WP: Elation, Reflection for GIs Going Home

[kskiska]

Soldiers in Iraq Take Pride in Election but Are Uncertain About Future

Sunday, February 6, 2005; Page A01

KIRKUK, Iraq -- As he walked through the mud surrounding his temporary barracks, 1st Sgt. Ken Agueda carried an M-4 assault rifle without its essential lethal components: bullets. Earlier in the day, Agueda had turned in his ammunition -- cartridges, assorted grenades -- in preparation for his journey home after nearly 13 months in Iraq.

"It's like walking around without your pants," said Agueda, a 17-year U.S. Army veteran from Bayamon, Puerto Rico.

With their departure just days away, Agueda and his unit, the 1st Battalion, 14th Infantry Regiment of the 25th Infantry Division, were euphoric and reflective. In more than a dozen interviews over three days this past week, soldiers with combat experience in all corners of Iraq offered up a mixed final assessment of a conflict that is burned into them forever. Its ultimate outcome, all agreed, remains highly uncertain and far away.

Soldiers ranging from privates to senior officers described last Sunday's national elections as vindication for over a year of hard service. The unexpectedly strong turnout, they said, altered their perception about the willingness of Iraqis to embrace the American mission here and helped project a rare positive image of the U.S. military following such stains as the Abu Ghraib prisoner abuse scandal last year.

(snip)

But the soldiers were reluctant to say that the elections were a turning point in the war. "Leaving with the elections will definitely be a positive in our minds, but I don't know if I'm optimistic or pessimistic," said Capt. John Hussey, 26, of Uvalde, Tex. "I wouldn't be surprised if the entire country descends into chaos. But I wouldn't be surprised if it flourishes, either."

Asked how long he thought U.S. troops would remain in Iraq, Hussey said: "Probably 10 or 15 years, if we want to do it right. I don't think there's going to be 135,000 Americans in Baghdad 10 years from now, but there are going to be Americans in Iraq for a long, long time."

more…
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A1492-2005Feb5.html

[Robbien]

1. We just got an email from my nephew, he was supposed to come

home right after the elections. He wrote that he got word his unit is staying with no indication of a new leave date. For the duration his orders said.

One big disappointed and pissed-off Robbien family today.

[Haymare22]

2. Those returning home......

number approx 15,000. But many bases are returning entire battalions BACK to Irag.
So....These numbers per usual are crap lies.

[hadrons]

3. puff-piece ....

I'm sure a lot of these guys feel the need to rationization what they were put thru, but when al-Sadr finds himself into the newly-elected government it will be harder and harder for them to BS themselves

[Rose Siding]

4. SOP? thousands of $'s injected into mud or flushed?!

No other docs in Iraq could have used these supplies? How distressingly wasteful...

snip>
That afternoon, Meyer, who is normally a family practitioner at Tripler Army Medical Center in Hawaii, had removed two locks from a black box that he had carried for the past year. He methodically took out the contents -- vials of morphine, dozens of bottles of pharmaceutical-grade Demerol, a painkiller, and Ativan, an anxiety-reducing medication -- and spent the next two hours destroying them. Meyer dumped the pills into a toilet, where they dissolved. He injected the morphine into the mud.

"Well, I disposed of tens of thousands of dollars worth of controlled substances," Meyer reported. "I had three square meals. I'm planning on turning in early."

[Haymare22]

5. Where did you find this one.....

about someone dumping all these meds?
Im trying to figure this one out.

[RUMMYisFROSTED]

6. My head is spinning as much as this piece.

(minus the thermodynamic effect)

Anyone else notice that "snip" is an anagram of "spin?" :shrug: