Bring our boys and girls home, the US troop situation

Sorry for the long lull. Anyways for the 30 second phone call story. Some have military experience, others have not, so I'll try to paint a scenario for you.

From the moment you arrive at the airport in San Antonio and go to the military processing center you are theirs. You see a room full of people easily hundreds, all sitting indian style, silent and facing forward. Its here when you start wondering what you go into. From there its a bus ride to Lackland where the processing starts. Lots of yelling, running with your bags off of the bus, stuff like that. You've been up nearly 30 hours straight at this point, and your getting yelled at by people you've met, and doing things wrong that you didn't know about. Lots and LOTS of yelling. This establishes the initial shock. Around the third day you have to call home and let your family / contact know that you have arrived and that you are ok. This is the 30 second phone call. Now I've heard stories about this from people I knew, but this didn't PERSONALLY happen to me.

They hand you a piece of paper that says EXACTLY what you were allowed to say. Something along the lines of "I have arrived and I am ok, here is my address, long military address to follow" ... All the time angry MTI'S (military training instructors) standing over your shoulder. People crying, being yelled at for crying. Its in this first week where they try to make you think "what did I get into?" ....

But all this is to mentally break you down so they can rebuilt you into an Airman. And its effective at that. If ya'll want some more insight, head on over to this site, http://www.piratecowboy.com/memoirs.htm . Thats my personal website (not security related mind you) And I wrote that on my bus ride out of basic training so I could remember what it was like later. Its a VERY long read, but if your interested whats its like now vs. then for some of you older folks, go ahead! Also anyone else thats just curious!

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They got a building down New York City, it's called Whitehall Street,
where you walk in, you get injected, inspected, detected, infected,
neglected and selected. I went down to get my physical examination one
day, and I walked in, I sat down, got good and drunk the night before, so
I looked and felt my best when I went in that morning.

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http://www.arlo.net/lyrics/alices.shtml

Hay guy's,

War is just politics by another means........(Von Clausvics)

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You can read letters from Soldiers who have served during the "War on Terror" here... Right from the horses mouth. They offer quite a differing opinion...

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I hear them talk about it every day. You can't go to Taco Bell or a pub around here and not hear their stories. I respect the guy as a filmaker but Moore singled out a few mama's boys to exploit for his viewpoint. Just this morning getting coffee two young guys were talking about how their trailer, whatever that was serving, was mortered after being there just two weeks. The common tour of duty around here is over a year. They never bashed the president or who they are or why they are there. Sure they are glad to be sipping some of the coffee fruit of capitolism as opposed to being back in the desert but I hear this stuff all the time living so close to a large base.

The only similarity to this "War on Terror" and Vietnam is the media and the left side of the political coin and their driven desire to LOSE at all cost. There is no other exuse for the common and constant barrage of negative and destructive commentary. They want us to believe they have the troops best interest at heart while feeding images and rhetoric of hatred across the globe placing them in more danger, making them feel used. The funny thing is they hate the military, but get up like puppets delivering sermon on the hill to the weak and poor who will listen to anything that promises false hope. They along with Mr. More exploit "boys and girls" to a level I have never seen before in my life.

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The only similarity to this "War on Terror" and Vietnam is the media and the left side of the political coin and their driven desire to LOSE at all cost.

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They don't desire you to lose, they desire you to not be there at all, to end the occupation of Iraq. The similarities being drawn are how the power of images of dead soldiers and the actaul face of war can shift public opinion, the advent of the digital camera means the military can no longer hide the realities of war, the torture, the death etc.

How can you lose when you already won? You are no longer fighting Saddam, that's long ago? The Iraqi people are mortoring US soldiers because they no longer want them there, you did them a favour, no go.

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There is no other exuse for the common and constant barrage of negative and destructive commentary.

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So they should lie to the public, not show the torture, pretend the Iraqi's many of them innocent are having a great time in US prisons? Some journalists have a conciensce, some have agenda but they all have a job, to report what is going on, what is going on in Iraq is that US soldies and innocent Iraws are dying.

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They want us to believe they have the troops best interest at heart while feeding images and rhetoric of hatred across the globe placing them in more danger, making them feel used.

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WMD's is rhetoric, this works both ways, and they are being used. The reason the US is there is that they have to get out of Saudi Arabia and need a new oil supply, hence Iraq. Soldiers are nothing more than pawns.

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The funny thing is they hate the military, but get up like puppets delivering sermon on the hill to the weak and poor who will listen to anything that promises false hope. They along with Mr. More exploit "boys and girls" to a level I have never seen before in my life.

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Are you telling me Bush has everybodys interests and freedom at heart, he never tells lies?

Bullshit.

List of countries in which the US has in the past been active in Installing puppet leaders, squashing of a coup , assasination of a leader, helping a coup against a leader, spreading of propaganda and trade blockades


WORLD WAR II 1941-45
Fought Axis forces for three years; first nuclear war, against Japan.

GREECE 1947-49
Supports and directs extreme right in civil war.

PHILIPPINES 1948-54
CIA directs war against leftist Huk Rebellion.

PUERTO RICO 1950
Nationalist insurrection challenges American occupation; US command operation puts down rebellion.

KOREAN WAR 1950-53
Joins South Korea and other allies to fight China and North Korea.

IRAN 1953
CIA directs overthrow of elected left-leaning government, installs Shah.

GUATEMALA 1954
CIA directs exile invasion and overthrow of leftist government; military junta installed.

