Slain soldier had become disillusioned

[Algorem]

Source: Cleveland Plain Dealer

He said: 'It's just not worth what I'm going through'

Tuesday, June 05, 2007
John Caniglia
Plain Dealer Reporter

...On Friday, a sniper's bullet killed Horner, a 43-year-old Army sergeant, while he was on patrol south of Baghdad. The shooting came after the once-gung-ho soldier, who had served for 17 years in the Army, grew disillusioned with the fight in Iraq.

In his last phone calls to his family in Ohio, Horner talked about the troubles U.S. troops faced in a war-torn country filled with chaos and his role training inept Iraqi police officers.

"He said: 'It's just not worth what I'm going through. These guys are like a bunch of Cub Scouts. They have no concept of police work,' " Horner's father, Edward, said...

“He was starting to get fed up,” Douglas Horner said. “He was starting to realize that no one really wanted us there anymore, even the people we were trying to help. We had worn out our welcome. He was becoming disillusioned.”...



Read more: http://www.cleveland.com/news/plaindealer/index.ssf?/base/news/1181032287194430.xml&coll=2

[populist101]

1. Sad sad story...

I'm sure there's plenty more going through this horrible reality.

I just hope that more and more people are "disillusioned" and we can all bring this horrible war to an end now. It was illegal and immoral since the day it started.

The time for it to end is now, not next year - now.

some further reading if you're interested:

"Top-Ten Reasons to Get Out of Iraq. Now!"
http://www.populistamerica.com/top_ten_reasons_to_get_out_of_iraq_now

[sueh]

2. Bush. Cheney. Bastards. Thieves.

Stealing the lives of our men and women in the military. :cry:

[Barrett808]

7. Liars. War criminals.

Mass murderers.

[leQ]

3. what a sad story. i'm sure his son was not the only one who feels fed up.

i wish more soldiers, those who are complaining to their wives and loved ones in email and on the phone, go public with how they feel. maybe THEN congress would get a good sense of what is really happening in iraq.

[maggiegault]

4. Those soldiers have to be very wary of doing so, as a matter of life and death.

Those who complain and speak out can have vindictive commanders who assign the complainers the worst and most dangerous jobs.

This is according to my late brother, Andy (God, how can that be true? I still cannot believe it.).

[frogcycle]

9. maggie, I think of you every time I look at his face

which is every day.

What I nice-looking kid he was.

[maggiegault]

10. That means so much to me, you have no idea.

He had such a baby face. Andy was 28 years old when he was killed. Had a wife and two little ones, a daughter and a baby son who he barely knew.

And yet I cannot feel hatred or anger toward * or the rest of them. I wonder why that is. I guess because there is so much sadness in my heart, I simply do not have the room for hate.

[Ian David]

5. And thanks to Bush and the GOP, his vote wasn't counted. n/t

[yardwork]

6. He was 43 - seventeen years in the Army

The right-wing talking points are always that "Clinton blah blah blah..." but this man served during Clinton's two terms and didn't become disillusioned. No, this man, a career Army soldier, became disillusioned under a Republican president during a war started when the Republicans had a majority.

It's an awful waste of human life.

[frogcycle]

8. more and more of the newspaper accounts are saying this

they went in all gung-ho to make a difference, thought they were in a good vs. evil thing. They still personally mean well, but are stuck on a deathly treadmill. They can see it is going nowhere. Even if they DO disarm a bomb, or give a kid candy, or whatever small success they can accomplish one day, it is all for naught as another bomb is placed and kills that kid. Or their buddies.

And dammit, as this grinds on, I just know we are going to have more incidents of guys "losing it" and just making the whole damned thing even worse. They can only take so much. The drip drip drip of seeing death and destruction coupled with the lack of sincere effort by the Iraqis to do anything about it has to be overwhelmingly depressing, frustrating, demoralizing.

The drumbeat about people saying "bring them home" demoralizing them is so g-d infuriating. We know what is demoralizing them, and the ones who DO come home alive may not be good for much of anything for the rest of their lives

[Imagevision]

11. It doesn't seem that Pelosi and the new bunch are ineffective...