Back in the 1860's thousand of young Americans were called(involuntarily)to service to fight to keep Lincolns precious union intact. Thousand died, and even more lost there legs, eyes or hands all AGAINST THERE WILL! You could however slitter away from that duty by paying 300$(thats was A LOT those days! Has absolutely NOTHING to do with the PAPER MONEY of today!)Most young men didn't, so they were dragged kicking and screaming to fight there fellow Americans. Those who didn't would get shot for treason, so sorry, but that little sob story there didn't really cause any emotions in my at all, except maybe disgust! Wars TOUGH! What were you expecting from a conflict fought nearly 10-000 miles away from home sweet home anyway? A picnick? No wonder America is losing to commy China, with SPOILED BRATS like you as there mothers!!!

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So I am supposed to feel sorry for people becasue they signed up for free college money with the hope of not being deployed, and then got deployed?

That is like me saying: I didn't buy the extended warranty on my car because I didn't think it would break down, but now that it did, I want you to cover me as if I did buy it.

As for better post war care, I agree we should do better. Now if you people will only agree to a larger defense budget, perhaps we can do better in this area.

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Before you jump all over me for my subject, hear me out.

I'd sign up to defend my country if I knew that is what I'd be used for. Alas, it is not so.

As a soldier, I'd expect to be deployed in a way consistent with the defense of my country. For instance, if an invasion of the USA were to occur, I'd be ready and willing to fight. Otherwise, I'd expect peacetime deployment, such as training and physical fitness courses to keep me maintained in case I'm needed to thwart and enemy incursion into one of the 50 states or protectorates.

I would not be ready to die for 'revenge' against the Taliban(not quite AlQueda, mind you) and I would not be willing to die for a lie in Iraq.

Much luck to recruiters.. not. The draft is needed when the people are too wise to sign up. Force is needed when lobbyists and corrupt politicians want to make money.

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I find myself concuring with the majority of responders here, and find it difficult, to scrape up any symphathy whatever for the author and any other military personel finding themselves in a similar position.
The article says it all, if there is only 1% of Americans prepared to waste their lives in the military, thereby offering up their lives/future and well being, simply for a few pieces of silver and a promised college degree, clearly, the mentality of the majority is not as low as I previously thought.
It also raises serious questions about the alleged Patriotism and committment the other 99% have for their country and fellow countrymen/women, it also displays very clearly, the majority of Americans can see and indentify very clearly, the military engagements undertaken by their Administration are not for the security and safeguarding of the homeland as claimed in the majority of cases, and the return to serving members is a very poor trade off indeed for their committment, thus they stay well clear of any military involvement.
I applaud them for this insight.
Where people get the idea from, that they can join the military and not be involved in warfare is beyond my understanding.
ESPECIALLY in the U.S. military, which has an unsavoury record of such involvements all over the World.
You put on that uniform, you agree to everything that goes with it, FULL STOP.
What's that ? You say they changed the rules after you joined ? Hey, tough, go see your Congressman/woman and lodge an official complaint and when next, you get the opportunity to have your say at the ballot box, ensure the creeps who did the dirty on you, don't get your vote.
I always wonder, how such people vote when they're availed of the opportunity, or even whether they have the mental skills to work out they've been had big time.
But hey, folks are still lining up to sign on the dotted line prepared to throw away their lives, so I guess there are still, a hell of a lot of brain dead people in America, despite what's going on in Iraq and elsewhere.

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I want to know where the billions we are pouring into this fiasco are going. We know the money isn't being spent on the safety and welfare of our service members; nor is it being spent on reconstruction efforts except to the extent of landing in Halliburton's pockets. This administration spends more on defense than anything else. They should have to account for every bloody penny of it.

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Stacy: I presume you are going to read the comments on this piece. Please hear me now: the mean-spirited, often vitriolic comments are not representative.

I am ADAMANTLY against the current conflicts, but for those of us who oppose them, attacking the people harmed by them isn't going to help. That includes servicefolk, their families, the insurgents and their families, ANYONE who suffers because of the imperialist and deluded decisions of the American government.

REGARDLESS of the reason that servicefolk enlist... regardless... nothing justifies the "neener, neener" attitude demonstrated here. What happened to compassion, folks? Because if your response is "these people are too stupid/selfish/conservative/whatever" to deserve compassion, then you can bloody well get off the boat, especially if you are anti-war. Punitive attitudes and callous indifference to suffering are the calling cards of the neocons.

We need to take the high road, here, folks, and that doesn't include a "tough shit, you should have known better" set of values.

I know this won't convince any of the hardliners, because words cannot generate empathy and compassion - only an open and willing heart can.

Hang in there, Stacy, and ignore the naysayers.

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First, I hate war, but going by the posts here, it's time to start drafting those who take us to war but won't participate, and yet show no sympathy for those who have.

to Temporary: Uh, are you military? Didn't think so. You're in your comfy home no doubt. Must be a spoiled brat, hey?

to itchyvet: so you're saying that signing a contract, which includes medical (and the expectation that you will recieve treatment if wounded in action) is irrelevent and the state is under no obligation to hold up their end of the contract? Or if the contract you signed says no more than one year active but changes to: After September 11, 2001, the possible mobilization time was increased to 18 months (with no more than one year overseas). Then it was increased again, to 24 months -- too bad, the government can do whatever it wants without end? You're a piece of work.

Yep, I'd love to see what happens when the kids of the wealthy get their numbers.

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I spent over 13 years in the military, both Reserve and Active Duty, and even did 3 tours in the middle east.

This article is RIGHT ON THE MONEY and let me explain why.

I see other posts here that basically repeat the mantra that "they volunteered didn't they?". These folks posting this BULLSHIT ought to serve in the Reserves like I did.

First and foremost let me say that most of the guys in the Reserves would GLADLY volunteer to do a tour in Iraq......just like I did 3 times........that's what volunteering is all about, it's what sacrifice is all about. However, when your government then kicks in STOP LOSS and prevents you from leaving the service (whether you did 30 years and are ready to retire makes no difference, NO ONE leaves till uncle Sam says so) that is a violation of the agreement every reservist makes when he or she enlists. ESPECIALLY when the STOP LOSS is for an illegal and immoral war.

INVOLUNTARY EXTENSIONS. I knew of a reserve unit that completed their tour, had their bags packed and on the tarmac waiting to leave Baghdad Airport, only to have the Pentagon issue an involuntary extension at the last minute to keep them in Iraq indefinitely.

When you sign an enlistment contract it SPECIFICALLY STATES that the government CANNOT keep you on active duty for more than 1 year during your 6 year Reserve enlistment. This agreement has now been broken many times in the past 4 years of war in Iraq. The Pentagon just rescinded and went back on this agreement 2 months ago so it may keep Reservists in Iraq INDEFINITELY.

ALSO, when a Reservist VOLUNTEERS for a tour in Iraq, when it WAS applicable, that volunteer tour did NOT COUNT towards the maximum 1 year that the Pentagon WAS allowed to keep you on active duty as a Reservist.

Let me tell you what happens to Reservists, like me, who get activated, stop lossed and involuntarily extended in a war that never should happened.

They lose their businesses (if they're self employed)
They lose their homes (can't pay the mortgage's on military pay)
They lose their familiies (marriages end up in divorce)
They get treated like shit when they ARE on active duty because one of the military's dirty little secrets is that it treats Reservists and National Guardsmen like second class citizens.
They get paid LESS than active duty personnel.

