"Not Us. We’re Not Going."
Can you read this Army Times piece in the context of "The Dinner" without becoming enraged? Give it a try.
posted by The Cunning Realist at Monday, December 17, 2007
AN OASIS IN A WORLD OF HACKS, HUSTLERS, AND HIRED SPIN
posted by The Cunning Realist at Monday, December 17, 2007
11 Comments:
I'm not sure there's any context in which I could read that article and not be deeply troubled by the treatment of our soldiers, our military policy, our command structure, or our long-term prospects of psychological health as a society.
The only redeeming feature, as I said elsewhere, is that the mental health protections ultimately did work to bring at least this group of soldiers out of the situation with relatively little consequences (not none, I'm afraid, but a lot less than there could have been). There's still some heart left in the institution, when that can happen.
Unfortunately, we now have to send another bunch of decent, loyal folks back into that same situation....
My sister is a Staff Sergeant in the Army. She is an Iraq War Veteran. She is one of only a handful of women that served in a front line combat unit, against Army policy.
She survived a couple of roadside IED bombings. She was fortunate that her unit didn't have any casualties. (One soldier was murdered here in NY while on leave.)
However, my sister has been forever changed. She is not the same person she was before she went to Iraq. She has been officially diagnosed with PTSD by two psychiatrists.
And the Army wants to send her back. (F*#$ That!)
This article enraged me to the point that I could not finish it. I didn't even need to put it in the context of "The Dinner" post. (Great post there TCR! Let that war hungry putz go over there and fight!)
It's time to bring the boys, and girls, home!
The next march on Washington, I'm there!! Why does this feel like we're repeating history?
-Spider
P.S. To those interested, yes my sister is getting treatment and is starting to make improvements. She knows this is something she will have to learn to deal with for the rest of her life. And yes, we're fighting the redeployment. The diagnosis of PTSD will hopefully get her designated as a "disabled veteran." We just have to get that paperwork processed faster than the deployment paperwork.
In reading that article, I was impressed with the responsibility and professionalism of the soldiers. They knew their limits. They knew that if they went back out that they would be dangerous in their grief. They had the presence of mind to know that that meant they could not go back out. They made the right decision and dealt with the consequences. Very impressive.
Oh, and Glen Reynolds is a sack of shit.
Is it any wonder that a bunch of snotty-nosed kids who don't know s*** about s*** are easily lead around by the nose? I'm sure this snippet makes perfect sense to them ... or anybody who intentionally fails to grasp the seriousness of war and the actual sacrifices being made.
RUSH: The phony soldiers.
CALLER: Phony soldiers. If you talk to any real soldier and they're proud to serve, they want to be over in Iraq, they understand their sacrifice and they're willing to sacrifice for the country.
RUSH: They joined to be in Iraq.
Yeh after 17 days of straight getting blown up and firefights and eating maybe some crackers and a bottle of water everyday, all I wanted was a f#ckinng Burger on my 24 hours off at taji before going back to adhamiya. too bad I never got it huh. I hate that part of the article. she only put that becouse it showed that after connstantly getting shit on by luck. and after losing 14 of our friends we still were somewhat sane in a crude and numb sense of humor. oh by the way, Im Spc. Gerry Denardi. And if any of you put down or call anyone from my units cowards like some people do on the other blogs Ive read. then all I got to say is I didnt see you out there sucking with us so who gave you the right to judge.
oh and another thing. Thanks for the snobbiy kids comment. Yeh Ross cginnnis was a snobbby kid who jummp onn a hand gernade to save 3 others live who were twice his age. I geuss he was a snob right. How dare any of you degrad C 1-26. We didnnt want our stories to be put in papers.. We didnt go to the reporters,, they camme to us becouse they were hearing of a unnit,, that was stuck fighting "war". Were talking of everyday killing at least 30 innsurgents, hitting at least 2 IED's on each platoon a day. losing at least 1 soldier every 30 days, except on June 21st were we lost 5 in an hour. Were our WiA was 9 for ever 1 kia. All mostly got RTD'd (return to duty for all you non military faggots judging on this forum). Oh bby the way Charlie commpanny in 12 mmonnths in Adhamiyah captured more HVT's than any other unit inn the Iraq war, had more confirmed insurgent KIA than any other unit in the Iraq war, Found the most Caches, and unfortunatly had the most coalition KIA's. Not bad for only 98 guys in 12 months. Non of you have the right to judge us.
The the anonymous poster who says he's Spc. Gerry Denardi, (and am I taking that claim with a grain of salt.) I think the reference to the "snotty-nosed kid" comment is about the other blog post, that's linked to up above, that TCR made about the "Give War A Chance" lecture being made at the New England college. Those neo-con students cheering for war, but not jumping in and serving, are the snot-nosed kids who don't know S*** about S*** and are easily led around by anyone, not the soldiers mentioned in the other article.
You will find that practically NO ONE that comments on this blog says anything negative about the common soldiers serving in Iraq today. We recognize the sacrifices that they make. However, we all pretty much criticize the incredibly inept and corrupt leadership that have run this war. They have failed miserably in protecting our greatest asset, the lives of our men and woman who serve in our armed forces. Those in leadership have squandered their responsibility of stewardship. For that alone, many need to be impeached and brought to trial.
So before you say that "non(sp) of you have the right to judge us." please read through the entire blog and our comments before you make a judgment about us. (Judge not lest ye be judged yourself.) Again, you'll see we support the troops a whole lot. The idiots and criminals running the game, not so much.
However, my sister has been forever changed. She is not the same person she was before she went to Iraq. She has been officially diagnosed with PTSD by two psychiatrists.
I fully agree with your post.
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