Hey Tim, It's refreshing to hear a real person's viewpoint on this and not the glossy media view that we're being fed.
Anyway, glad your back and in one piece. On 5/24/05, Timothy Heald <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > Ok, > > So I am really not trying to start a flame war on my first day back, not that > I really would mind, just take it as it's meant, me letting off steam on my > first day as a civillian again. > > In the last year I have gone through quite a bit, some I'll talk about some I > won't. I guess to begin with I must say I am disgusted that this nation has > esentially forgotten that they have soldiers fighting and dying in > Afghanistan. Iraq is so much at the forefront that it costs soldiers in > Afghanistan not only notice, but funding, equipment and support from outside > the theater. The draw down in Afghanistan was down to ten thousand troops > not long after I got there, we are now at double that again, fighting has > started up again on a regular basis, with foreign terrorists and old school > (released) taliban making a come back. > > The situation in Afghanistan wasn't stablized by our going in their and > fixing things, it was done so by our looking the other way at the drug trade, > human rights violations, and the continuation of the fudal system of > government that they have always had. Karzai, while I belive he wants to do > the right thing, is esentially useless. The Taliban and the people that > worked with them are still in a great many positions of power. > > From my perspective we did enough there to pacify the US populace after 911, > and then moved on to GW's true goal, the ouster of Sadaam, and the > solidification of less free america. We have done it on the backs of the > American military. Extended deployments, under trained troops in combat > situations that they shouldn't be in (air force finance clerks doing convoy > security) improperly equipped soldiers, and finally mistreatment of the > soldiers they do have. By the end of next year every single member of the > reserves and national guard will have been deployed to Iraq or Afghanistan. > My battalion has been alerted to an Iraq deployment next year. Most of them > are still in Afghanistan. There is still no end game, no solid goal or way > out of either situation. These people have dug a whole that there is no > getting out of. > > KBR charges $35 a plate for slop in our chow halls. They pay bus drivers > $80,000 a year, and soldiers families are on food stamps and WIC. My son was > diagnosed with ADHD and ODD (oppositional defiance disorder) while I was > gone. There was no child shrink available for three months, so I have been > going out of pocket to pay these medical costs. We were so undermanned that > we could not send home people on emergency leave, one sgt had a son with > lukemia and they made hime stay. Everyone there is done. The stat of > virginia will be unable to field a battalion after this deployment, let alone > the brigade it's supposed to have. I don't think people understand just how > thin we are spread. > > So add to this the fact that this adminstration added the largest department > ever (Homeland Security) is making intelligance services larger, took away > civil rights (patriot). I am at a loss for words at this point. I need to > time to think about what I believe and what we can do to fix things I guess. > > Thanx for listening. > > > ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~| Sams Teach Yourself Regular Expressions in 10 Minutes by Ben Forta http://www.houseoffusion.com/banners/view.cfm?bannerid=40 Message: http://www.houseoffusion.com/lists.cfm/link=i:5:158468 Archives: http://www.houseoffusion.com/cf_lists/threads.cfm/5 Subscription: http://www.houseoffusion.com/lists.cfm/link=s:5 Unsubscribe: http://www.houseoffusion.com/cf_lists/unsubscribe.cfm?user=11502.10531.5 Donations & Support: http://www.houseoffusion.com/tiny.cfm/54
