Three troops killed, five other injured in Pattani following dispute while drinking

[irishsmile]

Guns and alcohol are never a good mix.

Sad news indeed for the families of those deceased.

Guns, alcohol and Thais are a deadly mix!

[lvr181]

One of the problems with Thai and their mai pan rai culture is that they can not vent their anger. This builds inside until even the smallest of events makes them snap. Then it all comes out at once usually resulting in deaths or serious injuries.

Responsibility, consequences and face come to mind too...

I agree RigPig but I would reverse the importance of that order - face, responsibility and consequences

[halloween]

"An Army private opened fire at more senior officers following a dispute while drinking in Pattani's Nong Chick district Wednesday night, killing three and injuring four others."

Why can't they just be satisfied with shooting off their mouths? If professionally "trained" soldiers and law enforcement officers can't refrain from drinking and be expected to act responsibly with firearms, why should they be made available to the general public? In a previous post on another topic someone suggested that civilians should be armed and allowed to kill soi dogs in order to solve the overpopulation problem. Just imagine what would result in that scenario.

I sometimes wonder if keyboard warriors have any concept of the psychological pressure on soldiers and law enforcement officers involved with counter-insurgency operations. Seeing the results of bombs and random shootings, knowing you might be the next maimed or killed, is highly stressful. Allowing access to alcohol in a safe environment is an important part of stress relief to prevent these men from mental breakdown. Denying such stress relief would only lead to events like this being more common.

Complete and utter <deleted> !!! that's why the US military has general order number 1 = no alcohol on deployments or operations.

Brit mil used to allow 2 cans of beer back in the days too.

Sorry Halloween but that's what leave periods are for, de stressing etc.

if there's a psychological issue, then he should have sought out medical help.

This reeks of the same scenario as Danny Fitzimmons in Iraq, I've spent the best part of my life dealing with COIN and never drank whilst on duty when carrying a weapon!

Carrying a weapon deployed= no alcohol consumed, he could have waited till he got time off to go on the piss!!

As for the stress etc, you and I know zero about the deployments this shooter was on, whether he was a Pogue/remf we don't know, we don't know if he was a Ranger volunteer, so we don't know what stresses situations he was exposed to, but alcohol and weapons with live rounds are never a good combination!!

If you read the secondary article, nobody was drinking on duty, or when carrying a weapon. You might also note that US rules do not necessarily apply to other armed forces, who usually are not given the same benefits of leave, rations, pay and equipment.