US military families push to bring Iraq troops home. (Heavy Duty BS / Liberal Claptrap Alert)

Drudge / (P)MSNBC ^ | Niala Boodhoo

[MindBender26]

US military families push to bring Iraq troops home

WASHINGTON, Aug. 12 — A group of about 600 U.S. military families, upset about the living conditions of soldiers in Iraq, are launching a campaign asking their relatives to urge members of Congress and President George W. Bush to bring the troops home.

''We're growing more and more disturbed about the conditions that are developing. Our concerns are both for our troops and the people in Iraq,'' said Nancy Lessin, a founder of Families Speak Out, formed last fall to oppose the war in Iraq.

Susan Schuman, whose son Justin is in the Massachusetts National Guard deployed to Samarra, Iraq, said he shares a small room in a former Iraqi police barracks with five other men. ''They are rationed to 2 liters of water a day and it's 125 degrees (52 degrees C), they haven't had anything but MREs (Meals Ready to Eat),'' she told Reuters, adding that uncertainty about when the troops would come home was ''most disheartening.''

Organizers hope to take advantage of Congress' summer recess to voice their concerns to lawmakers in their home states. ''The idea is not to confront but say look, 'what is going on?''' said Dennis O'Neil, a member of Veterans for Peace, another group involved in the campaign. ''This war was supposed to be quick.''

Lessin, whose stepson is a Marine who was in the Gulf until late May, told Reuters the group plans a campaign of protests and demonstrations starting on Wednesday and aims to raise public awareness of the number of soldiers killed and wounded in Iraq.

[RobbyS]

Contact your congressman. If you want to shut these anti-war guys up, the best way is to make DoD get its ass in gear. I know that they have been improvising brillantly, but it may be that they are now letting the usual service politics dominate the situation. The lack of heavy combat reduces the urgency in the minds of people in the rear.

[Cobra64]

To be fair, they live in a crappy environment and are just trying to stay alive themselves.

Don't get me wrong. The only part of US gov't that's worth a damn is the US military.

Also, I tried to enlist in the Navy after I was working to finish grad. school. I was "too old." In retrospect, I should have enlisted right out of college (age 21) and earned my MBA, courtesy of Uncle Sam. And then moved on in business.

[facedown]

''They are rationed to 2 liters of water a day and it's 125 degrees (52 degrees C),...

This is pure bovine scatology. Guys would be dropping dead like flies.

[boxerblues]

''They are rationed to 2 liters of water a day and it's 125 degrees (52 degrees C),... This is pure bovine scatology. Guys would be dropping dead like flies.

partial truth, my sons unit get 3 liters of BOTTLED water, unlimited amounts of water from tanks

[oldironsides]

We live in a different world today folks. Water, salt tablets dispen. and full instruction on how to survive intense heat have been part of the soldiers day. Liberal elites do not know that. We complained hourly about our circumstances and politicians when we were subjected to intense heat and tough assignments for the military. Parents that sign up for the "whine and bitch for the baby patrol" make things difficult for the kids in uniforms. The
offspring are not amused and the commanders will remember. Stupid whiney mother refuse to let go of sons. Why in hell do you think they joined the service at 18 years? To get away from the mouthy oppressive Mother?

[armymarinemom]

The group families speak out and Bring them home now can go jump in a flaming lake. They do not speak for the majority of parents. I spoke with a recruiter today and two of my sons. They all think that these parents should let thier sons and daughters grow up and respect them for the choices that they made. The recruiter has a father who is with Veterans for Peace and protests on his daughers behalf frequently. The daugher is upset by his behavior.
If you do your homework on Veterans for Peace you would know that they are raging communist. Not all lefty parents have children that agree with them.

[Aaron0617]

Oh, I see. IP = Iraqi Police

His is a scout unit that is now doing routine police work in a slum, because the IP are worthless.

No, no no no. Please don't say they're worthless. I'm counting on them. Maybe its just that group of IPs your son sees. I really hope so.