Our current administration and the pentagon have violated the trust that our government once had with Reservists and NG. When recently polled in Iraq our soldiers stated overwhelmingly (over 70%) that they would NOT be reenlisting when their current tour was up. Think we have retention and recruitment problems NOW? Give Iraq another year and watch SERIOUS talk about the draft begin.

What it boils down to is this. If Iraq was a LEGITIMATE war I really don't think there would be a major problem with pissed off Reservists and NG.......but it's NOT. And THEREIN lies the problem....most Reservists and NG are intelligent enough to know that the QUAGMIRE in Iraq is not getting any better and that every American life lost in Iraq is, in the words of John McCain, a "WASTE".

NO ONE in the Reserves or NG wants to waste their life on demented delusional neocon dreams of a "Pax Americana" or OIL.

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who return shattered from Iraq and act like they had no clue of what they were getting into. Any person who enters the military knows the risks; anyone with a military spouse knows the risks.

You write another article whining about your marriage? Notice how you are not garnering much sympathy on here.

Poverty is no excuse to voluntarily join the military if the person does not want to fight, let alone is the desire for cushier benefits like extra income, health insurance etc. an excuse.

For the desperate youngsters there are usually other ways to obtain money and benefits, even if these ways are undesirable, degrading, or even illegal. Suck it up! As for the money-for-college argument, tough! Not everyone gets to go to college and that's life.

As for people with established careers who enter the reserves or Guard for a few perks, they are even worse.

We do the best with the options we have even if this means becoming a janitor due to lack of opportunities. Clearly it would suck to be looked down on or have opportunities beyond one's reach due to factors one cannot control or due to poor and renounced actions earlier on, but happiness comes from within, and anyone stuck in a crap job and lifestyle who is looked down on by someone who does not understand the factors that drove them there can go to hell. This is the attitude those struggling to scrape by should take; they should not take the path to the military unless they truly care to fight, no matter the MOS they sign for.

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I would be more sympathetic except as a nurse, I have worked with lots of medical personnel (reserve) that got their carrer start in the military. That was most educational. Often times (and this was way before the invasion and occupation) these people would sit and discuss their benefits and opportunities before me at nights, and it was if they were discussing career moves within the post office instead of 'careers' in Uncle Sam's killing machine.

Any attempt put out to them explaining that the military was something they might should feel somewhat ashamed about being part of, received absolutely no response what-so-ever. They just did not give a damn about the morality of what they were doing and being a part of. That was without exception, in my experioence, and is what the voluntary military was totally about: a ME FIRST selfishness and total societal irresponsibility.

One of the few good things about this war, is that it is permanently breaking up this mercenary attitude, I think. Mercenarioes want low risk, and I think that from now on it will be harder to persuade mercenary signons that all will be safe for them as they go out killing others. That's a good thing and will help roll the Pentagon war machine to a stop over the long haul!

Thank you Iraqis and Afghans for helping out us US civilians who oppose the militarization of our own society by resisting our careerist evil doers. It is you who my heart goes out to.

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Judging by the comments here, I guess the right wingers and neocon nuts are right afterall: Progressives/liberals/anti-war types really do hate American soldiers. So much for having any compassion for those directly harmed by this war. I can read posts all day from people complaining about domestic laws restricting rights and how much they are being harmed by this (and I agree), and yet when somebody posts about soldiers being physically and psychologically damaged by the war all I see is 'who cares, thats what they get.' Is this how you would respond if any of your family members joined the military, even against your wishes, then came home missing body parts and being mistreated by our own government? Would you be saying these same things then? Would you look them in the face and say 'too bad, you should have known what you were getting into. Stop complaining'? Makes me ashamed to call myself liberal or progressive or anything else that might associate myself with ignorant and compassionate people like this.

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All of you who think that the soldiers who have been shafted deserve whatever happens to them are the most despicable excuses for human beings that I have ever encountered. Either go immediately to your Army Recruting Office and sign up for three or four tours of duty or STFU. Disgusting cretins.

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First of all, the US military is not engaged in war in Iraq and never has been. We attacked that country, destroyed their infrastructure and effectively destroyed their military. Then we invaded their country and are now occupying it. We are engaged in a struggle against insurgents who are trying to drive us out. Not War! There is no such thing as a war on terrorism. That phrase is used to keep the US citizenry afraid of the unknown thus allowing the US, how else can I say it, the military industrial complex to advance their agenda. You rotten-hearted individuals whose mantra seems to be "you bastards joined the military so what is happening to you is just tough shit". This mentality is shameful and sickening. These military people are being used like disrespected slaves who are worth little more than the weapons which they are issued. the leaders who have sent these precious humans to do their filthy, disgusting work for them should be dropped into pits in the ground to live out their days. But instead, they live like sultans and emirs while addessing their subjects (the US citizenry) in their condescending tones with smirks and sneers on their damned faces. You black hearted, soulless supporters of this Bush bunch of neo-con crusaders, are the most dispicable of the US citizenry. You are the "good Nazi's" of our country, for that you must be very proud.

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Know your facts

Posted by: kbest on Mar 10, 2007 5:59 AM
Know your facts before you spew. This administration spends 2.5% of the GDP on defense. Kennedy's spent 4% of the GDP on defense.

The GDP in 1963 was around 620 billion dollars, so about
$25 billion was spent on the defense budget. In 2005,
it was around 12 trillion dollars. You do the math. Don't forget
Homeland Security and all the other hidden supplementals
that the GOP added to the regular defense budget last year and the years before. Comes out to at least $2 trillion dollars.
Hey, that looks like more than 2.5% to me.

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He joined the National Guard before Bush chose to attack Iraq. He volunteered because he felt it was his duty to help GUARD his country, NOT because he wanted to kill Muslims. He was conflicted when he was called to Afghanistan after 9/11, but felt it was the right thing to do. He was outraged that he was in Iraq after Katrina hit the Gulf so badly. Helping his fellow citizens is what he signed up for.
I can't help but feel that our young people who sign up aren't fully informed before hand. Maybe it's because I'm getting old and it uses too much energy to engage in being angry. Or maybe it's because I've raised 2 children and understand that there are life lessons kids need to learn for themselves. But, I strongly feel, no matter what their reasons for signing up, or their ignorance about life in general (due to their youth) they deserve every bit of support we can give them. How on Earth does berating them and turning our backs on them help in the healing of our world?

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I guess the right wingers are right afterall...
Posted by: D_comp on Mar 10, 2007 7:05 AM
Judging by the comments here, I guess the right wingers and neocon nuts are right afterall: Progressives/liberals/anti-war types really do hate American soldiers. So much for having any compassion for those directly harmed by this war.

Wrong! I am not a right winger or a neocon nutjob and I have
lots of compassion for the American soldiers who were duped
into fighting this coup d'etat on false pretenses.

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You sign up to serve because you think you have an obligation to your country. This administration and its neo-con lunatics exploits your willingness to sacrifice. This is not a big surprise to those of us who tried to point out the dangerous course of action being embarked upon when we invaded Iraq. A lot of people signed up anyway. We need to vote these people out of office, not sneer at the people they tricked. Just remember this next time they tell you to shut up and salute.

