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unusualmusic_lj_archiveQ: Let me go back to the Americans. Two-thirds of Americans say it's not worth fighting, and they're looking at the value gain versus the cost in American lives, certainly, and Iraqi lives.
THE VICE PRESIDENT: So?
From here
"The president carries the biggest burden, obviously," Cheney said. "He's the one who has to make the decision to commit young Americans, but we are fortunate to have a group of men and women, the all-volunteer force, who voluntarily put on the uniform and go in harm's way for the rest of us."
...
ABC: When you talk about an all volunteer force, some of these soldiers, airmen, marines have been on two, three, four, some of them more than that, deployments. Do you think when they volunteered, they had any idea that there would be so many deployments or stop-loss? Some of those who want to get out can't because of stop-loss.
VP: Well, my experience has been going back to my time as Secretary of Defense. Um, the all volunteer force is a tremendous national asset. A lot of men and women sign up because sometimes they all see developments, for example, 9-11 stimulated a lot of folks to volunteer for the military because they wanted to be involved in defending the country. And, I am struck continually as I make the rounds and visit with troops as I did on this trip by the caliber of people that are willing to do what they do.
...
ABC: You have to know how difficult these multiple--
VP: Of course, of course it is, Martha.--
ABC: --deployments are?
VP: So what would be the solution to that? I mean, how would you deal with that?
ABC: Well, I don't know. There are lots of plans out there.
VP: But--
ABC: But it certainly--
VP: But the fact of the matter is that we've got a say these remarkable folks that volunteer to serve that deploy over and over again, that reenlist. The other night after I decorated the young woman with the Silver Star, I reenlisted six soldiers on the spot who'd signed up for four more, for another four-year tour. In Afghanistan, after they'd been out there numerous times and were so committed that our reenlistment rates, for example, in the combat zones was higher than what we ordinarily get in peace time.
ABC: Okay, we won't go back and forth with the figures, but, but for instance, Captains, you lost a couple of thousand Captains who didn't reenlist because of deployments and because of these redeployments.
VP: Martha, I fundamentally believe that the force is in great shape, that the men and women who serve deserve the thanks of all of us as do their families who oftentimes bear a heavy, heavy burden. And I can't say enough good about them or their commitment or the repeated demonstrations of their loyalty and their honor to go participate in whatever they're called upon to do.
ABC NEWS interview
...
I think about how the Army is taking it's big green cock and sticking it in our ass. Someone please explain to me the sense in stop loss? 160,000 soldiers in Iraq and 10,000-some are stop lossed? Seven fucking percent. What. The. Fuck. Let me tell you something, America; I don't owe you SHIT. I've shed blood, sweat and tears for this country. And I'll continue to do so until the fucking idiot in charge decides to let me go on my merry way... but let's get one thing straight: I'm gunna be on expired time for thirteen months. I have friends who are already on expired time; they were supposed to be out of the Army a month ago, they're still here and we haven't even left yet. After I watch the day I'm supposed to get out pass me by on a calendar and go out on patrol the next day... I don't owe anybody anything. Nothing. I've paid my debt to king and country. Fuck you.
I think about whether my twelve month deployment that already got extended to fifteen months will get extended to eighteen months once they realize the US Army is BROKEN. You heard it here first, folks, from the horses mouth. We're fucking broken. And don't let anyone tell you different.
I think about how the Army is going to look in ten years because of the war. I could write an entire entry on it. It's not going to pretty. Stop loss policy ALONE can be blamed for half the problems we have. When people stop caring things get shitty real quick. A person can only take so much and I'm already reaching my breaking point. Out of my little generation of soldiers, the guys I came in with, went to war with, got promoted around the same time... I can't think of ONE SINGLE SOLDIER who is going to reenlist. I know guys who have been in for ten years plus and are getting out after this next deployment. Good soldiers are getting out of here as fast as they can and the NCO Corps is slowly being decimated. Because we all realize how ridiculous this lifestyle is, the war and everything else.
I think about how what's gunna happen if I get recalled out of civilian life to go back to the war. Guess what? I ain't coming back. I'll make up medical problems, I'll claim I'm all cracked out with post traumatic stress disorder, I'll start smoking pot, I'll leave the fucking country. I. WILL. NOT. GO. BACK. Believe me, it's a pretty shitty feeling to question your own patriotism. To know that if World War III broke out you'd desert.
The worst is when you have a really shitty day and everything builds up and when you get home after work you sit there and CRY. A twenty-four year old grown ass man crying his eyes out on average at least twice a month.
So there. There's your update. And if you don't like it, which I'm sure a lot of you won't, fuck off. I feel how I feel. I know what I've been through and where I've been in life and you can't take that away from me. You can't tell me my own thoughts aren't justifiable. Take it or leave it.
