Posted on 10/16/2003 6:46:47 PM PDT by The UnVeiled Lady
My child is listening to the Bush bashing and swears that HIS contacts with the military say that morale is low, suicides are up, the Iraqi's don't want us there and everything is bad.
I have said that I have heard different and he said but they are letters from you don't know who. He is right, but I know that freepers out there DO HAVE FAMILY OVER THERE. You have someone with personal knowledge that you know and trust.
Please share with me, personal knowledge over there. The truth, either way. Thanks
I wish some one would have told me that about 16 years ago........
There's some truth to that. And the conditions are not conducive to good morale; they're worse than four of the wars in which I've personally been involved, and it was just because of the potential for this sort of thing that President Bush I cancelled the planned Operation Desert Sabre third phase of the 1991 war, which would have included the taking and occupation of Baghdad- and for which he's been condemned by many.
I have said that I have heard different and he said but they are letters from you don't know who. He is right, but I know that freepers out there DO HAVE FAMILY OVER THERE. You have someone with personal knowledge that you know and trust.
I have contact with several dozen folks with whom I've served or whom I helped train, including three young females not having the least bit of fun but continuing to keep getting their jobs done. Four of those are members of my personal family, two Army, one USAF, and one Marine. They are making the best of a nasty and unpleasant task.
Please share with me, personal knowledge over there. The truth, either way. Thanks
It's hot, miserable, and there is a sizable percentage of those there who would far prefer to have us out and Saddam back in, just as during the American Revolution of the 1770s only 10-15% of the population actively supported or took part in the American Revolution, while about that same number opposed it. But now, at least, those tired of or disgusted with Saddam and his excesses at least have a chance at the possibility of seeing their country turn into something resembling a place where the people can think of themselves as free. I've had young troops who were not yet born when American troops sat on an airstrip doing PT and shining their boots while French troops rescued hostages, including Americans and were shocked to find they'd never heard of it; likewise they can't fathom what Vietnam was like and have asked me. And I have done my best to let them know, not so it doesn't happen to them again, because it can, and they can deal with that. But they must know that it can happen, and to them, or they could be surprised to have it happen. And that's another real morale killer.
A lot of the rah-rah glossing of the events and activities there does no service to the price our troops there are paying for someone else's country, to buy them a little time. How much- a year, three, five, a decade like Vietnam? I don't know, and neither do they, and that uncertainty very understandably troubles them.
Neither are most of those I know particularly comfortable with the idea that there are those in this country making a financial or political profit from their efforts. Once long ago Rome treated its soldiers like that, and the soldiers returned to Rome and found it not to their liking. Rome fell.
There's a difference, though, between some of the backstabbing and interference those in Vietnam suffered with what's going on now. This time, the ones who had to put up with it in 'Nam will most assuredly see to it that those serving now will not, and those who try to add to the burden of grief, worry, inconvenience and hardship they already bear will be treated as nothing less than enemies.
You are welcome to take part in that portion of the ongoing battle if you wish, and so is your son- or not, as you prefer. But it offers the opportunity to deal firsthand with those now doing the fighting and making it possible to do so, and you're welcome to bite off as large or as small a piece of that pie as may suit you.
-archy-/-
Yesterday the Stars & Stripes put out a survey they claimed respresented the troops. The mainstream press picked up on it immediately. WP headlined the story today. The troops read the press...just as they did during the Vietnam War...and buy the lies when they have no way to know differently.
Have faith. Every time our enemies play this game, the truth comes out - and soon, from troops and Iraqis across the country. We have the internet and cell phones today.
Hold on.
Three good accounts from the past few days:
8 Iraqi Columnist: The Occupation of Iraq Means Liberty, Even if the Whole World Maintains Otherwise
The Reservists signed on the dotted line. They are SOLDIERS.
This is a war and we need men. They're in the Army of their own volition
The vast majority of the reservists and NG I worked with in Iraq were very professional and proud of their service.
They didn't like the fact that they were extended but they sucked it up and drove on, just like the regulars
For the tiny minority who joined not out of patriotism but as a way to get something (a second income) for not much return - one weekend a month and 2 weeks in the summer. Looks like they made a bad investment.
Cry me a river
Sad thing is, the scumbag press is searching out the whiners, creating the impression that because there are 10 people out of a battalion of 600 that are seriously disgruntled (as opposed to normal troop bitching) that the unit has a morale problem.
The press is really doing it's best to CREATE morale problems among the troops
Really despicable
As for your handful of whiny reservists - too bad. The regulars are tapped out. Everyones either already been over for a year (and will go back again in late 04-early 05) is prepping to go in the near future, or is there already
Shinseki was dead right as to what this would cost
But that doesn't mean it wasn't worth doing.
4th Division's probably got the toughest AO. Tikret and its environs.
Highest percentage of Saddam loyalists
Up north (101st AO) and Down south (Multi National Divisions) are pretty calm
It was an extremely hot and miserable summer there. I've been in the mid east for 8 years and it was the hottest I ever remember
You'd have been proud of the way our troops behaved
I know from firsthand experience that we are getting a lot done over there and making good progress
We are also still fighting a war and people are getting killed
Bush made a mistake with that announcement on the AC carrier
The press is doing its very best to create morale problems and to either ignore or talk down success
As for this woman's son. He's probably communicating with people who are hot, bored and pissed off.
If they're in the sunni triangle they're probably hot bored pissed off and a bit scared.
Such people don't tend to give objective big picture reports
An analogy: To some troop in the hedgerows things were probably as fucked up as they could be
To Omar Bradley things were pretty much going according to plan
Not perfectly, but by and large going our way.
That's the reality of Iraq right now.
One last thing, from my personal observation and conversations with Iraqis I can tell you your 10-15% estimate is very low. A hell of a lot more than that (I'd say over 50%) want us there.
All the best
Qatar-6
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