I remember the case in Afghanistan where four Marines were severely punished for peeing on three dead Taliban. The Obama-appointed, non-combat air wing Commandant, Amos went ballistic over that and demanded that those Marines be hammered.
We as Americans generally have no idea what goes on in combat and the effects it has - but it's criminal to go after the men we put into that situation without understanding the changes it creates.
In short, when you put young people into the constant fear of their own death and they see others killed or maimed, they begin to see things differently. Life becomes much more expendable and seeing the enemy killed is quite gratifying. You also know that your own life could end at any second, so a grim humor comes out of it all. I used to carry a wallet while I was in Vietnam that had pictures of motorcycles, a Cobra sports car, and pretty girls so that if they killed me, they'd think that they killed the biggest stud in the First Marine Division!
We changed - all of us changed - and it was for the love of our country.
Welcome home brother.
The charge against Maj. Golsteyn was that he killed a bombmaker? What is wrong with that? What is not all, completely right about that? He probably saved a bunch of US military and Afghan civilian lives down the road. What idiot, jackass lawyers do we have in the Army? I remember in the Bond movie Casino Royale when 007 kills the bombmaker and the audience cheered. I was one of them.