Army Enounters Ghosties in New Orleans

This was without a doubt one of the worst examples of broadcast journalism that I've ever seen in my life, and I'm speaking as a person with 10 years of experience working in television newscast production.

But let me say that I've got some homeopathic ghost remover I'd like to sell that reporter and those soldiers. That'll fix 'em.

ETA: Homeopathic ghost remover....hmmm...maybe that's something that would sell well on ebay ;)
 
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The part at the end about finding Bibles open to a page in Revelation that talks about a city being washed away by a storm made me want to vomit. I guess it never occurred to them that books, including the Bible, are human artifacts and that humans who are familiar with the Bible might very well leave one open to an appropriate passage.:rolleyes:

Of course, they specifically mention that in the Biblical version the storm lasts three days, but as I recall the Katrina battered New Orleans for a rather shorter time period. This discrepancy, apparently, isn't worth bringing up.

It also turns my stomach to see a man in an army uniform (an organization that is professionally trained in very real and practical defensive techniques) going through some primitive ritual to banish evil spirits. I don't care if he is[/b] the chaplain, it still disgusts me.
 
jlam said:
This was without a doubt one of the worst examples of broadcast journalism that I've ever seen in my life, and I'm speaking as a person with 10 years of experience working in television newscast production.

But let me say that I've got some homeopathic ghost remover I'd like to sell that reporter and those soldiers. That'll fix 'em.

ETA: Homeopathic ghost remover....hmmm...maybe that's something that would sell well on ebay ;)
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"Kills homeopathic ghosts dead!"
 
Yeah I too found that Chaplains behaviour rather emberassing. He made it sound as if he and his troops were like crusaders ridding New Orleans of evil. Some one should give that man a calendar to let him know we're in the 21st century.
 
I do wonder though, what are these troops actually seeing/hearing? Are they just making it up, or misidentifying mundane occurances?
 
Yeah_Right said:
I do wonder though, what are these troops actually seeing/hearing? Are they just making it up, or misidentifying mundane occurances?
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From what I've read, it starts with the latter and then devolves into the former. That's generally how these things work.
 
One hypnagogic hallucination, a bunch of people primed to "feel" something and attribute it to spirits rather than, say, being in an unfamiliar place, and one complete looney-tune should-be-fired-out-on-his-ass misinformed chaplain. This guy is an officer, you have to be to be a chaplain, so he's got no excuse for claiming New Orleans has a history of "cannibalism." What a giant crock of excrement. Even worse, public affairs should be all over his ass over giving interviews about "ghosts" while in uniform; it lends a false air of credibility.

Finally, "seasoned" soldiers are no different than the rest of humanity. Like saying "seasoned" milkmaids when it comes to dealing with critical thinking. Soldiers do not get training in critical thinking. That's why credit card purveyors prey upon new recruits like swarming leeches on a four year old.
 
PatKelley said:
Finally, "seasoned" soldiers are no different than the rest of humanity. Like saying "seasoned" milkmaids when it comes to dealing with critical thinking. Soldiers do not get training in critical thinking. That's why credit card purveyors prey upon new recruits like swarming leeches on a four year old.
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I'm speaking generally here, of course, but to me it seems like the more "seasoned" a regular enlisted soldier is, the better he is at believing things he's told to believe.
 
PatKelley said:
*snip*
Soldiers do not get training in critical thinking. *snip*
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Quite the opposite, I should think. If you taught them critical thinking, you might have problems making them do what you traditionally need soldiers to do. Instead, they are taught to obey orders and leave the thinking to their superiors (this seems to be true all the way up in the line of command, btw. ;)).

Well, that at least is my own experience during a number of years in service.

Hans
 
MRC_Hans said:
Quite the opposite, I should think. If you taught them critical thinking, you might have problems making them do what you traditionally need soldiers to do. Instead, they are taught to obey orders and leave the thinking to their superiors (this seems to be true all the way up in the line of command, btw. ;)).

Well, that at least is my own experience during a number of years in service.

