A SOLDIER SPEAKS OUT (LTTE)

[CottonBear]

I know that most voters already hold a firm decision on who they are voting for in the upcoming election. Reasoning behind their decisions stems from many sources, but I personally feel like some of these decisions are supported exclusively on preset notions without consideration for current circumstances. Maybe this election holds a larger impact for me personally than it would for someone else my age. This personal impact comes because the President's decisions have affected my life directly.

First, let me make it completely clear that I hold no political affiliation. I claim to be neither Republican nor Democrat. I do not feel like elections should be based solely on the support of your party's candidate, but instead on candidates' personal records of achievement. In the 2000 election, I voted for President Bush. I do not regret this decision, but I do regret the mistakes that he and his administration have made with the war following September 11, 2001.

I joined the U.S. Army while I was still in high school and graduated from training at Ft. Jackson, SC on September 11, 2001. In the three years following, I served on an eight-month deployment to Bosnia, directly followed by over a year in Iraq. I was there the day the war started. Memories of events that occurred during this deployment will haunt me for the rest of my life. I am still dealing with the memories remaining from my service overseas, and sometimes it takes a lot for me not to hold a biased opinion on certain subjects. That is one reason I tend not to speak out when it comes to the subject of the war, because I prefer to gain a perspective of how everyday citizens see this war. While I was in Iraq, I did not know what was going on back here in America. I did not know if I would make it home, and if I did, if I'd be hated or supported for what I was doing there. Luckily, American citizens chose not to hate the soldiers for fighting in Iraq, but instead they condemned the war itself.

The stress that fighting in Iraq placed on me is sometimes upsetting, and I now live in a world that most people my age cannot imagine. I see everything in life from new perspectives after being in the war. I get angered at people's self-centeredness and ideas that the most important thing in their lives is what team won the football game. I am just thankful to be home again and finally have the luxuries of spending time with my family, friends, and even being able to take daily showers and have trees to look at. There are many simple things in life that people tend to take for granted and don't appreciate until they are taken away. I wake up every day not knowing if I'll receive another phone call to return to Iraq and be forced again to place my life on hold by carrying out my mission as a soldier (even when that mission is dictated by someone who's never been to war).

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Don't get me wrong; I am a soldier and I support the safety and protection of our country whenever my services are required. I would leave tomorrow if needed to fight again for our country, but I refuse to fight people that are no threat to America. Something that soldiers need and didn't receive from President Bush is the trust that our services will only be rendered when absolutely necessary. He broke this trust! We support our Commander in Chief, whoever he may be, but we also seek to trust him by knowing that what we are fighting for will benefit America's security. President Bush has lost my trust and that of many other military members by sending us to fight an unjustified war.

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<http://fairmountfair.com/flagpole/weekly/articles.php?fp=4624>


This is a powerful letter written by a soldier from my city who has recently returned from Iraq.

[Qanisqineq]

1. it is powerful