Quote:
Originally posted by Tom Earp
Unless you have not been in The Situation then it is very hard to talk about it!
The adrenilen pumps, you have been under fire, your fellow members have been kiled and there is a moments reaction to a situation. No amount of training wil ever get you to taht point when the decision comes in a flash.
Any one can talk big trash, but live it and see what it is like.
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Well Tom I have been under hostile fire and I have fired in anger... peacekeeping isn't always sitting around "monitoring" the two sides; sometimes you have to step in the middle, and other times you have to enforce the peace.
In my case, 10 months after I first joined the Reserves, I found myself face down in the dirty seeking cover from Croat fire in the Medak Pocket.
For those interested here are some links to papers or reports of the action:
http://www.cda-cdai.ca/library/medakpocket2.htm - (Covers public perception as a result of Somalia)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Medak_pocket
http://www.balkanpeace.org/wcs/wct/wctc/wctc003.shtml
http://cbc.ca/cgi-bin/templates/emai...k_medals021201
Yes we suffered casualities, yes we were engaged in combat for hours, yes we were witness to atrocities... however I don't remember any of the Canadians (or the French) deciding to execute/murder any of the wounded that we came upon... men who had quite likely been shooting at us a short time ago - we treated them just like any other wounded: professional and with respect.