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There is a way to end all wars, and the means of doing so can be stated in the following words: we must learn to love our children and grandchildren more than we do the state. That’s it. No international treaties; no candlelight vigils; no referenda by the electorate; no abstract philosophic doctrines to recite. All that is required to end the wholesale butchery that most of us are eager to celebrate with the waving of flags is for each of us to put the faces of our children and grandchildren alongside the image of the state and ask ourselves: which am I prepared to sacrifice for the sake of the other?


There is a common assumption, the falsity of which is most often revealed in times of crisis, namely, that parents have an intense love for their children. When the costs of protecting and fostering the interests of our children are relatively low, this statement probably finds a great deal of support in human behavior. I would go even further and, consistent with Richard Dawkins’ book The Selfish Gene, add that most parents would likely risk their own lives to save those of their offspring. I have seen mother birds fake an injury to themselves in order to draw a predator away from her nest of chicks, a practice as instinctively based as that of a human mother putting her children behind her when confronted by an attacker. What we think of as our “free will” is not always the product of our conscious thinking, but is often driven by a genetic disposition to continue itself into another generation.

If this is so, what kind of “crisis” could cause parents to override these natural tendencies to protect their children from harm or death? This inquiry raises the question of “who” we are. If, as I believe to be beyond all doubt, each of us is motivated by self-interest, “who” is the “self” whose interests we are fostering? Is it our protoplasmic and/or egoistic sense of being? Does it include our extended family relationships, and perhaps that of our friends, neighbors, and work associates? In the words of Alice’s caterpillar, “who are you?”

Let's get those ego-boundaries up, people!

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I'm comfortable with my self-esteem and self-interest, so I'm not impressed nor harmed by an accusation of narcissism, or any other baseless or guilt-tripping manipulative accusation, for that matter.

Courtney Martin recently wrote an article here on Alternet that was amazing in its confessional tone:

"People who want to see the world bettered -- made more just and honest and kind -- often set their gaze on the farthest horizon. Our instinct, as progressives with global perspectives, is to obsess over situations far afield of our own backyards -- Indonesia, Sudan, the Middle East. These situations stir a sort of Peace Corp romance within us, a love affair with that which might make us feel gallant and extraordinary for caring.

I am as guilty as the next bleeding heart of focusing the majority of my energies on problems I see as compelling in large part because of their strangeness to me. But when I sit with myself, quiet my righteous indignation, my whiny white guilt, my attachment to the idea that I am a humble truth teller among powerful fibbers, I realize that it is not the world outside of me that is in most desperate need of my world-changing instincts. "

Several dozen posters replied without condemning the above idea.

No one wrote to assert the objective worth of leftist activism.

So, to repeat Ms. Martin's assertion, all the righteous indignation and guilt-tripping hectoring and nagging and whiny white whining is all merely a means to the end of subjectively making the offender feel gallant and extraordinary for caring.

If any posters want to raise their voices in defense of the objective value of the above-described activism and agitation, then please do.

The frequent absence of "caring" demonstrated here on Alternet today towards those "victims" who have been misled by the US gov't should not come as a surprise to anyone, now that Martin's article (and the appalling absence of disagreeing voices) reveals the mental sewer that characterizes many leftists, who have failed to achieve self-esteem and mental fulfillment in their community, work, and personal lives.

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I'm really surprised how often people, reporters and even politicians get a lot of this wrong in part or in whole. Members of the National Guard are quite different from members of the Active forces, the Active Reserve, the Inactive Reserve and the Individual Ready Reserve. NG's are differentand are intended to be, by design. They are not trained, equipped, paid, budgeted, commanded or employed the same as Reserve or Active troops.

When an officer is commissioned in the Active or Reserve forces, their authority and rank comes through the authority of the President of the United States with the consent of Congress. Warrant Officers are appointed by the service secretary (Secretary of the Navy or Army- USAF no longer has Warrant Officers). Non Commissioned Officers (Corporals, Sergeants, Petty Officers) are promoted under the authority of the Secretary of their service branch as well. All of their pay, training and budget derive from the Federal Treasury, and are always under the command of the President of the US and others under him/her.

National Guard Officers receive their Commission from the AG of the state/commonwealth, usually a Brigadier or Major General, under the authority of the Governor. Unless Federalized/Activated, the majority of their pay and budget is sourced from the state/commonwealth legislature. When troops go to training schools run by the Active or Reserve forces, their unit or the state Guard Bureau has to pay the Federal Government for the training and services. Although each state/commonwealth gets some funding from the Federal Government through the National Guard Bureau in D.C., Guard Units and their personnel are normally and permanently of their home state/commonwealth.

Under Posse Comitatus, National Guardsmen/women are allowed to bear arms inside the United States in police type activities in peacetime, where Active and Reserve forces are not due to the unique nature of their structure and organization. Only during an invasion or insurrection can Federal troops be used in this way against United States citizens. Unlike their Federal cousins, guardsmen/women are commonly trained in handling civil emergencies and police type activities. They are the Governor's first line of response to civil emergencies and disasters when large numbers are necessary. As local residents of the communities they serve, they can do a much better job than someone who is not familiar with folkways, subcultures and the lay of the land.

The abusive use of the Guard is just another of a long list of examples of how the Chickenhawk NeoCon PNAC-types have abused our laws, institutions, citizens, troops and even states and commonwealths. Just another in a long list of bullsh*t from the Bush Crime Family and it's enablers. They like to wrap themselves in the Flag with a Bible in hand standing next to Soldiers, just don't ask them to serve, live their claimed faith or support the people they send into harm's way. Their only loyalty is to those in power, those with money and their own cronies.

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"Article I, Section 8; Clause 15: The Congress shall have Power ... To provide for calling forth the Militia to execute the Laws of the Union, suppress Insurrections and repel Invasions."

The mission in Iraq seems to fit none of these provisions. Bring them home now.

Make education a basic human right so that those without money won't have to trade their lives for it.

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The all volunteer military is a failure. The response to this article is shocking. In order to be fair and equitable and to draw on a population that is representative of all races, ethnic groups, level of education, etc. the answer is a military draft. That way no one is "asking for it". You get a letter one day and that removes all doubts about who's boss. "Enjoying Your Freedom? Thank a Veteran" Volunteer or not, you all owe these people, big time. Thanks ANNA

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If you support the war, sign up. If you don't support the war, don't sign up. If you are already in the military and do not support this war, quit. Just quit. Sure, there are consequences, but think of the alternative.

Attention pro-war readers: my father (heart condition, aged 68) signed up for the National Guard and they took him. You, too, can fight for this cause. If you support this war but don't sign up, you are a hypocrite and a coward. You have no excuse.

If only pro-war citizens were required to fight, this war would, most likely, end immediately.

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I have sympathy with anyone, US, Iraqi, or Afghan, who has been horribly wounded by these conflicts. However, anyone enlisting or otherwise joining the Guard should realize that the Guard are reserve components of the U.S. military, plain and simple. Recruiters should be truthful, but there are many other resources available for those enlisting to research the military. The Army and Air National Guard have highly integrated into the active duty forces since the 1970's, so anyone enlisting should not be surprised if they are called up. In fact, I would venture most service people do not wished to be viewed as victims or political pawns, but as professionals doing their jobs.

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And before others pick up on it, I realize that those in the Guard are not professional soldiers (or airmen) in the strict sense. I meant to imply that they still become a part of the "profession of arms" though their association with the Guard and the US military.

