Freeper co-worker's son refuses another tour of duty in Iraq....

[Postman]

Freeper co-worker's son is active duty US Army Infantry. Served a tour of duty in Afghanistan after 9/11 then went to Iraq.

He's married now with a wife and two small children at home.

He told his superiors - "I don't care what you do to me, I'm not going back to Iraq"

His superiors are contemplating on giving him a discharge...


Maybe this is how the war can be brought to a quicker end?? Throw caution to the wind and just tell them - "I ain't going"

[BrklynLiberal]

1. "What if they gave a war and no one showed up?"

[annabanana]

3. you type faster than me

but we both remember

[BrklynLiberal]

12. Great minds........

:hi:

[Mr_Spock]

16. I love that expression

It's so true - ah, someday we will be so enlightened...

[silverweb]

21. Amen!

[annabanana]

2. ... what if they gave a war...

and nobody came?

[Hanover_Fist]

4. What if they

gave a war and nobody came.....?

[Hanover_Fist]

5. Gotta take a speed typing course........

[K8-EEE]

6. How's The Freeper Taking It?

Does this person actually WANT the son to go back to GWBs hellhole of a "liberation?" Fuck it! He went once, it's George P. Bush's turn, it's Jenna & Barb's turn.

[Postman]

8. Like every good brain dead freeper....

but maybe with his son telling him how f**ked up it is it might open some eyes.

[alcibiades_mystery]

23. I love the story from Michael Herr's great Vietnam memoir Dispatches

He's talking with some young GI, now deep in the war. The GI tells him something like this:

"My Dad barely said three words to me growing up. Then, when he found out I was going to war, he was all like 'You're doing a great thing son,' and 'That's so patriotic, son.' Now, when I get back home, it's gonna be all I can do to keep from killing that cocksucker."

I'm sure this is a truism of war more than we imagine, and a lot of Freeper dads are going to have to deal with that deep-seeded hatred that's born from the radical difference between their ivory tower conservatism and flesh and bone fragment of Baghdad, Ramadi, Haqliniyah, Mosul. They'll pretend it's not there, but it'll be there, alright. Herr's little vignette is just the 60's version of that same old tale, told in the following two poems by Wilfred Owen and Siegfried Sassoon, singing of that other catastrophic and useless war:

Parable of the Old Man and the Young
Wilfred Owen

So Abram rose, and clave the wood, and went,
And took the fire with him, and a knife.
And as they sojourned both of them together,
Issac, the first-born spake and said, My Father,
Behold the preparations, the fire and iron,
But where the lamb for this burnt offering?
Then Abram bound the youth with belts and straps,
And builded parapets and trenches there.
And stretched forth the knife to slay his son.
When lo! an angel called him out of heaven,
Saying, Lay not a hand upon the lad,
Neither do anything to him. Behold,
A ram, caught in a thicket by its horns;
Offer the Ram of Pride instead of him.
But the old man would not do so, but slew his son,
And half the seed of Europe, one by one.

The Fathers
by Siegfried Sassoon

SNUG at the club two fathers sat,
Gross, goggle-eyed, and full of chat.
One of them said: ‘My eldest lad
Writes cheery letters from Bagdad.
But Arthur’s getting all the fun 5
At Arras with his nine-inch gun.’

‘Yes,’ wheezed the other, ‘that’s the luck!
My boy’s quite broken-hearted, stuck
In England training all this year.
Still, if there’s truth in what we hear, 10
The Huns intend to ask for more
Before they bolt across the Rhine.’
I watched them toddle through the door—
These impotent old friends of mine.

[ignatius 2]

7. I wish the best for him..leaving a family to fight this "unholy"

war based on Bush's grand delusions would suck bigtime

[BillZBubb]

9. I hope he is arrested, convicted, and sentenced.

I have NO MERCY FOR FREEPERS WHO ENABLED THESE BASTARDS. They sowed the wind, now let them reap the whirlwind.

[Postman]

13. I agree, but can we afford to have that attitude?

n/t

[Skittles]

20. look what NOT having that attitude got us

can't get much worse than this

[Postman]

25. I understand but we have to embrace converts wherever we can.

n/t

[Skittles]

33. I'll embrace them

after I kick their ignorant ass

[Egalitariat]

14. You hope the father is arrested b/c the son won't go?

That doesn't seem right to me. Or do you want the son to be punished for the father's sins?

I think you should clarify.

[BillZBubb]

37. The son won't go, the son should be punished.

He enlisted. Am I assuming he at one time supported the Chimperor-absolutely.

[NNadir]

15. The soldier is not his Freeper parent.

I think the soldier is being courageous.

I have never been a soldier, and in fact went out of my way to avoid becoming one, but I am glad that this sort of thing is happening in the army.

The war is wrong, and if the people who fight the war also fight the war against the war, it will end.

