BUMP
Posted on 12/18/2004 7:25:08 AM PST by bkwells
The word from a soldier just back from Iraq
I have been in the Army for the last seven years. I have gone through the good and bad times in the military. It is a lifestyle that if you do not live every day, you cannot even come close to understanding.
I have been to Bosnia, Kosovo, and have just returned from Iraq. I can tell you that no one feels the loss of soldiers more than we do.
Even the families do not deal with the emotional pain and stress that we do when we have to pick up the remains of our friends – the same friends that we joked with, lived with, even shared our deepest fears and worries of life with, and in many cases the same friend who saved your life the week before.
I am always concerned with how the Army can be more effective at saving the lives of my fellow soldiers. Armor is not always the answer. In fact, armor can prevent us from being able to do our job. Every pound of armor makes us less effective fighters.
I patrolled the streets of Baghdad in a Humvee that had no doors, let alone armor. This was a decision that I made so that I was a more effective soldier. With better fields of vision, I could respond more effectively to the hazards of a combat zone.
I am an explosive ordnance disposal technician tasked with the removal of the roadside bombs, or IEDs, and unexploded ordnance in Iraq. The IEDs in Iraq often have enough explosives in them that the armor on most trucks proves to be ineffective at close range. Armor is a great asset and improves morale in some cases, but it is not the answer to our problems in Iraq.
There has never been an IED campaign in the history of the world like the one we are living through in Iraq. There is no way the leadership that sent us to war could possibly have known to expect these extreme attacks on its fighting force and the effects on the morale that the Army has suffered during these attacks. What the Army needs is to hunt out and destroy these insurgents, and that, of course, is not an easy task.
Then comes the true kick in the gut. The news media do not report the great things that we have accomplished in this country – the lives we have saved, and freedom that we are providing to a people who do, in fact, want this freedom. Freedom is not won overnight; there are pitfalls that must be overcome, and that takes time.
Instead, the media have decided to attack our morale by attacking our top leadership. There are a lot of things a soldier must deal with in combat; how are we supposed to perform when we have to deal with irrelevant controversy in Washington, D.C., as well?
The truth is that we have excellent leadership that supports us in every mission and provides us top-of-the-line equipment to accomplish our missions. We are at war, and war is not perfect.
I joined the Army because I love my country, a deeper and different love than I think most Americans can understand. I find this same patriotism in the soldiers I work with, even though there are prevalent risks to their lives. They do this because they and I believe in our country. We are soldiers: We adapt and over come all situations. We have been doing it since the birth of our country.
Leave our leadership alone, and we can and will win this war; and frankly, we do not need your selective reporting of how we are doing. We know our mission and objectives; our leadership has and continues to inform us wisely.
DALE MELVILLE Pine Bluff Arsenal, Ark. Ramona
Well said!
Ping!
BUMP!!!
Let me give you guys a brief rundown of what is being faced here...
in terms of IEDs, body armor doesnt cover your lower legs. IEDS are generally on the ground. No help there. You avoid them by being cautious and remembering your training...
in terms of rocket and mortar shells, the body armor generally covers a 1' wide by 2' high area on your torso. in short, it covers your belly button up to your nipples, metal plate wise, but the kevlar goes to teh shoulders and up to the necks. These vests are good at stopping bullets, but with rockets, they would be sending home your belly button and nipples, because you would have no arms legs or head anymore. Gruesome to be sure, but the facts of live.
How do you stay alive in that? remember your training, get down, get into shelters/hardened buildings.
Armor isnt everything. For troops coming up fresh from Kuwait, it looks like everything, but after driving through Baghdad completely unarmored, it isnt the only thing.
I am just a contractor. For the soldiers, a clear field of fire can be just as important as being protected from fire. Sometimes the best defense is a good offense.
Leave our leadership alone, and we can and will win this war; and frankly, we do not need your selective reporting of how we are doing. We know our mission and objectives; our leadership has and continues to inform us wisely.
This is also well said.
bump
BUMP
Arkansas PING!
I am partly convinced that there are a number of reasons that the MSM is working so hard to undermine the USA's military efforts.
Partly, due to the fact that most "journalists" are pretty much politically left wing and opposed to most wars (as "Princess Ann" would say, the press opposes any war that is in the interests of the USA).
That for reasons that I've never understood, many fledgling journalists go into the profession "to make the world a better place." I thought that journalists were supposed to report the news, not be propagandists.
And that the MSM is enamoured with power. They remember that the MSM manipulations of the news caused the USA to lose a war (never mind the fact that they were also responsible for millions of deaths when the USA pulled out of Viet Nam), proving how powerful they were.
I think that this combination is what's causing the MSM to try to hide anything good that happens in Iraq.
Mark
needs to be sent to everyone at Fox....
Which reminds me, that POS Kevin Sites (the seditious embed reporter from Fallujah) hasn't posted one single word on his blog since Nov 21. He's also deleted all the discussion comments post-Nov 15 and also the commentary that got him in trouble.
I guess he's persona non grata in Iraq, and he'll probably never work with the U.S. military ever again.
Good. I wish the military would blackball all of these anti-American propagandists.
www.kevinsites.net
We need to get this out to the nonfreeper readers.
What, and this soldier thinks he knows more than Paul Krugman or Maureen Dowd? /sarc
An excellent letter.
I wonder (yeah sure) what the reporting would be If (scarey thought) we had a President sKerry, Clinton or Gore?
Needs to be sent to Coleman and the crew in Congress.. they need to take a big chill pill on Rummie!
And said by an Arkansasn!
God bless, Mike. Keep your head down and come home safe.
"And that the MSM is enamoured with power. They remember that the MSM manipulations of the news caused the USA to lose a war (never mind the fact that they were also responsible for millions of deaths when the USA pulled out of Viet Nam), proving how powerful they were."
Out of curiousity which of the wars, Vietnam or Iraq has the MSM written more negative news about?
They would be reporting about the homicide bombings in OUR country, as we wouldn't be in Afghanistan or Iraq. It would be open season in our country on us!!!
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