Posted on 08/27/2006 12:38:44 PM PDT by bnelson44
FAIRBANKS, Alaska (Reuters) - The wives of soldiers whose duty in Iraq was extended to add troop strength to Baghdad peppered U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld with tough questions, some that he could not answer, at a closed-door meeting in Alaska on Saturday.
Rumsfeld, who received a mixed reception from a crowd that offered more applause for the questions asked than the answers provided, praised the 172nd Stryker Brigade Combat Team. He would not commit to a date for bringing those soldiers home, but told a 12-year-old girl in the audience, "I'd bet your daddy gets home before Christmas."
He also told the estimated 700 to 800 family members at the meeting in an Army gymnasium that what the soldiers were doing was necessary to ensure terrorism does not strike the United States.
"In five or 10 or 15 years, you'll all be able to look back and appreciate the importance of what's being done and the value of what's being done," he told the crowd.
(Excerpt) Read more at today.reuters.com ...
All I can see here is that these families want their troops to come home when their rotation is up. If we don't have the forces to do that, then we should add to the Army's strength (instead of Congress forcing Rumsfeld to reluctantly add 30,000 to the Army's active force). Rumsfeld has done things like send two NG infantry brigades to Gitmo after 9/11 (thereby removing them for consideration for an Iraq rotation until their "5 year window" closes) when other forces would suffice.
I don't think he understands how to use ground forces and I think a lot of the mistakes made so far in the war can be laid at his feet.
Like most here I smile when he says nasty things to the press-they're irresponsible jerks, by and large. But military families deserve the right to question what he is doing.
I was deployed with C/161st ASMB from April 2003-April 2004 (mostly in the rear, 8 months in Qatar) and it was clear that the planning had not been thought through from the start. We were told that we would be on active duty for only a year (until Feb 2004) and then told several months after arriving in theater that, despite what our orders said, a year meant a year in theater, not a year total. By that time the Marines had been almost entirely withdrawn from theater (through no fault of their own) and two NG brigades had been sent home after only a short time (FLA and IND-both have since been sent to Afghanistan).
Despite that I volunteered to return to Iraq with 2/278th RCT in November 2004 (our Regiment was the one that Rumsfeld made his infamous "you go to war with the Army you've got" remark to). I believe in the war effort and I would go back again tomorrow if asked, but I know that mistakes have been made and we aren't doing ourselves any favors by ignoring them.
I know your heart is really in the right place but let me expound on your thought.
The military has been very good to me
In the last 27 years I have missed every Fathers Day, 20 Wedding Anniversary's, countless school plays, football, basketball and volleyball games,holidays, family get togeathers, my grandmothers funeral, my daughters High School Graduation and her departure for a career as a Combat Medic in the Army and now my Sons senior year.
And to top it off my 20 year marriage could not take this last deployment.
Yet I would do it all again, because if I don't who will.
I believe the Marine Corps does a 7 month rotation.
The 4 month USAF rotation is so the pilots can keep current in their flight training for missions that can't be flown in Iraq/Afghanistan. I believe the USAF now has about 1/3 of their folks on 6 month rotations.
I agree - this is piss poor planning. It IS a sign we are stretched too thin - and the USAF is looking at cutting at least 40,000 (10%) from the rolls. Why? Because we can't pay for the needed modernization and for the folks and for the war all at the same time - and Congress won't raise the spending.
We are trying to fight a war on the cheap, because no one wants to admit the real costs. It might upset the civilians if they had to increase their pharmacy co-pay by $2, or go another year without studying the sex lives of fleas.
No one should compare this to WW2, when EVERYONE was contributing. And I'm more than a bit tired of folks saying, "It's a volunteer force, so we can SCREW them and they should THANK us!"
BOHICA is not a morale builder...
It sounds like you took that sentence right out of the 'Move On' play book. You have no idea what most people have done to support our troops. But, I also wouldn't make derogatory comments about people 'sticking ribbon magnets on their cars'. Many of those people have sons, daughters, husbands and friends serving in Iraq.
Your posts mean more than what a dozen keyboard warriors have to say.
Preach on!
My daughter started crying on her 12th birthday.
Why?
"Because this is my first birthday where you've been home!"
I don't regret it, but I don't need anyone calling my family a bunch of whiners when they get tired of the rotations. And for the record, that daughter grew up and joined the Marines, pulling a 7-month rotation in Iraq. It is harder to watch your children deploy than to go yourself.
No jackass I know exactly who really "supports the troops" and who is mostly just posturing. I can tell you from long experience who send letters and packages-family members. If I see a blue star sticker or magnet I know that those people "support the troops". But they are a small percentage when compared to the rest.
When people here say they support the troops I know in my heart they are doing more than just saying it.
GOD Bless every one of you, you could never understand how much it means.
I can tell you also without calling you a jackass who supports our military in words and deeds. Sorry you don't know too many of them. Maybe it's your attitude.
Five years since 9-11 and six since Bubba was prez. It's well past the point where he needs to be blamed for the force structure of today.
So far my attitude has been to stand up against those who call military family members "whiners". I think I'm OK as far as that goes.
I don't know why you think I owe you an apology, so far I haven't said a single thing to you.
It is Bush and Congress' biggest mistake to tell us we are at war but not to spread the commitment - no bond drives, hardship at home, sacrifices in support of the troops. It's odd. I kind of think this is an extended police action to fill a vacuum in the Middle East we created.
He said they had to do it, there was no choice. They didn't want to do it. The home before Christmas comment is ill advised.
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