Military families, please help me out.

10/16/03 | The Unveiled Lady

[The UnVeiled Lady]

My child is listening to the Bush bashing and swears that HIS contacts with the military say that morale is low, suicides are up, the Iraqi's don't want us there and everything is bad.

I have said that I have heard different and he said but they are letters from you don't know who. He is right, but I know that freepers out there DO HAVE FAMILY OVER THERE. You have someone with personal knowledge that you know and trust.

Please share with me, personal knowledge over there. The truth, either way. Thanks

[jwalsh07]

This nice lady needs some help and I happen to know you have the cure for what ails her deluded son.

[Pukin Dog]

Tell your child that the majority of the whiners are RESERVISTS, who had other jobs, and never expected to be in a real war. Professional soldiers are doing just fine over there.

I am told that Reservists are seeking out Media over there to complain in the hope that they will be sent home. Reservists are under financial pressures, different from full time soldiers. That's no excuse, though.

There is nothing to worry about.

[mystery-ak]

Yes, the soldiers are griping...they always gripe...morale...is not low, but I would not call it high either...there are always malcontents, tell your son to stop listening to the Bush bashers..I know it's hard....Im sick of them myself.

[The UnVeiled Lady]

I am afraid that I know the difference and my kid doesn't know reservists he does know combat soldiers. That is where the stories are coming from. I am not sure they are correct.
That is why I'm asking.

Thanks

[Jaidyn]

My son has been in the ANG for ten years. Though he is not there, he is in contact with friends who are and the only complaints are about Mother Nature and the normal military gripes. My stepson, who got married last June, had four Marine buddies in his wedding. One just got back from Afghanistan and is in Iraq now. They believe in what they are doing, they aren't stupid and they know what the liberals and the media are doing to them. When all is said and done, I think those who fabricate the situation in Iraq will pay dearly come voting time.

I've personnally talked to Marines, their parents and friends and I don't hear what the media does. But I don't seek the whiners out, either.

[CholeraJoe]

The military suicide rate is 11 per 100,000 per year. (Fewer in the USAF, slightly more in the USMC) Since January there have been 11 suicides in Iraq. There are currently 130,000 troops in Iraq. Suicide rates are always higher during occupation duty than during combat. No problem citizens, move along.

[Conservababe]

The Reservists are getting the short end of the stick in the last few years, methinks.

They should not be sent on one year call-ups at the whim of Rummy.

They joined to be back-up for the career military and not to be career military themselves.

I don't blame them for being disgruntled.

Flame away!

[mystery-ak]

Please don't lump all reservists together...most are professional soldiers obeying orders and following their missions...they would never dream of doing/saying anything like this,....this is the work of a few and a greedy media who laps it up.....

btw....the 4thID , 3rdID, 101st, 82nd all had a few malcontents that played on the news, so don't pick on reservists.

[okiedog]

Your son is right. The Neo-cons are wrong. This is why:
"Chuck Teevan is one of those whom Frum, the armchair warrior, would describe as an unpatriotic conservative. Unlike Frum, Teevan joined the Marines out of college and served with 2/7 as a forward observer for artillery in the operational area southwest of Da Nang known to the Corps as “Arizona.” Lieutenant Teevan came back a captain decorated with a Bronze Star with “V” for valor. At one point, he raced through a hail of NVA fire to rescue a radio operator pinned down on a paddy dike. He now thinks of Iraq and whose interests we are serving by our invasion and occupation. He also thinks of the neocon warriors who send patriotic American lads—not from Harvard or Yale or the American Enterprise Institute but from the hills of West Virginia or the panhandle of Texas or the neighborhoods of East Los Angeles and South Boston—to do the fighting. “I recall going through the personal effects of an NVA officer we had killed in a firefight in the Que Son Mountains,” says Teevan. “The realization struck me that those of us in front-line units had more in common with the enemy than with those Americans who avoided military service and those in power who sent the sons of other Americans to sacrifice their lives.”

[Jaidyn]

This isn't at the whim of Rummy and they know when they sign up what the score is. Some join for education and could care less about the military, while others like the extra money and the VAST majority actually want to serve their country. Consider the WWll vets who were gone from home years at a time in continuous combat. More civilians complain than do those actually doing the dirty work. Unless you are over there, you don't know. The media lies. So does Kennedy and liberals in general.

[Delta 21]

The reserves joined to fullfil the oath they swore.

I do believe its in the fine print somewhere that active duty may very well be a real posibility. ...and an 18 month call up is not a career.

Funny you dont here them bitching and moaning when they are going to college on your dime.

[Pukin Dog]

They joined to be back-up for the career military and not to be career military themselves.

Sorry to break it to you, but there is no such think as a back-up military. Reservists know at anytime they can be called away to war. Too many of them join for a free education these days. Reservists thinking that they are somehow special need to leave. If their country needs them, they should be there as long as it takes, period.

[Newbomb Turk]

I have 9 close friends over there right now. I trade e-mail with them on an as they can basis.

They say the living conditions are hard, heat and bugs mostly, they miss their loved ones.

They say their command and unit is FUBAR as they are attached out to another states Guard unit.

But overall their morale is good.

I might add that they are all National Guard Soldiers with Combat MOS and this is our second callup for a years deployment since 9-11. Part time job my a**.

[Pan_Yans Wife]

If active duty military were given substantial pay raises, perhaps they would re-enlist more and thus the reserves wouldn't be stretched so thin.

[armymarinemom]

You should have him read the Stars and Stripes articles. I have two sons in the Army and one in the Corp. All of them say that the soldiers that are whining are what they all refer to as the "Dirt Bags". If you worked in the private sector this would be the office slacker that everyone would like to smack and is spoken about in unfavorable terms during coffee breaks. Every school, factory, office and industry has the jerks who slack, whine, and try to stir up trouble. These are the soldiers that our media loves to interview to give a view into the Soldiers thoughts.
 Our last email from our son this morning was very upbeat. We sent his unit some Halloween decorations which included a walking hand. His email was full of jokes about how everyone has been playing with the thing. Soldiers with low moral don't tell a ton of jokes and talk about goofing around with Halloween toys.
  Our other Army son is about to deployed to Afghanistan and isn't talking about how to get out of going but is looking forward to deployment. They both believe in what they are doing.
 Also tell your son that I talk to plenty of troops returning home. Most have a good attitude and believe in what they are doing.
If he keeps having doubts maybe we can find a soldier for him to correspond with.

[Conservababe]

Well, that's my opinion and I'm sticking to it.

Rummy once got into trouble in a speech during the first months of his job. He said that the draft was a waste of time, because the military trained men and only used them for a year in Viet Nam. He went on to say that the better idea was to use Reservatist as a more efficient capacity.

The only thing he was in trouble for was his remarks of Viet Nam, not his excessive use of Reservists.

This is going to be a big issue, I can assure you, in the coming political debate.

[dwills]

active: if not for missions like iraq, which will pay dividends in the war on terror, why else would we need so damn many active duty personnel?

reservists: gotta wonder what were they doing back home since the economy has improved in their absence

[Pukin Dog]

Rummy got in trouble, but he was right.

Conscripts do not make for the best fighting men. What he said was not politically correct, but it was right on the money in terms of accuracy.

Rummy would like to think that a Reservist might have a better attitude than someone forced into service. He might not be proven right on that point, but we will see.

[Pan_Yans Wife]

Excellent point.