82nd Airborne soldier writing home about Iraq.....

[Postman]

http://www.newsreview.com/issues/chico/2003-10-16/news.asp

Talbott, who was promoted from corporal to sergeant since we last heard from him in June, adds this postscript: "If it's not evident, a lot of the folks over here are starting to get pretty damn bitter, and with good reason."

[Parche]

1. notice

I saw that the mortars are Iraqi, but made in the US
were they of the Reagan years??

[asjr]

2. airborne

I guess that proves What goes around comes around.

[nadinbrzezinski]

3. Those troops are ready for

us to take care of them... by the way, they are increasingly bitter
does anyone remember Nam? And I do not mean like me, from a history
book.

It has been noted that this is Nam on Crack... well it is, the troops
are now showing the kind of discontent the troops were showing AFTER
Tet.

[EdgarFriendly]

4. my cousin

is over there and he said that he was ordered to kill anyone that moved after 20:00 Iraq time. He's been forced to kill 2 teenagers that thought they could sneak out.

[Postman]

5. That's F**ked up. I wonder if he has any regrets?

eom

[nadinbrzezinski]

7. When your cousin gets home

he will need a lot of undersgtanding from his family
and suport group.

Which is one of the things they are not getting from the Army
or other government agencies. He may benefit from joining the
VFW and talking about this with OTHER veterans.

I can speak of this with some authority... if you have never
been under fire you really have no clue.

If you have never been that afraid in your life, you truly have
no clue

This is why many veterans of military actions become
pacifists in later life... and some become very strange pacifists
willing to use force when necessary, but truly as a last action.

I do play wargames, and one thing I have noticed is that those of us
who have been there, as it where, will never fight to the last man.

Those who have NEVER been there usually do... for them those are mere
toys... for us they are not... there are days I fear Bush is
playing a grand ol game of Axis and Allies or 40K, and not willing
to realize he is well over his head, as these are NOT toy soldiers
he is playing with... and it angers me to no end.

If you want we can take this to PM

[proud patriot]

6. I'm doing my best

I hope it is enough :-(

[flpoljunkie]

8. Thanks for posting this, Postman.

It says it all--very revealing of the deteriorating situation our soldiers are in in Iraq.

[PapaClay]

9. Here's the deal.

It's a guerilla war and GWB and company are screwed. They can't win against a determined enemy on their home turf. They can't keep all the troops in Iraq until after the election, and they can't keep them incommunicado.

And the troops are talking. And the longer they stay; the longer the clusterfuck goes on, the more they'll talk. And that's the key.

Because Joe the Voter probably won't listen to you or me when we tell him that it's terminally messed up. But he/she will listen when their kid, or nephew, or niece, or their neighbor's kid tells them it's terminally messed up.

And the marches will get bigger and bigger.

And the politicians will get very, very afraid.

History does repeat itself.

And I feel sorry for the next pres that has to try to clean this shit up.