More IPs and get more of our troops off the streets and in the rear.

[MEG33]

I wish we could ship cooler weather and good food.I am so grateful for his service and tell him we are pulling for them every day.They are doing a great job.I am grateful their loved ones who wait at home ,too.God Bless.

[facedown]

Parents that sign up for the "whine and bitch for the baby patrol" make things difficult for the kids in uniforms.

You are absolutely right.

[RobbyS]

I spoke with my Congressman, Dr. Michael Burgess, tonight at a townhall meeting. Fortuitously he will be part of a congressional delegation going to Iraq on a fact-finding delegation. So I was able to make my point to interested ears.

[MEG33]

Good.

[RobbyS]

It would help if they briught in more MPs. Obviously they didn't foresee this situation. Lots of Jokes about MPs, but they do have training that would be very useful here, and my son's unit is a combat unit. This kind of OJT he could do without.

[Dr. Scarpetta]

Yesterday my son and some of his men was moving through the market on foot when they came across a guy lying dead on the street. They asked about him and some Iraqi said that, O yes, he was feeling sick earlier and then he died. My son called the IPs and they came and took the body off to the morgue.

I'm wondering why the Iraqi's didn't help the guy who collapsed and died in the street. Terrible story... How is your son dealing with the unbearable heat?

It's going to be hot here the next few days, and I'm going to make sure I don't complain about it, knowing what our guys are going through in Iraq.

[TexKat]

Richard S. Eaton and his wife, Sharon Noble Eaton hold hands at their home in Guilford, Conn., Wednesday, Aug. 13, 2003, as they speak about their son, Staff Sgt. Richard S. Eaton Jr. The Eatons were informed Tuesday, Aug. 12, 2003 that their son had died of pulmonary embolism while serving in Iraq. (AP Photo/Bob Child)

This is a 2000 photo of Staff Sgt. Richard S. Eaton, Jr. of Guilford, Conn. Eaton's parents were informed Tuesday, Aug. 12, 2003 of his death from pulmonary embolism while serving time in Iraq. (AP Photo/Eaton Family, HO)

Soldier Dies of Embolism in Iraq

By DIANE SCARPONI GUILFORD, Conn. - An Army counterintelligence analyst who had been assigned to the Pentagon when it was attacked by terrorists died of an illness while serving in Iraq, his father said Wednesday.

Richard Eaton said military officials notified the family that his son, Staff Sgt. Richard S. Eaton Jr., died in his sleep Tuesday.

Maj. Bill Adams, a casualty assistance officer, said the cause of death remains under investigation but is thought to be pulmonary edema — a buildup of fluid in the lungs.

The family has few details about the death, the elder Eaton said, and they did not know whether he died from a strain of pneumonia that has killed other servicemen.

The elder Eaton, a spokesman for the University of New Haven, said his son's office in the Pentagon was struck by a hijacked jetliner during the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. The father said the office was being remodeled at the time and the younger Eaton was in an office away from the Pentagon.

Eaton, 37, who was not married, was in the Army Reserves and deployed to Iraq in March with the Fort Meade, Md.-based 323rd Military Intelligence Battalion, said his mother, Sharon Noble Eaton.

Earlier in his Army career, the younger Eaton had been offered a spot at the U.S. Military Academy in West Point, N.Y., but declined because he believed "real soldiering" was done in the field, his father said. In the years that followed he spent close to 10 years in Korea and had appointments in Honduras, Korea, Panama and El Salvador.

Eaton grew up in Guilford, on the Connecticut coast near New Haven.

He came from a long line of military men, including William Eaton, who helped reinstate the deposed leader of Tripoli and rescue American captives in the early 1800s. William Eaton's story is being made into a movie called "Tripoli" starring Russell Crowe.

[RobbyS]

You have heard about Mother Theresa of Calcutta? That kind of apathy was common.

[RobbyS]

Plus staying out of the heat from 12-18, which one squadron commander is having them do.