Soldiers' families question Rumsfeld on deployment

Reuters ^ | 8/26/06

[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.

[bnelson44]

It's tough on the families.

[DTogo]

Never would have crossed anyone's mind 65 years ago.

[bnelson44]

[Coldwater Creek]

WWII the military was gone for years! I have no patience with whiners.

Yes, it is hard, but this is the life they chose and in the off war years has been very good to them.

[bnelson44]

In case you haven't noticed these guys are in their 2nd year now.

In WWII, I think the combat tour of duty was one year or less.

[Ros42]

Is this our bunch?

[Axhandle]

The extended deployment poses a hardship for both troops who have been sent to one of the most dangerous areas of Iraq, and their families in Alaska.

The delay has also put families and the U.S. Army on what one defense official called a "death watch" for soldiers who otherwise would have been on their way home if not already there.

Some family members gave Rumsfeld credit for spending an hour with them in Fairbanks, Alaska. But others said they were not satisfied.

"I think it was a show," said Jennifer Davis, the wife of one soldier in Iraq. She declined to give her husband's name.

Cry me a fricken river. Infantrymen who spent 2 or more years away from home to liberate Europe must be spinning in their graves. And they didn't eat at no KBR chow hall or spend their evenings on yahoo chat with their wives/girlfriends.

[Coldwater Creek]

Check again! A lot of the WWII soldiers spent the entire war over seas.

No cell phones, no e-mail, very little R&R.

[bnelson44]

Check again! A lot of the WWII soldiers spent the entire war over seas.

Over seas is not necessarily combat duty. The unit we are talking about is doing some of the most difficult combat duty around today. For you guys to bad mouth their families who daily jump at a phone ringing or the front door bell, is sad.

Take it from someone whose son is in his 10th month of combat in Iraq right now.

Unless you have walked in their shoes, I don't know why you are talking so bravely.

[Coldwater Creek]

We ARE a military family!

[bnelson44]

And your son has been in combat for over a year told they can't go home for another 6 months? If so, thank you for their service to our country... but I find it hard to believe you would make such statements if this is the case. Where am I wrong? It is, indeed, very hard on the families and I don't think we should tell them to shut up and accept the sacrifice or they are somehow not cut of the same cloth as others. It is simply wrong.

[91B]

The comparisons people are making to WWII are irrelevant. We have a rotation system for a reason and it is critical to morale. IN WWII we commited the entire nation to the effort to deafeat our enemies, now we rely on a small minority while the vast majority (not necessarily FReepers) have little personally invested in the war.

These families should never be called "whiners".

[Coldwater Creek]

I never said that my son was in combat. I said that everyone that signed up knew what they could be in for.

I know how hard it is, but it is also honorable and so much easier on families than it was even 10 years ago to be able to have communication with each other. Sometimes even the soldier has been able to be in the delivery room of a new baby by camera phone.

Freedom is not free, and we all have to do our part.

[Coldwater Creek]

Thank you!

[mngalt]

While I'm quite sure it is tough on the families, I'll always have to consider the source when reading articles about this administration.

[OldFriend]

You think wrong about the time our soldiers were overseas during WW II.

[Unrepentant VN Vet]

Consider the source: Reuters.

Any more questions?

[bnelson44]

I'm not talking about "being overseas" or "being on a ship at sea" either. I am talking about day after day, boots on the ground, on combat duty, for 1 year, plus