• OBJECTION!@lemmy.ml
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      9
      arrow-down
      1
      ·
      1 day ago

      In a personal letter? In years of therapy to repair his mind of the PTSD? In a video apology?

      Yes? That would at least be something. Right now this whole, “actually, he regrets what he did” thing is just typical liberal fanfiction of projecting what you want to be true onto politicians who don’t deserve it. It’s the same shit with “Kamala is secretly pro-Palestine (despite consistently denying it)” line.

      Wanting something to be true doesn’t make it true.

      Probably the best sign of him being progressive is that he didn’t spend longer in Blackwater* after seeing the private military overcharge the govt for services.

      …What? Is that the problem you have with Blackwater?

      • Ginnie_VaCoincidence@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        2
        arrow-down
        3
        ·
        1 day ago

        Have you been to see him in person? Unfortunately I was sick yesterday so a big crowd didn’t seem like a good idea but I have watched most of his town hall videos on YouTube. Have you watched any?

        • OBJECTION!@lemmy.ml
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          7
          ·
          1 day ago

          I live over a thousand miles away from Maine, so no, I have not seen him in person. And I haven’t watched his town halls, no.

          If you have a clip where he expresses regret about his time as a mercenary, I’d be happy to watch it.

          • Mycatiskai@lemmy.ca
            link
            fedilink
            arrow-up
            2
            ·
            10 hours ago

            https://youtu.be/dyN5B8_MQfA

            I’m not on twitter or whatever platform he is on so here is Kyle of Secular Talk reading his message about how he feels about his time in uniform. It starts at around 4:45 into the video.

            It doesn’t seem specific to the time as a PMC but as military in general. He was an ambassador guard as a PMC so he might not have actually seen any action during that time.

            • OBJECTION!@lemmy.ml
              link
              fedilink
              arrow-up
              2
              ·
              7 hours ago

              Thanks. I stand somewhat corrected in that there is some basis for saying he’s regretful.

              Some people (myself included) have extremely negative feelings about the US military, and the people who serve in it. For us, soldiers are worse than cops, and the bar for accepting a former soldier into a leadership position is high, even impossible for some. I see things like “I loved the infantry,” next to “Nothing disgusts me more than my participation in imperial adventures,” and it seems like there’s a bit of ambiguity in that which people might read in different ways.

              Not living in Maine, I’ll just maintain a position of detached skepticism. That way, everyone can be mad at me.

              • Mycatiskai@lemmy.ca
                link
                fedilink
                arrow-up
                1
                ·
                3 hours ago

                It’s probably pretty easy while you are in the army to feel like you love what you are doing. They strip down your individuality during basic and build you up to be part of a team. Your life and your teams lives are in each other’s hands so you love and trust these people, you suffer loss and victory together so you feel a part of something stronger than anything you probably ever experienced.

                It isn’t until you get out that you can look back and see that every loss and victory was just bodies thrown into a meat grinder and the mixture of “enemies” and “friends” just changes the war sausage that day.