6/23/2006
Another day in the Neighborhood
American Soldier says,
“This e-mail alerts you to a possibility that your personal information, including name, social security number, and date of birth, may have been included in the recent loss of data by an employee of the Veterans Administration. We want to let you know what happened, and how to protect yourself.”
You gotta love it when you awake to this email. The Government is offering a year worth of free credit monitoring but not yet. They have to negotiate with a few companies and I bet you my Purple Hearts they will pick the bottom of the barrel as they usually do.
This kind of pisses me off. So whoopee doo I can have my credit monitored for a year but what happens after that? I can pay for the service at a premium rate?
Hey did you know that some Marines are going to be hunted down like a witch for their actions in Iraq. Investigated and prosecuted like criminals. Fighting an enemy that would otherwise cut your fucking head off. The claim is they dragged some poor guy out of his house and shot him dead in cold blood. Could they be guilty? Yes they could be, but you see these pricks in Washington who are pushing this shit don’t understand what kind of shit we do to fight this dirty fucking war. Is it right to shoot an innocent person? No it isn’t! If they did it exactly how it’s being describe then maybe they ought to get punished.
Let me throw one scenario here to make you think. What’s the difference between dragging some asshole out of his house and shooting him because he is a bad guy or when under attack you shoot an unarmed civilian you suspect is helping the enemy? Maybe he is watching you from an over watch position and giving your position away and while under attack you peg him or maybe he is just watching the fireworks? Do not miscontrue this, I am not condoning killing innocent civilians! I mean I don’t need some hyper-I-want-to-bust-someone liberal knocking on my door. However this site has always been about seeing the war through the eye’s of a soldier. My blog, my rant!
In the heat of battle you have to make decisions and have to do things that don’t always make sense. You all expect us to come home safe and all that happy horse shit right? We have a set of rules that we must obey but the very 1st fucking rule is: “If you suspect that you or any member of you unit is in danger you have the right to defend yourself!” That equates to killing people that you deem a threat! It’s not pretty is it? No sugar coating at all, just the result of someone most likely getting their head blown off.
You can take that rule and use it in many different aspects and scenarios. The bottom line is war is hell and any combat soldier who has stepped foot outside the wire even one time knows what I am talking about.
But hey, at least they are cracking down with the child stalkers on Myspace!
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22 Responses to “Another day in the Neighborhood”
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It seems clear that decisions made in combat may bring harm to innocent civilians. No one wants that. However, it is important to remember another issue. Yesterday, responding to a question, one of the family members in the Military Families Speak Out who are holding a vigil in front of the Capitol in Washington, said, “If these soldiers weren’t in Iraq whatever happened wouldn’t haven’t happened.” We all need to remember that seventy five percent of the Iraqis who were polled in January 2006 said they want American troops to leave Iraq. Now that they have their elected government, and have been able to learn how to train police and soldiers they seem to think theyare ready to run their own country. We can also have our own young men and women at home. It’s time.
your words ring so true AS
lol .. ohh i agree whole heartedly!! it is sad everything that is happenin to our men and woman.. not only are they dieing while fighting for us overseas and at home, but then we go and loose thier personal info. and dont even want to do all we can to help them out?? and then we accuse them of something we dont have the slightest clue of.. whether they did it for the right reasons or not… i can not say bec. i was not there… then when they do come home, it is never in one piece. they are either hurt physically, mentally, or emotionaly… it is just soo hard to see all this happen and not be PISSED at washington!!
My husband is Over There and I’ll be honest — if he has to do some not so nice things to get home to me and our kids safely, so be it.
While I don’t want him out there killing people for the fun of it, you bet your ass I want him to defend himself and his fellow Marines if he feels they are in danger. Maybe it means shooting first and asking questions later and that’s not pretty, but no war ever is.
Anyway, I didn’t mean to rant. I just want you to know you aren’t alone in your train of thought.
This upsets me as well. No one could understand the stress Our Troops are under unless you have been there. I can only imagine how the Troops feel having to be the only people who have to follow the rules. Don’t it matter their life is threatened every single second? How is it we can ask Our Troops to go into such devistation and not expect them to kill before being killed in ANY situation?
“Troops go there be seen and throw your authority around but you have no right to protect yourself??” gggrrrrrrr
As for the personal information being stolen; How can we justify not protecting Our Vets better then this? It was a Government mistake!!! Yet Our Vets have to bare the burdon of fixing their mistakes as usual?? They need a few reminders. I have always been told by my Parents and Grandparents “You take care of those who take care of you” How can the Govenment forget this vital fact?
I hear ya, AS! And I agree with the afore mentioned comments as well!
Web Reconnaissance for 06/24/2006
A short look at what’s out there that might draw your attention: Weekend Edition
War is Hell…when they said that, they meant it.
In Vietnam they used to take a family, take the father and torture and kill him front of his wife and children, then take the mother and torture her and kill her in front of her children, if she was pregnant, they would cut the baby from the womb while the mother was still alive and in front of the children and they would kill the children and then they would pin notes to the bodies to warn others not to help the Americans.
