I make sure that the USO gets a good chunk! I spent a lot of time there!
Would you rather be with these guys, wondering if it will explode?
Posted on 02/15/2005 8:52:58 PM PST by nickcarraway
Meet Corporal John Quinones, whose family I brought out to L.A. for a little vacation a few weeks ago. He was home on leave from nineteen months in Iraq after six months in Afghanistan. He's 25 years old. He was in the reserves, but he signed up for the Regular Army after 9/11. "I wanted to go to war against those people," he said.
With him came his wife, Yenncy, holding their one-year daughter Samantha. She doesn't really know her father because he's been away fighting in Iraq for the whole time she has been alive except for one week when she was born.
Yenncy also cares for their two year old, Chris, who also barely knows his father because his father has been fighting for our children, whom he does not even know. His standard day involved working with a unit of the Iraqi National Guard to go out on patrols. He says the ones who believe in a free Iraq are among the bravest men he has ever worked with. "They don't even look for cover when the shooting starts," he says. "They just shoot it out until either they or the bad guys are dead." Out of the ten best ones in the unit, all ten have been murdered by the terrorists.
Tears came to his eyes when he told me that.
He goes out on patrol carrying a short barrel assault rifle called an M-4, a M-79 rocket launcher with high explosive rounds, a Glock pistol, and an AK-47 plated in silver he took from one of Saddam's palaces and which he will leave in Iraq. He wears almost 100 pounds of body armor in 140 degree heat. His unit is attacked with roadside bombs almost every day, hit with rocket-propelled grenades almost every day, often shelled with mortars. They go on raids in the middle of the night driving with lights out and night vision goggles, exchanging tracer fire with insurgents. His Bradley was hit with a RPG about two weeks ago. He only survived because his B-240 machine gun took the brunt of the explosion.
He says that when mortars hit or an IED goes off, "I don't think, I just do." He loves the Army and wants to stay in his whole career if he can.
His wife cries when she hears him talk about going back to Iraq after his leave, which he did on February 5.
For what he does, he gets paid $1,900 a month, which includes combat pay. He doesn't have any credit cards or a computer. He told me confidentially that when he gets up in a tree and spots terrorists laying a roadside bomb and lights them up with his B-240, he feels as if he's earning his pay. His wife cries at that, too.
What did you do today?
Ben Stein definitely has a way with words.
ProudPatriots.org, americasupportsyou.com, defendamerica.mil, for starters.
Oh, and helped get intel software into the hands of the guys using it over there.
what did you do today?
i played 45 holes of golf, came to work on second shift
(10 hour days)
then most of all .....................
i CRIED when i read this post.
G-D love them all.
.
NEVER FORGET
"American Soldiers...
Fighting for the...
Freedom of others,
Those that train them and...
Their loved ones who...
Wait for them to come home...
Or not...
Are...
......H-O-L-Y...!!!"
...states "ALOHA RONNIE" Guyer
Veteran-"WE WERE SOLDIERS" Battle of IA DRANG-1965
http://www.WeWereSoldiers.com
http://www.lzxray.com/guyer_set1.htm
nice!!
A Garry Owen Hooahh!
My day was sh!t. Couldn't a Communist or Islamofascist kill.
My luck might change tomorrow.
God Bless this generation of American fighting men.
Ben Stein has my admiration for the integrity he has so eloquently displayed. The corporal and his family have my unending admiration and support. The courage and dedication that they engender is always amazing. Thankfully, Ben was able to gift them with this little respit. It meant more to this family than most could know.
I belong to a support group that rallies for the troops twice a week. We were elated when one of the Marines we support, Lance Corporal Jason Bond, was given a surprise two week leave at Christmas. They tapped him on the shoulder while he was engaged in a firefight in Fallujah! The group took Jason, and two others that we know, Mike and Joe, out for dinner to "thank" them. Mike and Joe are redeploying currently. The wait staff, and other dinners were very appreciative of their service. Jason's and Mike's families participate in our rallies, and they couldn't have been more please. Jason's mom said that he was greated like a rock star at Los Angeles International Airport! People wanted to hug him, kiss or shake his hand, and that it really took him awhile to make his way through the well-wishers! This after the captain of the plane, announced to Jason's fellow passengers, who he was and what was happening. Although they pretty well knew it by now, since he was still in his Iraq dusted BDs, and they had been querying him. He was allowed to depart first, and the entire plane stood up to acknowledge him!!!!
It was, of course, sad to see him leave, but the bolstering that he was given by those who truely understand, will ease the hardships of war, just a bit.
God bless the troops, their families, and Ben Stein!
Good post. Thanks.
Correction - once deployed his BAS stops & you are assuming he lives off post, if he has gov't quarters he does not receive BAH. So, deduct those two & our buddy Ben, is not far off the mark.
Wrong BAS does not stop on deployment-I know that for a solid fact (as a point of fact we just got a raise of about $15 a month is subsistence allowance in January). And even if he is living on post that is another expense that his family does not have to meet out of his paycheck which Stein neglects to mention. Besides his other pays add up to around $2200 a month. That's a long way from $1900.
Just checked my LES for 15 February through mypay and there was $133.59 under line D for subsistence allowance (half a month). I am an activated reservist, it may be different for regulars (don't know why it would though).
I make sure that the USO gets a good chunk! I spent a lot of time there!
Would you rather be with these guys, wondering if it will explode?
Ping
No, you would probably not be in the picture, as a medic! I read what you posted, and all I saw was spite.
Ben Stein made a small error. You tried to make it into a big one. His posting was valid, not necessarily for accuracy of its content, but the accuracy of HIS HEART!
I am not denigrating your post, as much as you seem intent on making his seem less that what it is...
Bump for Ben Stein! and thank you for your service (USN-R 1966-68 active, 3 WesPacs)
Or he could be telling Ben his take-home pay is 1900 (after taxes) I believe it is horrible that we take taxes from their pay anyway, I know combat pay is not taxed, but still - they of all people should get a break
I believe it is horrible that we take taxes from their pay anyway...
Agreed.
When you stuck your big nose in and asked whether I would rather be "with these guys" you were inferring that I had no right to question (and BTW big mouth Army medics usually get a lot closer to the action than tin can sailors). I can't brag about any purple heart like you, but I'm not going to take any grief about pointing out an error.
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