Losing The Hearts And Minds Of America

It seems an impossible notion that the W, Rove and Co would be able to turn the Arabian hearts and minds in their favor at this point given the current status of the Iraq Conflagration. But, perhaps, there is a more significant sign that the W, Rove and Co's Iraq gamble is not paying off. It looks as if the the W, Rove and Co are wearing out the hearts and minds of those most important and vital to their beloved "war on terror."

HERE'S a message from the military home front: Our volunteers are tired and need hired help. While husbands (the United States military is 85 percent male) crisscross the ocean for second, third and even fourth tours in Iraq, military wives (the overwhelming majority of volunteers are wives) are burdened not only with running households, caring for children and holding down jobs, but also with assisting families of deployed soldiers.

Almost 30 percent of all Army wives volunteer in a formal capacity. We run quality-of-life programs and serve on boards that take hours of dedication. We are the liaison between the commander and the soldiers' families, we refer people to various resources like the Red Cross and military-sponsored programs, we raise money to support family programs and in our informal roles, we are on call 24 hours a day to help families deal with divorce, child abuse, suicide and bereavement. Our work is expected, underappreciated and often goes unnoticed.