[Vision2020] The Article-Please Help our dying troops!

[Donovan Arnold]

A military veteran who was stationed in Iraq, sent this to me and asked for 
my help. Please it and write your congressmember. Thanks!

Donovan J Arnold

>Fallujah, Iraq -- Morale is dipping pretty low among U.S. soldiers
> >as they
> > > stew in Iraq's broiling heat, get shot at by an increasingly
> >hostile population
> > > and get repeated orders to extend their tours of duty. Ask any
> >grunt standing
> > > guard on a 115-degree day what he or she thinks of the open-ended
> >Iraq
> > > occupation, and you'll get an earful of colorful complaints. But
> >going public isn't
> > > always easy, as soldiers of the Army's Second Brigade, Third
> >Infantry Division
> > > found out after "Good Morning America" aired their complaints. The
> >brigade's
> > > soldiers received word this week from the Pentagon that it was
> >extending their
> > > stay, with a vague promise to send them home by September if the
> >security
> > > situation allows. They've been away from home since September, and
> >this week's
> > > announcement was the third time their mission has been extended. It
> >was bad news
> > > for the division's 12,000 homesick soldiers, who were at the
> >forefront of the
> > > force that overthrew Saddam Hussein's government and moved into
> >Baghdad in
> > > early April. On Wednesday morning, when the ABC news show reported
> >from Fallujah,
> > > where the division is based, the troops gave the reporters an
> >earful. One
> > > soldier said he felt like he'd been "kicked in the guts, slapped in
> >the face."
> > > Another demanded that Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld quit. The
> >retaliation
> > > from Washington was swift.
> > >
> > > CAREERS OVER FOR SOME
> > >
> > > "It was the end of the world," said one officer Thursday. "It went
> >all the
> > > way up to President Bush and back down again on top of us. At least
> >six of us
> > > here will lose our careers." First lesson for the troops, it
> >seemed: Don't ever
> > > talk to the media "on the record" -- that is, with your name
> >attached --
> > > unless you're giving the sort of chin-forward, everything's-great
> >message the
> > > Pentagon loves to hear. Only two days before the ABC show,
> >similarly bitter
> > > sentiments -- with no names attached -- were voiced in an anonymous
> >e-mail
> > > circulating around the Internet, allegedly from "the soldiers of
> >the Second Brigade,
> > > Third ID." "Our morale is not high or even low," the letter
> >said. "Our morale is
> > > nonexistent. We have been told twice that we were going home, and
> >twice we
> > > have received a 'stop' movement to stay in Iraq." The message,
> >whose authenticity
> > > could not be confirmed, concluded: "Our men and women deserve to be
> >treated
> > > like the heroes they are, not like farm animals. Our men and women
> >deserve to
> > > see their loved ones again and deserve to come home." After this
> >one-two punch,
> > > it was perhaps natural that on Thursday, the same troops and
> >officers who had
> > > been garrulous and outspoken in previous visits were quiet, and
> >most declined
> > > to speak on the record. During a visit to Fallujah, a small city
> >about 30
> > > miles west of Baghdad, military officials expressed intense chagrin
> >about the bad
> > > publicity. And they slammed the ABC reporters for focusing on the
> >soldiers'
> > > criticism of Rumsfeld, Bush and other officials and implying that
> >they are
> > > unwilling to carry out their mission.
> > >
> > > COMPLAINTS CALLED ROUTINE
> > >
> > > "Soldiers have bitched since the beginning of time," said Capt.
> >James
> > > Brownlee, the public affairs officer for the Second
> >Brigade. "That's part of being a
> > > soldier. They bitch. But what does 'bad morale' really mean? That
> >they're not
> > > combat-ready or loyal? Nobody here fits that definition." The
> >nervousness of
> > > the brass has a venerable history. It has long been a practice in
> >American
> > > democracy that the military do not criticize the nation's civilian
> >leaders, as
> > > Gen. Douglas MacArthur found out in 1951, when he criticized
> >President Harry
> > > Truman's Korean War strategy -- and was promptly fired. Yet several
> >U.S. officers
> > > said privately that troop morale is indeed low. "The problem is not
> >the heat,"
> > > said one high-ranking officer. "Soldiers get used to that. The
> >problem is
> > > getting orders to go home, so your wife gets all psyched about it,
> >then getting
> > > them reversed, and then having the same process two more times." In
> >Baghdad,
> > > average soldiers from other Army brigades are eager to spill
> >similar complaints.
> > > "I'm not sure people in Washington really know what it's like
> >here," said
> > > Corp. Todd Burchard as he stood on a street corner, sweating
> >profusely and
> > > looking bored. "We'll keep doing our jobs as best as anyone can,
> >but we shouldn't
> > > have to still be here in the first place." Nearby, Pfc. Jason Ring
> >stood next to
> > > his Humvee. "We liberated Iraq. Now the people here don't want us
> >here, and
> > > guess what? We don't want to be here either," he said. "So why are
> >we still
> > > here? Why don't they bring us home?"

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