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many of the people who post here do. We have sympathy for you because we remember that people like your husband did not enlist to go to places like Iraq. They signed up to protect this nation on her shores from real enemies who threatened invasion here at home. For those of us who do not support the war in Iraq and who truly do support our troops and acknowledge the sacrifice that their families make, this kind of hate mongering that is being spewed on this site is as disgusting now as it was 40 years ago with Vietnam.

Get a clue, folks, the Constitution of this nation allows for a state militia that can only be called up for overseas deployment in times of imminent invasion (WWII), or called up for national emergencies (Katrina or 9/11). It is the regular military who enlists with an expectation that they might be deployed overseas, not hte National Guard. Why the hell do you think Bush was in the National Guard - it was so he would NOT have to go overseas and to Vietnam! He knows damn good and well that the National Guard is not for overseas deployment.

I guess, what I am trying to say to you, Mrs. Bannerman, is that not all Americans are as cold or unfeeling as the posters here. Some of us understand and you have our sympathy for the pain and frustration you and your family are going through. I would hope that most Americans feel, even if they do not support the war, that those who have served as they were asked to do will receive the help that they need, and soon.

As for the rest, Mrs. Bannerman, if this is what this country is made up of as representative of the humanity of America, it is obvious that we have lost our heart and our soul by showing such a total lack of compassion for those who are in pain. If this is the America you want, people, then I would truly rather live somewhere else. I am ashamed that our own citizens could be so cruel or inhuman in their sentiments towards those WHO VOLUNTEERED TO PROTECT THIS NATION AT HOME, not overseas, and their families - making them no better than the government that sent them into this hell.

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..., here is something else for you to think about:

What better way for this corrupt smoke-and-mirrors government to set the stage for another 9/11 event, then to alienate the citizens from the only soldiers who might actually be able to prevent it or help citizens survive such an event? The only forces that could be activated by the governors, until Bush got control of them with his slight of hand maneuvers with Congress's help. Look at the borders where National Guard troops are not allowed to defend themselves when being attacked by armed Mexicans and other illegal immigrants, including Arabs. Why do you think that is?

You guys are being played again by this administration who is systematically weakening the only force that could have been activated against a private mercenary army like Blackwater, while our regular mlitary was deployed around the world fighting in an illegal war. It is the perfect setting for a final declaration of martial law and the installation of the Civilian Reserve Corps made up of people who could not qualify for military service (ex-cons, mentally ill, mercenaries) that Bush stated he wanted in his State of the Union address this year.

WAKE UP, GENIUSES - support these service personnel and their families, they are the soldiers protesting this war and they are the ones who are the most harmed by it here at home. They agree with you about the illegality of the war and are speaking out publicly. You piss them off, and they will not stand againt Blackwater and the Bush private army of mercenaries when we need them to, they will just sit down and let you reap what you have sown as a thanks for all your support now!

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Anyone who signs up for this military must be personally ok with murdering another human being because someone told them to. It sucks what's happening to the soldiers, but they aren't exactly pillars of decency.

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one thing is for shure .being a mean uncareing tuf talking coward is real easy.it takes real currage to care.it takes real currage to stand up for whats right .I was always against the iraq war becouse I new the cost were to high.this is what happens when a country is lied into a war.this is what happens when you have a bunch of scared little cowards dependent on oil running this country.these people hate america and they could not care less about the people in the military.they will make you die in another countrys civil war becouse they are cowards and lieers out to protect there own ass.and when you come home they will shit on you again.all we can do is try and push the right people into doind the right thing and bring our troops home

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I suspect that most of the people who joined the National Guard did not think of themselves as "becoming soldiers." I bet they expected to be called up in time of emergencies, mostly in their own states. They expected to help out during floods or after terrible storms. They expected to perform rescues when large numbers of people found themselves in danger or to deliver essential food and water or maybe to secure property in times of civil disorganization. In other words, they volunteered to do what the people endangered by Hurricane Katrina needed them to do. But they couldn't help Americans at home in New Orleans, because they had been sent half way around the world by lying, greedy, incompetent, cowardly men seeking nothing but to increase their own power and wealth.
Of course war is horrible. That's why it should be resisted in every possible way. But surely we can see that many decent people serving in the guard, and their families, have been caught up in a nightmare they never foresaw. We were all somehow maneuvered into Iraq but they are the people paying the most awful price. Coming home, so wounded in so many ways, they need our help, if the cycles of violence are to be broken.

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I am one who has commented that the US soldiers are not first in line for my tears. And I gave a good reason for feeling that way, too, in that many signed up thinking not of any others besides themselves and only of the benefits they thought would come their way. That does not mean that I hate the troops. Far from it. It's just that I recognize that many had far from the best reasons for getting into the military in the first place.

Fact is, any military that thinks that glory and easy victory is there's for the taking is full of 'chickenhawks'. Not just that of the US military neither. Fresh recruits flood into the military and are all gungho but think no harm will come their way and that then they will get a lifetime of benefits and 'honor' after time 'served'. Then when events fall contrary to their desires, they change their views about the war and are ready to 'cut and run'.

Two days ago I was out in front of Fort Carson and got one of the best responses I have ever gotten doing a vigil. I was by myself and just held up a big sign saying PEACE. All sort of folk in uniform were emphatically giving me thumbs up in support, peace signs, waves, and smiles. However, I do know that my protests against this same war against the people of Iraq were not met this way by the same US military people 4,5, 10, and 13 years ago. What's different now is easy to tell. Troops now think they might themselves get hurt, whereas when they thought it would be others, they were enthusiastic to 'serve'.

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I don't understand, with the hundreds of thousands of soldiers we have sent over to Iraq, why only ONE has done the honorable, intelligent thing and REFUSED TO GO? (There are others who refused to go a second time, which is good, but not the same thing.)

Lt. Watada made a clear, conscious, CONSCIENTIOUS decision to do the right thing, at great personal risk and has paid a heavy price. How is it possible he's the only military man out there with the courage and intelligence to do it?

I'm sorry, all of you military personnel who went along with this illegal war, and have now come home broken and devastated...you didn't do the right thing. You had a chance to take a stand and instead chose to follow orders.

This is the price you pay.

I feel for you and your loved ones, but I can't see that you're the real victims in this debacle. The Iraqis are.

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With technology and chemical and bio warfare not to mention nukes- there is no reason a single soldier must risk death. When anyone falls prey to conjob and rationalized legality of being able to commit murder- I feel pity for them for being so ignorant and naieve. The sad fact that soldiers are discarded like garbage when they return- not to mention most are disillusioned and realize the terrible lie they bought as truth, does bring a tear to my eye.

It also brings the harsh reality to the public conciousness and awareness that there is nothing we can do about it.

Our current administration just does what it wants, when it wants to regardless of life, the opinion of its people. It is as if we did not exist at all. The only way to get their attention is to refuse to pay taxes and revolt against the government- impeach the monsters- AND I MEAN ALL OF THEM.

Start over and do better.

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"One Weekend a month two weekends a year, get money for college and serve your community."

Of course, thats only when there isn't anything congress or the president deem better to do. The fact is that the National Guard is still the Army. They're still required to fight whenever called just like all the other branches of the armed services. "One weekend a month, two weeks a year" is great, but anyone who didn't stop to think, "Hey, I could get my self killed this way" before signing the contract is a fool. And I have a had time feeling sympathy for anyone who claims otherwise.

