Am I being insensitive?
 

So the long story short is that the 3rd day after my platoon left for Afghanistan, the guys that were sent early to link up with the unit we're replacing hit an 80 lbs IED. The gunner was killed, the driver broke his back, and the guy from our platoon broke his leg.

So upon hearing that, one of our guys said he was going to kill himself so that we would send him back. Which is really fine with me. I don't care if it's legit or not, because even if he's bullshitting us, I don't want someone who doesn't want to be here.

My problem is that he told everybody that he was in truck that I mentioned and got hurt, and that that's why he was sent back. He told his fiance, who told all the wives, who told everyone's parents, and so on.

I understand he wants to keep his dignity, but saying something like that is so fucking dishonorable I have a hard to expressing it in words. Should I call him out, or let him live with his lie?

DUDE!

1) Yeah, you wouldn't want anyone covering your back who might check out at any minute ... and ...

2) I can understand having second thoughts and even trying to get out of the gig after the fact, but own it. Just own it. He's dishonoring the soldiers who died or were wounded while serving their country by trying to make it look like he made the same sacrifice.

HELL YEAH, CALL HIM OUT!

That's fucked up. I don't care if he wanted out, the battlefield isn't a place for everyone and the people who stay when clearly they shouldn't be there, puts everyone in danger. So I can understand that.

But, using other people's struggles, hardships, and (sadly) death to gain credibility or respect is fucked up. Call him out on it. It's dishonorable and disrespectful on those who have.

OMG! Fuck you you insensitive dick!

:p


Call his stupid ass out on it! We do not need people like that making the military look bad. After him telling everyone the other story, they migt not believe the truth, though. Be prepared for that.

Call him out.
I hate to use such rash terms, but he's fucking trash.
Vermin. Scum of the Earth.
You can't fucking make a claim like that when it's not true -.-" !

I think the general consensus is that he needs to be called out on it, but if you don't you can only imagine the stuff that someone who is neurotic will bring up later on in order to get out of a sticky situation. If he is willing to lie about this then what else is he willing to lie about if he should ever be faced with combat in the future?

Letting him live with his lie will only mean a much deeper and uglier hole will be dug by him in the future, and you should preemptively prevent such a hole being dug in the future.

What a rotten fucker.

What Corpsey said is indeed a great moral justification to call him out.
If you need further reason, then use this:
He is a dishonourable fuck that deserves whatever the fuck is coming to him when this lie is exposed.

As much as I'd want to expose him, why do it? You won't get anything from it, and neither will anyone else.

If anything, it'll just make people less trusting and appreciative of the military than they already are.

If someone asks you about it you shouldn't cover for him, but if he legit wanted to kill himself its kind of harsh to go out of your way to out him, you know? If everyone home is talking about it its going to come out eventually anyway.

He wasn't legitimately going to kill himself. He said that so the military would send his ass home. He was faking it.

When he said

It made me think that Versus isn't 100% sure. Suspicious, yes, but I'd err on the side of caution, again its probably going to come out anyway without Versus having to get involved in any drama.

He was sent home because of an injury? He was sent home because of lying about suicidal feelings?

I would let it go. The Army will either start doping him up, so his winky won't salute anymore and send him back to the front lines. That is a really lame excuse with consiquences. In fact, if you say anything contrary, they'll probably wonder what you problem is, because he might have made up the story about making up a story when he really was feeling suicidal. If you call him out-on-it, it is easily turned around, so just let it go.

Typical U.S military here folks. Nothing to see here.

Sorry to hear about the guys being injured and killed. Thats rough. (I'd send you hugs but Saya would kick my ass).

Sounds like the other guy wasn't coping with the posting. It's probably a really good thing that he's gone home, because otherwise he'd cause someone else to get hurt saving his sorry ass.

Maybe talk to the guy first and try and find out his reasoning why he did what he did - because on the surface, to me it seems like he wanted out and he didn't care how he got out.

If you squeal and tell everyone he wasn't in the truck, then people may view you in a bad light and it could come back to bite you on the butt (because you could look jealous or vindictive or whatnot).

Maybe the higher ups knew he wasn't on the truck, maybe they all decided that they would give the guy a way out, even though it wasn't right, because they knew that having a guy like him in the group, when it came to crunch time, would just see a lot of good men getting hurt.

What happens if you call this guy out? To both you and him? Are the consequences worth it?

The rumor was killed as soon as everyone here found out. It turns out my reservation is hardly shared. Most of my platoon wants to kick his shit in right now.

I don't really share the sentiment, but that's because I just couldn't imagine him saying it. It's not the first time he's done something like this, but I have a hard time accepting it all. But I don't blame them. Lieing about that sort of thing is a big no-no here. We have a great reverence for those who're wounded or killed in action, and falsly counting yourself amongst them is extremely disrespectful by itself, but doing so to cover up cowardice is absolute sacriledge. It wouldn't be nearly as bad if he would own up to what he did. That's why I wanted to call him out. I just can't abide by some things, I guess.

Thanks for everyone's input. And the snarky troll. My hat goes off to his puppet.

Fully understandable dude, I guessed everything had been dealt with by the time our inputs had been given. I presume your C.O. has been notified about this?

If it isn't the first time that he has done something like this, then I suppose he will have to do something quickly to put things right or be forever known as the boy who cried 'wolf'.

It must really suck to get yourself into a situation that you know you can't handle and then face the shame of your loved ones thinking less of you because you lack to will to be a killer.

Man is that a stupid lie to tell. If you got discharged after being hit by an IED you'd have scars and a purple heart. I'm guessing he has neither.

Either way, don't turn him in. The truth will come out on it's own and you don't know his situation. You don't know how much of the "I'm just doing this to get out" is just more lies and posturing. It's very likely he lied to YOU and/or others because he was too ashamed to admit that he genuinely wanted to kill himself.

There's really no reason to screw with this poor guy right now.

Corpsey - I don't know if the commander knows, but it doesn't really matter. It's not like he could get punished for lieing to his fiance.

AshleyO - I don't presume to know why he said it, but you're making some assumptions that really aren't fair. You don't know what his job is, only that he's in the military. By making an assumption about the military, you're making one about me by extention as well as labeling me and the people who I would frankly die for, and I really don't appreciate that.

Desp - I know, right? He clearly wasn't thinking. Maybe he's a pathological liar, or something? That's just so obviously hard to falsify that it doesn't make sense to say.

So those pictures of you toting guns and such is no indication that you actually use them? Thanks for your service, but you ARE a state funded professional killer. That is the job of a service person in arms. I don't mean to offend, but it's not like you're out there spreading good will with a gun.

n00bs got you there dude. Those guns ain't exactly loaded with candy and gumdrops, Ya dig?

Because it makes more sense to assume that he's a pathological liar, which would imply that he has some form of mental problems if it's beyond him to ever tell the truth.

Some people need to be killed.

I completely agree. That's why I'm not saying Versus is a bad person, but he IS a killer.