...
In the Army you’re expected to be the tough guy. You build your mental walls so as to never show weakness. My walls are slowly crumbling. And because of the stigma attached to it I’ll probably continue to suffer in silence rather than go to mental health.
...
Why don’t we just come out and say it? Why aren’t we honest? It’s not a volunteer Army anymore. Stop loss is the same thing as the draft.
...
The ignorance exhibited by the aforementioned higher ups in the military disgusts me. I’m not fighting the righteous fight to keep America free… I’m not going to kill a bunch of camel jockeys who hate us because we’re free … in reality I’m going to get blown the fuck up by an enemy I can’t see whose sole reason behind blowing me up is to get me out of his country. Then, because I’m aware of the fact that I’m still in Iraq after I was supposed to become a civilian, my scared-trigger-happy ass is going to kill twenty civilians because I can’t differentiate between them and the enemy. Finally, while John Murtha is prosecuting me for war crimes the family members of the people I killed will be plotting to blow up Fort Dix.
What the fuck do you want me to do, America? First you want me to fight the war, which entails killing people. Then when the wrong people get killed you want to send me to prison and make an example out of me so other soldiers will “fight more compassionately.” I’m not about to lie down and die in a third world country where no one gives a fuck about democracy, much less the other tribe of Hajis down the road. If I can help it no one is standing in my way of coming home. The only positive thing about stop loss is that I’m going to be a lot more lethal knowing that I’m on expired time.
...
From here
This is, of course, just one person. One person, damaged by the Iraq War, whom we will be sending back to get even more damaged, in a war that should never have been started.
One person, who is unlikely to get the proper medical treatment that he needs even if he does
survive the war.
Tell me, what have Dick Cheney and George Bush sacrificed? When the whole thing is said and done, after all, they will be able to walk away, unscathed, unmarked. The 30,000 soldiers wounded, the 4001 dead the immeasurable blow that has been dealt America's foreign relations, hell, the economic meltdown, none of this, will affect them. They are rich men with powerful connections. They'll be fine. Unlike the soldiers who are fighting in their name. Unlike the Iraqis, whose hundreds of thousands dead we have not accurately counted, and are rarely even mentioned on our news outlets. Unlike the Iraqis, their country devastated, now sliding almost irrevocably into civil war. And our leaders, the initiators, walk away. Once upon a time,leaders went to war at the head of their country's armies. But that was a long time ago.
THE VICE PRESIDENT: So?
From here
"The president carries the biggest burden, obviously," Cheney said. "He's the one who has to make the decision to commit young Americans, but we are fortunate to have a group of men and women, the all-volunteer force, who voluntarily put on the uniform and go in harm's way for the rest of us."
...
ABC: When you talk about an all volunteer force, some of these soldiers, airmen, marines have been on two, three, four, some of them more than that, deployments. Do you think when they volunteered, they had any idea that there would be so many deployments or stop-loss? Some of those who want to get out can't because of stop-loss.
VP: Well, my experience has been going back to my time as Secretary of Defense. Um, the all volunteer force is a tremendous national asset. A lot of men and women sign up because sometimes they all see developments, for example, 9-11 stimulated a lot of folks to volunteer for the military because they wanted to be involved in defending the country. And, I am struck continually as I make the rounds and visit with troops as I did on this trip by the caliber of people that are willing to do what they do.
...
ABC: You have to know how difficult these multiple--
VP: Of course, of course it is, Martha.--
ABC: --deployments are?
VP: So what would be the solution to that? I mean, how would you deal with that?
ABC: Well, I don't know. There are lots of plans out there.
VP: But--
ABC: But it certainly--
VP: But the fact of the matter is that we've got a say these remarkable folks that volunteer to serve that deploy over and over again, that reenlist. The other night after I decorated the young woman with the Silver Star, I reenlisted six soldiers on the spot who'd signed up for four more, for another four-year tour. In Afghanistan, after they'd been out there numerous times and were so committed that our reenlistment rates, for example, in the combat zones was higher than what we ordinarily get in peace time.
ABC: Okay, we won't go back and forth with the figures, but, but for instance, Captains, you lost a couple of thousand Captains who didn't reenlist because of deployments and because of these redeployments.
VP: Martha, I fundamentally believe that the force is in great shape, that the men and women who serve deserve the thanks of all of us as do their families who oftentimes bear a heavy, heavy burden. And I can't say enough good about them or their commitment or the repeated demonstrations of their loyalty and their honor to go participate in whatever they're called upon to do.
ABC NEWS interview
...
