Democracy Project posts a great account written by former Marine Captain Nathaniel Fick who served in Afghanistan and Iraq and knows something about roadblocks and checkpoints. The article appeared in the NYT. Here is the bottom line.
"Every combat unit learns its own lessons from hard experience. The important thing is that they be passed on so they are not continually relearned at the cost of innocent lives. Americans must understand that tragic mistakes in war are unavoidable, but that every legal, moral and strategic imperative demands that they be kept to a minimum. This is our obligation to Ms. Sgrena and to Mr. Calipari's family, to the thousands of Iraqi civilians who pass through military checkpoints each day, and to the Americans who must man them and live with their decisions."
That is true...I don't know much about operating a military checkpoint...but I do know the value of training, applying lessons learned, and passing on experiences.
You need to read the article. I also recommend reading Winfield Myers' post at Democracy Project which concludes:
"[Captain Fick] leaves the reader with a better understanding of just how much we ask of our men and women in uniform, and how unfair -- and dangerous -- it is to expect them to take even more risks than they already do."
God Bless our troops!
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