More Iraq Combat Soldier Questions

[geerair]

Spec. David Williams, 22. of Boston, Mass., had two note cards in his pocket Wednesday afternoon as he waited for Sen. Joseph Lieberman. Williams serves in the 82nd Airborne Division from Fort Bragg N.C., the first of the five "surge" brigades to arrive in Iraq.

The night before, 30 other soldiers crowded around him with questions for the Senator. He wrote them all down. At the top of the note card was the question he got from nearly every one of his fellow soldiers:

"When are we going to get out of here?"


Next to him Spec. Will Hedin, 21 of Chester, Conn. thought about what he was going to say.

"We're not making qany progress". Hedin said as he recalled a comrade who was shot by a sniper last week.

"It just seems we drive around and wait to get shot at."

Spec. Kevin Krasco, 20, of Medford, Mass. and Spec. Kevin Adams, 20, of Moosup, Conn. chimed in with their dismay before turning the conversation to baseball.

"Its like everything else in this war", Adams said, referring to Baghdad, 'It hasn't changed."

It isn't clear whether Williams mentioned the last line on his note card, the one that had a star next to it.

"We don't feel like we're making any progress", it said.



http://www.realcities.com/mld/krwashington/17300884.htm

[chillbilly]

It's the talking snake again. :rolleyes:

[whec720]

It's the talking snake again. :rolleyes:

Don't listen to him, chill. You might get kicked booted from the Garden of Eden.:D

[mrs reb77]

Iraq Councilman Says Battle Rages in Baghdad After Residents Rise Up Against al-Qaida
http://start.localnet.com/article.php?article=D8PFGHSO1.html

Snakes don't talk...they just hiss. Wiki says: Hiss: An onomatopoeia for a type of noise comparable to white noise, such as the release of air brakes. The noise is characteristic of some snakes and also commonly produced by cats and people with a lisp.

So, that snake makes a noise like air brakes or a cat or maybe a person with a lisp...;)

[coordinatesales]

As usual, Geer will post his story from 1 or 2 soldiers and everyone else will post countless more saying the opposite. With over a hundred thousand troops in Iraq of course there are going to be some that will agree with Geer but I think it's been shown many times here that more of them disagree with him. Geer just picks another hill to die on and the battle rages on.

[hvactech13]

After arguing this same type of post with geer multiple times all I can say is:

[geerair]

As usual, Geer will post his story from 1 or 2 soldiers and everyone else will post countless more saying the opposite. With over a hundred thousand troops in Iraq of course there are going to be some that will agree with Geer but I think it's been shown many times here that more of them disagree with him. Geer just picks another hill to die on and the battle rages on.Who is fighting on a hill?

I'm merely posting the words of Iraq combat soldiers as I doubt if the majority here, if left to their usual sources of information, would see these kinds of words.

[mrs reb77]

these kinds of words...
What, hacked up and out of context? No, we see those from you and the liberal hack media all the time, nothing new there.

[geerair]

these kinds of words...
What, hacked up and out of context? No, we see those from you and the liberal hack media all the time, nothing new there.There is a link to the story.


Paste the rest of it and let's see if their meaning changes.

[chucko615]

Gee geer why didn't you post something about that chick from CBS that got blown up last year. To hear her tell it, "there are bombs going off every hour". That's when I had to change the channel, because I knew it was going to be another anti-war story from CBS. If there were that many bombs going off, every media outlet would be all over it.

[chillbilly]

No one is disputing the fact that there are soldiers opposed to the war. Duh.
With 150,000 troops over there, it's a no-brainer.
Geer wants everyone to think that he is offering accounts that the people here aren't aware of.
What a crock of pompous sheyt.
If I was going to keep score, I'd at least want to have sufficient numbers to make my case credible.

[VetNutJim]

I'm sure Geer doesn't think he's saying anything people here don't know.

But, perhaps it is a mystery why people here won't acknowledge that they know it here.

