View Full Version : Gulf War: Polically Correct Terminology?
I am writing a thesis paper for school on the topic of ethics and covert action. I was in 1st Bn 25th Marines 4th Mar Div
and prior to being deployed in Boot Camp we were being prepped for a huge conventional armor and infantry battle and our NCO's were dehumanizing our enemy using the terminology "Rag-Heads" for Iraqi's as soon as our guy's got over there it was changed. Can anyone please remind me what it was first changed to before OPFORCES and Enemy Combatant?
thegimprider
10-14-15, 11:26 PM
Of course you must dehumanize the enemy, it is no easy thing to kill a human being. Krout Jap Gook, not Frank or Charles, or Jimmy. To take young men and teach them to kill requires some real mental techniques. We sang of napalm killing children in boot camp to the tune of Jesus loves the little children and yes it does help prepare us for combat. People should not kill people but money is made doing it so armies through out the world have done it for centuries. Veterans bare the scars of this insanity. To shoot some mad killer who breaks into your house with mayhem in mind is easy to justify but to shoot strangers because the Captain said they are your enemy does float very well when the nightmares come 10 years down the road.
chulaivet1966
10-15-15, 06:51 AM
We sang of napalm killing children in boot camp to the tune of Jesus loves the little children and yes it does help prepare us for combat.
Really....that sounds a bit much to me.
But, I've been wrong in the past.
Carry on....
My favorite Parris Island Vietnam Era Ditty was; "I want to rape, kill, pillage, and burn, I want to rape, kill, pillage, and burn, eat the babies", Ditty Repeats.....They were getting us ready for the Persian Gulf. God Bless Marine Corps Heavies & Infantry! Semper Fidelis!
I didn't mean to get off topic between tactical dehumanization for psychological preparation for combat and my original question of "What was the first politically correct terminology for Enemy soldiers in the Middle East after "Raghead", once we actually got to Saudi Arabia it was changed due to our Saudi Allies and Jordanian allies Etc. it was immediately changed to a more politically correct professional terminology like Enemy Combatant, or OPFORCES"?
thegimprider
10-15-15, 10:20 AM
Sorry I misunderstood, focused on that term PC that supports soft speak like the Nazi term "finial solution" because it rolls off the tongue so much sweeter than genocide.
thegimprider
10-15-15, 10:26 AM
I even wrote an new verse
"Flying over Vietnam I released a napalm bomb
What I thought was Charlie's digs
Was a bunch of little kids"
(original)
"Oh napalm sticks to little children
all the little children in the world
red and yellow black or white
they run screaming through the night
napalm sticks to little children in the world"
There was also one about a bird in the snow that all my nieces and nephews loved and shared in their schools much to the chagrin of teachers.
Semper Fidelis! My uncle was a Marine Sniper in 1969 in I corps. and my father and other uncle was stationed off Yankee Station on a destroyer. Thank You for your service, I love hearing about Vietnam when people talk about it.