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ITS AN ILLEGAL WAR/POLICE ACTION/OIL GRAB!!!

GET OVER THE BICKERING, THE NAME CALLING, THE IN FIGHTING, THE BLAMING.

WE ARE ALL (around the world) BEING DUPED/CONNED/LIED TO DAILY!!!!

OIL/DEFENSE GIANTS ARE LAUGHING.

TERRORISTS ARE NO MORE A THREAT TO ME OR YOU THAN SMOKING/DRIVING/FAST-FOODS. BELIEVE IT, I DO... WAR ON TERROR, HA WHAT A JOKE... SHOULD BE "WAR ON FREEDOM & RIGHTS TO AIDE BIG BUSINESS"

THE RESERVISTS/SOLDEIERS/NG ARE JUST AS VICTIMISED BY THIS ILLEGAL WAR AS YOU AND I CIVILIANS ARE AND PEOPLE AROUND THE WORLD.

YOUR NATION IS CRUMBLING FROM WITHIN... LOOK AT YOU ALL ATTACK EACH OTHER.

THE MILITARY IS A "GLORIOUS"[sic] THING MEANT TO PROTECT AND UPHOLD A CONSTITUTION OF VALUE AND TRUTH FROM SUCH CRIMINALS AS THE VERY ONES RUNNING YOUR GOVERNMENT.

YOUR GOVERNMENT HAS RUINED ALL OF THAT AND THE WORLD CAN SEE - WHY CAN'T YOU.

YOUR GOVERNMENT "IN MY OPINION" IS A REPRESENTATIVE OF THE BIGGEST CRIMINAL ENTERPRISE IN THE WORLD... IF IT WENT TO COURT - WHICH IT NEVER WILL...

THEY WOULD ALL BE SENTENCED TO DEATH FOR THEIR CRIMES

SHAME ON YOU FOR YOUR IN FIGHTING!!!

YOUR ENERGIES SHOULD GO TOWARDS RECLAIMING YOUR COUNTRY FROM THE GRIP OF BIG BUSINESS.

DOESN'T THE RECENT GUILTY VERDICT OF LEWIS LIBBY SAY ANYTHING?


LEAVE THE SOLDIERS ALONE - THEY ARE PAWNS IN A HORRIBLE GAME!

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who the hell are you to judge me and my marines, that did what we were trained to do. yes we went there and fought. where were you? when the towers went down who did you want to attack? when the cole was hit where was your judgement. it is not your freedom to judge me. you know not our story. you wernt there. have you ever shot a man and watched his life leave his body? to know you just terminated a human life. you have no idea how that will affect you psychologicly. every one of us is diffrent. not everyone over there killed as my unit did. not everyone came home. not everyone came home alright. we have lost legs, arms, eyesight, hearing, bones broken and pined to be rebuilt. but the torn flesh still leaves it visual mark that will not let you forget. we have given so much to our country, what have you given? where did you leave blood in what foreign country? i spilled mine in iraq. i will never be the same. we do not ask for much. thouse of us disabled who need compinsation assk for less than 1% of the total cost of war to help the veterns. is that to much to ask? i know it is not. as you sit there in your computer chair wearing that shitty tie and lay judgement on me remember i killed for you. so you could be such a dick. that is my gift to you. and while you hide behind miles of the realworld at your dest. just remember you think your crazy. piss off, talk trash an me or a vetern like me will, terminate you. there is a lot of woods out here in ohio. because if you ever disrespect me to my face i will do what i know best and that is killing or maiming. they do not untrain us. they do not give us a chance to adjust, on perpose. the more unbalanced we are, the more crimes we commit, the less the taxpayers want to spend on us for help. when help is what we need.

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Are these all trolls? Or actual people who read and comment regularly on Alternet? Because I find this appalling... sociopathic at best. What is wrong with you people? Did you read the article at all? Are you sure you aren't trolls from the wacko right, pretending to be regular readers? Because you sure sound like the right. Meanspirited and uncaring. Judgmental. Smug. I know the people I hang around with who oppose this war ache for the troops trapped in this disaster. I had always thought people like you existed only in the warped minds of the conservative right. Where did you creeps come from? I'm suspicious... but lets say you really are regular Alternet readers...

I'm not sure I can continue posting out here. I'm frankly... embarrassed by the lack of empathy, and I have to say if this is the 'left' than you are no less screwed up than the 'right.'

I have known many reservists and national guardsmen over the years. I worked with them, knew their families... they were part of my community. They didn't sign up so they could go overseas to war. Are you kidding? They all had jobs and families! If they had wanted to be active duty, they could have signed up for the regular army or marines. They signed up for the reserves because they wanted to protect their communities, help out in emergencies, and to do what they considered to be their American duty here at home.

Now they are being sent to Iraq, over and over... many are losing their jobs and their families are struggling, they are losing their houses, their businesses, their LIVES... developing all sorts of health problems -- and they still can't come home, because the rules have changed mid game, and now Bush can redeploy them over and over and over again.

And you people have the gall to say 'they asked for it.' Pathetic.

Next time there is a hurricane and nobody comes to dig you out, ask whether you 'deserved it' because we have no national guard around with shovels. Who do you think signed up to do that sort of thing? Obviously none of you did.

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Let's face it, America is on the bottom of the developed world in terms of socialized health care, universal education and medical care. America has basically a non-existent social safety net. All across Western Europe, Canada and Australia, the poorest at least are part of a society that will not let them starve, that will not let them die in the street. But, not America, the richest country in the world. However, her riches, her justice, her education and medical care, are reserved for the moneyed elite. And, increasingly so as the middle class has disappeared. So, America's lower classes join the military in droves. But, what choice do they have really? It is either that, and perhaps someday get an education, or it is Wal-Mart's or the local 7-11. So, the military is Americ'a work force for the lower classes. Akin to a foriegn legion, it's soldiers have become hired mercenaries to protect American "assets," which in reality are the assets and powerbase of the ruling elite, the moneyed elite of America. So, what choice do America's millions of poor have and now millions previously in the middle class, it is the military or nothing.

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TO ALL AND ANY SOLDIER WHO HAS BEEN TRAINED TO KILL ANOTHER HUMAN BEING OR HAS KILLED ANOTHER HUMAN BEING FOR ANY REASON:

YOU HAVE NEVER, NOR WILL YOU EVER KILL ANOTHER HUMAN BEING FOR ME. IT IS A LIE THAT HAS BEEN PERPETUATED FOR TOO LONG.
ANY HUMAN BEING WHO HAS DIED IN WAR OR KILLED IN WAR DID NOT DO IT FOR ME.

Wasn't it the National Guard soldiers who KILLED those four Kent State students in a Protest against the Vietnam war????

Were you protecting ME then??????Do you think I have more Freedom since the Bush admisntration, that you are fighting for, has destroyed the very constitution that used to guarantee my rights???. Billions of dollars are being spent and trillions are being made by a select few on the Business of KILLING and WAR.

3000 people died on Sept 11, 2001 because the military institution that you are a part of FAILED to PROTECT them????

