Hi Grannie,
I usually keep quiet,you know, but your story is so close to one I have here, across the street from me is a lady whom I've known for twenty years, and her daughter -- I helped her with algebra in high school -- she married a marine and he was in the forefront of the invasion of Iraq; drove into Bagdad International Airport with the first troops, and was there when Ted Koppel arrived and interviewed him. He has a series of war stories from that tour of combat duty.
His unit was then deployed to Korea, where he reenlisted, and his unit has since been sent back to Iraq, where he is now on the edge of Faluja, waiting for the order to liberate that town. He saw it as his civic duty to reenlist for the sake of all the other guys in his platoon who need a seasoned leader for the combat coming up. He has said the change there is so unbelievable over the course of one year America has no idea.
He commands a Bradley fighting vehicle and gets to see all the action from the gunner's turret, and he has a CD full of all the times he had the chance to pause and photograph what had just happened. Last time he came home he shared with me the uncensored version. Talk about one tough guy.
Thanks for telling that Sundog. Great story. I feel so bad for those men, they are being Vietnamized already, and if Kerry gets in it will only get worse. The media will have their man, and it will get really dirty..