Tuesday, March 02, 2004

<Pagan> 

Letter From A Soldier

"There's many a boy here today who looks on war as all glory, but, boys, it is all hell." Gen. William T. Sherman, Address 1880

I received the following letter a few months ago:

I recently visited the site of the SLA. Some pretty good stuff there.

It is hard to get any type of porn, and the stuff on the site is very nice, varied from hardcore to just plain sensual. Very sexy site.

I am a soldier currently serving in Baghdad, and I am wondering what would happen if you guys got what you wanted. It seems to me that all the blog masters are very anti-OIF/OEF and immensly anti-Bush. What would happen if all the soldiers suddenly pulled out of Iraq now?

They have no established leadership, and the man they've feared for 20+ years is in jail. The country would put up another dictator, and be run the same way it was under the Ba'ath Party.

Then the time that we soldiers spent here, the blood we shed and the lives we lost would be in vain. I personally don't question the policies of our government when they send me to a foriegn land. Not because I agree with them, but I voted for those officials that make those decisions that I don't want to have to make. I am a soldier, and I was sent here to do a job. The things that we are doing to help this country amaze me everyday, and I am glad we came. I think I speak for all of us when I say, let us finish what we started.

I would love to go home to my wife and children every night, but some were made to make sacrifices so that the rest may sleep safe at night. I am happy for the things I protect, I volunteered to protect our way of life. Now, have been sent to help the people of Iraq to a better way of life. I wish you could see what we have seen. The most beautiful palaces belong to less that 5% of the populace, while the rest of the country lives in huts, hardly ever has clean water to bath or drink, and has to put 20-30 people in a truck for a 2hr drive on the worst roads possible to make $5 a month.

We have built schools, roads, improved living conditions, helped them set up a government to provide a stable leadership that will hopefully one day make them a prominant international partner in commerce. We have prepared to turn over the airport and are getting ready to turn over all the e-communications. In other words we are making jobs for them. Results will take time, but almost 60 years ago we nuked Japan, now they are a very powerful market globally.

So please put faith in the military, we aren't perfect, and we make mistakes, but we are trying to make Iraq a better place for all of us. You may one day want to take a vacation to Babylon, and it'll be a safe place to visit.

From Baghdad,
Staff Sergeant **************

After this e-mail, I received a couple more, expressing well wishes during the holidays. I responded, but have not heard anything back. I am just left to wonder if this person is O.K., i.e., still alive. If alive, I wonder if he is still as optimistic as he was a couple of months ago. I almost sensed that not only was he trying to convince me that things were going well in Iraq, but that he was trying to convince himself. I wanted to tell him that although I am against the war and absolutely despise our camander in chief, along with his cohorts, I still care about the soldiers--their lives, their families, their sanity. I care about what happens to them when they come back. I'm certain many will return broken--broken bodies, broken minds. Already, over 600 soldiers have been returned for psychiatric issues, in addition to the soldiers sent back for physical injuries. Latest reports cite 548 soldiers dead (more than Vietnam over the same span of time), over 20 have committed suicide in Iraq, and a handful have killed themselves once returning to the States. What's going on here? I agree with Errol Morris, director of "The Fog of War" (must see), that we are going down a rabbit hole once more (comparing Vietnam to the war on Iraq). The Bay of Tonkin was a lie and our case to invade Iraq was based on lies. How far down the hole are we willing to go this time . . . so far that we lose another 58,000 American lives, not to mention the thousands of Iraqi lives that have already been lost.

It is hard to believe that we are fast approaching the one year anniversary (March 20) of this whole mess. I can remember doing a handful of shows for different soldiers before the start of the war. They often came in pairs. There is one particular soldier that I remember quite well. The image of his face and his words are burnt into my brain. He was a younger man, probably early 20's, and he told me that he would be shipped out the next day. He did not have a girlfriend and wanted to have one last sexual experience with another person before he left. I felt quite honored. The show was very quiet, but quite sensual.

After the show, we talked a little about the impending war. He admitted that he was apprehensive about the whole thing, but didn't have a choice. I will never forget his eyes at that moment--full of fear and doubt. I buried my own beliefs at that moment and tried to be as supportive and optismistic for his sake.

I wished him well and he told me he would come back to visit when he returned.

I took in every detail of his form as he left the booth . . . something I always do when I sense I may never see someone again.

"We run from death; we run to sex." --Copernicus Grape



</Pagan> <!--10:46 PM-->