Are you proud that you re part of a military that has contrubuted to the death of AT LEAST 450,000 Iraqi citizens and 45,000 Iraqi children?????
Soon you will be burning gas from the oil that you are fighting over and you will force other Americans to put gas in their cars that is tainted with the blood of childen!

NOT ME!!!!

Any soldier who joins the military meets the first primary objective: you are trained to KILL other human beings and that you are protecting ME or my "freedom" is a LIE and you are lying to yourselves.

The moment you chose to join the Military, you chose Death. Death to others and the possibility of your own Death. A little peice of your Soul dies each time you pick up a weapon that is intended to KILL another SOUL.

You are not fighting and killing for ME so take me off your list and never again use ME as reason to take the life of any HUMAN BEING.

Note: I live in Haiti and 17 women and children were killed last week by UN PEACEKEEPING troops by shooting into the slums under the pretense of killing bandits. They have only brought chaos and death to Haitians and the LIE is that they are here to provide SECURITY. They are stealing and trafficing drugs and replaced US Marines that took out the "democatically" elected president TWICE????
I am ashamed to say I am American for hatred towards America is also taking hold in this country.

If you are proud to be a soldier then I am ashamed of you. If you have been educated or gotten any other kind of benefits by being trained to KILL, then I am really ashamed of you.

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for the rich mans war that the poor and ignorant fight.

I know one veteran who enlisted in 1968, went to 4 countries in S/E Asia, and believed the lie's about communism invading the countries and we must stop it. (2ndRecon-USMC- CIA Black-Op's) Came home suffered night sweats, nightmares, PTSD, and Alcohol-Drug addictions for 32 years.

VA-Post Care? yea-Prison! Paroled- Record- No Work, and for what- another lie by the Rich man and the propaganda of the lie's by the Press. "Fight For Freedom- Liberty, and the American Way- B*ll-Sh*t!

It makes me mad as hell seeing and thinking about this foeney War in the middle-east, on-terror, and the Marines-Soldiers dying both physcially and psychologically about a 911-Lie.

I suggest all you patriots-sheep read:

'War Is A Racket' by Major General-Smedley Darlington Butler, USMC-Retired.
http://lexrex.com/enlightened/articles/warisaracket.htm

Then read ' America's Secret Establishment' by Antony C. Sutton- search www.google.com

Then read 'George Bush- The Unauthorized Biography' by Webster G. Tarpley & Anton Chaitkin search www.google.com

You see- these people brainwash-condition us into thinking and believing in order for us to be free and contribute to society one must pledge total obedience to them-'The State.

We have not fought a single war for liberty-freedom and the American way since 1776.

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back when Vietnam came up with the draft my high school physics teacher made the above book mandatory reading. It got him in serious hot water latter and the book has been banned from many school libraries since but it is a must read for anyone contemplating military service.

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Relevant now as it was then:

The War Prayer

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Give me a break. Did they fail high school civics too?

I volunteered years ago knowing full well my life was on the line and many times I was nearly killed by friendly fire. I didn't buy into the cold war and Desert Stormtroopers or any other crap they were throwing at everyone.

We didn't restore democracy to Kuwait. Kuwait still has a king. We should of let the coalition of the willing do all the fighting from Saddam the first time and they could stay and do all that enforcement since most Europe gets their oil from that region.

Get out of the military if you don't like it. They are probably violating your contract anyways.

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Rome stole from his neighbors and was based upon slavery

France(napoleon) occupied Europe
England the Empire was based upon slaveswork and theft of commodities.
Holland had big colonies.

And now the Superpower are the USA.
Why you think you are different???

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Do they count?
Do they even matter?
are thy Subhumans???
Do they have mothers who mourn?
Did not they suffer enough under Saddam. Now under us???

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look we went to war. i dont like tourcher but it is part of all that is war. it has been gong on since before the pherios and aztech and the maya. i do not agree with it but it does save lives and makes opperational goals achieved. remember we are not asking them to change religon or their oun personal beliefs, all we need is information that is counter productive of bushes rule. i am being as objective as i can. we need to help the veterns not being a critic. and as for the ones that replied to my blog above only one was a vetern. i was looking to talk to veterns. no pogs(person other than grunt). why do people think that if you are in conflect that if you kill some one it is not murder. anytime you end a life it is murder. in our country if you are a driver in a drive-by shooting you are just as guilty as the triger man. all american veterns are guilty of more than 300,000 civilan deaths. we droped like 15 missles on 2000 tank troops leving a city in iraq and as their waving good by to there famlies we timed it just right so their famlies could watch them burn. i did not make that decision, i did not push the button. but i knew taking out those sons, fathers, brothers, cousins, would help ensure i got home so i could see my famley. at that time i did not feel anything for their life but as time goes by i feel the guilt like a fungus growing up my leg. but still people who have never been in a conflict or war want to judge me. who ever is reading this right now is making a oppinion of me right now. i dont like alot of things that our govenment does. but by removing our rights, uncle sam can protect us from others and our self. by building the entire country in to a prison they can monitor all of us. if your doing nothing wrong then you have nothing to hide. thats what they want. havent you ever noticed that politions who obviously speek out agsent sex, crime, drugs. are the first to get caught doing what they want to send millions of us off to prison. because their scared that people are even more fucked up that they are. so we need to get rid of them all. burn them all. rather then just sit there and type it is time to do somthing about it. stand up and fo kill you local government leader's. you all seem to feel so strong agsent the war do somthing about it. or are my ideas to far out there for you. or do you not have the constution to fallow your beliefs and convictions?

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Sorry, but after Vietnam, I lost all trust or respect for the US federal gov't. I now consider the USA to be an illegal occupying force on the North American continent, and very soon it will whither away due to corruption, bankruptcy, illigitimacy, and intentional malfeasance. I would no sooner sign a legal document with the federal gov't and expect the contents to be honored than I would sign such a document with Satan. I don't blame you, but unfortunately you are a slow learner. And it cost you your family. I am deeply sorry that this happened to you. Will you ever trust the USA again?...M.N. --> mandersonation.blogspot.com

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"One weekend a month, two weeks a year. Earn money for college and protect your local community." That's what citizen soldiers signed up for. While they were certainly aware of the dual mission, they believed the recruiters who told them that they'd never get deployed; that the only way they'd see combat is "if World War III broke out." Since 2001, "four out of five guardsmen have been sent overseas in the largest deployment of the National Guard since World War II."

I don't think the draft is a good idea. Why force people?
Nothing is free, and when you join a MILITARY force,
you are taking a gamble that your country is going to
be at peace unless an identifiable military attack happens
to the country. We never counted on our military to be
deployed without deep thought and now it's like
Humpty Dumpty fell off the wall and I don't think there's
hope. Everyone is angry and it is the end
result of Zero Tolerance policies. America was a great
place of mostly peace and lots of hope; the USA is a different
entity.

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In all previous wars, America’s soldiers were honored by their commanding officer - the President. In Vietnam, a few hippies may have heckled them and worse- but at least the "establishment" treated them as heroes, and rewarded them for their service. Now, society makes a "big noise" about honoring the soldiers, and then puts in stop loss orders to keep them there. In Vietnam, the soldiers got the best equipment the government could give them. In this war there are constant stories about men who are unprotected. The military hospitals have never been perfect, but I cannot remember any scandals such as the stories about the hospitals that have surfaced. Rats and mold in the Military hospital in the Vietnam era would have raise the roof in the Pentagon back then. Now, we outsource Veteran's care to the same company that has trouble supplying New Orleans water in Katrina, and who cannot seem to get food to the troops in Iraq. I pity the men who are fighting. It is one thing to have a long haired hippie spit in your face. It is quite another to have your Commander and Chief do the same.

