Do you know any US soldiers who have been to Iraq?

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shart1780

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If so, how do they feel about the war and liberation in Iraq?

I think the opinion of a soldier is very reliable (moreso than most politicians) since they actually interact with the people :)
 
No i don't know a soldier,but when that statue of SADDAM came down,i think that liberated the world,not just Iraq,what a toad in the hole he was.Everyman should have freedom and to see him get caught was a way of mankind for a civilised human being
 
The father of one of my students from last year is over there right now. He came home on leave last year and came to school. He was very upbeat and pleased with the job he was doing and how he felt he was benefitting the people of Iraq. Before he went over, he was enthusiastic about going.
 
One of our family friends was a front lines medic in Iraq. So when the military people would go on raids and stuff, he would go with them and recover the wounded. Pretty scary stuff. I'm glad he's home alive.

He also treated SADDAM HUSSEIN as a patient in Iraq. Like, right immediately after they caught him, they would just fly him to different places in Iraq before they could figure out a secure, permanent place to hold him. So he treated Saddam and communicated to him through a translator. Small world aint it?
 
No, but I do read quite a few MilBlogs and you certainly can see some "boots on the ground" perspective.
 
I have many connections to people who have served over there, and/or are over there.

I would say they almost all feel that what they are doing is worthwhile. They have concerns about the effectiveness of what they are doing Big Picture wise. Little picture, the Iraqi's they have met and helped on a personal level, they feel good about them.

Sidebar, through the years I lost touch with a buddy of mine from bootcamp. I have not been in touch with him since Desert Storm. I have been trying since things heated up again through internet searches to track him down. He posted on a message board for the first time in May with an Email Addy. We have been communicating. He has been in Iraq twice. He just got home and bought a house with his wife.

I posted in another thread about the fact that a member of my church died in Iraq. I knew the family because I had the cousins in my class, and I take classes with the soldier's sister in-law, and she works in the town I teach in. The family is running a program to send toys and other items for Marines to give to kids in Iraq. IT is awesome to watch it happen. Kids in the middles school have been helping box and send the materials.

A teacher I work with went for a tour of duty in his reserve unit.

Many of the soldiers who are still in the reserves have been activated twice. They really felt that it was wrong to stop Desert Storm when it was stopped. That Saddam had to be removed from power so they were very gung ho about finishing things up. Now I think they appreciate why things stopped.
 
I know of two in Afghanistan. One of them reenlisted, because he was miffed that he couldn't be part of the VFW. And now he'll be a veteran of that foreign war. :huh: The other is his son...lol.

Melon
 
i only have secondary and tertiary contacts, but i did spend a very interesting evening with a group of veterns.

it was at a bar in Georgetown last October, they were all from Boston, and we were watching the Red Sox in the playoffs (man, were they glad to be home! and just in time!), and the bar was crowded and we were all sort of lumped together.

they seemed rather ambivalent, and viewed it as simply a job that they had to do. they expressed no particular opinion on the Iraqi people, on the job itself, and pretty much focused on the baseball game. they comments were mostly about how hot it was, how Iraq seemed to them to be little more than a wasteland and if there weren't any oil than no one would give a damn about the country.

and they were all anti-Bush -- not in a passionate way, but very "he's not the man for this job; he's in way over his head."
 
I met a soldier who was stationed at Abu Ghraib. He hated Rumsfeld, as well as everyone else in his unit. He said everyone carried around little stones with "Morale...R.I.P." on them. He also wanted the troops to be brought home. Now, he also hated Kerry, but that's not the point. He hated the higher ups on both sides, and so did his buddies. They all wanted the troops to be home and not in Iraq.
 
I know one man who was in Iraq and has chosen to go back. He was rather quiet on the topic, neither enthusiastic nor overly critical. He seemed to consider himself a soldier with a job to do.
He said things were a mess there, but I gauged that was a statement on the conditions and not the politics. He was not a young man and had a son in Iraq also.

I also come from the hometown of Sherwood Baker, whose mother is one of the those supporting Cindy Sheehan. However, her son did not appear to share her view of things. Another soldier just doing his job.

And several of the soldiers accused of abuse come from my area too.

We have quite a composite here in my little area of support for the war and opposition to it. Most of the returning soldiers have had little to say publicly one way or the other, so I cannot tell what the views are.
 
I know a good friend who's father was asked to re-enlist he did out of love for his country, came back with huge disrespect for this administration.

I have others who still think they are doing the right thing, sometimes they disagree with the way the long term is being handled, but for the most part are optimistic.

My closest friend who served doesn't think we're doing any good at all and is probably more anti-administration than I am.
 
I am taking an International Politics course this fall at my university. In my class we will discuss the war. Yesterday was our first day of this class and we all found out that there are 4 soliders in our class that just returned from active duty in Iraq. Their input will provide for a very interesting discussion.
 
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