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Comment by spacedog11 | Hacker News Reader

What a fascinating story. Thank you for sharing. I cried towards the end as I was learning about Casteel's death. I was hoping for a plot twist, because all along Casteel was described in the past tense, so I knew from the beginning that he might not be still alive but deep inside I was hoping that he is still alive. I was hoping for paragraph that says "and now Casteel is..."

It sucks to lose someone with such integrity, values and good character. I feel like I have known him personally. May he rest in peace.

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> It sucks to lose someone with such integrity, values and good character.

Sorry? Who with 'integrity, values and good character' joins an interrogation squad?

> Sorry? Who with 'integrity, values and good character' joins an interrogation squad?

Best question on this thread.

Some food for thought:

https://vimeo.com/242569435

While I can understand your sentiment, it might also well be possible that such a person might be convinced of the righteousness of their cause. The article even gives some quotes along those lines. To paraphrase: "it's better if someone like me does the interrogation than someone who does not care about the Geneva convention".

I think it is very hard to judge the motivations of people from the outside. The whole point of the article was to illustrate how torn you can be between your convictions, what you want to do, and what you actually do.

Most of us are very lucky insofar as we do not have to face such tough choices.

I really don't care if they are convinced of the righteousness of their cause. History is rife with examples of people who were convinced of the righteousness, that does not excuse them even a little bit.

> Most of us are very lucky insofar as we do not have to face such tough choices.

That's why we talk about the ones who did. Since conscription in the US ended quite a while ago all of this is free choice.

Fair enough; you have given me a lot to think about---thank you!

One more thing, though: I am not sure it is always that much of a free choice (even given the fact that no conscription exists). There might be economic reasons for joining the military, for example. However, since I am not a U.S. citizen, I am not sure how much of an issue this actually is.

We had conscription here back in the 80's when my number came up I refused to join the army. There was a considerable price to pay including a possible jail term but there is nothing that would cause me to go and kill/harm others without a good enough reason.

Interesting! I admire the strength of your moral conviction! Having grown up in a generation without conscription (I did not even have a normal military service, thankfully).

Mine was one of the last years that it was still active.

>Sorry? Who with 'integrity, values and good character' joins an interrogation squad?

Holy Christian soldiers who have the support/aligned-groupthink of their entire nation? Morals are relative - to an American growing up in the cess-pit of ethics that is modern USA, its immoral to not support the troops, and if its Gods Will™ that we defeat Evil Satan by dropping depleted uranium on innocent children then so be it, because God, like America, is Great™.

I mean, Who with 'integrity, values and good character' ignores the daily innocent life lost at the hands of America's out of control military-industrial-pharmaceutical complex? Americans do, that's who.

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