Sergeant in Afghanistan - Stop the BS and "Let's Get It Done"

Blackfive.net ^ | 1/31/07

[Valin]

"It is proper to demand more from the man with exceptional advantages than from the man without them. A heavy moral obligation rests upon the man of means and upon the man of education to do their full duty by their country. On no class does this obligation rest more heavily than upon the men with a collegiate education, the men who are graduates of our universities. Their education gives them no right to feel the least superiority over any of their fellow-citizens..." - Theodore Roosevelt

I've got permission to go hot with this. This is typical of what I've been hearing.

It's a manifesto of sorts from a Staff Sergeant in the fight in Afghanistan. He had an experience recently while on mid-tour leave to see his wife and baby boy that was the last straw:

Things that I am tired of in this war:

I am tired of Democrats saying they are patriotic and then insulting my commander in chief and the way he goes about his job.

I am tired of Democrats who tell me they support me, the soldier on the ground, and then tell me the best plan to win this war is with a “phased redeployment” (liberal-speak for retreat) out of the combat zone to someplace like Okinawa.

I am tired of the Democrats whining for months on T.V., in the New York Times, and in the House and Senate that we need more troops to win the war in Iraq, and then when my Commander in Chief plans to do just that, they say that is the wrong plan, it won’t work, and we need a “new direction.”

I am tired of every Battalion Sergeant Major and Command Sergeant Major I see over here being more concerned about whether or not I am wearing my uniform in the “spot on,” most garrison-like manner; instead of asking me whether or not I am getting the equipment I need to win the fight, the support I need from my chain of command, or if the chow tastes good.

I am tired of junior and senior officers continually doubting the technical expertise of junior enlisted soldiers who are trained far better to do the jobs they are trained for than these officers believe.

I am tired of senior officers and commanders who fight this war with more of an eye on the media than on the enemy, who desperately needs killing.

I am tired of the decisions of Sergeants and Privates made in the heat of battle being scrutinized by lawyers who were not there and will never really know the state of mind of the young soldiers who were there and what is asked of them in order to survive.

I am tired of CNN claiming that they are showing “news,” with videotape sent to them by terrorists, of my comrades being shot at by snipers, but refusing to show what happens when we build a school, pave a road, hand out food and water to children, or open a water treatment plant.

I am tired of following the enemy with drones that have cameras, and then dropping bombs that sometimes kill civilians; because we could do a better job of killing the right people by sending a man with a high powered rifle instead.

I am tired of the thousands of people in the rear who claim that they are working hard to support me when I see them with their mochas and their PX Bags walking down the street, in the middle of the day, nowhere near their workspaces.

I am tired of Code Pink, Daily Kos, Al-Jazzera, CNN, Reuters, the Associated Press, ABC, NBC, CBS, the ACLU, and CAIR thinking that they somehow get to have a vote in how we blast, shoot and kill these animals who would seek to subdue us and destroy us.

I am tired of people like Meredith Vieria from NBC asking oxygen thieves like Senator Chuck Hagel questions like “Senator, at this point, do you think we are fighting and dying for nothing?” Meredith might not get it, but soldiers do know the difference between fighting and dying for something and fighting and dying for nothing.

I am tired of hearing multiple stories from both combat theaters about snipers begging to do their jobs while commanders worry about how the media might portray the possible casualties and what might happen to their career.

I am tired of hearing that the Battalion Tactical Operations Center got a new plasma screen monitor for daily briefings, but rifle scope rings for sniper rifles, extra magazines, and necessary field gear were disapproved by the unit supply system.

I am tired of out of touch general officers, senators, congressmen and defense officials who think that giving me some more heavy body armor to wear is helping me stay alive. Speed is life in combat and wearing 55 to 90 pounds of gear for 12 to 20 hours a day puts me at a great tactical disadvantage to the idiot, mindless terrorist who is wearing no armor at all and carrying an AK-47 and a pistol.

I am tired of soldiers who are stationed in places like Kuwait and who are well away from any actual combat getting Hostile Fire/Imminent Danger Pay and the Combat Zone Tax Exclusion when they live on a base that has a McDonald’s, a Pizza Hut, a Subway, a Baskin Robbins, an internet café, 2 coffee shops and street lights.

I am tired of senior officers and commanders who take it out and "measure" every time they want to have a piece of the action with their helicopters or their artillery; instead of putting their egos aside and using their equipment to support the grunt on the ground.

I am tired of senior officers and commanders who are too afraid for their careers to tell the truth about what they need to win this war to their bosses so that the soldiers can get on with kicking the ass of these animals.

