Notes from Iraq: Soldier morale dips, while fears increase (MUST READ!)

[Khephra]

Soldier morale dips, while fears increase
Notes from Iraq
By JAMIE NORTH


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Editor's note: Public Opinion reporter Jaime North of Chambersburg is a specialist in the U.S. Army Reserves, serving with the 443rd Military Police. He contributes occasional dispatches about his experiences in Iraq.



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Contrary to reports made by senior ranking officials in the national media, morale among the troops is fast approaching an abysmal state. So much so that our unit recently went through a screening by military personnel who specialize in analyzing low morale.

snip...........

The word I received from the group's fellow soldiers was that their humvee received small arms fire. As we're taught, they drove the humvee out of the kill zone. Unbeknownst to them, a land mine was in their exit route. One soldier was seriously wounded. He lost both his legs.

It's a horrific story I've gotten used to hearing. This time it really hit close to home. Not only did they attack a group of people I see occasionally, but it happened in an area where I was planning to be a few hours later. If that group hadn't gone, we may have been the targeted humvee. I have to say, I'm completely beside myself.

I know the excitement of war has worn off back home, with only a story or two about our actions appearing on TV and in newspapers every other day. Unfortunately, many times when reports mention casualties, the victims are depersonalized by the use of numbers. Many Americans may think that since the combat portion of the war is complete, our soldiers are out of harm's way. So what if one or two soldiers get hurt or die, at least it's not hundreds. These are only isolated incidents.

But how many isolated incidents will it take for the American public to see a trend developing. I don't care about all the protests and editorials. All I know is that I'm here, and so are 100,000 other servicemen and servicewomen.


more.......................

http://www.publicopiniononline.com/news/stories/20030825/localnews/127885.html

[Flying_Pig]

1. I can confirm much of was was stated here...

My nephew is a Marine serving in Iraq. He is NOT happy. His platoon is NOT happy, and almost to a person, they now resent Rumsfeld and Bush for their lies, and plan on casting votes opposing them in election 04', ...if they survive that long.. :grr:

[alcuno]

12. Welcome to DU, Flying_Pig

I pray that your nephew and his friends remain safe. It makes me sick when I think of the peril our government has placed these young men and women in; not for the noble defense of our country, but for some ideological bent.

[aquart]

16. And for oil money.

May they never collect a cent.

[hadrons]

2. One soldier was seriously wounded. He lost both his legs.

wounded and lost both his legs ... now is it me or whenever I read of a soldier getting wounded in the corporate media I never get the idea of how serious that wound is?

[mike6640]

3. "wounded" is the politically correct

term for "maimed and/or horribly disfigured for life and doomed to painful treatment and abandonment from the system"

[saigon68]

5. Wait until they are denied benefits from the VA

Only the first part of the experience to come.

[hatrack]

6. No, no - not "wounded"!

"Injured" - that's the officially approved term. As in "I injured my knee by bumping into the car door".

There, that didn't hurt a bit, did it?

[styersc]

7. This is terrible...

...thank God, according to Rusmfeld, these causalties are not strategically important. Then we'd be in a heap of trouble.

This soldier had better apply for Iraqui citizenship. Bush seems to be willing to spend $ on Iraqi hospitals and schools while cutting budgets here in the US.

[I Lean Left]

22. injured vs. wounded

There's a scene in Band of Brothers where a new guy is asking the soldiers who've been there since Normandy if any of them have been injured. One of the grizzled soldiers barks "We were wounded. Injured is when you fall out of a tree."

[NNN0LHI]

9. I have noticed that some media is even trying to change it from "wounded"

...to "hurt" latley. Kind of like someone sprained their ankle or something.

Don

[damnraddem]

13. I bet it did kinda hurt ...

when he had his legs blown off.

Let's hope today's troops in Iraq make Dubya kinda hurt come November 2004.

[Paschall]

4. Kinda OT - kef, you might be pleased to know...

...that we got our first "on the ground" coverage of the '04 campaign here in France last night. Two networks carried coverage of Military Families Speak Out, one focused on a American/European couple who have a boy in Iraq. The reporters followed them to a Dean rally. Beside Dubya, he's the only candidate we've seen on the air here so far.

