Yeah, I don't buy it. Why would you video tape it? You video and Youtube stuff you're proud of, stuff you want other people to see. I've never seen anyone video themselves breaking down and sobbing or going into a confessional. I think they knew damn well what they were doing, and they did it specifically to be an insult to the enemy.
Where they effed up was in thinking they could get away with breaking taboos in an zero-defect, ultra-PC environment.
I disagree... You're looking at it with the viewpoint of an officer, who didn't just finish what might have been a culmination of a very stressful firefight with someone who's incredibly intent on killing you and your friends. While I've never fired a weapon in combat, I have engaged in a discussion on the LOAC and morality with many young Marines in the battalion. In direct response to the statement "Fuck 'em. Kill 'em all I say, women and children included. They're all fucking barbarians." This was coming from a Marine in the battalion that I had a lot of respect for. Very mature, and very intelligent young sergeant - yet I had to squash that line of thinking in his brain. Killing a human being changes you. That's the single most important thing I learned during my FAC tour.
Who knows why they video taped it. Who knows why it ended up on YouTube (twenty bucks says that the urinators weren't the ones that posted it). But I can understand the stress and challenges that they face, that could lead them to this. Do I think it's right? No. But I can understand their mindset at that point.
And for everyone who bitches and moans about LOAC/ROE briefs, rolls their eyes at different small unit leadership discussions and why they're required... Remember this - they're not geared towards you.
