'I did all the Playstation games, now I'll do it for real'

[Tom Yossarian Joad]

The Daily Telegraph was invited to join a group of new recruits starting at Winchester, one of the Army's four basic training camps, last week.
We will follow these recruits throughout their 12-week basic training at Winchester, after which they will go on to phase two - training within their chosen area.

Dave Pummell, 27, from Rickmansworth, Herts, who has signed on to be a combat medic, said his previous life consisted mainly of "watching TV, playing on the Playstation and getting drunk''. I had played all the Playstation games, so thought I'd better do it for real."

Mr Pummell, who said he had done "many, many jobs", added: "Drinking is something you do to escape, but after 15 years of that it was time to wake up and do something.

"I used to take drugs as well, mainly smoking pot, Es, and a bit of coke. That was getting me down, but the day I applied for the Army I quit everything and haven't looked back.''

more: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2005/07/18/narmy118.xml&sSheet=/news/2005/07/18/ixnewstop.html

[DanCa]

1. All his life getting drunk lol

Thats what we need. Armed drunks LOL.

[Kingshakabobo]

6. Sign him up for Commander in Chief. n/t

[htuttle]

10. Gumbies go to war

"I like to hear the sound...of two bricks...bashing together!"

[Bluerthanblue]

2. how incredibly sad,.... these young

folks, sound like they simply do NOT HAVE A CLUE!!!-
and they've sold their souls to the devil-

There won't be enough alchohol or drugs to help this kid escape what he will witness, if he lives through it-

Those who are in it to 'help' people might do better to join the International Red Cross, or Peace Corps.- they would likely see some pretty hard stuff, but at least they'd be FAR better prepared, and going in with those who's only role is to 'help'- not kill-

And that is not meant as a 'dis' to any soldier over there- they should never have been sent there in the first place.

Lost kids, looking for a life- they're searching in a very deceptive place- and haven't got a clue.

[DanCa]

7. War is not a video game or a comic book

A serious disconnect is happening with reality right now. But it's going to take someone alot smarter than me too figure out how to put things right.

[YDogg]

3. How sad.

Hope they make it through.

[Lisa]

4. I didn't realize that Playstation had a game ...

... which involved starting an IV on a downed comrade while blood's pouring out of him, his intestines are seeping out into the sand, and your entire unit is under mortar fire.

Or holding a dying child in your arms, after her house accidentally got flattened by a cluster bomb dropped by one of your aircraft.

He did sign up to be a combat medic, right?

[Prisoner_Number_Six]

5. What a studly kind of guy

He'll go far-- until that first bullet goes whizzing past his ear and he suddenly realizes it's not a harmless game anymore.

Idiot.

[gratuitous]

11. If he's lucky

The first bullet will whiz past his ear.

[bluecrush]

8. I'll bet a lot of our soldiers

would have loved to hit the "pause" button during convoy duty.

[RPM]

9. if he's 27 and has been drinking for 15 years...

he started at 12?

Do they have rednecks in England too?

[Tom Yossarian Joad]

12. Kick for the Monday crowd

[JohnyCanuck]

13. Question for Dave Pummel. When shooting things up on your playstation,

did it spread microscopic particles of depleted uranium dust all around your living room?

Durakovic may have been forced to step down from his VA position at Wilmington, but the army could not strip him of his ethics as a medical doctor. In the interests of his patients he founded the Uranium Medical Research Center, an independent non-profit institute which studies the effects of uranium contamination and challenges Pentagon claims that "exposures to depleted uranium have not to date produced any observable adverse health effects attributable to DU's chemical toxicity or low-level radiation." Dr. Durakovic explains that when depleted uranium is blown up at high temperatures, it changes to tiny particles. If inhaled, the uranium particles can get into the bloodstream and can be lodged in the bone, lymph nodes, lungs or kidneys causing damage by emitting low-level radiation in the body over a long period of time. The price can be cancer, necrosis and genetic deformity. Inexplicable, then, the Pentagon's refusal to comply with a 1993 congressional mandate to study the health effects of inhaled and ingested depleted uranium dust.

http://www.nuclear-free.com/english/durakovic.htm

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=104x4124449