Just talked to a Marine who had been in Iraq

[mb7588a]

He was a very good friend of mine in high school. He's 21, been in CA, Okinawa, Thailand, Germany, Kuwait and was in Iraq from March until August. He's a combat engineer. After "the occupation," (yes, he called it "the occupation"), he was put to work in a lot of schools, public buildings, working on infrastructure... but he said most of their work was destroyed or sabotaged.

He witnessed some pretty brutal battle. One of his sergeants was killed by hostile fire. Several of his company were wounded. He has a scar on his arm from a guy waving a broken beer bottle. Morale, he said, "Doesn't exist - your life ain't the same after you're shot at."

He was so frustrated by trying to do a good thing. He will not reenlist in 2005. I asked him about the possibility of a draft. He said the poll that was in the Stars and Stripes was completely incorrect. He thought about for a second and said, "Nope - nobody," he couldn't think of a single Marine that he knew well, who would reenlist. He told me if we don't get international peace keeping troops in Iraq, there will be need for a draft. I asked if the Iraqi police will be able to keep some kind of peace. He replied, "No possible way."

I didn't want to ask too many questions, because he obviously was not comfortable talking about it. His biggest message was the he DOES NOT want to go back. But he is. In February he will be sent back for 13 months. He doesn't even want to go back to California at the end of this weekend. "I've been to war. I'm going back to war. I just want to stay here. I want to go to school."

This was not the same happy-go-lucky, in-love-with-life, small town kinda guy I once knew. He was once turned into a Marine robot, and has now been turned into a heap of doubt - doubt of his country, his duty and his life. I've been reaffirmed that what we are doing in Iraq is not being done well, or right. The things we ought to know about this war (He referred to it as a war the wholr time.) are not being told.

[opihimoimoi]

1. How sad we waste our youth on this war. The Neo cons are sooo blind

How arrogantly stupid we have become

[loudnclear]

14. "blind?" "stupid?" How about cowardly?

War is an easy decision when you know that you and yours will not have to be involved by putting their lives on the line. But I still can't figure out why anyone...even the neocons...thought this invasion, occupation, war was necessary to "defend" America. If anything, it will ultimately be the biggest attack on our national security. A crime for which the entire cabal should be thrown into jail.

[opihimoimoi]

16. Cowards? Yup, that too

All Puff but no Stuph.

Chicken Hawks with flair but still chicken.

[bobthedrummer]

19. PNAC

in action IMO. They can't wait, the traitors can't wait anymore.

[Dr Fate]

2. During my last semester of college, several boys held a "pro-war rally"

This was before we went into Iraq, and it was a response to several anti-war protests on campus-

These guys were laughing and cutting up, and had "funny" pro-war signs...

The organizer told me "we are just having fun with this- the anti-war protesters are sooo serious & dramatic..."

Everytime I here an anecdote like this, I think about those guys and how THEY should be over there...

[DemBones DemBones]

7. If they were over there, they'd soon see

that war is "sooo serious & dramatic." It isn't all standing around cheering for Bush on Thanksgiving before eating turkey.

[creativelcro]

9. the fact that is is so serious and dramatic

is why this Administration does not want videos of caskets being brought back to the US...

[Kanary]

12. "so serious and dramatic"

Dismissive statements like that are the sign of sociopathic thinking.

Geeeeeez, could we get any more inhuman in this society?

Kanary

[NJCher]

3. I always wonder about what's going on in their heads

Thanks for that first-person account.

I wonder what types of people were waving those cameras and taking pics of the chimp the other day. I wonder what was in their heads.




Cher

[Zech Marquis]

4. tell your friend

we the ones at DU will do whatever we can to bring the truth out about this illegakl occupation. I fear he and the other returneees will be exxpereinceing even worse conditions from what he survivied the first go around :(

[Judi Lynn]

5. Thanks for taking the time to post this man and his experience

Hope he makes it back safely.

It's really good to know they aren't ALL fooled by _Bush, mb7588a.

[Donna Zen]

6. Talked to a dad:

Several of my old students are currently serving in Iraq. The other day I saw the father of one of these people, so of course I asked about his son. The guy is a fairly conservative local who would never be labeled as a liberal. Anyway, the man's eyes turned red from barely hidden tears of fury. He told me when his son calls home, the kid always asks what is being shown on TV. Although he can't say much, he tells his father it's not what he's seeing over there; he's seeing a war.

I remember this student's Senior speech, it was all about hunting, and he brought his dog to school. What struck me, other than the fact that he'd gotten his work done which was a bit of a surprize, was how much he loved that old dog. The boy and that dog were totally bonded.

Before I left the father, I had planted a few seeds of truth, but it is often a poor choice to hit an unconnected American with the full force of how they have been lied to. Mostly, I listened and this is what I heard: Of course it's about the oil...look who we've got there!

My follow up visit to the father will happen. Drip, drip, drip

[electricmonk]

8. A story in my local paper Thursday

About a wounded soldier. More telling about what isn't said than what is, I think.

Burned soldier has memory loss

-snip-
But they will live from now on with the costs of military service.

"I truly feel like he is not the person that left here," Donna Loan said.

"He looks great," she said brightly, "as long as you don't look at those eyes. It's all in his eyes."

...

He admits to mixed feelings about his time in the service, but said he didn't want to talk about it.

He tells his mother: "You know mom, you don't understand. You'll never understand what it was like there."

[BonjourUSA]

10. A sergent of the 101th Airborne said the same thing to a French journalist

He summarized his friends' feeling : "We're sacrificing ourselves in a mission which we don't understand. Our only hope is that our leaders, them, know what they are doing"

[jpgray]

13. That's the most depressing thing I've heard, since then they have no hope

Their leaders know what they are doing, but it has nothing to do with values a soldier would be willing to fight for. Bush wants to make his friends money, and at that he is eminently successful.

[BonjourUSA]

18. Yes, very depressing

The 101th Airborne is an elite unit, always the first onto all the american coups. That a sergeant of this troops dares to talk with a journalist (French in particular) about their deep feeling is unusual. And all the soldiers allowed to be quoted with their own real name.

[0007]

11. 'Tis only a matter of time before the true comes out...

and how secretive this administration has been.

[creativelcro]

15. Thanks for posting but...

is there any way we can verify this ? I would not be surprised if it were true, and it certainly provides confirmation of our hate of this Administration etc, but I cannot believe it 100% without some way of verifying it...

[mb7588a]

17. I could...

Post a link to an article the local paper did about him, but I don't want to violate his privacy. He knows I run a blog that is popular among our friends, which is why I didn't post this there.

I guess its not so believable because I was selective in what I wrote about. He is "semper fi" all the way, but doesn't want to continue his service after seeing war. That's the biggest message you should have gotten.