Honestly, I am not in the military. I am a contractor for General Dynamics which supports the military. My situation is this though, unlike our men and women in arms over here, I volunteered. I had a choice. I decided to make something of myself over here, gain tons of experience in the field in my current job (system admin) and to be able to pay off my credit cards and other debts so that my wife and I can live a bit better. Most of the KBR, Halliburton, CACI and other contractors are doing the same. Most of of us believe in the cause we are helping to support too.
But the be all and end all of this situation is that the troops are here and they need continuing support from you all back home. It is very disheartening for these kids to see what the press and the politcal candidates are saying right now. They say that Bush is failing...but these guys here, they are smart enough to see it as not Bush failing, but themselves. I am sure that is not the intent (God I hope not) but that is certainly the feeling. It isnt easy being here, 10,000 miles away from home, horrible food (isn't Army food always horrible?), having a chance at being blown up at every turn, and having it be 120 degrees every day. Your support, your messages and and your prayers help a lot of the people here get through the tough times.
About me, I was in the Army from 1998-2001 as a 13 F Forward Observer. I hurt my elbow, which killed my Army career and got into computers and contracting.
How can we help to get the correct story out? And, more importantly how can we tell our military that we believe in them and not the press reports.
I think more and more of the soldiers need to write their hometown papers to let them know what is really going on. We cannot allow these lies to stand.
BTW, for all of you interested in background on this Washington Post bureau chief, here's another site that has its eye on Mr. Chandrasekaran's propensity for anti-American articles. Here's a link to "Lisa Rein's Radar:Washington Post Quietly Republishes Substantial Revision Over 7 Hours After Publication." The revision of this WashPost article about Iraq was far more negative than the original, and it had Mr. Chandrasekaran's byline added to it. Imagine that.
By doing a Google search on his name and Washington Post, I discovered that he also has lots of articles on Indonesia, as well as India/Pakistan. Most have a far leftist slant, even on a cursory reading.
Doesn't matter. You're still one of the boys. You, or any of your boys, need anything, you FReepmail me, got it?
Animal Five OUT. :)