LEBANON 1958
US occupation ends under UN Observer Group.

VIETNAM WAR 1960-75
Fought South Vietnam rebels and North Vietnam forces; 1-2 million killed.

CUBA 1961
CIA-directed "Bay of Pigs" invasion.

LAOS 1962
Green Berets active in training, military buildup, support of rightist forces during guerrilla war.

PANAMA 1964
Control of Panama Canal Zone challenged; rioting against US forces.

INDONESIA 1965
Army coup assisted to an unknown degree by CIA; left-leaning elected government toppled; between 250,000 to 1,000,000 lives lost.

DOMINICAN REPUBLIC 1965-66
Troops invade during election as pre-emptive action against leftist rebellion or communist government.

GUATEMALA 1966-67
Command operation; Green Berets aid in combat against leftist rebels.

CAMBODIA 1969-75
War against leftist forces; intense bombing; up to 2 million killed.

OMAN 1970
US directs Iranian invasion in support of Omani government against Marxist "Dhufar rebellion."

LAOS 1971-73
US directs South Vietnamese invasion.

CHILE 1973
CIA-backed coup ousts elected leftist president; rightist dictator installed.

ANGOLA 1976-92
CIA assists South African-backed rebels.

EL SALVADOR 1981-92
Advisors aid government forces against leftist rebels.

NICARAGUA 1981-90
US directs guerrilla exile invasion ("Contra war") against revolutionary government; US forces plant mines.

LEBANON 1982-84
Marines help police negotiated evacuation of Palestine Liberation Organization; US forces combat Muslim and Syrian fighters in support of Christian government.

HONDURAS 1983-89
Military bases established for US-backed "Contra war" with Nicaragua.

GRENADA 1983-84
US troops topple pro-Cuban government.

LIBYA 1986
Air strikes against nationalist government with terrorist links.

BOLIVIA 1986
Operation Blast Furnace; US troops and Bolivian police face peasant resistance in cocaine-producing regions.

IRAN 1987-88
Intervention on side of Iraq in war against Iran.

U.S. VIRGIN ISLANDS 1989
Troops restore order after civil unrest spurred by Hurricane Hugo.

PHILIPPINES 1989
Armed US aircraft support constitutional government against failed coup.

PANAMA 1989-90
Nationalist government ousted by 27,000 US soldiers; more than 2,000 people killed.

GULF WAR 1990-
Operation Desert Storm drives Iraq out of Kuwait; 200,000+ killed. No-fly zone ongoing; periodic bombing.

SOMALIA 1992-94
US-led United Nations occupation during civil war.

YUGOSLAVIA 1992-94
US troops in NATO operation to enforce sanctions against Serbia and Montenegro.

BOSNIA 1993-95
Operation Deny Flight patrols civil war no-fly zone; air combat, Serbs bombed.

HAITI 1994-96
Troops restore elected leftist president to office three years after coup.

CROATIA 1995
American and NATO forces attack Bosnian Serb airfields prior to Croatian offensive.

SUDAN 1998
Pharmaceutical factory with terrorist links bombed; retaliation for terrorist attacks on US embassies in Africa.

AFGHANISTAN 1998
Bombing of Islamic fundamentalist military camps; retaliation for terrorist attacks on US embassies in Africa.

YUGOSLAVIA 1999
US aircraft play the key role in heavy NATO air strikes against Serbian forces in Kosovo.

COLOMBIA 2000
Special Forces train anti-narcotics and anti-rebel battalions, supply combat aircraft.

MACEDONIA 2001
US forces in NATO's Operation Essential Harvest partially disarm Albanian rebels.

AFGHANISTAN 2001
In retaliation for terrorist attacks in US, forces attempt ouster of Afghanistan's Taliban government, attack bases linked to Islamic militant Osama bin Laden.

How can you lose when you already won?

Leaving now does everything you post against. Propping up leaders, helping fanatical groups gain power by choosing the wrong side. Restoring old regimes against the popular will of the people on and on. Leaving now loses everything gained. It loses the war, period. The country will fall into complete turmoil, the Israelis will move, the Iranians will move, as they are now. The Syrians will move, hell Egypt would probably even get in there along with the rest of Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries.

The power and the images of this “real” war, are biased. You don't show the power of a new hospital being built, the power of an Iraqi school girl giving a soldier guarding her path to school a flower, the power of a man having his head hacked off for contracting his service in Iraq is considered to much realism, even though the power of a dead soldier in a casket is groupie fodder. Why, because it pisses people off and rallies a little support for, versus against.

The power of gunshots flying out of a speeding ambulance is also too much. The power of a bunch of caskets in an airplane is nothing to me. How about getting real and showing the power of a dead soldier with a masked Iraqi/Iranian/Syrian standing over him kicking his body. If you want to get real let's show that and gauge public reaction even though pictures of 9/11 are too much to show because they “hurt” the families of victims, but it’s OK to show soldier caskets before family sees them. Hell let’s pull the lid off the biased coverage. In fact lets show a home movie of soldiers playing cards in a tent before it was shelled and the game ended abruptly. Let’s show the face of the enemy. I am all for your need to show the Power of War because I think you will achieve your ultimate goal that way. We win the war, provide security for a stable government based on their own constitution and WITHDRAW when they get it all together.

You forget one thing, it wasn't the media the published the picture or broke that story on the prison. It was the military. Those photos did not go to a media outlet the soldier had the conscience. He gave them to his superiors who said, WTF? This is bullshit. And the rest is history.