Most soldiers are in a catch 22. Yes, we are loyal. We have sworn to obey the orders of the officers appointed over us as well as the President of the United States. We do our jobs. Period. We chose to pick up a rifle and do what we have to do, what we are told to do, so that you may sit here and bash the President, policies, and anything else you don't like.
Do I personally agree with why we are over there? No. But I have a different opinion on why we are there. Do I support my boss? Yes. I am a soldier. Whether I agree or not, I still do what I am supposed to do.
The number of soldiers (my freinds, my family...because that is what the military is...a family) losing their lives in Iraq right now is small compared to some other statistics, but when you stand there, in a cathedral, assisting a general officer presenting awards posthumous to a fallen comrade's family, the numbers are huge. Suddenly a face is put to a number. Suddenly your freind, your family member has become a statistic. The terror felt in your heart when you are given a list of names to pull DD 93's. The fear felt when you are in a mandatory formation, moved into a conference room, and the chaplain is present...again.
When you are, for the third time in a month, attending another memorial service for a soldier in your own unit, the numbers are not small. When you see the gold star on the banner in the window in the community that you live in, the numbers are not small. When you are the one that tried to save a life, to check for a pulse, and your hand slips through your freind's stomach, because nothing is left there, the numbers are not small. When you see another freind, who you have watch come through the ranks, experience the joys of marraige and children, who you have gotten to know while standing guard in a tower or a foxhole...confined to a wheelchair for the rest of her life...the numbers are not small.
President Bush HAS personally notified families. Nobody hears of his numerous visits to Walter Reed. No press was present when the President visited with fallen soldier's families at Fort Carson last year. But the way those families felt afterwards, that he took time to talk with them, to cry with them, to listen to the stories of the lives of the soldiers whowere lost, speaks immensly for him.
You may not agree with the American presence in Iraq. That is your right, as everyone is entitled to their own opinions. But please, please do not say that the numbers are small. One is too many. I miss my freinds.
EDIT: I do not apologize for the length of this post. I do apologize for any spelling gnomes I may have missed.
Edited, Wed Apr 14 09:55:17 2004 by WickedLittleWoodElf