It was a threat… I don’t actually believe that an officer would do that no matter how high their ranking. It seems pretty obvious that they just wanted the private to fall in line so they didn’t give him any other options. But this was told to me by a vet and it happened over 20 years ago according to them. Maybe the guy was delusional but he seemed deadly serious when he told me.

I had a similar conversation about this with a Marine yesterday, and I definitely trust the lower ranks and their commitment to the American people, but it is after all an authoritarian hierarchy. I’ve heard of privates coerced into taking vaccines under the threat of disappearing, and if soldiers can fire on their own civilians in other countries, I have every reason to believe they can here. And I know some of them readily would.

I get scammed every day on a near daily basis. I get scammed when my landlord raises my rent without fair cause. I get scammed when I look at inflated sale prices at my local grocery store for already shrinkflated goods. I get scammed when I get fees and tips tacked on to my bill when I go to the movie theater or a restaurant. It’s fucking infuriating but I don’t wish death upon my waitress, the store owner, or even my landlord. It’s all just unregulated capitalism in action. Scams, big or small, make money, and money moves us forward.

Just because some degenerate across the world with a funny accent who I will likely never interact with plays by the same rules doesn’t mean he should be thrown into a wood chipper. IMO.