Free Republic

Maybe you better sit down and pop a Xanax before reading any further, because what I'm about to tell you should seriously short you out: not only is the average soldier's salary barely life-sustaining, the combat pay of the average grunt in Afghanistan and Iraq is only $7.50 a day or a measly $225 a month. And to make matters worse, the folks bringing up the rear - hundreds of miles from the horror show - are pulling down the same combat pay as our heroes who daily lay their lives on the line. America was far more generous to...

OCEANSIDE - Leo Diaz, a young Marine from Texas based here at Camp Pendleton, went to Iraq full of faith in the president who sent him. Today, he is burdened by the horror of what he saw and shocked at what he calls President Bush's ``frat boy'' mentality in starting the war. ``I show up. I'm proud. I'm looking forward to do my part,'' said Diaz, 22, whose father, uncle and grandfather served in the military. ``Turns out, we find no weapons of mass destruction. People hurt, killed.'' Diaz voted for Bush in 2000. But now he plans to vote...