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Obviously this is a very divisive and sensitive topic, and, from reading these posts, I feel compelled to add my own view.
They volunteered. Just as any crack dealer on the street makes the bargain for easy money and then ends up losing his life to other thugs, or to the Corrections Department, any volunteer for military service also makes this bargain. Either volunteering for active service or for reserve duty, the military man(or woman) has agreed not only to kill for the wishes of the State, but also to take a bullet. The mentality of anyone who would sign up for violence and then plead ignorance and innocence is bizarre. There hasn't been a draft for decades, just because someone wishes to recieve college money for duty to the murder machine that is the American Empire does not excuse their decision to participate. The act of signing up for service is tacit approval of the wholesale terror that has become our foreign policy. The deal one makes when signing up for service is to be subservient to ANY and ALL orders from commanders, be it the Pres. or Congress, et al. The true patriots are taking batons to the head and the true battlefield to protect our nation is on the front of protests. The military man sees these true citizens as demoralizing their cause, but I beg to differ. The act of dissent against a tyrranical government is supportive of the plight of the soldier, and the wasted lives that lay by the wayside of the reckless wars done in our name are for nothing. Are we to believe that every person that has signed up for military service was born and raised in a cave, far removed from public education and mass media? How could they not take notice of the evil wrought by our governmental institutions for the past sixty years? My compassion will be expressed by the full defense of our brothers and sisters who go AWOL. Better to face court martial in the defense of the true principles of this nation, than to die for a greedy uniglobalist agenda. Go ahead and argue your invalid, indoctrinated support for the war machine, but I truly have the soldiers in mind, not the economy, oil, hegemony, or any other political bullshit. I've taken my baton lashings and arrests, what have you done for the soldiers?

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A friend of mine joined the Guard, not for the college money, but because it meant he would be fighting forest fires and floods. He wanted a blue collar job but he also wanted to be trained and available as a first responder. He certainly didn't join the Guard to fight an overseas war of aggression. He knew, when he signed on the dotted line, that he might be called up to go. But that doesn't mean he likes it. We all take chances, all the time.

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Not until the Bush twins enlist will I even consider supporting this war. Bush is a traitor and our armed forces are nothing but a private army in the hands of big business and foreign lobbies.

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all of you are missing the point. we had no choice. i did not have a choice to go. because everyone with a pea for a brain , did notwant to go to war. we were forced to fight. politics had nothing to do with it. when it comes down you you or me going home at the end of the day. sorry bro. but we did what we had to do to go home and make sure my buddies come home too. but many didnt. they were closer to me than my oun brother. their is a bond of dependence and loyalty that you will never understand. maybe i was the only one to experience that feeling. but any time you end a life, it is a tragety, a wrong, a crime, even in war killing iss wrong and being able to walk that path has shown a light that will not be extinguished. we all have our path of enlightenment. and when on the beaten trail it is hard to see the other side of the trail. the people sent us their bush could not have done it wihtout you support. and yes all of you in one way or another supported the war. you may have said in your head or to a friend that it was wrong but you didnt do anything about it. you. thats right you reading this. you allowed the war to happen. it is not the falt of one it is the falt of everyone. we all failed even me. we did not do what is in our hearts and we have still left it undone. my brothers are their and i can not stop them from being killed. more of us are dieing everyday and we let it happen. we have not stop anything with our words. it will only take action to end this. it will not be protest. it is a revolution that can change the war from here on out. you will not take up arms. you all are cowards. otherwise we would all be in dc killing the real threat to this country. from the top on down. we need to overthrow our leaders and make their blood fill the streets. we only need to kill a few and keep killing one at a time untill they decide to leave iraq. but not just them. we would have to kill their wife's, their children, their neighbors and them. but none of us have the constution to carry out that plan. we can show these men of fear what real fear is. but we need more than 500 cells of 20 people. all armed and all with names and addresses and in a swoop in the night we take them all. all our represenatives and their famlies. we drive tem to the washingtom memoral and execute as many as it takes till we bring our brothers home.

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to whom it may concern:
My name is greggory wyckoff and i am a vetern of the iraq war. i have just finshed reading the article about how our vets are not receiving healthcare and disability. it is amazing to see an article that relays the truth of what it is like to be stuck in our system and have no answers, no one to help guide us threw to get us the help we so need. yet i have contacted my congressman "jordan of ohio" yet the only thing i get is a questionaire in the mail when reguarding my healthcare this guy clearley is for the war and not spending any money to help thouse of us coming back with am jacked up in the head or body. in the article where flashbacks occure. i to have had difficulty controling the intrusive thaughts. some times they overwhelm me to the point i have to leave where ever i am. i seek isolation. i lose my self in booze. my emotions run deep and all of a sudden nothing my girlfriend and maybe someday my wife has stood by me untill she left yesterday and tries to stop the war i seem to be waging on my self. we are outed out of the military and no one seems to care what we did over there and what were going threw. all the death everyday. the strugle we face when we look in the mirror everyday and know that because of your actions people are dead. yes there on the other side but it is still a human life that ripped out of this world over politics. my ankle has been broken twice while i was in the military the second time in iraq. i have a puncture wound in my side and burns on my arms. needless to say i am not the man i was before i went to iraq. every day is a strugle. even employment is hard. there are days i just want it all to stop and put a bullet in threw my brain. but i digress. i cant seem to hold dowd a job when in my past i have always had a great work ethic. then there are these dreams. there so real and now they involve people in my life dieing in iraq and i visualize my little brother there or my girl dead. its not just memories of what happened over there, there now being incorperated in my every day life. it just dosent seem to be getting better. people just dont seem to care. i never thaught in a million years that the freedom i was protecting is the same freedom that dosent give a shit for it's protectors. dont get me wrong i love my country so much, i would fight for it, die for it, but only when absolutly necessary. a year after i returned from iraq i sought mentel health for an asortment of problems like uncontrollable crying anger depression etc. the corps dont allow for weekness. to admit you need help from another is uneceptable... was taught that. but after being instutationalizes for a 4 week program. i was discharged and havent been given any medical asistance since. i feel pain in my dreams, i know it sound weird but i wake up and i can still feel the sting of bullets flowing threw my body. some time i dream about the time my windshield was shot out by small arms fire. for days i was pulling little shards of glass out of my face. i know i need help before i take someones life out in anger. oh yea i get angry. and some times its hard to stop my self. but i have been in a few fight's. i beat the crap out of this guy in front of a bar for pushing me. i just snapped and he ended up with like 20 stiches to his face. i was defending my self and even the police arrested him for assult. but i really hurt that guy. i have always been a pasafist. i even was a corpsman (medic) in the military. i figured if i was going to be part of a war machine be on the side that helps people. i just need to know who do i have to talk to to get some help. no one has any information on how to help me before i end my self. help me someone
http://www.myspace.com/greggwyckoff

