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I was drawn to the barracks condition, lack of doctors, lack of medical care for their injuries, and the endless wait that the soldiers faced.

Hmmm. That's the part of the story that struck me as the most irrelevent. The point is not that these conditions exist. It is that these conditions are not news. This isn't something new. This is how the military operates- you verify this with your own comments and I with mine.

Look, I stated earlier that I ripped out both ACLs in my knees. I was an infantryman. Do you know how long it took for me to get proper medical treatment? 2 years. For two years I ran around with my knees shot. When I cornered hard, the lower half of my legs would keep going in the original direction and I would collapse and shift my legs around until the knees were back in normal position. You know why it took two years? Because it was classed as an elective surgery. Since it was classed as elective, my platoon sergeant had the say-so over it. He said no. Plain and simple. I was deployed twice for a total of one year with my knees in this condition.

That's normal in the military.

Waiting times? Come on.... The military is basically a socialist system. They have limited amounts of doctors. Waiting a month or two for an appointment is not news.

The rest of the article is pure sensationalism. Smelly latrines? Cinder block buildings? Communal toilets/showers. Oh... The inhumanity.

I totally understand your experiences but for the reporter to print this as if it is some new injustice is totally bizarre and ludicrous. Where was the reporter when these conditions existed under Clinton?

The one gripe from reservists from Iraq that I have read over and over again does disturb me. They are not getting the same equipment as active duty soldiers. They are getting decades old night vision goggles, old humvees with no armour protection, and the like. They do feel like second class soldiers over there, and they do resent it. I would too if I was in their place.

If the RA folks are getting the high tech ceramic vests, and I am wearing a 1970 style flak jacket, I might have issues, especially if I take one in the gut.

I can understand your point as well. I went for over three years at one point without even seeing a doctor, dentist, or anyone else. We were deployed for over 300 days in that 3 year period.

When I was injured, it was 40 days before I could be medivac'ed, because we were under orders not to give away our position. If I would have died, they would have frozen me in the freezer until we came into port. That was the facts of life of being a submariner.

We arent too far apart on this issue. We are both warriors, and realize that sometimes this is how the fecal matter hits the spinning blades.

I just dont like the fact these soldiers get treated like crap, regardless of the politics involved. They deserve better, and should have better.

This isn't something new. This is how the military operates- you verify this with your own comments and I with mine.

That in no way makes it right. This is 2003, not 1903.

Ask yourself if any of that $87 billion the administration just asked for, is going to these troops. With all the waste in that $87 billion, it wouldn't hurt to throw a million or two at local civilian doctors and nurses and get them some kind of treatment or processed out of the military.