I was at home yesterday with my son and watching some video clips from the past two years of his cousins...my brother's sons...and my son said, "hey, can we go visit today?" Well, as it turns out that would have involved a small fourtune for the plane trip. So we settled for a phone call. Got my brother's wife on the horn and chatted for a bit. As it turns out, she had just recieved a call from my brother in Iraq and he said, "Bad News, looks like my tour of duty will be extended until March."
This sucks! He was supposed to be home for the New Year Holiday. Thanks to Bush and his wack job cronies and their de facto draft is still in effect. Why can't they get our troops home as promised rather than extending their stay?
The big difference between Iraq and Vietnam is that people were allowed to make their own decisions about extending their tours of duty. Then again, the draft was overt and took place at the front end of enlistment. This time around, folks in Iraq, are required to extend, and some of the Nat'l Guard folks end up staying for 1.5 years instead of the 4 months promised. Now, if you ask me, that is not fair, and there is nothing voluntary about that. Another rouse by the president to keep our people over there to protect their oil interests. Why don't the Cheney's and The Bush's send their children over to fight and let my brother come home and be the father he is supposed to be. Instead, again the folks who talk about family values, don't practice policy that supports and values familys...just their own.
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6 comments:
You know what you should tell your son, the reason we can go visit people is because his Uncle, unlike his whining father, defend our country. Im sorry your brothers tour was extended, BUT, he signed up for the military, and I bet he was not too slow to take up the beneifits the military offers was he. So, before you start complaining you should think about the thousands of other families who want see their son, maybe for years, because they serve without question in places far away. And it is fair, thats the job, your brother and I both signed up. I was also extended while I was there, but not for 4 months, but for 11. And, I would love to see where he was "promised" 4 months, thats a blatent lie, you know it, I know it and your brother knows it. Just from the few facts I can tell about your situation, if he was suppose to come home in December, that means he got there around December 03, LONG after the 1yr boots on ground was imposed, so he knew from the get go he was going to be there a year. So that blows your 4 months crap out of the water. If you get extended, you get extended, tough.
What is your story and why are you so angry John G. Your link says that you have a blog, but it doesn't link anywhere. Why is that. Your profile also states that you are female and a taurus.
Do you have a link so we can see what you really think?
All I do is report what I know. If you disagree that is fine, but four months was what my brother told me when he as assigned.
You suggest that you serve/served in the military as well. What has your combat experience been like? Why don't you provide some clear evidence that supports what you say rather than make accusations and call people liers. I am not making this stuff up. Are you?
Again, you have fallen into the same game that Bush plays so well - suggest something is true, don't back it up, call someone something nasty, and then this person has to defend themselves taking that person off point.
It is a lousy tactic and I won't play your game. You signed up for the military good for you! I signed up to be an educator. Which is more important?
It is possible that I took my anger out on the incorrect person. My combat experience was heavy, from the start of the war all the way to Baghdad. While in Baghdad I spent a year and a half tracking down terror suspects and former regime elements, so once agian, heavy action. What makes me so mad is soldiers complaining about how long they are deployed for. They, and I am not saying your brother falls in this group, have no problem, none at all, taking the military money, education money and training, but the second the Army asks for a little in return all this crap about thats too long etc starts up. You ask my dead pals if they thought their deployement was to long, I know they would say no, and I am doing my job for a just cause. As to why my blog is not set up, I just opened the account, I arrived at yours from another website.
As for whats more important a educator or the military, neither, but I must say with out our military would you be able to be an educator?
John G
Dear John G.
Looking forward to reading your blog when you actually post. Sounds like you have some really good boots on the ground sage to share.
My bro, actually, got the first free trip to the big litter box called the middle east in the Bush Sr. Desert Storm. Went door to door in Kuwait with special forces. Got shot at and still stayed in. He is a twenty year vet and still going. And, despite it all, is saying that he is having fun. Read some of his email that I post.
I do have to comment, without educators in your life, would you have been educated enough to join up? I don't think so. Even the Army has some standards and they just don't take anybody.
I am not anti-military. I love the military and the people who serve our country and the liberty we hold dear. I met, know and am friends with many military and ex-military personnel. In fact, I was in AFROTC for a bit, but bailed because I didn't get the pilot slot I wanted. Just made navigator and I didn't want to be at the mercy of someone else's talents or lack thereof. I didn't take any cash from the armed forces and had joined AFROTC because I too wanted to serve...and in fact almost signed up for the NROTC before getting into college with the Marine Corps option - thinking I wanted to fly harriers. Didn't follow through becuase I couldn't get into the school that supported those scholarships, and my undergrad didn't have a Marine Corps option. Anyway, that is all water under the bridge. And thankfully, my mother probably would have had a heart attack if both her sons - only sons - made the short list for the free trek to Desert Storm.
After 9-11 I considered trashing my academic career and signing up for the Coast Guard under a long standing desire to serve our country in some branch of the service. Long ago, I was toying with the idea of going to the CGAcademy, but never had any real political connections to get a recommendation to get in.
Just curious, What are you doing now? Which Blog did you find me at?
I didn't exactly mean that with out a military we don't need education. I am a firm supporter of education. But, what I did mean, was with out a military to protect our rights would you be able to teach the truth or would you teach what the government told you to teach like they do in N. Korea?
I am in the reserves, so now I am back home and back to the same old grind - work and more school in Alabama.
John
And I meant, that without educators, we would not have as talented a military as we do...and I say with the utmost pride, we have the best military on the planet. And before they were soldiers, the were students. Have you thanked your kindergarten teacher lately?
Interestingly, we neglect to remember that there is more to the development of our wonderful country than the military of today. The rebels called Minute Men and the Green Mountain boys were the real heros, and the founding fathers such as John Adams, Jefferson, Franklin and the like laid their values out quite plainly in the pristine document called the declaration of independence and later the Constitution. Without those developers/framers among whom were some fantastic educators, we would not be who we are.
Our past is what makes us, and lets hope that we don't repeat our mistakes. Certainly, many people have died to protect those freedoms. I am going to post a pic of one of my favorite spots in my city. Check the top of the page and you will find it.
The jury is still out on Iraq, let's hope Bush can fix the mess. Most certainly, the Iraqi's don't seem to want us there.
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