• Vupware@lemmy.zip
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    1 day ago

    If it “fucked him up”, why did he work for BLACKWATER after his discharge from the military?

    • BertramDitore@lemmy.zip
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      1 day ago

      That’s a totally legit question, and the host followed up with that same rebuttal during the interview. I won’t get his exact wording right, but his answer was something to the effect of him still being fucked up when he went back as a contractor, but thinking that seeing things from the other side might be better (pretty sure he worked in diplomatic security as a contractor). But it turned out to be worse, and seeing it from that side ended up being the thing that convinced him how pointless it all was. He also said it was the only thing he was ever good at, so he didn’t feel like he had any other options. Makes sense to me even if it’s not something I would ever do.

      • Gust@piefed.social
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        1 day ago

        Coming back to the civilian world is hard as fuck, especially if you woke up during your time with the military. You get home and people call you a hero for what amounts to crimes against humanity, and if you try to explain the horror to them you get labeled crazy and dangerous. Nobody wants to hear that their government is run by mass murdering psychopaths and nobody wants to believe that “defense” is a myth that tricked their friends/family into participating in said mass murder. I was lucky enough to have the financial and emotional support to spend a year just working on myself, but i still have times where something will remind me of what I’ve seen and been part of and all I can do is hide myself and cry, and it still makes me uncomfortably furious when I hear people who have never experienced meaningful violence in their lives wish it upon others. I completely understand why some people who get home and immediately have to work to survive turn to a career with people who can at least understand/accept them and their trauma. It can feel like the only other option is isolation until inevitable suicide.

        • BertramDitore@lemmy.zip
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          1 day ago

          That’s such a valuable perspective, thanks for sharing your experience.

          The fact that the people pushing against Platner—by mischaracterizing his personal growth and discounting his trauma—are the very people who sent you guys to war unnecessarily, makes it even more infuriating. This is a disgusting move from Democratic leadership.

      • Vupware@lemmy.zip
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        22 hours ago

        Constellis is Blackwater. They changed their name to escape bad PR. Seems like it’s working to some degree.

        • scintilla@crust.piefed.social
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          18 hours ago

          Its not even hard to find ethier lmao. Literally one fucking Google search for “blackwater name change” gets results that list their former and current names.