Yes, War is indeed Hell.
This doesn’t require a wild imagination to figure that War by its very definition is one the most destructive things we know, yet we still fight and fight for things right and for things we hope are right.
I don’t expect the troops to come back from this war all happy- go- lucky. I expect full well that they will have a lot of issues to deal with. I just hope we offer the resources to help and I hope the soldiers reach out for help.
Hang in There.
Oh yeah, we just want you home happy or not.
Politics…Red tape…A government trying to get public backing.
They need the public to back them, and to want these soilders banged up…Why? well what better way to take peoples eyes off the fact that this is a war of (in my eyes) stupidity.
I back US and Brittish Troops at war bring them home safe yes, but in a combat situation I can say i’d most likely of shot anything that i deem dangerous to me or the man beside me.
And anyone i expect to pull a weapon for that matter.
No I am no soldier, But I very well could of been and I don’t know how i would react but I have a feeling i would have opened fire.
Although don’t get me wrong there have been some cases out there what sicken me, Brittish troops torturing Iraqi soldiers…
Personally i don’t care if these people were Saddams right hand men torture is a nasty thing especially if its for no reason…
I would see anyone who tortures anyone for no reason put away for life…if not shot..torture is a sick sick game wars torture enough ain’t it??
And same goes for a story here in UK…Police storm a house expecting to find terrorists. They shoot a guy in the shoulder…he was innocent…
Not only did they shoot him they BEAT him…and he was innocent…And i don’t care what the reasons were for if i was in charge there i would have turned my gun and shot the guys beating that guy…Innocent until proven guilty…they new the intelligence was a 50/50 chance of being right and if everyone was in custody the bombs not going anywhere meaning a proper search could of been arranged with personel trained with dealing with a Chemical or Biological device.
I have no idea what these men were trying to prove beating these two chaps but i know what i would do to them…They’d never shoot/beat anyone ever again.
And before anyone thinks it they was not doing it “for their country” it was not patriotic…How do i know this? those men that were beaten…they are my countrymen…no matter what creed/color/race/whatever…and innocent men beaten/shot….my countrymen shot..for no reason well…that says it all
Right im off to sleep late….
Take care and keep up the blog
AS you’re right about how the situation and the scenerio is in Iraq, but we have enemies in our country on many sides not just in Iraq. (liberals,neo-cons,cons etc.)The enemies at home would push whatever version of a story suits their agenda. Democrats push our social emotions against killing as much as possible to get themselves elected or re-elected no matter at what cost to the country and the people who defend it (Reminds me of Vietnam and the moral cowardice we inherited as a country since then). Republicans make up excuses for their incompetence and lack of vison for the future (The above statement applies to both parties, but those in power in this case are the republicans.) The government should take notice to take care of its soldiers personal info. and take steps to protect it better. It needs to figure a way to protect them from the current !@#up rather than give them a well sorry we lost your info, but don’t worry we won’t get off our asses to do anything ,because we won’t be held accountable for not doing our jobs. AS if I were you I woud push to get my name changed and social changed or something, no one knows who stole it or what they will do with it down the line. Sad to say ,but it seems the only way things get done anymore in this country is if someone gets paid off. Maybe someone got paid for that “free credit monitoring service” did the info. loss happen just to pay someone else who, knows nowadays who can you trust.(wild speculation here on my part hope it aint true, but given the track record of our political leaders and some public servants one can assume the worse and it can sometimes be true.sad) I can only support our troops in everything they do, because they are doing the fighting and risking it all to accomplish their missions. and if they kill so-called innocent civilians in the process of doing their jobs so be it, war is never bloodless or perfect and it will never will be and anyone who believes that will only suffer defeat and perhaps death due to their misguided ideals of reality.
Yes, war is hell. Which makes you think that it would have been wiser not to start it in the first place. Iraq under Saddam was no threat to the US. “Democratic” Iraq, under Iran’s influence, may very well turn out to be a much bigger threat. In short, invading Iraq was not a very smart thing to do, and it has already cost the lives to over 2,500 Americans, and caused severe injuries on over 9,000 more. Definitely not smart at all… Time for real soldiers to start asking for US troops to leave Iraq?…
Go for it AS. You hit the nail on the head. Albatroz, when you go to comat and if you are lucky enought to make it back, what you have to say may be of interest. Which WWP umbrella group do you support?
Kill em all, and let God sort em out, I say. No holds barred, with our soldiers. Let em do their jobs. They know what needs to be done and how to do it, more than any news journalist or politicians.
AS, sorry to hear about that ‘lost info’ horse sh-t. We all need to be voicing our opinions to our senators, congressmen and state politicians on our veterans behalf. Thats a responsibility that we all need to work harder on. It seems like it’s mostly veterans that have to look out for their own ass, upon returning.
