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Last week, Jonathan Aponte admitted to paying a man $500 to shoot him in the leg so he wouldn't have to return to Iraq and his unit. The physical pain of his injury was augmented by the pains of embarrassment when people complimented or thanked him for his service in the Army as he was transported back to Fort Hood in Texas.
While he's facing criminal charges of conspiracy and falsely reporting an incident in New York, the Army has first crack at him, however, and the Daily News has an article detailing his travels back to his unit in Texas (it also seems like the reporter accompanied him on his journey).
Escorted by another soldier, dressed in fatigues, and hobbling on crutches, Aponte appears to be just another wounded veteran of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. As such, he received well-wishes from strangers who didn't know that he and his wife hired a man to shoot him on a Bronx street in an effort to get out of further service. The driver of the shuttle bus to his gate at the airport thanked him and told him to "hang in there." After Aponte boarded his flight, the embarrassment became acute, with the JetBlue captain announcing his presence on the flight followed by applause from other passengers, and a little boy telling him, "Thank you for your service." Aponte was uncomfortable with the attention and told the Daily News, "I don't feel a hero at all."
It's probable that Aponte may have received similar thanks and encouragement if he actively identified himself as the soldier who paid someone to shoot him so he wouldn't have to return to Iraq. Aponte wasn't advertising that fact, though, and traveled back to Texas fearing a court martial and imprisonment. He hopes a grand jury will go easy on his wife and the man who shot him, saying that he was confused and that he just couldn't bear returning to serve with his friends in a violent country.
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"It's probable that Aponte may have received similar thanks and encouragement if he actively identified himself as the soldier who paid someone to shoot him so he wouldn't have to return to Iraq"?
Seriously?
I can understand opposition to the war and oppose it myself, but I cannot understand the mentality that would congratulate or encourage this guy who actively volunteered for service.
Someone else will now go in his place.
If he feels ashamed now, he should think about the potential widow, widower or family of the soldier that has gone in his stead.
While I don't condone the action, I understand it.
This is just yet another sign that the time has come to figure out how to extract our troops from a miserable situation they shouldn't be in.
In WWI, the French lined soldiers with self-inflicted wounds up against a wall and finished the job for them. At least those guys had the balls to shoot themselves. This guy's a coward on 2 levels.
traitor.
That's how we do in The Bronx: to save our asses from getting shot, we pay people to shoot us in the thigh.
Why you'd pay someone to shoot you in The Bronx, where an open road might as well be target practice, it just doesn't seem like good economics to me.
This is just yet another sign that the time has come to figure out how to extract our troops from a miserable situation they shouldn't be in.
Remember you said that when the next President, almost certain to be a Democrat, sends our troops to some shit hole like Darfur - a place al Qaeda has already said they will follow us because it's Muslim land.
edEx,
how long did you serve in iraq?
please shut the fuck up.
I spent four hours walking through the bronx this spring and didn't get shot at once! If I'd paid anything for the experience, I'd demand my money back.
Sadly I too have never been shot at on my way home from the train, though the cash would come in handy.
You and I must have been in the same spot.
In Darfur, both sides are MUSLIM (just look at the names rebel faction leaders... muslim).
How long before they unite against US forces?
And we STILL WON'T get the OIL.
Fight all you want, dipshits. I'm married to a Korean woman. I have somewhere civilized to go to when the shit hits the fan.
God Bless you Mr. Aponte,
some of us citizens are behind you 110 percent.
You make us proud. We need more people like you.
Bless you.
Thank you mr. aponte,
YOU are a true American, We the people of NYC are proud of you.
Total disgrace to the uniform and all that wore it before and will wear it in the future.
Just glad he wasn't a Marine
Semper Fi
#11 & #12 I can only hope this is sarcasm.
Who the hell has to pay someone else to shoot him in the leg? Save 500 bucks and at least do it yourself.
#4 edEx, you're right. The Government are the traitors. They're traitors for sending guys over to Iraq to die because of the threat of WMDs and avenge 9/11, both of which were PROVEN A BAZILLION TIMES OVER to be lies.
This kid technically deserves to be punished for violating his Army contract, but I have a feeling that a year in prison will be a cakewalk compared to another year in Iraq.
He'll be happier to be in prison than Iraq, trust me. Watching out for dropped soap is a bit easier than watching out for rocket-propelled grenades.
God Bless You again mr. aponte.
We New Yorkers are very proud of you. You do what you have to do.
We are behind you 110 percent. You make us proud to be Americans. Americans, We the People, The only true Americans.
Hey, leave edEx alone. Can't you tell he's reading and writing this from the Green Zone? Well... maybe not.
[1] NOBODY should go in his place. Nobody should go, period. Bring the men home! This is a military disaster to rival Vietnam, and it could only have been started by men who avoided going to Vietnam and so never learned those lessons. There is no good way for this to end.
This is similiar to my people's idea of reaching into glove compartments, in return for heavy monetary compensation by getting hit by the po-po.What a smart negro this man is!
statistics show the more often a soldier gets deployed the chances of him not coming back increases. these statistics are from the network news. for instance, that soldier who was deployed for the fourth time didn't come back and had secy gates in tears. and the tours has increased to 15 months.
i didn't say he or anyone else should go back, but his method to avoid going back is cowardly ad traitor-like. i have close friends who have been there, back and there again, back and then there again and ya know what? they're not shooting themselves or hiring someone to shoot them in the leg...
as for my time spent in iraq, never been, but i do wanna ski iraq.
i was in the thick of it in gaza and the west bank during the second intifada while doing research a few years ago. so, um... yeah... shut the fuck up.
i love how some of you think that because i'm here, i have never been anywhere... most of my world travels have been in the near east (er, um... middle east for those of you who know so much).
sad story
that's because you're Jewish. it's your motherland.