I think about how the Army is taking it's big green cock and sticking it in our ass. Someone please explain to me the sense in stop loss? 160,000 soldiers in Iraq and 10,000-some are stop lossed? Seven fucking percent. What. The. Fuck. Let me tell you something, America; I don't owe you SHIT. I've shed blood, sweat and tears for this country. And I'll continue to do so until the fucking idiot in charge decides to let me go on my merry way... but let's get one thing straight: I'm gunna be on expired time for thirteen months. I have friends who are already on expired time; they were supposed to be out of the Army a month ago, they're still here and we haven't even left yet. After I watch the day I'm supposed to get out pass me by on a calendar and go out on patrol the next day... I don't owe anybody anything. Nothing. I've paid my debt to king and country. Fuck you.
I think about whether my twelve month deployment that already got extended to fifteen months will get extended to eighteen months once they realize the US Army is BROKEN. You heard it here first, folks, from the horses mouth. We're fucking broken. And don't let anyone tell you different.
I think about how the Army is going to look in ten years because of the war. I could write an entire entry on it. It's not going to pretty. Stop loss policy ALONE can be blamed for half the problems we have. When people stop caring things get shitty real quick. A person can only take so much and I'm already reaching my breaking point. Out of my little generation of soldiers, the guys I came in with, went to war with, got promoted around the same time... I can't think of ONE SINGLE SOLDIER who is going to reenlist. I know guys who have been in for ten years plus and are getting out after this next deployment. Good soldiers are getting out of here as fast as they can and the NCO Corps is slowly being decimated. Because we all realize how ridiculous this lifestyle is, the war and everything else.
I think about how what's gunna happen if I get recalled out of civilian life to go back to the war. Guess what? I ain't coming back. I'll make up medical problems, I'll claim I'm all cracked out with post traumatic stress disorder, I'll start smoking pot, I'll leave the fucking country. I. WILL. NOT. GO. BACK. Believe me, it's a pretty shitty feeling to question your own patriotism. To know that if World War III broke out you'd desert.
The worst is when you have a really shitty day and everything builds up and when you get home after work you sit there and CRY. A twenty-four year old grown ass man crying his eyes out on average at least twice a month.
So there. There's your update. And if you don't like it, which I'm sure a lot of you won't, fuck off. I feel how I feel. I know what I've been through and where I've been in life and you can't take that away from me. You can't tell me my own thoughts aren't justifiable. Take it or leave it.
...
In the Army you’re expected to be the tough guy. You build your mental walls so as to never show weakness. My walls are slowly crumbling. And because of the stigma attached to it I’ll probably continue to suffer in silence rather than go to mental health.
...
Why don’t we just come out and say it? Why aren’t we honest? It’s not a volunteer Army anymore. Stop loss is the same thing as the draft.
...
The ignorance exhibited by the aforementioned higher ups in the military disgusts me. I’m not fighting the righteous fight to keep America free… I’m not going to kill a bunch of camel jockeys who hate us because we’re free … in reality I’m going to get blown the fuck up by an enemy I can’t see whose sole reason behind blowing me up is to get me out of his country. Then, because I’m aware of the fact that I’m still in Iraq after I was supposed to become a civilian, my scared-trigger-happy ass is going to kill twenty civilians because I can’t differentiate between them and the enemy. Finally, while John Murtha is prosecuting me for war crimes the family members of the people I killed will be plotting to blow up Fort Dix.
What the fuck do you want me to do, America? First you want me to fight the war, which entails killing people. Then when the wrong people get killed you want to send me to prison and make an example out of me so other soldiers will “fight more compassionately.” I’m not about to lie down and die in a third world country where no one gives a fuck about democracy, much less the other tribe of Hajis down the road. If I can help it no one is standing in my way of coming home. The only positive thing about stop loss is that I’m going to be a lot more lethal knowing that I’m on expired time.
...
From here
This is, of course, just one person. One person, damaged by the Iraq War, whom we will be sending back to get even more damaged, in a war that should never have been started.
One person, who is unlikely to get the proper medical treatment that he needs even if he does
survive the war.
Tell me, what have Dick Cheney and George Bush sacrificed? When the whole thing is said and done, after all, they will be able to walk away, unscathed, unmarked. The 30,000 soldiers wounded, the 4001 dead the immeasurable blow that has been dealt America's foreign relations, hell, the economic meltdown, none of this, will affect them. They are rich men with powerful connections. They'll be fine. Unlike the soldiers who are fighting in their name. Unlike the Iraqis, whose hundreds of thousands dead we have not accurately counted, and are rarely even mentioned on our news outlets. Unlike the Iraqis, their country devastated, now sliding almost irrevocably into civil war. And our leaders, the initiators, walk away. Once upon a time,leaders went to war at the head of their country's armies. But that was a long time ago.
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no subject
Date: 2008-03-27 12:58 pm (UTC)Basically he wants to live before he gets sent off to face the real possibility of his death at 23.
Fucking depressing.