Returning from Iraq War Not so Simple for Soldiers

[kskiska]

(snip)

Now they are home, but homecoming is not simple and frustrations remain. Cpl. Keith D. Dries went out with friends in Savannah and discovered, as he put it, "I can't stand crowds." Capt. James R. Lockridge, an easy-mannered combat engineer, said he found it hard to communicate with his wife.

(snip)

"It's not easy," Staff Sgt. Jennifer M. Raichle, an intelligence analyst, said as she drank beer with two other soldiers in her house in Hinesville the other night. "We have no patience for anybody."

Her parents, from Enterprise, Ala., redecorated her house in Hinesville and planted a "Welcome Home" sign in her yard, but she postponed a trip home now that the troops have been given leave.

"Don't get me wrong," she said. "I love my family to death and I appreciate what they've done, but you just need time to be away from people."

The Army knows that. Having trained the soldiers to fight, it is now undertaking its greatest effort ever to ease their return to "civilian" life.

more…
http://www.nytimes.com/2003/09/12/international/middleeast/12TROO.html?hp

[Craig Roberts]

1. interesting

The ramifications of this war are many and will be felt for a long time.

One has to wonder how different it would have been had the war been conducted by people who had a clue. The removal of Hussein was long overdue, but anybody who plotted to remove him should have had a well-thought-out plan in place as to how he was going to handle the post-war situation. Hussein's brutal, totalitarian oppression was the only thing holding that artificial state together. Now that he is gone, there will be years of bloody chaos as the irreconcilable components of Iraqi society fight to define their place in the post-Saddam world.

But the chickenhawks got their chance to play G.I. Joe. Praise Jesus.

The most painful part of all of this is that we liberals were not "supporting our troops" when we protested the war, but the conservatives were supporting them by being so eager to send them into Iraq. The painful part is that I think most of the troops feel we betrayed them by protesting the war. Fucking Republicans. They know how to play us against each other, don't they?

[Sliverofhope]

2. My cousin got back from over there

She was given a 2-week "decompression" period, because the army has been worried about soldiers coming back and killing their families and themselves, as what happened after Afghanistan. This is an interesting tidbit I meant to share earlier but haven't. Those interested might want to tell others.

[frank frankly]

4. please, more information on this

Do you have any details of this decompression period?

This is a big story.

SUPPORT OUR TROOPS--SAVE THEM FROM THE BFEE

[TeeYiYi]

8. Link to a good article on decompression . . .

http://www.dix.army.mil/PAO/post03/post052303/Decompression.htm

TYY

[PartyPooper]

3. Junior should invite all returning soldiers to Crawford.

Maybe, they can all 'decompress" poolside with Pickles and the Chimp...whilst discussing the fight on global terra.

sarcasm/

:-(

[kskiska]

6. As long as they don't use the toilets.

Port-a-lets will be provided.

[qanda]

5. Wasn't there supposed to be a ticker tape parade in NYC

for the returning troops? What ever happened to that idea?

[kskiska]

7. I've been wondering that, too, pbl

They came within a inch of holding that "Victory Parade." Bloomberg made the offer. I guess we haven't had enough returning troops to hold a parade, and many of the ones who have returned are unable to march in a parade.

[this_side_up]

9. I worry about all these

military people when they are told they have to go back
there. Iraq is their new lifestyle.

[InkAddict]

10. I'm sure they'll get all the help they need,

In fact, I hear that hypnosis can be very effective in suppressing pain. Yep, a little additional mind-control will help our maimed soldiers sort out their emotions and PTSD and help them find fulfilling civilian employment so they can avoid the harrassment of Jody, the call-center "military" collector in New Delhi.

And just who will help the "guilty" Combat Stress folks? That is once they come home and are forced to listen to and treat the "sniffling civilian whiners" in their cushy little "just a little bit country" private practice suites. You know the ones the compassionate conservative shrinks forced to pay off their school loans by sleeping through those insurance-backed sessions: those ungrateful civilians who had their livihoods massacred in the name of this QUAGMIRE for corporate profit, the Viet-Nam era vets nearing the close of their careers who have been systematically over the last 25 years eliminated from any sort of self-reliant American retirement.

If I hear "pull yourself up by your own bootstraps" one more time...my advice to the psychotechs: be careful what you wish for; perhaps you're just as disposable - What country were you liberating next?

POINT AND SHOOT! It's a Kodak Moment:
http://federalvoice.dscc.dla.mil/federalvoice/020130/reunion.html

VALIDATE AND DISTRACT - (while your portfolio grows!)
http://www.vnh.org/FM22-51/CSCTOC.html

AGAIN, HOW DO THESE "doctors" SLEEP AT NIGHT :grr:

[teryang]

12. Great link

I liked this line:

<Stress debriefing is NOT therapy or counseling. It is basic, wine (?) PREVENTIVE MAINTENANCE for the human mind, like cleaning and oiling a machine gun after using it in battle through a desert sand storm. >

[dArKeR]

11. They're going on their second tour soon. I bet new recruits has dropped to

nothing. Has anyone seen stats on it? I bet they're hiding or lying about new recruit stats.

[saigon68]

13. WE NEED TO COUNSEL ALL YOUTH NOT TO JOIN THE MILITARY

I have had some success showing pictures of men in wheel chairs, and men with arms blown off.

"Born on the 4th of July", is a powerful movie that everyyoung person needs to see.( especially the part of how the Govt treats you when you come back)

I tell them this is a War for Oil and Profit to the ruling class.

The recruiters don't know how to answer the one about war and profit, they appear to be focusing their efforts on the few psychopathic bullies who will be encouraged to machine gun the rag heads.(ie terrorists)

Who are according to the CHIMPANZE "Anyone not WITH US is against us."

Disgusting, pathetic, etc. etc.