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You need to rephrase the wrong to worse in Iraq! Actually the worst is centralized in Baghdad! That is where the insurgents laid their base. There is absolutely NO insurgency in 1/3 of norhtern Iraq in Kurdistan. In the southern 1/3 of Iraq; it is almost unheard of to hear or see an insurgency. If you take the 1/3 of the country where Baghdad lies, 90% of the area is WITHOUT insurgency! It be like claiming California as a war gone wrong, when actually L.A. was the HOTSPOT! You CAN NOT name one general, or politician that gave a speech or interview claiming that insurgents were going to be the surprise we'd be fighting! NOT A ONE! You can also not name one conflict in the history of mankind, that did not have its blunders or change a course of action to deal with an unknown situation that came upon the battlefield. As with any sporting event; which i am not claiming to be a comparsion, but when each team takes the field, they are confident of beating that opponent. But as we all have seen in a sporting event, coaches change tactics! there is a half time where they change strategy. some make the correct adjustments, others still get beat changing their strategy. Its extremely unfair for you people to second guess AFTER THE FACT! There is NO Time machine to go back too. I believe this new change of course is going to have dramactic results! Dunken hunter has just returned from his trip to Iraq and has seen remarkable changes since his last visit less then a year ago. Dont let your pesimistic outlook control your emotions. Use COMMON SENSE, and realize we are in a very difficult contfrontation. Be confident the tide is turning!

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hey...come check out www.electorials.com

Check out our brand new blogs and our great and organized political message boards.

Bryan

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The only persion I have ever heard dismissively ask “They’re voluntteers, aren’t they?” is Madeline Albright and I’ve been a National Guard volunteer for over 12 years.

Some gross mistatements of fact:

450,000 deployments is not the same as 450,000 troops. Some of those are second deployments, like myself and 80% of my battalion currently in Afghanistan.

The American Expeditionary Force ow World War One numbered over 1,000,000 troops. Of those, 40% were National Guard troops.

During WWII, all 18 then existing National Guard divisions were deployed and saw combat. Today there are only 8 National Guard divisions.

Let’s talk about expectaions and promises. First, let me tell you that we in the Guard (and Reserves), regardless of branch, attend the exact same basic training as our Active Duty bretheren. We train to the exact same standards. And we sign the exact same enlistment contract. The following is from Department of Defense Form 4 (DD Form 4), the Enlistment/Reenlistment Document.

In the event of war, my enlistment in the Armed Forces continues until six (6) months after the war ends, unless my enlistment is ended sooner by the President of the United States. (Section 9 (c))

Even more to the point;

If I am a member of a Reserve Component of an Armed Force at the beginning of a period of war or national emergency declared by Congress, or if I become a member during that period, my military service may be extended without my consent for up to six (6) months after the end of that period of war. (Section 10 (b))
As a member of a Reserve Component, in time of war or national emergency declared by the Congress, I may be required to serve on Active Duty (other than for training) for the entire period of the war or emergency and for six (6) months after its end. (Section 10 (c))

There is of course more, but these would seem to be sufficient. Let me also point out that each section of the contract is explained to the recruit.

You also cite the polic deployed for y of limint deployments to a number of months over a number of years; the “24 months deployment over 6 years” policy. I’m personally getting an extra $1000 a month in my paycheck because I volunteered for a deployment that would take me over that 24 month threshold. This is only policy, not law. The law only requires that any one contiguous deployment for a Guardsman not exceed 24 months. In fact, used to it’s fullest utility, this means, under law, a Guardsman may be deployed, involuntarilly, for 730 days, redeploy, demobilize and then immediately remobilize for another 730 day period. Of couse nothing even remotely like that is or will happen.

Having said that, I and my battlaion are facing the prospect of a very fast turn around (about a year) deployment to Iraq upon our return from Afghanistan. if called, we will go. It’s just how it is. Some are looking forward to it. Some are looking for a loophole. Some dread the very idea. But go we will, if it even happens, which is not yet a certainty. In addition, for those of you worrying, about the 1-180th, presently deployed to Afghanistan, facing a deployment almost as soon as we come home, the NYT article conveniently left out that our command is doing all it can to keep us from having to deploy that quickly. Some of will volunteer anyway. 80% of those of us here didn’t have to deploy this time, but we volunteered to do so, because servicemen serve.

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All members of the Army and Navy can be subjected to the Stop Loss Program (BackDoor Draft)
First of all...Thank you Ms. Bannerman for this article. I search daily for articles re: stop loss in hopes more Americans understand the severe implications. I am a dependent of my son because I am disabled and cannot support myself completely. Before I became ill, he enlisted for active duty in the army in Nov. 2003, with a four year contract. Anyone that expresses that they have no pity for people who enlisted and are stuck in the stop loss program, and conclude our service people are getting what they deserve are most likely mentally unstable. My son enlisted to serve his country for four years, and help others; not for free education, money and ENTRAPPMENT in the military. Instead of preparing to transition from the army to civilian life with his wife, 2 yr old daughter, and me this November, he will soon deploy again. We have been told to prepare for an 18-month tour this time. Do you really think this is fair to these volunteers, who work everyday on base for long hours and practically have no other life than military duty, to be forced to stay in the army or navy when their contracts are to end? We had to completely split up as a family. He is stationed in Georgia, his wife and daughter had to move in with her parents in California so she can attend school full time, and I had to stay here near a base in Colorado because of my entire established healthcare. I am most sorry for those of you that have suffered during your service, but this is the year 2007 and it is time to make improvements to our military. Over 50,000 troops active and who served in the Iraq War were affected by stop loss. They probably have at least 8 family members deeply affected by the stop loss, and probably at least 5 more people in their lives some how affected. That's nearly 650,000 of us that did not know about the stop loss when their children, spouses, parents, friends...went to the military recruiter. NOTE to all you who posted negative and cruel statements… I have a magnetic ribbon on the back of my car. It is black and is in memory of my niece's husband whose was blown into numerous bloody pieces Memorial Day weekend, 2005 in Fallujah during a night patrol by an IED. He joined the reserve with his college buddies because they felt it was the right thing to do for their country and world peace. Please do not make assumptions that reservists enlisted just for college money, benefits, or whatever lame excuse you disgraced them with. One more suggestions for the negative and cruel individuals: attempt to read the entire article Ms. Bannerman wrote, it is very good, not just certain phrases you can later manipulate and comment on to hurt others.

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Nope. It's late, so I'm gonna repost a comment I just made on another story:

How long has GWS officially been a mystery illness? How much DU do you think they really used in Iraq? How many good questions can you think of to ask about depleted uranium shells?

The anti-tank "kinetic energy projectile rounds" punch through steel armour like butter and then incinerate anything inside the target. They were used against houses, occassionally at the least and quite often by some accounts.

DU "aerolyzes" into nano-particulate dust which is extremely harmful if inhaled. Because they are so small, the particles can get into the blood and then the tissues. Because DU is also a heavy metal, it tends to linger inside any tissues it manages to penetrate, quite possibly by binding to DNA. (They're not doing this DNA binding research of course, but it applies to other heavy metals, so you be the judge.)

You may have heard DU radiation is quite harmless because it is "mere" alpha radiation that can be stopped by a sheet of paper. Well, that's because alpha particles are so big they are bound to hit a nucleus even traveling through a piece of paper. An alpha particle is actually the equivalent of a helium nucleus: two neutrons and two protons

Do you want that crashing into your DNA?

Learn more and contribute your thoughts, questions and research at

www.DUBBS.info

Registration on the BBS is instant.

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