When I was a young Infantry soldier, I often recalled General Patton’s instructions to all young soldiers. He preached “No dumb bastard ever won a war by going out and dying for his country. He won it by making some other dumb bastard die for his country.” I often wondered if those instructions made young infantry soldiers more trigger-happy . . . maybe too trigger-happy.

Last week, three captives of Hamas somehow escaped and ran toward the Israeli soldiers. They were shirtless, so it was obvious they were NOT strapped with explosives. Plus, they were waving a white flag. Nonetheless, one young Israeli soldier shot all three captives, killing them.

My heart aches for the three dead captives . . . plus the young infantry soldier who killed them. He was a young soldier who was terrified of waiting too long to shoot. Now, he must live with that shame the rest of his life.