justinwatt

mom?

I thought about it for a single night I think. To be honest, making the decision was pretty easy - I was not willing to live with letting that slide for the rest of my life. The hard part was after I did report it, realizing that I was pretty much dead meat. After seeing how everything has panned out for the survivors of my platoon - ( I think I am roughly one of 7 guys or so that are out walking around with semi normal lives) - I can say that one of the biggest reasons for my "successful transition" is that I didn't demonize the enemy or do things I knew I would regret.

All awards for valor in combat were stripped from my platoon.

I would say a case study would have to be done on the people who transition into the civilian world after intense combat well - and find the traits that with development could help others prepare for combat. If I had to give advice to people going into harms way - I would say this.

1. Dont take it personal, you signed up for a big boys game. People die, thats war.

2. There is no such thing as good guys and bad guys. Do you know what a hardcore jihadist looks like when he is dying? shocked. He woke up and believed that what he was doing was right. Dont demonize your enemy. Its not personal. They are people just like you - mostly poor and uneducated. If you couldnt feed your family and osama himself offered you fifty bucks to plant a IED and blow up some patrol car, most of you would do it to prevent your family from starving. Its just life.

3. Remember - its not you. I just said, what I have to do here is not justin. Its justin when you put him in a corner and try to take his life. Im not the guy I was over there. I mean I am, but Im not. Does that make sense? Dont try to apply what happens in combat to who you are in this world.

Also - they should never send a single bat. to cover the entire suni triangle - or EVER leave 2 people in a position where that is the max number of people you have to run a checkpoint. The stress, lack of sleep and increased risk of being killed will drive people crazy.

rape of course. whammy.