Posted on 03/07/2007 9:12:45 PM PST by Swordmaker
I received the following as an email - Swordmaker
Hello Everyone,
I wanted to share an article my son Eddie sent me from Iraq. I was not going to send it out through the usual means; I'm looking to have this published somehow. I just felt after reading it again this morning that I wanted people to begin reading it and begin/continue to pray for our brave men and women in uniform.
I'm not sure how many letters or articles you've ever read from the genre of "News from the Front," but this is one of the best I've ever read, including all of America's wars. As I was reading this, I forgot that it was my son who had written it. My emotions range from great pride to great sorrow, knowing that my little boy (22 years old) has become this man. He is my hero. Thank all of you for your prayers for him; he needs them now more than ever. God bless.
David Jeffers
Hope Rides Alone
By Eddie JeffersI stare out into the darkness from my post, and I watch the city burn to the ground. I smell the familiar smells, I walk through the familiar rubble, and I look at the frightened faces that watch me pass down the streets of their neighborhoods. My nerves hardly rest; my hands are steady on a device that has been given to me from my government for the purpose of taking the lives of others.
I sweat, and I am tired. My back aches from the loads I carry. Young American boys look to me to direct them in a manner that will someday allow them to see their families again...and yet, I too, am just a boy....my age not but a few years more than that of the ones I lead.
I am stressed, I am scared, and I am paranoid...because death is everywhere. It waits for me, it calls to me from around street corners and windows, and it is always there. There are the demons that follow me, and tempt me into thoughts and actions that are not my own...but that are necessary for survival.
I've made compromises with my humanity. And I am not alone in this. Miles from me are my brethren in this world, who walk in the same streets...who feel the same things, whether they admit to it or not and to think, I volunteered for this...
And I am ignorant to the rest of the world...or so I thought.
But even thousands of miles away, in Ramadi, Iraq, the cries and screams and complaints of the ungrateful reach me. In a year, I will be thrust back into society from a life and mentality that doesn't fit your average man.
And then, I will be alone.
And then, I will walk down the streets of America, and see the yellow ribbon stickers on the cars of the same people who compare our President to Hitler.
I will watch the television and watch the Cindy Sheehans, and the Al Frankens, and the rest of the ignorant sheep of America spout off their mouths about a subject they know nothing about. It is their right, however, and it is a right that is defended by hundreds of thousands of boys and girls scattered across the world, far from home.
I use the word boys and girls, because that's what they are. In the Army, the average age of the infantryman is nineteen years old. The average rank of soldiers killed in action is Private First Class.
People like Cindy Sheehan are ignorant.
Not just to this war, but to the results of their idiotic ramblings, or at least I hope they are. They don't realize its effects on this war.
In this war, there are no Geneva Conventions, no cease fires. Medics and Chaplains are not spared from the enemy's brutality because it's against the rules. I can only imagine the horrors a military Chaplain would experience at the hands of the enemy.
The enemy slinks in the shadows and fights a coward's war against us. It is effective though, as many men and women have died since the start of this war.
And the memory of their service to America is tainted by the inconsiderate remarks on our nation's news outlets.
And every day, the enemy changes...only now, the enemy is becoming something new. The enemy is transitioning from the Muslim extremists to Americans. The enemy is becoming the very people whom we defend with our lives. And they do not realize it. But in denouncing our actions, denouncing our leaders, denouncing the war we live and fight, they are isolating the military from society...and they are becoming our enemy.
Democrats and peace activists like to toss the word "quagmire" around and compare this war to Vietnam. In a way they are right, this war is becoming like Vietnam. Not the actual war, but in the isolation of country and military.
America is not a nation at war; they are a nation with its military at war.
Like it or not, we are here, some of us for our second, or third times; some even for their fourth and so on. Americans are so concerned now with politics, that it is interfering with our war.
Terrorists cut the heads off of American citizens on the internet...and there is no outrage, but an American soldier kills an Iraqi in the midst of battle, and there are investigations, and sometimes soldiers are even jailed...for doing their job. It is absolutely sickening to me to think our country has come to this.
Why are we so obsessed with the bad news? Why will people stop at nothing to be against this war, no matter how much evidence of the good we've done is thrown in their face? When is the last time CNN or MSNBC or CBS reported the opening of schools and hospitals in Iraq? Or the leaders of terror cells being detained or killed? It's all happening, but people will not let up their hatred of President Bush. They will ignore the good news, because it just might show people that he was right.
America has lost its will to fight. It has lost its will to defend what is right and just in the world.
The crazy thing of it all is that the American people have not even been asked to sacrifice a single thing. It's not like World War Two, where people rationed food, and turned in cars to be made into metal for tanks.
The American people have not been asked to sacrifice anything. Unless you are in the military or the family member of a servicemember, its life as usual...the war doesn't affect you.
But it affects us.