[BillZBubb]

38. Did the soldier support invading Iraq?????

I would strongly suspect yes. If so, I have ZERO SYMPATHY for him. So, you think he is now courageous backing out of a fight he helped start? What about the poor saps still over there who didn't support it, but are now stuck? He's leaving them in the lurch.

You are assuming his motive is anti-war. It may well be family considerations, yet he still supports the criminal occupation.

[snippy]

31. I want to agree with you, but my soul will not let me.

I have no sympathy for the warmongers but those who come to their senses out of a sense of decency should be welcomed and given respect. It is a difficult thing to admit that you were wrong about something so important. If that is what this soldier has done, he not only needs to be welcomed, he also needs to be encouraged to spread his new found awareness among others. If he is acting from cowardice but still supports Bush, then fuck him.

[Ferret Annica]

10. He should say he'll go back if the Bushie girls join up and go

Jeb's kids too. They would have to curb the drinking and drugs, but that sounds like a sacrifice they are overdue in making anyway.

[rpannier]

11. Nice they'll support the war

but not go to defend their position.

[Skwmom]

17. I'm surprised that they would think about giving him a discharge.

If this was all it took, I'm sure there would be plenty of soldiers lining up to sign the discharge papers.

[Postman]

19. Well they either discharge him or he goes AWOL or they lock him up...

He said he didn't care what they did to him, he wasn't going back to Iraq.

If a soldier decides he isn't going to war and is willing to accept the consequences, there ain't much the Army can do to force him to fight.

[napi21]

27. Are you sure about that?

I'd sure like to hear from some military people here!

I thought if you disobeyed an order, which is what your "orders to report to duty in Iraq" ARE, the penalty was incarceration in a military prison!

The post didn't say if he was at the end of his enlistment term or not, and maybe that's the difference here, but I really don't think he can get away with just being discharged if he refuses his orders!

[DinahMoeHum]

18. That Freeper should offer to take that soldier's place in Iraq. . .

but then again, I'm asking too much from these candy-ass pantywaists.

:evilfrown:

[Postman]

22. Freeper dad is a Vietnam Vet.

and a Bush kool-aid drinker.

[CanuckAmok]

24. Phil Ochs............

Oh I marched to the battle of New Orleans
At the end of the early British war
The young land started growing
The young blood started flowing
But I ain't marchin' anymore

For I've killed my share of Indians
In a thousand different fights
I was there at the Little Big Horn
I heard many men lying I saw many more dying
But I ain't marchin' anymore

chorus)
It's always the old to lead us to the war
It's always the young to fall
Now look at all we've won with the saber and the gun
Tell me is it worth it all

For I stole California from the Mexican land
Fought in the bloody Civil War
Yes I even killed my brothers
And so many others But I ain't marchin' anymore

For I marched to the battles of the German trench
In a war that was bound to end all wars
Oh I must have killed a million men
And now they want me back again
But I ain't marchin' anymore

(chorus)

For I flew the final mission in the Japanese sky
Set off the mighty mushroom roar
When I saw the cities burning I knew that I was learning
That I ain't marchin' anymore

Now the labor leader's screamin'
when they close the missile plants,
United Fruit screams at the Cuban shore,
Call it "Peace" or call it "Treason,"
Call it "Love" or call it "Reason,"
But I ain't marchin' any more,
No I ain't marchin' any more

[Postman]

26. great song...

n/t

[Doctor_J]

28. Like Flagg said,

"First one guy refuses to fight, then another, then another. Pretty soon, you know what you've got?"

BJ: "Peace"

[EVDebs]

29. War Is A Racket by USMC Gen Smedley D. Butler

http://lexrex.com/enlightened/articles/warisaracket.htm

More teenagers should be reading this and doing some critical thinking. Also a good read is PBS's article on the Powell Doctrine at

www.pbs.org/newshour/extra/teachers/lessonplans/iraq/powelldoctrine_short.html

"Essentially, the Doctrine expresses that military action should be used only as a last resort and only if there is a clear risk to national security by the intended target; the force, when used, should be overwhelming and disproportionate to the force used by the enemy; there must be strong support for the campaign by the general public; and there must be a clear exit strategy from the conflict in which the military is engaged."

Powell is perhaps the most tragic figure in this whole charade. He knew better but went along for the ride anyway. Shame.

[Just Me]

30. I just hope you have the good grace to be supportive of his/her son.

That support could very well be the "bridge" to your "freeper" co-worker.

[Postman]

32. see response #25

n/t

[Mayberry Machiavelli]

34. So what does the freeper dad think about all this? Is he ashamed of

his son for possibly daring to disobey the emperor's orders?

[NNN0LHI]

35. Prolly feels like he has fulfilled his commitment

Bet he ain't the only one either.

Don

[benburch]

36. Bullshit. He needs to go back and die for Bush**

One less freeper.