Any comparisons between our military and the terrorist (they both kill people!) fall into pitiful thoughtless ramblings after reading this. It is from a soldier currently in Iraq talking about being "on point" (the front guy) on a patrol.

Sic Vis Pacem, Para Bellum: TURNING POINTWhen we came to about the ¾ mark of houses that were on our patrol, we came up to a gate that was slightly ajar, so we decided to look inside. Slowly peaking through is not very accurate. Firstly when on a patrol wherever your eyes look your weapon is pointed there. For the obvious reason, that you can send bullets should you need to. This response is nearly automatic, but the weapon gets very heavy especially when your muscles are screaming to rest. As I entered what I thought to be a courtyard turned out to be the front yard of a family dwelling. I saw movement to my right and swung around to face 2 young boys. Who came running out to meet the “Mister Mister” w/chocolate. Almost as fast as I pointed my weapon at the movement, the Mother came rushing out to pull her sons back in, she was screaming; “La la la!!!” This is Arabic for No, no, no. She was genuinely afraid that I was going to shoot her children, I was so shocked I literally dropped my weapon, (it was attached to my armour so it fell to my side) as I let it go, I dropped to one knee and smiled at the children. They came up to me and shook my hand and were all smiles. The children in this country just love us. As I backed out me and Thunder6 repeatedly said thank you in Arabic, the mother reached out for and smothered her boys with hugs. The love a mother has for her children never ceases to amaze me, the look of fear and then relief in her eyes was amazing. Hell, I’m one of the good guys (at least I hope so), and I was scared for her children. What is of interest is exactly how little time you have to decide to shoot or not. Yet in a relatively small amount of time I think I aged a few weeks.