Hans
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Not true.
Soldiers must do quite a bit of critical thinking and evaluation within their limited field of expertise This tends to be in the evaluation of possible reactions to the situation as it exists on a battlefield, and there are many who are quite good at it. They are called "Seasoned" or "veteran" troops.
The ones who are not good at it are called "Casualties"
Just like everybody else.
 
rwguinn said:
Not true.
Soldiers must do quite a bit of critical thinking and evaluation within their limited field of expertise This tends to be in the evaluation of possible reactions to the situation as it exists on a battlefield, and there are many who are quite good at it. They are called "Seasoned" or "veteran" troops.
The ones who are not good at it are called "Casualties"
Just like everybody else.
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Precisely. They are taught their jobs, and are no more inured to bad logic in general than seasoned fry cooks or seasoned shoeshine boys.
 
jlam said:
I'm speaking generally here, of course, but to me it seems like the more "seasoned" a regular enlisted soldier is, the better he is at believing things he's told to believe.
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Nah, old NCO's are hardened and bitter and less likely to buy into things like this. Age, after all, sometimes brings wisdom. Scam me once, shame on you; scam me twice, shame on me. It's no different than the rest of the population, though- some come to critical thinking late, some not at all. That's the fallacy with claiming these are "seasoned" soldiers.

An example: one of the corporals in my outfit was out with us at National Training Center (desert, 115 degree heat, etc.). She had been taught that a lit match thrown into diesel fuel would go out and not ignite the diesel.

However, no one had told her about ignition temperatures or vapor flash points or partial pressures, so in the dry desert heat she was smoking next to an open container of diesel used to clean asphalt-laying tools. The fumes from the diesel were the only thing in the air, the temperature of the black drum of dark diesel fuel was easily 140 degrees. The flash point of diesel fumes is 125 degrees, versus -80 for gasoline.

I yanked her away, asking her what she thought she was doing smoking next to an open drum of diesel? She retorted that it couldn't ignite because it was liquid. I asked her to humor me and not smoke next to it, rather than take the time to argue and explain.

Taught her job, but not taught critical thinking.
 
What I wonder is were there any reports of a supposed haunting prior the schools occupation by the CNG? I've did a google search of the school without the word haunted in the search field and mostly came up with just basic info about the place. Of course once haunted was included, numerous woo sites were reporting the soldiers sightings.

I found this site, which revealed something interesting about the chaplain.

http://www.therevealer.org/archives/timeless_002102.php

"Chaplain Linzey's civilian ministry is that of an evangelist with television programs. He's on radio quite a bit as well and is accepting interviews for publications, radio, and television."

I guess that would explain his outlandish/theatrical behaviour. And I quite agree that the man should be tossed out on his buttox for such bizarre behavoiur.
 
Yeah_Right said:
I do wonder though, what are these troops actually seeing/hearing? Are they just making it up, or misidentifying mundane occurances?
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I have had at least one experience on sentry duty that resembles what these soldiers are reporting. Out of the corner of my eye I could see another soldier crouching in the brush. If I stared straight at it hard enough I could see it was just a clump of foliage, but as soon as I stopped concentrating it looked just like a human form. I sat for two hours next to that thing and never considered it to be anything other than an artifact of sleep deprivation and deep shadow.

On another occasion I had just led a relief sentry to his post. I identified for him the other soldier sharing the position; he demanded to know who the other guy was. There was no one else, but I had quite a hard time convincing him of the fact. Again, darkness and sleep deprivation. I imagine most people who have military experience have simliar stories. I would hope that most of them come away from the experience with the knowledge that sometimes your eyes can and will lie to you. Obviously some do not.
 
"Where the army goes, so goes the word of god."

Isn't that a violation of church/state? That's what that chaplain said.
 
jlam said:
I'm speaking generally here, of course, but to me it seems like the more "seasoned" a regular enlisted soldier is, the better he is at believing things he's told to believe.
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I have to disagree on this one. Experienced soldiers tend to think that what they are told is a crock, that higher command is completely out of touch with reality, and that the whole plan will have to thrown out and we will make it up as we go along when we get on the ground. They think this because it is often true.
Obeying the orders of superior officers does not imply that the soldier does not think for himself. Modern warfare requires that the soldier (particularly the NCO) think on his feet. Higher Command has done their job if they provide a clear overall objective and the necessary resources. The soldier who blindly obeys orders loses.

Robert Klaus (MSgt, USAF ret.)
 
I do suppose that those Guard units are emotionally and physically drained after a day of rescuing people. I don't why they wouldn't think that fatigue is the reason for their supposed ghost sightings.

My brother was in the Marine Corp in Vietnam and never reported anything out of the ordinary. Although it never occured to me to ask him of course. He was a radio/radar operator at a Marine Air Station, so perhaps that wasn't that stressful an environment to cause an hallucination of any sort.
 
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