SOLDIER From Over There-"I'm Tired & I'd Really Like You To Bring Me Home"

[kpete]

From Over There, A Soldier's Request
by Soldier Boy
Fri May 25, 2007 at 03:14:22 PM PDT

I'm tired.

This is the beginning of week 12 of my second tour in Iraq. Its not any better than the first time. This time, a lot of things have gotten even worse. The last time, you knew the Iraqi Police were corrupt, but they weren't all militiamen. Now the IP around here are almost entirely followers of al-Sadr. Or members of the Badr Corps. Or simply corrupt, black-marketeers who'll siphon off weapons and body armor to be sold to the same. The last time you didn't have to worry that an Iranian-built (oh yes, they are) EFP (Explosively Formed Penatrator) would tear right through your HMMWV. You wouldn't worry about the fact that the need to house the extra soldiers of the 'surge' has left you living in a KBR built mobile home with no overhead cover in an area prone to rocket and mortar attacks.
So I'm a little tired of the worrying, sweating, and the smell.

I am one of your soldiers, writing from the front line in a war without any, and I'd really like you to bring me home.

............

I don't even wake up during mortar attacks anymore. I'm tired of the heat, of carrying an M16 everywhere, of listening to the local Iraqi government rep explain why he needs more money to advance a project that's a year behind. I'm tired because I just came off of one shift at the battalion TOC, and have just a few hours downtime until the next one. So I send out this diary, this first post on DailyKos and ask everyone back home, and the people who just voted to keep me here for months more; bring me home.

Just get me out of here.

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2007/5/25/165819/149

[babylonsister]

1. We really want to bring you home, soldier. This is intolerable.

:cry:

[BikeWriter]

2. Same same VietNam, GI! SNAFU!

[TahitiNut]

6. At least we didn't force the same people into Vietnam over and over and over.

One of my (PTSD) nightmares is being sent back to Viet Nam and getting into a firefight at the repo-depot. Strangely, this is one of the night sweats I still get about once or twice a year, even after 38 years. It seems VERY real. I can't describe how betrayed I feel - how fucked-over by my fellow citizens. I won't even go into who gets my job and who gets my wife ... it's a nightmare.

For me ... I can wake up and, after walking and breathing, it's not real anymore.
For them, it's real.

[BikeWriter]

9. That's the one reason I stayed single until I got out...

As it was, I got a year remote shipment to Alaska because a personell NCO wanted a clear shot at the WAF who wrote me in VietNam.

[Christa]

3. J H Krist

what are we doing? :cry:

My beloved boy, I would love to bring you home NOW :cry:

[shadowknows69]

4. this taxi report bears linking to in light of this story

<http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=364x2873214>

[Booster]

5. If I had my way, you wouldn't have gone the first time, and you sure

as Hell wouldn't have gone for a second tour. I surely wish I had the power to bring you ALL home, but, alas, I don't. Hang in there and keep your head down.:cry:

[whistle]

7. He must have heard Bush today in his press conference, "Our troops

...are over there fighting terrorists so we don't have to fight terrorists here in our streets." The soldier has Bush's answer, "If we bring our troops here, the terrorists will follow them and fight us here." *smirk*

Our troops are there to stay until every last terrorist is gone. *smirk*

What a Pan's Labyrinth nightmare:wtf:

[mmonk]

8. We're trying but the politicians say no.

Can you hang on until September when some of them test the wind again?

[Solly Mack]

10. ...

...

[Cults4Bush]

11. ahh poor dear man... we want to but its just politics, you dont have the votes

and our Democratic party cant help you because we dont have the power.. apparently.... also Im told that because its just politics you wouldnt understand it.

When you come back Ill gladly help you visit the politicos who sent you there and kept you there and then you can talk to them about politics.

[The Backlash Cometh]

12. Is it time to revive the P.O.W. bracelet?

'Cuz it sure does look like our soldiers are being held against their will in a war zone.

[southerncrone]

13. Great idea, Backlash!

Those bracelets served to connect the young personally to Vietnam. They also served as constant, every-day reminders of the war to the populous. You could not avoid seeing them; they were everywhere.
We at DU know we have like-minded who want to bring troops home, but your average worked-to-death-trying-to-support-our-families citizens may not realize how prevalent the feeling is.
Those bracelets would be tangible evidence that so many do.

The funds could go to PROGRESSIVE candidates who support bringing troops home.

BTW, Soldier Boy should send this letter to ALL Republicans in congress!

[The Backlash Cometh]

15. Where are our entrepreneurs on DU?

Do we have to get permission to put the names of fallen soldiers on the bracelets?

[southerncrone]

17. I don't know.

I wonder if anyone here was involved in that promotion then. I was a student in high school then, so I was not aware of the workings of such.

I suppose there is a way to get the names of the soldiers, but I don't know what that would be. Media seems to be able to get the names. Maybe we have a media member here who could enlighten us.

[The Backlash Cometh]

20. Kick my thread.

I started a thread on the subject to see if we get some response. If you think it's worth it, give it a recommendation.

[southerncrone]

21. Already have.

;)

[The Backlash Cometh]

22. Thanks.

I forgot to post the link, in case someone else reads this and wants to find out how it develops.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=389&topic_id=978907&mesg_id=978907

[Missy Vixen]

18. I'd wear one

I wore one for years till the guy on my bracelet, 1st Lieutenant Clive Jeffs, was finally found.

Just let me know where to send the check...

Julie

[The Backlash Cometh]

23. Hi J.

I don't really have more than the idea to offer, so I started a thread on the subject. If you want to see if someone picks it up and runs with it, it might help to kick and recommend the link below. This is, afterall, Saturday night and I doubt that there will be as much activity as on a weekday.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=389&topic_id=978907&mesg_id=978907

[butterfly77]

14. I wonder how many who work in the green zone...

do rotations and patrols...

[treestar]

16. The freepers will call him a coward

They always turn on the troops when they do something that does not support the Chimp's agenda.

[Amonester]

25. Yeah, but everybody knows they R suffering from a bad case of...

psycho-logical projection
Besides... Who Cares What They (think)? 28%?

[NNN0LHI]

19. I suspect the Iraqis are a lot more tired of the bullshit than this guy is

They never get any R&R.

Don

[genie_weenie]

24. Sorry, you're worth too much political captial to bring home.

Semper Perfidis ~ Motto for Multiple Members of the 110th Democratic Congress

[bigtree]

26. Democrats didn't "just vote to keep him there"

The vote to keep him there was the one where the majority of Democrats voted in favor of timelines, and the majority of republicans voted against them.

That one supplemental is not "keeping him there." Bush and his republican enablers are.