Yes hon, that is the truth of it. It seems that is where it may be going. It needs to stop and we need to regroup and take care of our borders and think clearly what we are doing as a nation.

I hear from troops that they see the need to be in Afghanistan, but are leary of that part of the country.

I also hear that the troops jobs have now become as "PR" to the Iraqis.
They are to be friendly, shake hands commonly, if asked to come into their homes to do so. If asked to eat their food, do it.

They are trying to show friendship to them and courtesy.

I also agree with Fanta...that if we are going to be at war for indefinate amounts of time..then there needs to be a draft. There are so many soldiers that have been there too many times...too long.

But then again...I don't want to see any mothers sons or daughters in any war.

Bring them home.

Kat

i do think a draft is a bit rash.

but i also think that the best way to ease the burdens on our military now...is to shorten lengths of deployment.

and of course if our military was bigger in numbers this would be easier.

support our troops..enlist



but me, ive thought of every single way i could do this. and i cant. ima single mother and i wont do that to my kids when i dont have the support at home to care for my children.

I have a sneaky feeling. I bet most don't come home. They'll more than likely get reassigned in the other war zone.
I read no mention of the coming home.

Unfortunately...you could be right. Jay (my son) says the same thing. He says they say they may pull them out of Iraq without notice and deploy them straight to Afghanistan.

That is a much scarier place to be.

Kat

All Americans should sacrifice equally.
Im so sick of the young men old enough to fight who sat around defending Bush's war in Iraq, but unwilling to volunteer.
They cheered and defended it but were too cowardly to sign on the dotted line and actually participate. Ive heard a lot of excuses, but what it really comes down to is they are unwilling, either because they think they are more privileged than others, or they are cowards unable to put their words into actions. Unwilling to do anything for their country except leech the benefits others have given them.



Our volunteers are the cream of the crop, the most patriotic of all Americans.
They have suffered the hardships of an illegal war while others cheered it on. Some have served 3 and 4 tours or more. Why should the volunteers do all the sacrificing.

Draft them all and put their boots on the ground in Afghanistan. Where they should have been since 9-11.

Because that's the way a volunteer army works. Nobody has to go. I defend the war as justified. I do not believe it was the right thing at the right time but it was justified. I made a plan for myself out of high school and I was a year into it when 9/11 happened. I was not going to derail that plan in order to serve in the military for 4 years and set myself back.

I, again, have to disagree that everyone not going over is unpatriotic. Some choose a path that does not involve the military. The only unpatriotic ones are those that protest the war and the troops. They are despicable. Fight against the war itself but the troops sacrificing over there deserve no disrespect.

Also, I'd like to point out that nothing is ever equal and it never should be. Everyone makes different sacrifices.

I made a plan for myself out of high school and I was a year into it when 9/11 happened. I was not going to derail that plan in order to serve in the military for 4 years and set myself back.



Sacrifice???

Yeah!!!!

The only unpatriotic ones are those that protest the war and the troops.

No one protested the troops. Thats Republican propaganda!

You should come to california once. There are many out here with the **** the war and **** the troops attitude.

That I cant say!

Ive never heard of them though.
Let's ask some other Californians.
There are plenty on here.

What say you Calif?
How many have seen protests against the troops?

Not the Iraq war. The troops?

I never said physical demonstrations. you know, protest is not just a noun.

Is this a Flip-Flop then?

Not in the least. Go look at a dictionary. you know, some words have two meanings. like protest. It can mean a physical demonstration with many people (noun) as well as simply stating personal distaste (verb). Though I have to admit, there have been those in the anti-war protests who will declare their hatred for the troops "carrying out the evil"

Protesting Bush's illegal war in Iraq or his policies does not mean people are protesting the troops.
This is Bush BS.
While many did during Vietnam, this was not the case during this war.
Americans were very respectful and understanding to the troops this time!
I would have been the first to ***** had they not been!
I am a vet!

When I'm standing there having a political conversation and someone says "**** the troops" for doing what they're told and compares them to the SS, I'm pretty sure that's disrespecting the troops. NC is a lot different than LA I can assure you. I'm glad you've had no experience with such people but there are a lot of screwed up people in california. i mean, what other state would elect pelosi for 20 years? There are so many here with their head on ass-backwards it's not even funny.

If you hear that, smack them once for me!
Then campaign to remove Pelosi!
She sucks!!!

Im sure cloudy will second that!

The idea that our continued presence in the Middle East helps is false. It is a tool used to radicalize what amounts to a terrorized population.

The folks that live there have been the way they are for centuries and no occupation is going to change that. They have to make those changes voluntarily or it will never stand. Besides, you can't export democracy from behind the barrel of a gun.
Speakuing of Democracy, I find it funny that when Arabic groups hold a vote, overseen by an international body and groups like Hamas get voted into power, it's not respected, to the contrary, it's spit on and trashed.
Get the globalists out of power all over the world, starting here, since they use our military as a mercenary force.

do you guys even understand why our service men and women are overseas? take korea for instance , it is still an active warzone which means that the only thing keeping north korea from flooding into south korea is the u.s. and there seece fire with us . take the middle east , isreal one of our greatest allies . the middle east hates them . if we withdrew from the middle east there is nothing standing in the way of isreal being totaly takrn out. my point being that there is a reason for troops being overseas . and people are so worried aout the rape of the us armed forces and if we bring all of our overseas troops home , there is no reason for us to have the large millitary we have and guess what when peoples terms come up they wont be able to reup because there will be no need for them , therefore the millitary shrinks .

But sseriously...maybe if we weren't where we don't need to be (in some instances) and the American people felt comfortable with our government doing the right thing for us and out military, then the enlistment would go up.
It went down after we invaded Iraq, because people didn't believe we should be there. When the military is favorable in the peoples eye, then it would rise. Wouldn't it?

The enlistment has risen slightly since the election.

Kat

i understand your point as a former soldier even i think our time in iraq has ended , and i am glad we are pulling out . my arguement is for the people who say we shouldnt have a single troop stationd outside the us . there are reasons we have soldiers outside the us . if we did pull all of our soldiers from overseas and kept them here there would be no room for new enlistments or re enlistments . our troops are overseas for a reason .