And when it is over, and the troops come home, and they try to piece together what's left of them after their service...where will the detractors be then? Where will the Cindy Sheehans be to comfort and talk to soldiers and help them sort out the last couple years of their lives, most of which have been spent dodging death and wading through the deaths of their friends?
They will be where they always are, somewhere far away, where the horrors of the world can't touch them. Somewhere where they can complain about things they will never experience in their lifetime; things that the young men and women of America have willingly taken upon their shoulders.
We are the hope of the Iraqi people. They want what everyone else wants in life: safety, security, somewhere to call home. They want a country that is safe to raise their children in. Not a place where their children will be abducted, raped, and murdered if they do not comply with the terrorists demands. They want to live on, rebuild and prosper. And America has given them the opportunity, but only if we stay true to the cause, and see it to its end.
But the country must unite in this endeavor...we cannot place the burden on our military alone. We must all stand up and fight, whether in uniform or not. And supporting us is more than sticking yellow ribbon stickers on your cars. It's supporting our President, our troops and our cause.
Right now, the burden is all on the American soldiers.
Right now, hope rides alone.
But it can change, it must change. Because there is only failure and darkness ahead for us as a country, as a people, if it doesn't.
Let's stop all the political nonsense, let's stop all the bickering, let's stop all the bad news, and let's stand and fight!
Isn't that what America is about anyway?
Ping
That letter hit home hard. Thank you for sharing and God Bless your son and your family.
We owe so much to your son that we will never be able to repay him. God Bless Him.
Pray for W and Our Freedom Fighters
I understand your son's feelings of frustration and doubt. I recently returned to the States, after a year over here. I was compositely incensed by what's passing for "news coverage", by the MSM. I found myself continually telling friends and family, " Don't believe what you're seeing and reading. They (the MSM) refuse to report anything positive. They focus only on the negative."
It's incredible!
You have every reason to be proud of your son. You obviously did a fine job in raising him. I salute you both.
What branch of the Service is Eddie in and what is his rank. If I, by chance, run into him, I'd like to tell him that I read his letter and thank him for saying what so many of us, soldier and civilian alike, are feeling about the apparent disconnect between "public opinion" and the truth.
"People sleep peaceably in their beds at night only because rough men stand ready to don violence on their behalf."-- George Orwell
Regards
I need to check the spell-check. 8-)
Excellent letter and very moving. God bless our brave troops.
Thank You for the ping.
Wonderful story.
ping. Thought you might want to see this (again).
The professionals do a better job at posting! LOL
First, to the people on the ping list, please forgive me for using it for another purpose. I think this letter deserves a reading. Or two.
David, I can't thank you enough for sharing your son's words. I can imagine the range of emotion they brought forth. I just finished reading Andrew Carroll's collection of war letters dating back to the Civil War. You're right...they don't come close to echoing the understanding of the political dimension of war that Eddie has given us.
McGavin, your words are right on, but we need them said where they can be heard by all the Eddies in Iraq and Afghanistan. These words of encouragement need to be a daily part of the national newscasts and they need to be in the major Dailies all across the country. That's our job, if we truly support our troops. Eddie told us that the enemy is changing, that certain Americans are undermining the success of our military.
It's now up to us to take up arms (words) and fight the good fight. Make your voice heard, through letters and e-mails and phone calls - whatever it takes - so that when Eddie reads his hometown daily online, he can see there that he is supported by Americans at home.
My version of troop support to date has been sending care packages overseas. That's going to change, personally. I took an oath of enlistment to protect the Constitution against all enemies, foreign and domestic. It's time to live up to that oath. Anyone else willing to fight this battle?
I have tears streaming down my face and goosebumps a mile high... God Bless our brave soldiers and their families.
Thank you for posting this.
God willing, the Gathering of Eagles rally will be huge and, as a result, the DC's disgraceful politicians will be shown that America supports our troops. Anti-American, anti-military politicians like Pelosi, Murtha, Boxer, Kerry, Reid, the Clintoons, and the other DC clowns need to be shown that they "do not" speak for the American people. They speak only for self-serving, power-hungry, ego maniacs that reside in the Liberal Democrat Party.
Personally, I'm sick to my stomach of the MSM and Liberal politicians stabbing brave American patriots in the back. The American fighting spirit has no home in the Democatic Party. Only cowards and traitors call themselves Liberals.
We have Freepers (SandRat, Calpernia, TexKat) who work deligently to get out the good news and even on this forum, few are interested enough to comment and bump the threads.
If we want the media to cover things, then we need to make them a priority on this forum.
Thanks for that nugget of truth
Abusing the TexasCowboy Shoot ping list for a good thread.
Penalty for such abuse requires bumping the Memorial Shoot Thread. Thanks for the ping.
Words cannot express how deeply Eddie Jeffers article has touched me. It has brought me to tears and cheers! BUMP!!
Amen!! BTTT!!
Thanks for the ping!
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