Albotroz:
Saddam was a threat to the oil supply of the middle east and no, that does not mean we went to war for the oil. It would have been cheaper to mine oil shale. He kept rattling his saber toward Saudi Arabia as well as Kuwait. I have no idea if was considered but I certainly would not have wanted Saddam to be able to build his army sufficiently to invade Saudi Arabia and seize the oil supply. If you think Europe is consumed with placating islamic nations and teh fifht column it pales in comparison if Saddam had controlled the major source of oil from the middle east. The first Bush made huge errors in not going to Baghdad or, at the very least, supporting the Shia’s when they rose up. He had already shown signs of attempting to curry favor with islamists. Certainly Bush kept moving the goal posts for thes to launch the war but in the end the decision was correct even if the reasons were questionable. Unfortunately there are always unforeseen consequences to any action, taken or not. It is possible that the timing. Certainly there were some errors in tactics. Bypassing the ammo dumps was a a foolish mistake. In hindsight not defeating the Fedayeen was a mistake as was not putting more boots on the ground subsequent to the invasion. Most of the mistakes that were made though were made because we do not understand the psyche of the middle east so we engaged in wishful thinking. As for the regretable deaths and injuries, they pale in comparison with the battles of Korea and WWll. Retreating now would be an even graver mistake. Reagan made a huge mistake in pulling the marines out of Lebanon as did Clinto in Mogadishu. Of course it’s been over 35 years since I was a grunt so maybe I’m not a “real” soldier but now is not the time to cut and run. I would agree with Chad except that, like it or not, we are part of the world and can not raise the drawbridge and tell the world to go to hell. We can’t even, or won’t, control our own soil so isolation is not an option and going Roman would make us a pariah state. We are still top dog and that makes us a target so we have to tow the line and respect our own rules as much as we might like to pull down their walls and salt their ground.
I apologize for the typos. I still type with 2 fingers.
At work while i on my breaks, I like to read the newspaper. Hell, thier free, I work in a hotel!
Anyways, the other day I saw a head line similair to “Marines charged with murder” and decided it a “MUST” read. And I did. With tears streaming down my cheeks. I couldn’t believe what I was reading.
When asked if I was ok, I said I was pissed the fuck off. Coworker asked why. I told her why. She said “Oh, is that all?” like it was no big deal that these men/women who are fighting for freedom and defending innocence are being slaughtered in the news as cold hearted blood thirsty killers. I went off on her. I couldn’t help it.
I don’t understand how any american out there could NOT be upset that this is happening. I can’t see how the media can get away with how negative they write about our soldiers.
AS I agree with you 100%. Where is the ACLU when we hear these soldiers are held a in the brig shackled 23 hrs per day? Of course these were Americans and the American Civil Liberties Union only helps others…..As for the charges against all these men, this is a bunch of crap. Do you think they would have thought twice about doing this in WW2, Korea, Vietnam??? Hell no. It’s war. As with some responders, I am not a veteran, but I am a police officer. We don’t get shot at everyday. It does happen once in a while, and when it does, it makes the news and it’s a big deal. But I can imagine if we lived in a country where as a police officer, I got shot at daily, then I think I would do my job differently than I do now.
I can only wonder when the military will be going after those pilots who dropped the bombs on Abu, a woman and child were killed in the attack. Are they going to call them innocent also? And what about the fact that the SOB lived 45 min before going to HELL. Are they going after our guys who dealt with him then? Who knows but I would not be surprised.
Keep up the blog. I have an officer at work who just returned and he tells us things from time to time. It’s good to get a prospective from someone whos actually been there. Take care and God bless.
Go get ‘em, AS!! We’ll be right behind you!
GREAT rant AS! You said it exactly how it is! I wish to God that the lefties would leave our military alone. It angers me beyond words that they have to nit pick every breath our troops take.
I am so proud of you and the rest of our military!!
And Albatroz stop being a sheep for the propaganda of the left. You couldn’t be on any blog if our Veterans and our troops did not provide for you the freedoms you so enjoy. Never ever forget that! And that price for your freedom can never be repaid.
Dear AS,
Thank you for being you; honest, open and ever-dependable for the truth as a SOLDIER and MAN in this war. I am married to a fine soldier and man. He has been to Iraq once already and expects to go again as early as the end of this year. He was inside the wire most of the time with Iraqi workers and providing security construction for a large FOB. The few times he had to go outside have changed him forever. Lets not forget that what goes on outside the wire also comes inside at times too. He has experienced things that make me worry for him every day. He is CHANGED. I love him more, I nag him less and I appreciate everything he has done and will do as a career soldier. I love supporting fine people that have lousy jobs to do some of the time. Thank you for doing the job, the right thing for our country and the world. Please keep writing and telling us all what pisses you off. It helps me validate my own feelings about my husband’s battle too.
As for ALBATROS,
You need to take off your rose colored glasses and once and for all realize that people like you would still be paying tariffs on tea if it weren’t for AS, my husband and ALL of the american soldiers and their families making up for where you fall short. Grow some balls for Heaven’s sake!
A Very Committed and Loyal Nat’l Guard (former Army) Wife
I am sure the “moderator” will prevent my arguments from being published. Blessed American “freedom”… I wonder why Iraqis do not seem to want it…