Iraq, not election, is on troops' minds

[SoCalDem]

Iraq, not election, is on troops' minds

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-troops9nov09,1,4021138.story?coll=la-headlines-world

Many belatedly learned of the outcomes, and reaction to the Defense secretary's resignation is somewhat muted.

By Louise Roug, Times Staff Writer

November 9, 2006

CAMP SPEICHER, IRAQ —

Army Sgt. Chris Dyer, 24, had just returned to Iraq from his home in Pinson, Tenn. Getting back to this airfield near Tikrit had taken him three days — via Atlanta, Amsterdam and Kuwait. In that time, Americans went to the polls, the House of Representatives changed hands and his boss, Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld, resigned. "Wow," Dyer said, momentarily speechless as he read the headlines on a laptop. Sitting on a cot across the room, Spc. Jonathan Yoder also expressed surprise. "That's odd," said Yoder, 24, of the 1st Battalion, 505th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 82nd Airborne Division. "I thought he'd stick it out. I'm sad to see him go."

snip....

He judged the turnout among his men to be "less than the national average" but said the deployment had been a civics lesson of sorts: Many of his men have gained a keen understanding of politics in Samarra, if not stateside.

snip....

Sgt. David Batt, a 23-year-old Abrams tank gunner, said that his entire platoon had voted in the last presidential election but that turnout for the midterm vote was low.

snip...


"Hopefully, it can get us home earlier," said Pfc. Jimmy White, the Foxtrot Company cook who toiled over the stoves at Patrol Base Olson. White's father and brother did tours in Iraq as paratroopers. "To me it's pointless being here," said White, a 22-year-old from Louisiana. "They can't even tell us what we're fighting for. I feel like we haven't really accomplished anything." At the tent on the airfield in Tikrit, Dyer was reading a book about the Iraq conflict: "Fiasco," by Thomas E. Ricks. Dyer, of Tennessee, voted for Democratic and Republican candidates in various races. He had just looked at the results online: The state had split.

"Just like me," he said.

[ClintonTyree]

1. When bad people are trying to kill you.......

it's difficult to let your mind wander and try to imagine what's going on back home. They're too busy trying to stay out of the way of bullets and shrapnel. Hopefully we can hasten their return home so their burden isn't so great.