go to war. Yes, I went, and did it without complaining, but to assume all real soldiers are war mongers is way off.

I served for a few reasons:

1. It was a good job that let me travel and get my education at the same time (I was a communications system tech so most of my time was spent in facilities not much different than those of AT&T - however, I did see enough field duty to know what it's like)
2. I agree in concept that citizens have the right and responsibility to protect a way of life.
3. I love my country.
4. I had to prove to my dad that I had what it took.... (It's a long story)

I never wished that anyone would ever have to die - but I accepted it as a fact of life and a potential part of the job - even if that meant I might be put in harms way. Thankfully, I survived all of those encounters.

[Preacher]

Originally Posted by NY Jester

Wow, this soldier, has been blogging for 5+ years and in the chance of his death he wrote a "farewell" post only to be published should he be killed or die. Andrew Olmsted was killed in action January 3rd, 2008, His blog was published January 4th 2008 and has received over 100,000 views.

Full Story Provided by The New York Times

Read the Blog Here

"What is there left for Narn if all of creation falls around us? There's nothing. No hope, no dream, no future, no life. Unless we turn from the cycle of death toward something greater. If we are a dying people, then let us die with honor, by helping the others as no-one else can."
Narn Image and G'Kar
Dust to Dust
Babylon 5

[Useless]

Originally Posted by Preacher

Narn Image and G'Kar
Dust to Dust
Babylon 5

You're so queer.

[Bobc01]

Originally Posted by papagmp

I disagree - I considered myself a "real soldier" and I never "jumped at the chance" to go to war. Yes, I went, and did it without complaining, but to assume all real soldiers are war mongers is way off.

I served for a few reasons:

1. It was a good job that let me travel and get my education at the same time (I was a communications system tech so most of my time was spent in facilities not much different than those of AT&T - however, I did see enough field duty to know what it's like)
2. I agree in concept that citizens have the right and responsibility to protect a way of life.
3. I love my country.
4. I had to prove to my dad that I had what it took.... (It's a long story)

I never wished that anyone would ever have to die - but I accepted it as a fact of life and a potential part of the job - even if that meant I might be put in harms way. Thankfully, I survived all of those encounters.

Well no not war mongers but isn't war what we all trained for?
What i was saying is if you're in the military then war is going to be a possibility and if you take a sniper round between the eyes then that's the risk that goes with the job.
Obviously the only way to make sure that doesn't happen is to consider other jobs.

[Useless]

Originally Posted by Bobc01

Well no not war mongers but isn't war what we all trained for?

I went dancing a lot.
My biggest goal upon entering the army was to end up in Germany as my recruiter has promised. Apparently, in recruiter speak, Germany = Texas. I never really asked the army why I was being trained in all that silly shooting stuff and what-not. I spent most of time thinking about drinking and dancing and getting rejected by hot civilians.

[Bobc01]

Originally Posted by Useless Warrior

I went dancing a lot.
My biggest goal upon entering the army was to end up in Germany as my recruiter has promised. Apparently, in recruiter speak, Germany = Texas. I never really asked the army why I was being trained in all that silly shooting stuff and what-not. I spent most of time thinking about drinking and dancing and getting rejected by hot civilians.

Not sure on the relation to Texas as i don't think germans marry their cousins. lol

You'd of definately woken up to a few hangovers though, not to mention alot of hairy german women.

I knew full well what i'd be doing and my first posting was Belfast, i certainly wouldn't of taken in what a recruiter told me though.

[Element115]

Originally Posted by Bobc01

Well no not war mongers but isn't war what we all trained for?
What i was saying is if you're in the military then war is going to be a possibility and if you take a sniper round between the eyes then that's the risk that goes with the job.
Obviously the only way to make sure that doesn't happen is to consider other jobs.

Maybe I'm a warmongerer, maybe not. Prior to Sept 11th I never once considered joining the military. In contrast, I was a pot smoking hippie and very much anti-war and anti-military up until that point. I joined the infantry because I don't want to have to tell my kids someday that when our country was in one of it's most dire moment's, daddy spent his time smoking pot and watching it all unfold on CNN.

While, I disagree with how some things have been handled by our government, I know through personal experience that there is a defining difference between the people fighting against us and the people who fight for us. They kill innocents with no regard for human life, whereas MOST (yes, there are some exceptions) of us just want to protect innocent people. Having said that, I still believe I'm a peaceful person. But I am also Irish, which means that when I'm backed in a corner I'll definitely put up a fight. When you're dealing with people who are not only willing to kill innocent people, but also blow themselves up in the process, the only way to talk some sense into them is to skull fuck them with an M4. |raygun|

But after a while politics, family, ideals... all that shit goes right out the window and you're left with one thing. Watch out for your buddies and trust your buddies will watch out for you. When it comes down to it, that's all that really matters.

[papagmp]

Originally Posted by Useless Warrior

I went dancing a lot.
My biggest goal upon entering the army was to end up in Germany as my recruiter has promised. Apparently, in recruiter speak, Germany = Texas. I never really asked the army why I was being trained in all that silly shooting stuff and what-not. I spent most of time thinking about drinking and dancing and getting rejected by hot civilians.

And I asked for Texas and got Germany - 13 years

[Preacher]

Originally Posted by Useless Warrior

You're so queer.

"As the humans say, up yours!"
Citizen G'Kar
Babylon 5