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It's on the Breaking News Sidebar
Posted on 07/17/2003 1:35:20 AM PDT by kattracks
WASHINGTON - The military will punish demoralized soldiers in Iraq who are bluntly venting their frustration to reporters, the Pentagon said yesterday."None of us that wear this uniform are free to say anything disparaging about the secretary of defense or the President of the United States," said Gen. John Abizaid, head of Central Command. "We're not free to do that. It's our professional code. Whatever action may be taken, whether it's a verbal reprimand or something more stringent, is up the commanders on the scene."
This week's abrupt cancellation of homecoming plans for the Army's 3rd Infantry Division unleashed a remarkable and widespread flood of fury from troops who are hot, homesick and hunted by guerrillas.
"If Donald Rumsfeld was here, I'd ask him for his resignation," Spec. Clinton Deitz of the 3rd Infantry's 2nd Brigade told ABC News.
"I've got my own 'Most Wanted' list," said a 2nd Brigade sergeant. "The aces in my deck are Paul Bremer, Donald Rumsfeld, George Bush and Paul Wolfowitz."
Many soldiers are openly asking why they are in a country that wants them out. They complain that their commanders have gone home. Frustration with the powers in Washington is a main theme.
"I can guarantee you they've never stood out in a checkpoint in the heat of the day, day after day, full battle rattle, always wondering if today's the day somebody's going to shoot me. Do they even care?" one soldier told a Knight Ridder reporter.
The 2nd Brigade, in the Persian Gulf since September, had been told it would be home by May, then July, then August. When the announcement came that the deployment was being extended until at least September and maybe beyond, "you could hear a pin drop," said Sgt. 1st Class Eric Wright of the 64th Armored Regiment.
The Code of Military Justice bars officers from using "contemptuous words" against civilian or military leaders. Punishment is rarely stringent, said military law expert Eugene Fidell.
"People always grumble in the trenches," he said. "Typically, administrations are extremely well advised not to throw gasoline on the fire by creating martyrs."
The White House took no public offense at the soldiers' gripes. "We know that they are making significant sacrifices," said spokesman Scott McClellan. "We are going to do everything we can to support them and get them home as soon as we can."
Originally published on July 17, 2003
No honey, they probably haven't but hundreds of thousands of kids just like you stood in the steamy jungle heat of Vietnam for many months. Only they didn't have "full battle rattle" and that's why many of them, including my husband, are dead and you are alive. You're not the first kid to go to war your mouth is bringing dishonor not just to you but to all those who went before you. When you come home, you should find something else to do.
Complaining about your own president. Your own civilian leaders in the theatre of war. For the whole world to see and hear. Then begging to go home.
Obviously these soldiers aren't in Northern or Southern Iraq. Do these soldiers know what happens if they leave now when there is no military/full police force or govt set up in this country?
How soon do they want to come back and fight another war?
We will stay until that pit of vipers (aka middle east) is flushed out and squeaky clean.
Then the world will have no choice but to fear (if not respect) the USA.
BUMP
"If Donald Rumsfeld was here, I'd ask him for his resignation," Spec. Clinton Deitz
And I also couldn't help but see Spec. Deitz name is Clinton.
That's true, but a good bit of the blame rests with the Army itself. In the constant efforts to recruit and retain their members, they have put a lot of emphasis into Quality of Life issues for soldiers, to include providing Child Development Centers on post (this was a big issue 10-15 years ago thanks to the constantly constipated Pat Schroeder), not requiring soldiers of any rank to live in the barracks on the post (used to be, E4 and below had to live in the barracks and were discouraged from having cars), to increasing their pay to make it easier for young married soldiers to live in family housing (on or off post), etc. Unit dining facilities are used less and less, as soldiers now have cars and can either drive off-post or eat in the BK on post; the club system is nearly dead because it cannot make money, because soldiers have cars and drive off-post for entertainment.
The result is manyfold: not only are soldiers becoming more and more distant from the installations and the Army itself (as you pointed out), there is a loss of unit cohesion; barracks and unit mess halls are not just places for troops to sleep and eat, they are ways to get troops to live together and become a unit (and not an "Army of One"). Having the soldiers spend their off-duty hours on-post was a way to keep them out of trouble off-post, too.
The loss of what I call the "military culture", perhaps (over?)romanticized in John Wayne movies, seems in many ways to be a thing of the past. Two years ago I had the opportunity to have a lovely Sunday brunch in the Officer's Club on Schofield Barracks; a year later I was back, and the place had closed. A piece of Americana and militaria that is dying.
Oh well, sorry for the rant...
Wow, wow, wow. I can't believe I'm reading this.
My father, now 83, was in the 34th Division during WW II, which holds the Army record of 517 consecutive days in combat during World War II as part of the North African and Italian campaigns. That stint included months in North Africa before the days of air conditioning.
How soon we forget history and think that everything we do is the ne plus ultra of human existance.
Jack
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