Every time a DUer insists the troops really don't support Bush...

[theHandpuppet]

... I trip across an article such as this one, which just appeared in my hometown newspaper. He sounds like a good young man but how deluded can you be?

http://www.portsmouth-dailytimes.com/articles/2006/07/17/news/local_news/3news_fraley.txt

Honored for Valor
Sgt. Fraley is knighted by British military for actions

Sgt. Craig Fraley was on a mission in Baghdad when his unit received an intelligence report that insurgents had a weapons cache in a house, so his squad, and a squad from the British military entered the house.

“We cleared the house and didn't find anything and we were getting ready to leave when I noticed a part of the wall that looked like it had been recently renovated. So I kicked in the wall, and that's when we found 25 AK-47s (assault rifles), several sniper rifles and 30,000 or 40,000 rounds of ammunition,” said Fraley.

Col. Stanford of the British military then conducted a knighting ceremony and knighted Fraley and nine other members of his unit in Iraq.

(snipping)

“My enlistment is up on Aug. 30, 2008, but I'm going to re-enlist and go back to Iraq,” he said. Fraley was scheduled to be re-deployed to Iraq when his leave ended on July 15.

Fraley, whose regular job in the Army is supply sergeant, also said that he supports the Bush administration and the Iraq conflict.

“We are helping a lot of people there, and while a small percentage don't want us there, the majority want us there because we are helping to build a democracy,” he said.

MORE

[JAYJDF]

1. It's like the old saying, you can't see the forest for the trees.

It's probably hard to see the big picture when you're stuck in the mud.

[heidler1]

3. During the Vietnam war I stood on a corner in Chicago for over an hour

arguing with a fellow IBM employee about the merit of that war. He'd just came back and thought it was worth it. He kept harping on how he knew because he'd been there. I thought the war was stupid. We finally gave up on each other.

After the war was over and about a year later we met again and surprisingly he admitted that I was right, but couldn't see it back then.

[otohara]

2. Result of Military Brainwashing

combined with being completely uninformed thanks to Fox Newsand wingnut radio = deluded Army supply sergeant.

[Qanisqineq]

4. they don't print articles about troops that don't support Bush

very rarely, anyway.

Sure, there are soldiers and marines out there that support Bush, but they certainly are not as common as the republicans like to think they are. Besides, you aren't supposed to speak out against the president publicly if you are still in the military.

[peaches2003]

6. There is an in-between behavior

They can't speak out maybe, but neither do they have to surround him with adoring praise when he goes over there. They don't have to be photo ops with big grins on their faces every time the boy King goes to a base. And they sure as hell didn't have to vote for him!

[Qanisqineq]

12. they cherry pick the soldiers

to appear in the photo-ops. As for the voting, has anyone actually figured out how the military voted? My husband is a soldier and the majority of soldiers he's known over the last 5 years don't like Bush. Even the republicans don't like Bush. Right now we are overseas and when Bush visited this country, the soldiers in his unit were not allowed to go see Bush's speech -- Because the commander was afraid of what they might do!

I don't know what to tell you except don't assume soldiers/marines like Bush or this war.

[stanwyck]

13. Gee, I guess that's why my liberal Marine

son has never gotten his big photo opp. -- despite being the best looking Marine (I AM his mother). But you're absolutely correct. Those quoted are carefully vetted - and the Bushies are very careful about who appears with Bush. No liberals need apply.
And I also am very curious as to why we still haven't seen how the military voted in the last election.
Cause you know if it was good for Bush, it would have been trumpeted on hate-radio 24-7.

[peaches2003]

5. They do because they have to or admit to themselves

that they were duped into sacrificing themselves for nothing. They can't admit that so they convince themselves that they are doing this for their country instead of doing it for Halliburton and the big oil boys.

[gratuitous]

7. Please note that Mr. Fraley is a British soldier

And as such, probably doesn't get to participate in a lot of the more "hands on" activities available to his American counterparts.

[theHandpuppet]

8. No he is NOT a British soldier

He's an American soldier from my hometown who received an honor after serving in an action along with a British unit.

[gratuitous]

10. My mistake

I read the excerpt, and thought that a soldier under a British commander who was being knighted by the British government was, you know, British.

But if Mr. Fraley is an American, I will bet him $50 right here, right now, that if he's still alive on August 30, 2008, he will either (a) not have the option whether to re-enlist and go back to Iraq, because he will be there already and due to stop-loss policies will have to continue serving; or (b) that if he truly does have the option, he will not re-enlist.

[theHandpuppet]

11. Well he was scheduled to be redeployed to Iraq on July 15

Perhaps another tour of duty will open his eyes.

Please note that knowing where this young man comes from, joining the armed forces is probably one of the few ways he might feel he can garner repect. Scioto County, Ohio is a severely depressed area of Appalachian Ohio where nearly 20% of the population lives below the poverty line and it ranks 86th among Ohio's 88 counties in the poverty rate. Most of the youngsters who enlist do so either to earn college money or because there simply are no jobs to be had that pay more than minimum wage. I think it's a lot easier to brainwash kids who feel they have nowhere else to go and a uniform will give them a feeling of self-worth.

[B Calm]

9. Lets hope they count all the military votes in the next election!

I really think they tend to vote democratic. When I was in the service everybody that wasn't an officer came from a blue collar working class family. The people in the military are no different than the civilians when it comes to voting. Republicans have always cloaked their self with the flag and claim to be the patriotic party. The only trouble is, you hardly ever see them enlist.