[VetNutJim]

What a crock of pompous sheyt.
If I was going to keep score, I'd at least want to have sufficient numbers to make my case credible.

Right, so are you saying Geer should post EVERY soldiers viewpoint oposing the war right here on this little forum?
To make a statement like that TRULY IS a crock of pompous sheyt.
Have you no concept of a thing called 'representative government' and how that may relate to how many soldiers feelings are expressed by one single soldier?


Here. Here's a load of pompous chit for you:
Yes, the war is going fabalously. Progress is being made. Freedom is on the
move. We've turned the corner. The insurgents can't hold out much longer.
We've got to defeat them there or they'll follow us home. I'd rather fight them there than fight them here.
Anyone that doesn't support the war is un-American. You're either with 'us' or against 'us'.

What was the single most valuable strategy lesson we supposedly learned from Viet Nam?
Hint: It's the thing that makes THIS war eerily similar.

[geerair]

Gee geer why didn't you post something about that chick from CBS that got blown up last year. To hear her tell it, "there are bombs going off every hour". That's when I had to change the channel, because I knew it was going to be another anti-war story from CBS. If there were that many bombs going off, every media outlet would be all over it.Here is an anti-war story from We Report,You Decide: In Fallujah, a homicide bomber hit a police recruting center in Fallujah, killing as many as twenty five people, police said. May 31, 2007.

[VetNutJim]

Fallujah and Anbar Province seem to be the hotbed of insurgent activity.

The fanatical barstards WILL wait us out. Our man Bush has really gotten us into a situation like hanging onto an alligator's jaws. You REALLY want to turn loose but are afraid of what will happen when you do.

Put another way, remember the words of Colin Powell, 'If you break it, you've bought it'.
Looks like we've bought it to me.

But let's pretend to be good conservatives for a moment. 'Everything is going JUST FINE!'

[chillbilly]

Or you could be a faux liberal looking for a Mexican to train and another to cut your lawn so you can save money.

[geerair]

Fallujah and Anbar Province seem to be the hotbed of insurgent activity.

The fanatical barstards WILL wait us out. Our man Bush has really gotten us into a situation like hanging onto an alligator's jaws. You REALLY want to turn loose but are afraid of what will happen when you do.

Put another way, remember the words of Colin Powell, 'If you break it, you've bought it'.
Looks like we've bought it to me.

But let's pretend to be good conservatives for a moment. 'Everything is going JUST FINE!'Just fine? You damn it with faint praise.

Why everything in Iraq is simply superbjumbofantasticreallyreallyecstatically wonderful.

Why just recently the great El Delusion-O himself, Sen. John McCain declared Iraq safe for Sunday promenading and rug shopping.

Never mind that El Delusion-O happened to bring along a cohort of heavily armed soldiers, hovering attack heliocopters and snipers while modeling the latest in FLAK JACKET wear.

Yes, I believe that Disney is making plans to start construction on IslamDisney, on some acreage just outside the heavily fortified Green Zone.

The leading attraction being "Jihadists of the Babylon" complete with IEDs, snipers, suicide bombers, bloody sectarian civil war and for that lucky one millionth visitor, a fake turkey dinner served by the Architect of all this joy, Dear Leader himself, Dubya!!!!!!!!

[coordinatesales]

Yeah, Iraq is horrible. Bombs always going off, people afraid to leave their house.

Opps wait, that's not always true. http://justsooni.blogspot.com/2005/11/eid-photos-from-baghdad.html

Heres a more recent article about a zoo:
http://www.estripes.com/article.asp?section=104&article=46292

[geerair]

Yeah, Iraq is horrible. Bombs always going off, people afraid to leave their house.

Opps wait, that's not always true. http://justsooni.blogspot.com/2005/11/eid-photos-from-baghdad.html

Heres a more recent article about a zoo:
http://www.estripes.com/article.asp?section=104&article=46292Convinced me.

Baghdad is safe.

Time to bring our soldiers home.

