The troops in Baghdad are only thinking about "life or death"...

[kentuck]

They aren't thinking about whether their mission is "honorable". They aren't thinking about what "we" think about the war. They are thinking about saving their own asses. Nothing like being shot at to focus your attention.

They aren't thinking about Bush or Kerry. They are there. That is their only reality. Their mission is to survive. When we wish to place blame on the troops, we should try to put ourselves in their boots. If we did, we would not have time to post on DU...

[ladjf]

1. I think that your comments about the troops attitudes.

You can count it, many of the ones who survive will come home with
mental problems acquired during their tours of duty. Those wounds will be as real as damaged arms and legs and possibly more difficult to deal with. They are regularly having experiences that no human should have and for no valid reason.

[kentuck]

2. I was in Vietnam in '68.....

I did not know who Eugene McCarthy was...When you are "there", you don't have a lot of time to focus on "here"...that's the reality of war.

[AllegroRondo]

3. Heard a similar story on NPR yesterday

they were talking with Marines in Falluja.

Many said they didn't even know what was going on in the rest of the city, they only knew about the few blocks they were in. All they were doing was trying to survive, and get their buddies home safe.

[kentuck]

5. That's it !

They are in their own little world.....bloody as it may be..There is no escape.

[CatBoreal]

4. My heart bleeds for these guys. /nt

[gratuitous]

6. Nuh uh!

Every time you make a post at DU, the baby Jesus cries, and another soldier in Iraq loses a point on his morale! The soldiers are vitally, personally interested in every facet and phase of the discussion back home, and everyone who isn't waving a flag for our star-spangled, freckle-faced, red white and true-blue military heroes might just as well put on a ghutra and head for Fallujah.

[ladjf]

7. Are you saying that it is unpatriotic to discuss whether or not

the Iraqi war should have happened? Are you saying that we are supporting our troops when we blindly follow the Presidents leadership? Perhaps I misunderstood your post.

[gratuitous]

9. Just repeating what the teevee tells me

Seriously, the post was meant sarcastically, in the vein of the bubbleheads who over and over try to convince the population at large that there is only one default position for "real" Americans to take in a time of an elective invasion of a country that didn't attack us and didn't have the wherewithal to do anything to us.

Sorry for the confusion. Carry on.

[ladjf]

10. I wasn't sure. Thanks for the clarification.

All of the founding fathers were clear that it was every citizen's duty to question the government's decisions, especially when they related to matters of war.

I live in Georgia. I saddens me to realize that a teacher who exactly shared Jefferson, Adams or Franklin's philosophical views would be disqualified from teaching in the public schools. Too radical.
We are definitely retrogressing back to the age of the Inquisition.

[kentuck]

11. No.

You can say whatever you want. The troops aren't listening. They have more important matters on their minds. You can call the CinC an asshole - it doesn't matter.

My point is that we should realize certain realities before we criticize the troops. That's all.

[alexisfree]

8. I don't want to be ...

in their boots....this f* lie to them...just the hole thing makes me sick!!:grr: