Today I spoke with a friend who's brother is just getting back

[yourout]

It was either his second or third deployment as a platoon leader of an MP outfit in Bagdad. Out of 11 soldiers that he was with the first time only 4 are left. 7 have been killed or wounded bad enough to be discharged. It has been described as an absolute shit hole and you can trust no-one. One day they were training Iraqis and ended up killing them in a fire fight shortly after. The interperter that was with them turned on them during a fire fight and shot several platoon members before my friend's brother shot the interperter.

It is a civil war and there is no stopping it. We have to get the hell out ...... NOW!

[GreenPartyVoter]

1. Oh, what an absolute mess ** has made.

[Maat]

2. Oh, wow.

Devastating to hear that.

But, it makes me even more certain that we have to GET OUT NOW!

[Coexist]

3. if this is true - that is ill.

holy cow.

[stopbush]

4. Winning hearts and minds all over the place!

[CottonBear]

5. One of my friends is an Army Sgt. who was assigned to an ammo supply depot

in Tikrit. He got back last summer. They never left the base except when they had to go to the airfield (under heavy guard.) They trusted no one. The local Iraqi's who worked on base were not trusted by the soldiers. They believe that one of the Iraq's was a suicide bomber who blew up his car right outside the base perimeter. :(
I was so lad he didn't have to go out on infantry patrols. He was lucky to not be part of a comabt unit.

[tanyev]

6. Advice from the Pentagon: Learn to laugh

Pentagon to families: Go ahead, laugh
By Gregg Zoroya, USA TODAY
When the stress of the war in Iraq becomes too severe, the Pentagon has a suggestion for military families: Learn how to laugh.
With help from the Pentagon's chief laughter instructor, families of National Guard members are learning to walk like a penguin, laugh like a lion and blurt "ha, ha, hee, hee and ho, ho."

No joke.

"I laugh every chance I get," says the instructor, retired Army colonel James "Scotty" Scott. "That's why I'm blessed to be at the Pentagon, where we definitely need a lot of laughter in our lives."
http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2006-01-12-pentagon-laughter_x.htm

[renate]

7. I am gobsmacked

Obviously the instructor has his heart in the right place, and the reporter quotes people who are happy with the course, so I really am glad that it helped them. But if I were in their place the cognitive dissonance between walking like a penguin to make myself feel better while my loved one was in mortal danger in Iraq would make my head explode.

[tanyev]

8. Agreed. This therapy may be useful for families that want it,

but the tone of the piece sounds like the Pentagon wanted it out there for some good PR. I think it comes off sounding incredibly insensitive, especially when you juxtapose it with the articles about more troop deaths, inadequate body armor, etc., etc.

[democrank]

9. What a pitiful, pitiful mess.

The whole thing is just so awful.

[YOY]

10. A whole new level of FUBAR

FUBAR with 'Merkin Patriotism! Cue the Alan Jackson!

[Wilms]

11. kick

[DanCa]

12. Why wont the Bush voters enlist?

Really the army needs them and if the war is so just then the Bush voters should be more than happy to go and fight. I guess it's easier to slap on a paper ribbon on your car and insult people for not going rather than to face the truth.

[lostnfound]

13. Wow. Wonder if this person would talk to the press?

It would make an interesting story on DemocracyNow! perhaps. Only one anecdote, but my God it tells you a lot about the impossibility of the situation.

[DanCa]

14. Of course were wishing that the media wouldn't bury the story.

My local paper shoots down all my letters to the editor.