[whec720]

Geer, you are so full of it. You don't give a damn about our soldiers. The end always justifies the means with you guys. Give up. You are convincing no one.

[mark42202]

Well, I guess it's a good thing the ones who are giving so much are willing to stand and fight, no matter their losses. Geer, you will never understand military lifestyles nor how actual soldiers think. I'm sure you would never admit it, but EVERYONE has had days when they've said "Man I hate this. I wish I was doing something else". You hope to gain some sort of credibility through these posts, but as was already stated, out of hundreds of thousands of soldiers, some are bound to be hating it over there. Here's an interesting story for you to read, though. It's about the soldiers who are truly giving their all and wanting to go BACK.


More Amputees Returning to Duty
Associated Press | May 31, 2007
SAN ANTONIO - In the blur of smoke and blood after a bomb blew up under his Humvee in Iraq, Sgt. Tawan Williamson looked down at his shredded leg and knew it could not be saved. His military career, though, pulled through.

Less than a year after the attack, Williamson is running again with a high-tech prosthetic leg and plans to take up a new assignment, probably by the fall, as an Army job counselor in Okinawa, Japan.

In an about-face by the Pentagon, the U.S. military is putting many more amputees back on active duty - even back into combat, in some cases.

Williamson, a 30-year-old who is missing his left leg below the knee and three toes on the other foot, acknowledged that some will be skeptical of a maimed Soldier back in uniform.

"But I let my job show for itself," he said. "At this point, I'm done proving. I just get out there and do it."

Previously, a Soldier who lost a limb almost automatically received a quick discharge, a disability check and an appointment with the Veterans Administration.

But since the start of the Iraq war, the military has begun holding on to amputees, treating them in rehab programs like the one here at Fort Sam Houston and promising to help them return to active duty if that is what they want.

"The mindset of our Army has changed, to the extent that we realize the importance of all our Soldiers and what they can contribute to our Army. Someone who loses a limb is still a very valuable asset," said Lt. Col. Kevin Arata, a spokesman for the Army's Human Resources Command at the Pentagon.

Also, just as advances in battlefield medicine have boosted survival rates among the wounded, better prosthetics and treatment regimens have improved amputees' ability to regain mobility.

So far, the Army has treated nearly 600 service members who have come back from Iraq or Afghanistan without an arm, leg, hand or foot. Thirty-one have gone back to active duty, and no one who asked to remain in the service has been discharged, Arata said.

Most of those who return to active duty are assigned to instructor or desk jobs away from combat. Only a few - the Army does not keep track of exactly how many - have returned to the war zone, and only at their insistence, Arata said.

To go back into the war zone, they have to prove they can do the job without putting themselves or others at risk.

One amputee who returned to combat in Iraq, Maj. David Rozelle, is now helping design the amputee program at Walter Reed Medical Center in Washington. He has counted seven other amputees who have lost at least part of a hand or foot and have gone back to combat in Iraq.

The 34-year-old said he felt duty-bound to return after losing his right foot to a land mine in Iraq.

"It sounds ridiculous, but you feel guilty that you're back home safe," he said. "Our country is engaged in a war. I felt it was my responsibility as a leader in the Army to continue."

Rozelle commanded a cavalry troop and conducted reconnaissance operations when he returned to Iraq, just as he had before the mine blast. Other amputees who have returned to combat, ranging from infantry grunts to special forces Soldiers, have conducted door-to-door searches, convoy operations and other missions in the field.

He said his emotions at the start of his second tour in Iraq, which lasted four months, were a lot like those during his first stint: "I was going back to war, so it was as heart-pounding as the first time."

Mark Heniser, who worked as a Navy therapist for 23 years before joining the amputee program at Fort Sam Houston in 2005, said both the military and the wounded benefit when amputees can be kept on active duty: The military retains the skills of experienced personnel, while the Soldiers can continue with their careers.

