This post was published over 700 days ago and therefore may not represent current Outside Context thinking or opinion. Please, do not let that detract from your enjoyment of it! Walts?
Well it really has kicked off. Some people from the airsoft community took offense to something posted on a supposed real army website and a flame war dragged across the borders to both forums. I personally didn’t get much time to compose a response before the thread was locked, so I put it here where I am the moderator.
The thread starts here:
http://www.arniesairsoft.co.uk/forums/index.php?showtopic=44082&hl=
The basic idea is that a number of “serving” personnel made fun of some teenage airsofters in their get up and called them “Walts”. On being challenged they responded with this:
mmm, as a simpleton, I have a degree of difficulty in typing, let alone putting together a coherent reply to your challenging question Jadias. Let me try. One of the reasons you are attracting so much approbrium is because you make a game out of the profession of arms. Previous posts have been quite shy on this subject but let me try and explain a little of it to you. Your “sport” is a shallow pastiche of that which many of us follow as a career or even a calling. Many of us have existed in a world that you canot imagine and which the books and films you devour can never fully describe. Many of us will have been terrified, done things and seen things that you will not, and cannot understand. A few of us have seen friends and colleagues wounded, maimed or killed. When I see you and your confreres “playing” your “sport” I see you belittling the profession of arms and those who practise it. (Are you getting the flavour of what I’m about?) As to my free time Jadias, I fill every damn minute of it in the best and most fulfilling manner that I can, because I have some idea, not only of how precious life is, but how easily it can be taken away from us. And as to why I feel able to have a pop at you and all your ilk is because you get your kicks out of the profession that I have followed for all my supposedly adult life. I don’t like it. By extrapolation, I don’t like you and those who play games with killing. I’m going to hold this post to this one facet, but if you really want some in-depth explanation, then you feel damn free to come on back to the tourney and I’ll joust all you like — simpleton that I am.
This quote really made my blood boil.
Everyone has been terrified. Everyone has done things that others cannot understand. Everyone has a career. Everyone knows or will know how precious life is and how easily it can be taken away from us. Everyone has had a part of their profession ridiculed by someone else, and everyone doesn’t like that.
But what about what we don’t do. We don’t play “games with killing”. We don’t think we are special. We d’ont go around ego boosting our sad pathetic and rather stupid opinions of ourselves onto others.
That entire quote is such complete and utter bullshit. I am fucking ashamed that someone would feel that ego trumping a teenager online somehow validates their existence. Shame on you, you stupid bastards. How dare you think that your “service” somehow makes you better than anyone and somehow gives you the rights to talk to anyone that way. Self centered, trumped up idiots, you are disgrace to whatever so called unit you are unfit to serve in.
I totally agree with you. I had the day off when that all kicked off, and I was freeking amazed at the level of immaturity these “soldiers” offered. A string of swear words isn’t a witty counter argument! It kinda makes me sad that these people feel so superior to everyone else.
Anyway, I doubt they are soldiers, they are probably military accountants or something stupid.…..
Lol, I sorta missed this.
Guess who Jadias was…