I am tired of Rules of Engagement being made by JAG lawyers and not Combat Commanders. We are not playing Hopscotch over here. There is no 2nd place trophy either. I think that if the enemy knew some rough treatment and some deprivation was at hand for them, instead of prayer rugs, special diets and free Korans; this might help get their terrorist minds “right.”

I am tired of seeing Active Duty Army and Marine units being extended past their original redeployment dates, when there are National Guard Units that have yet to deploy to a combat zone in the last 40 years.

I am tired of hearing soldiers who are stationed in safe places talk about how hard their life is.

I am tired of seeing Infantry Soldiers conducting what amounts to “SWAT” raids and performing the US Army’s version of “CSI Iraq” and doing things like filling out forms for evidence when they could be better used to hunt and kill the enemy.

I am tired of senior officers and commanders who look first in their planning for how many casualties we might take, instead of how many enemy casualties we might inflict.

I am tired of begging to be turned loose so that this war can be over.

Those of us who fight this war want to win it and go home to their families. Prolonging it with attempts to do things like collect “evidence” or present whiz bang briefings on a new plasma screen TV is wasteful and ultimately, dulls the edge of our Infantry soldiers who are trained to kill people and break things, not necessarily in that order.

We are not in Iraq and Afghanistan to build nations. We are there to kill our enemies. We make the work of the State Department easier by the results we achieve.

It is only possible to defeat an enemy who kills indiscriminately by utterly destroying him. He cannot be made to yield or surrender. He will fight to the death by the hundreds to kill only one or two of us.

And so far, all of our “games” have been “away games,” and I don’t know about the ignorant, treasonous Democrats and the completely insane radical leftists and their thoughts on the matter, but I would like to keep our road game schedule.

So let’s get it done. Until the fight is won and there is no more fight left.

[1COUNTER-MORTER-68]

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1776962/posts
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Great post,,,"bout sez it all,,,TANKS...

[volunbeer]

I am tired of begging to be turned loose so that this war can be over.

____________

Best sentence among many great ones.

Thanks for sharing.

[Robert Lomax]

bump

[HANG THE EXPENSE]

Yes sir, right on target. Duty, Honor, Country, Not Duty, Honor, career.

[doc1019]

I agree:

Let lose the dogs of war, and this war would be over soon.

[volunbeer]

""Let lose the dogs of war, and this war would be over soon.""

This is the parallel to Vietnam the media seems to neglect.

[jerry639]

Thanks for sharing this with us. The two things that stand out in my mind are:

"There is no 2nd place trophy..."

"And so far, all of our “games” have been “away games,”

Those are words of wisdom that everyone should take seriously.

[doc1019]

Paraphrasing both Shakespeare and a paraphrasing, Churchill.

[Christian4Bush]

HOORAH!

[doc1019]

To paraphrase, a paraphrase of a paraphrase … let us do our job, the job we were trained to do, and this ends in a hurry

[doc1019]

Having lived through VN, I know what it is like to not be allowed to do your job. We had that war won until the politicians decided that we had lost.

My prayer is … don’t let this happen again.

VN, thousands died in vain, in a war we had won. Died in vain only because we gave up (or were given up by our political leaders.)

Don’t let this happen in the ME, we have this thing won … all we need is political support and this thing is a given.

However, I suspect that we will “surrender” by decree of our politicians again, and the thousands lost in the ME will have lost their lives in vain.

[musicman]

BTTT !!

[lndrvr1972]

Loyalty above all else except honor.

[George W. Bush]

I often wonder who writes this stuff. It's unlikely that active duty soldiers express such opinions in public writing to people other than family or friends. Certainly, no one who intends to be a professional soldier would write something like this. I do find a few of the items in the list to be a bit odd. Some of it reminds me of the kind of stuff that gets forwarded around via email lists that turn out later to be fraudulent.

I don't doubt that much of what is in the "manifesto" does reflects the views of many combat troops and certainly is consistent with the same sentiments from soldiers in other wars from WW II to Korea to Vietnam. I guess I'm wondering if sometime soon, we'll see this listed over at snopes.com.

[lndrvr1972]

This post I sent to all of my friends and it is such the truth. The problem is not enough troops but PC BS that is hamstringing the military.

[Enduring Freedom]

kill them with extreme prejudice

i will support you ALL the way

this war has dragged on far too long

p.c. wars have never and will never succeed

and as unbelievable as it may sound, as soon as we put them down and start winning visibly, the media and america will support you too

[TigersEye]

bttt

[endthematrix]

I bet this was just an off the cuff list...

Many things that a civilian never knew to be concerned about.

[kalee]

bttt