Your statement is not wrong.
Luckily for me, I was married right out of boot camp and already had a child while in high school, so I didn’t have time for that type of tomfoolery. But I saw way too much of it in my almost ten years.
Even with all that said, it does not make a 40-3 beatdown involving excessive force any more just, legal, or appropriate. Right?
No I am not arguing stomping on someones head repeatedly after they are down is okay.. not at all. We never did that, but there were certainly a few kicks to the ribs that were given in the heat of the moment.
This situation is very different, when you get outnumbered 40 to 3, you are now in a MOB situation... and that’s NOT a good place to be, for anyone, because a group of that size doesn’t have a “leader”, or even solid connection between the individuals. All it takes is 1 person in that situation to take it too far, and then the mob follows suit.
Please, don’t take my comments as me saying these teens were justified in what they did, that’s not the point I was tryin to make. I was merely pointing out that in my experience, I’ve personally witnessed young marines do VERY VERY STUPID things, including instigating situations that a sane person would never do.
I have no problem with these kids facing prosecution, but I am also not naive enough to just take the Marine’s story at face value without question.
These days nearly everything winds up on video somewhere, so I am sure the truth will come out.
If I had to venture a guess, the truth is the kids were being rowdy, and he marines weren’t quite as “perfect” as they claim to have been in dealing with them.
Let’s be honest, teenagers are pricks, and young men lack wisdom... its not a giant leap to see that the kids behavior and probably attitude and smart mouths got one of the marines to be very unwise, even if there intention was to keep it “civil”.