Your post reminded me of this because in one video we got a shot of the family's home computer with an e-mail from the couple's son on screen. I caught a few sentences of it and it very much echoed the story you posted here.

[Khephra]

17. I've been surprised at the amount of Dean overseas coverage I've seen

That's encouraging in terms of the fence-mending that will be needed after Bush. People overseas need to see that Dean is different from Bush.

[qb]

8. The olympic-sized swimming pool the soldiers are enjoying

was formerly used by Iraqi olympic hopefuls who now must train in the polluted Tigris River. This was in a few papers a while ago, but I couldn't find an active link.

While our soldiers certainly need a respite from the oppressive heat, this is just one among many injustices the U.S. occupation has heaped upon the Iraqis.

[Divernan]

10. With their exposure to depleted uranium, they'll be too sick to compete.

nt

[alcuno]

11. Rush and Geraldo say that morale is GREAT!

So stop saying that!

[xxqqqzme]

14. I have been curious about

the 'wounded'. When a land mine or other explosive devise rips up a humvee and '1 dead, 3 wounded' do they want us 2 Blieve the 3 have scratches, patched up w/ band-aids? How many have lost arms? legs? been blinded? Seriously wounded? critically wounded? died from wounds? where are the numbers 4 these casualties? Is there any one/place keeping the numbers? What is this conspiracy of silence? and why does it continue?

[RamboLiberal]

15. Wounded - here's a story

It died over in editorials - worth posting again

http://www.kansascity.com/mld/kansascity/news/6587490.htm

You don't hear much about them or see their faces very often, but you should. Planes land at Andrews Air Force Base outside Washington every night bringing these American soldiers home from Iraq the hard way.

Ambulances ferry them to Walter Reed Army Medical Center, where doctors and nurses stand ready to rush them into the operating rooms.

Maj. Gen. Kevin C. Kiley, the commander of Walter Reed and a medical doctor, said that since the beginning of July, two months after the official end of major combat operations, there had been only two days when his hospital hadn't received soldier casualties.

More than 1,000 injured American soldiers have flowed through Walter Reed since the war in Iraq began, and another 300 have arrived from the continuing conflict in Afghanistan since it began in October 2001.

"We are in this for the long haul," Kiley said. "This is going to continue for a long, long time."

They come with terrible shrapnel wounds, missing limbs and often with blood infections. But out of the 1,300 who have passed through Walter Reed, only one has died.

[fizzana]

18. Most of the media reports say that US troops have suffered

about 1,000 to 1,300 injuries since the war started. According to this article over 1,000 soldiers have passed through, or are still in Walter Reed.

One would therefore have to assume that when the U.S. reports that, for example, one solder killed, 3 wounded, those wounds are serious enough to require the soldier being flown back to the U.S. Also, logically, this means that anyone hurt less severely, isn't even being counted as a casualty.

It's amazing that this aspect of the war is being completely hidden from the American people. What isn't suprising is that people like Bush and Rumsfeld have never even considered going to visit these soldiers to possible offer them a little support, or god forbid, actually thank them for giving up a limb or two for their country.

[Hand]

20. Note the author of this powerful piece!

He's Joseph Galloway, a long-time military reporter who's seen more than anyone's share of this kind of thing.

Galloway's the author of "We Were Soldiers Once--and Young", a harrowing account of the 1965 battle of the Ia Drang Valley, Vietnam. The file "We Were Soldiers" was based on this book.

Galloway was in the thick of that battle as a reporter. He's been at it ever since. He's a man who knows the cost of war and, as we see here, is NOT letting it be ignored.

Good going, Joe!

[TacticalPeek]

21. Kick Karl - "We Were Soldiers Once--and Young" - Joe Galloway

good read

link http://www.kansascity.com/mld/kansascity/news/6587490.htm

[Zenaholic]

19. I used to live in Chambersburg.

There is an old saying about Pennsylvania; "Philadelphia, and Pittsburgh, with Alabama in between." Chambersburg is right smack in the middle, so I am surprised to see an article like this coming out of that repub stronghold. It gives me hope that even the rednecks are seeing the light.