Staff Sgt. Nathan Reed, who lost his right leg a year ago in a car bombing, is 2 1/2 years from retirement and has orders to head in July to Fort Knox, where he expects to be an instructor.

"My whole plan was to do 20 years," said the 37-year-old Soldier. "I had no doubt that I would be able to go back on active duty."

Not everyone comes through treatment as rapidly or as well as Williamson, Reed and Rozelle. Some have more severe injuries or struggle harder with the losses, physically or emotionally. Soldiers who lose a limb early in their careers are more likely to want out. Those with long service are more motivated to stay, Heniser said.

Williamson did not want to return to combat, and it is not clear whether he could have met the physical qualifications anyway.

The military planned to discharge him on disability, but he appealed, hoping to become a drill instructor. The Army ruled that would be too physically demanding for Williamson, a human resources officer before being sent to lead convoys in Iraq, but it agreed to let him return to active duty in some other capacity.

He is regaining his strength and balance at the new $50 million (euro37 million) Center for the Intrepid, built to rehabilitate military amputees. A hurdler in high school, he ran the Army minimum of two miles for the first time in mid-May, managing a 10-minute-per-mile pace on his C-shaped prosthetic running leg decorated with blue flames.

He is working out five days a week - running, lifting weights and doing pool exercises - and just got his first ride on a wave machine used to improve balance.

"I could leave here today if they told me I had to," Williamson said.

http://www.military.com/NewsContent/0,13319,137597,00

[geerair]

Geer, you are so full of it. You don't give a damn about our soldiers. The end always justifies the means with you guys. Give up. You are convincing no one.Who is trying to convince?

I'm merely passing along Iraq combat soldier's words.

[chillbilly]

Who is trying to convince?

I'm merely passing along Iraq combat soldier's words.

No you're not.
You're merely passing along a soldier's words who you happen to want to hear from.
Haven't heard anything you've "passed along" which reflects the majority of our soldier's feelings and attitudes.

Why not stick to just "passing along" gas?
You're much more suited for that.

[chucko615]

Who is trying to convince?

I'm merely passing along Iraq combat soldier's words.



No you're not, you're pushing your anti-war agenda or otherwise you would post stories about guys that say "we're making a difference". Not one time have you shown both sides of the Iraq war.


I'm not saying that any war is a good thing, but sometimes you have to fight.

[geerair]

Well, I guess it's a good thing the ones who are giving so much are willing to stand and fight, no matter their losses. Geer, you will never understand military lifestyles nor how actual soldiers think. I'm sure you would never admit it, but EVERYONE has had days when they've said "Man I hate this. I wish I was doing something else". You hope to gain some sort of credibility through these posts, but as was already stated, out of hundreds of thousands of soldiers, some are bound to be hating it over there. Here's an interesting story for you to read, though. It's about the soldiers who are truly giving their all and wanting to go BACK.Already read the article. I admire their dedication.

Still does not alter the fact that there are a number of Iraq combat veterans who are questioning the war.

[geerair]

No you're not, you're pushing your anti-war agenda or otherwise you would post stories about guys that say "we're making a difference". Why Chuckie this whole board is one long infommercial about how wonderful the war is going in Iraq and isn't it just super that Bush let us in on all the fun.

See Chuckie, me posting stories about "guys making a difference" would just get lost in the shuffle.

I'm like FOX NEWS; Fair and Balanced. If it wasn't for me, you boys would not be aware that there even is another side to the Iraq story.

No Chuckie, the rah, rah war side is well represented here, we need to see the other side as well.










Not one time have you shown both sides of the Iraq war.Irony meter explodes.

[chucko615]

Irony meter explodes.

Still haven't seen one from you.........:confused:

[chillbilly]

greer;
You're a jaded idiot.
The conservatives on this forum have acknowledged that there are 2 sides to the story.
You're one of the only jackass holdouts that refuses to be "fair and balanced".
You're not an objective voice here, and everyone including you, knows it.

[mrs reb77]

He is NOT an objective voice but usually is an objected TO voice.