My son is home from Iraq! - Democratic Underground

madmunchie

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Sat Jan-27-07 03:21 PM
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My son is home from Iraq!

He was there for 1 year as a private contractor. He had been in the military before that, the Air Force. He wanted to make some extra money and start to build a life for himself. I, of course, was beside myself. I thought that he was crazy. He has watched politics for the last several years and is painfully aware of how much garbage is in what we call our Government. Part of him wanted to really know what was going on.

For the last year he has come home for R&R 2 times. Each time I picked him up at the airport I was so relieved and each time he left I was beside myself…but you just suck it up and live your life. I have been so antiwar that it isn’t even funny. I hate this administration and all other administrations that practice in deception and use our soldiers like GI Joes. We the people have too little voice and the corporations with many of the dough boys in Washington have too much.

He, thank God, was in the northern area of Iraq, where there wasn’t the all out bloody hell like there is in Bagdad. He heard bombs – car bombs – go off almost daily. He was under a table while mortars and RPGS were flying in. He worked on an Army base. He worked 12 hours a day 7 days a week. When you talk about all of the OT hours that he worked, he really on was paid 14.00+ an hour. He told me that the Government was giving quite a bit more to the corporation for each worker, but of course the workers didn’t get the full share of what was stated in the contracts.

Towards the end of his time there, there was an influx on new contractors, even though there was no work for them. When I asked him why this would happen, he said they don’t care if there isn’t enough work, they will hire as many as the Government will give them money to hire because they make money for all of those hires. He said that the last couple of weeks, he was looking for something to do. He told his supervisor that he had come there to work, not to look for work. He wanted to finish out his contract, which he now has.

So, now he is home and again, rebuilding his life. I cannot tell you the relief that I feel.

He has shared some of the stories with me. Like how women, in general live in fear, because their husbands can kill them and got maybe a month of jail time. How an Iraqi friend of his left Iraq 2 times got caught, put in jail and sent back to Iraq, all that he was doing was trying to find a job to be able to provide for his family. I commented that many have fled Iraq, He answered, yeah, the wealthy can leave, the poor are sent back. He told me the guy looked like he lost over 50 lbs during this time. He told me how the soldiers were giving “candy bars” to the kids on the other side of the fence, the little boys were in front taking the bars, the little girls in back watching. One little girl came to the fence and took a bar from the soldier, a little boy walked up to her and all out clobbered her for doing that. My son is quite stoic. I could see the hurt in his eyes. He told me how they live with a few hours of electricity a day and how most of the Iraqis don’t have a car to go to work. He told about one Iraqi that lied to his father about where he was working. He could not tell his father that he was working for the Americans. He told me that the Iraqis get about $100.00 a week for working. He told me about another one of his Iraqi friends that he had to sneak to and from work because he might get attacked if it were known that he was working with the Americans.

My heart breaks for what goes on there. I feel deep shame to be part of a country that has done this, but selfishly, I am glad that my son is home and that he is safe. And I hope and pray that somehow someway we can end all of this suffering and needless bloodshed.