Mission whiplash for GIs in Iraq - my wife’s probably cheated on me

[dArKeR]

The U.S. soldiers at the 101st Airborne 1st Battalion’s base in Tall ‘Afar were in a grim mood. It was a week ago and the men were feeling angry and betrayed after a popular sergeant lost his leg to a rocket-propelled grenade in an ambush a night earlier. He was struggling for his life.

THE YOUNG specialist who drove the vehicle that was ambushed was standing against the wall, trying to balance his cardboard tray of chow while smoking a cigarette.
He seemed still mesmerized by the events he has experienced in the attack. “It was unreal sir,” he said. “Everybody did exactly what they were supposed to do. It was automatic.”
Yet, he admitted it was a frightening experience, one that thousands of American troops deployed in Iraq have become increasingly familiar with due to a steady rise in insurgent attacks.
More than 140 soldiers have now died in fighting in Iraq since May 1, the day President Bush declared an end to major combat after the ouster of Saddam Hussein.
“Well sir, it’s been a rough deployment,” said the soldier, speaking on condition of anonymity. “This then the stuff at home — my wife’s probably cheated on me 15 times,” he said, shaking his head and takes a long drag from the stub of his cigarette.

http://msnbc.com/news/990028.asp?0cv=CB10

[neuvocat]

1. Half the troops married in Iraq War I

ended up being separated and/or divorced when they came back.

[Muddleoftheroad]

3. Cite

Do you have a cite for that?

[newyorican]

12. doesn't need a cite...

50% of all marriages end in divorce in the US.

[Muddleoftheroad]

15. But not in that space of time

nt

[Noordam]

2. In Vietnam sex was $3-$5 and I know of only ONE

married man that did not cheat in the year.

I do not know if whores are available in Iraq but I would guess so. So cheating is a two way street.

[dArKeR]

5. Obviously you'd never see this discussed on Rat Robertson's 700 Satans

Club or any other American media. Lucky we have the DU.

I proclaim here and now by fact of all that I believe and (I'm about 99% confident), Not one soldier in Iraq and not one spouse or girlfriend back home will go the length apart without having some kind of sex. Male/Male, Male/Female, Female/Female, Self/Self.

My friend was in the Vietnam War and he said there were girls everywhere to make love to. Even on the patrols. You didn't need to wait to get back to your base. Didn't need to wait for RR. The girls were just surving since there wasn't an economy anymore. As I could say most all of us would eventualy do to for food or to buy medicine for your children.

There I said the truth now will I get fired?

[clemencia2us]

9. kuwait

I was in Kuwait for 5 months - Air Force. There were 2 married couples there. Of course they could not live together, but they managed to find time alone. The 1st Sgt also told us of finding "love nests" in the bunkers. It was weird to see young people couple up and walk around holding hands. We had a contractor working with us that had a girlfriend in Kuwait City, but he said that was rare, since most of the unmarried women tend to live at home until they marry.

[Gin]

13. Does self/self count? That's not cheating.

gin

[Skittles]

10. whores.....................nice

and what do you call the sick bastards who use women as semen receptacles???

[Nlighten1]

4. Your wife probably cheated on you before you went to Iraq dude.

It is one of the saddest things about military life. Time and again I saw troops at the railhead loading up vehicles to go to the field and that night their wives are out in the clubs. Go to PLDC for a month come back and the wife is pregnant...seen it so many times...

[Wednesdays]

6. I wonder if a lot of them will get "Dear John" letters

like a lot of the GIs received during World War II? Although in this case, some of them would be "Dear Jane" letters.

[Jaybird]

7. my wifes supervisor...

at the chrysler plant has a hubby over in iraqnam an has been very openly having an affair with one of her co-workers. It makes me sick

[booksenkatz]

8. I'll blame just about anything on Iraqnam except this

A marriage that isn't strong enough to withstand separation is going to go under sooner or later for some other reason, some other trauma or stress. You either have cheating in your character makeup or you don't, and if you do, don't get married. Whatever happened to commitment? And who ever said marriage is easy? It's not, it's very hard work.

Sorry to be so old fashioned, but my 20-year marriage has sustained an amazing array of assaults over the years, and we're happier than we've ever been.

[Brucey]

11. Congratulations on your sustaining marriage.

It is great! However, don't judge others by your experience. If we knew the reciped for a true relationship we could pass it out to everyone. You have committed what psychologists call "fundamental attribution error." Most people in the US underestimate the importance of situations and overestimate the influence of character and personality. Tons of studies in social psychology show that human behavior is immensely influenced by the circumstances, exceedingly more than people predict or realize. That is why when people do odd things everyone says, "I just can't believe it; I never would have known; he seemed so nice; etc." Situations are powerful influences on behavior... once we recognize that we can use it to our advantage by controlling factors in the situation that will encourage good behavior. Anyway, congrats to you and your spouse for being successful.

[GinaMaria]

14. sooner or later

A marriage that isn't strong enough to withstand separation is going to go under sooner or later for some other reason

If there are already problems in the marrieage, a separation without an end date, will act as a catalyst, imo. My guess is the marriage will go under sooner not later. There are lots traumas that can occur in marriages that can accelerate the break up of a marriage that would have broken up at some point down the road.

That 50% of marriages end in divorce stat makes me wonder. Is it as bad as it sounds? Is it possible that people who have been divorced, tend to remarry and divorce again, adding to the numbers in the stats? Just a thought.

Still, I'll take the 50/50 odds. And do my best to be in the 50% that last.

[TahitiNut]

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