Army mom's agonizing letters from hell

WorldNetDaily.com ^ | Wednesday, June 25, 2003

[JohnHuang2]

Wednesday, June 25, 2003

Quote of the Day by piasa

[GATOR NAVY]

No sympathy from me. You enlist in the reserves, you might get called up.

[jnarcus]

I'm with you. Why did this mom join the reserves instead of hubby. If you enlist then do your duty. If you don't want to do the work then don't enlist. This kind of "reporting" just frosts me

[WellsFargo94]

The husband needs to start tending to business at home and not bother his Army/wife/soldier by whining to her about his sucky life. He's got a shower, the ability to make 3 hot meals a day, and their kids to cuddle him and keep him from being lonely. What does the wife have? Flea mites, bugs, and dysentary.

[giotto]

I still can't help thinking she is the one who got the better deal.

[sandpit]

The National Guard and Reserves got a rude awakening during the first gulf war. They had it easy for a long time. I was working at a training center for the Guard at Fort Stewart during the deployment in 1990-91.

Boy, you should have heard the whining when some of the folks I knew in the Georgia National Guard got called up.
Some of the units were in pretty bad shape training wise, and they had to get their ducks in a row PDQ.

There were quite a few who couldn't deploy due to health reasons.
Since enlisted and warrant officers could stay in the Guard until they were 60, a lot of those older guys were still allowed to stay in. I know personally of a older fellow who had Parkinson's, another who had open heart surgery, another had a heart attack at the NTC in California. They let them stay on active duty with full pay/benefits in the National Guard. They just stayed behind until a medical review board discharged them or they decided to go ahead and retire.

I'll leave it at that and not go on a rant about the good ol' boy network in the South Georgia units. Save that for another day.

[struwwelpeter]

Back in '90 a whole slew of reservists came to Germany to back-fill for a lot of our people who went to Saudi. Like you, I was LMAO at their whining.

Now, thirteen years and a lot of pounds later, I'm finding myself IMA'd to Japan.

What went around, came around.

[hmmmmm]

A fascinating account but for the complaining nature. She is a volunteer... voluntary service, and all service, comes with it's sacrifices. We've all too many men (and "men" in this instance includes both sexes, all heros of our armed forces) sacrificing silently and without complaint for me to have much sympathy for this female. She CHOSE to be in the Reserves, she CHOSE the possible separation from her family, she CHOSE a "part-time career", she CHOSE to be part of a life-saving team, she CHOSE the unknown/but given...service to her Country (of which I've the ultimate respect)..... nobody FORCED her life choices. She has sacrificed but she's not alone, many others have sacrificed as much,if not more. Her family, and all of us, should be proud of her but NONE of us should accept her sacrifices as being out of the "norm" for the times.

To quote (always strive for the best) the King :), just my two cents.

[cherry]

It just breaks some freepers hearts to give anyone credit for anything....especially a woman...

if you know your history, you know that the Reserves/Guard were used in WW2

at least they joined....

I will tout about my own husbands' unit.....It was rated as the top unit of its kind not only in the Guard but in the entire Air Force.....

and maybe in some units you have seen there were out of shape and incompetant people....maybe you should join another unit....my hubby's was extremely well decorated, and physically fit.....

Thank you to this woman and those like her...

people like her are keeping your sons from being drafted....so maybe you should thank her as well...

[radiohead]

somebody please tell me why an american, especially an american in the military, is worried about celebrating cinco de mayo???

[hmmmmm]

I wasn't attempting to denigrate the service of women. My most humble apologies (especially since I am a woman) if that's the way I came across. I was attempting to point out that the account of this particular woman was only 1 story amongst many.... that the perception she provided might not be an accurate perception.

[chuckles]

I was active and NG, and you join, you pay the price. I could rant about women in the military, but that would only change the subject. Why would a woman with a family join the reserves? This is why I never liked it when people denegrated service in the reserves. They did what they were told to do but people called them weekend wariors. When they are called up, they never get respect. This kind of crap doesn't help. Why they allow a woman with a litter of kids is beyond me. If she wants the freebies and the retirement, then she needs to shut up and suck it up.

[boxerblues]

typical....life is supposed to be just one big party man with no hassles

[Prodigal Son]

I suppose because it breaks up the monotony of the situation she's in.

[Jeff Gordon]

I really do not see a lot of agony in the writings from this soldier. If you put the fact that she is female out of your mind while reading it, these could be letters from any GI. The soldier is facing tough conditions and is dealing with it. Not only is this soldier dealing with it but appears to be doing a heroic job. I was struck by this passage:

The soldier that I am attending to had diarrhea to an extreme. He's had two accidents since this morning, and I've had to wash his DCU's [desert uniform] out twice. He looks like he feels terrible. He was so dehydrated that his blood vessels were sunken in. I had to stick him three times before I could get a running IV. I hooked him up with Normal saline 9 percent with a piggyback Ringers Lactate. After about three hours he seems better, but the heat is still trying on him. While I await his bag changes I write to you.

I say "Nice going soldier. Thank you for your courage and actions in defending our nation."

[Prodigal Son]

I agree. I went back and reread the article. Given her circumstance and the circumstances of her letters (to her husband- not the whole world) it sounded like normal account telling and soul searching. Shoot, I was in the regular Army for eight years and asked myself many times what the hell I was doing and how in the heck could I ever have been so stupid as to re-up.

People think this soldier is whining, they ought to hear some of the soldiers in person. Big men too what I'm talking about.

I thought this was an interesting account myself.

[MEG33]

I just don't get the put down.Sounds like she's sharing with an intimate.I say hats off and well done.

[CDHart]

Why on earth would a mother of five join the reserves, anyway? She must have known this could happen, I would think.

Carolyn

[Prodigal Son]

John says her primary motivation for enlisting in the reserves was to help ensure her children's future, noting she carries around magazine pictures of people jumping out of the World Trade Center on Sept. 11.

That's what the husband said her motivation was...

[Prodigal Son]

somebody please tell me why an american, especially an american in the military, is worried about celebrating cinco de mayo???

Actually, after rereading this a third time, she never says she'll be celebrating it.

I'm thinking that [our neighbors] Bev and Smokey will be having a party tonight. They usually celebrate Cinco de Mayo. I hope you'll get to have a beer and enjoy the day.

It just says their neighbors (back home presumedly) are going to be celebrating it. Maybe they're Mexican?

For what it's worth too- there's a lot of foreigners in the Army. I had a Mexican in my platoon and the funny thing was- his name was "Smith". Lot's of other Latinos in military as well who aren't Mexican- but maybe it's a close enough for them to celebrate anyway. So, it wouldn't surprise me to find a lot of soldiers who would see cinco de mayo as a cause to celebrate. The average infantryman would see any day as a good day to party whether it be cuatro de julio or any other day. A lot depends on who buys the beer ;-)