Damage From Katrina Stuns Troops in Iraq

[bluedog]

Damage From Katrina Stuns Troops in Iraq

By SLOBODAN LEKIC, Associated Press Writer 1 hour, 3 minutes ago

BAGHDAD, Iraq - Ever since Hurricane Katrina roared ashore, National Guard troops from Gulf coast states serving in
Iraq have followed the disaster unfolding on television sets, worried about families and friends back home.


"It's a significant emotional event. Their families are on the forefront of the disaster," said Lt. Col. Jordan Jones of the 141st Field Artillery of the Louisiana National Guard.

"They're all watching TV and some have seen their neighborhoods completely submerged in water."

Jones, from Luling on the west bank of Lake Pontchartrain, said he hasn't been in touch with his own family for three days because of clogged phone lines, but that his neighbors had helped board up their home.

"It's hard, a lot of soldiers are watching this play-by-play, they're having a hard time," said Lt. Taysha Deaton, a spokeswoman for the unit.
http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20050830/ap_on_re_mi_ea/katrina_iraq_1

[Misunderestimator]

1. And I bet they are wishing they were here where they should be. Helping.

I know I wish they were...

On edit... apparently they are:

Asked how his troops felt being in Iraq while their state was in such difficulty, Jones replied: "Well, we all know our primary mission is the federal one."

"The secondary mission is to serve at the pleasure of the governor in disaster-relief and other missions," said Jones, 44, who works for a company managing the U.S. Strategic Petroleum Reserve.

[rodeodance]

2. another communication problem that could have been avoided!

[LisaM]

3. I think the National Guard will be suffering emotionally

knowing they should be home, doing what they've signed up to do, versus wasting all our time and money (including flood relief money) in Iraq.

[lebkuchen]

4. Imagine what the latrine graffiti artists have to say about Bush now

[TheCowsCameHome]

7. I'd love to see some samples of their "artwork".

[lebkuchen]

9. “1/8 Cavalry was here…too damned long!”

“B 1-7 FA don't know their asses from a hole in the ground!”

“One weekend a month?! BULLSHIT!!”

“Thank God I got out of the army…SEVEN MONTHS AGO!!”

“FUCK THE WORLD!”

“FUCK IRAQ!”

“FUCK G.W. BUSH AND HIS FUCKING OIL WAR!”

“FUCK THE ARMY!”

“FUCK BIG BROTHER!”

"Here I sit, cheeks a'flexin', makin' me another Texan"

[Az_lefty]

5. This has to be hard on these guys...

your sent off to a screwed up War while your family back home has to deal with a natural disaster.

[xultar]

6. I wonder how they feel about knowing they are setting up an islamic

fundamentalist government who won't give women rights and back @ home women and children are dying and they could have helped to save lives?

[TheCowsCameHome]

8. It's too bad they can't be HERE, where our infrastructure is in need

Instead of being over there where George W. Bush sent them..................

[Postman]

10. where they can actually aid and protect Americans instead of

sitting in a friggin desert serving as targets.

[calimary]

11. Fuck. Just what they need. Hey, this'll be GREAT for their morale,

over there, 'eh? Where they're stranded every bit as much as the poor people stuck in near-drowned houses and buildings. They should be HERE. HERE AT HOME. HERE AT HOME, WHERE THEY CAN TRULY BE OF SERVICE PROTECTING US AND KEEPING US SAFE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Bring them HOME!!!!!!!!!!!

What a disgrace!!!

[RamboLiberal]

12. One of them put it perfectly

A quarter mile away, about a dozen other soldiers in the unit spent the black, dusty evening behind the 141st’s Tactical Operations Center waiting for news. The makeshift headquarters has a few rows of picnic tables out back under a canopy. The unit’s nickname, “The Baghdad Headhunters,” is on a sign out front. They talked amongst themselves Monday, trying to piece together from the Internet, broken cell-phone chats and cable news what’s going on. “It’s the perfect f--ked-up ending to a perfect f--ked-up war,” said one soldier.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/9131097/site/newsweek

[AX10]

13. ....and the Lousiana National Guard should be in Lousiana...

helping those in need.

[DoYouEverWonder]

14. Damn that Katrina

Another woman that doesn't support the troops.

:sarcasm: