War Sucks.

I don't know who to credit for this but my friend Nate posted this as a myspace bulliten. Don't let that downplay the seriousness of this post. I won't come out and say what kind of politics I subscribe to, that isn't the purpose of my blog. I feel more people should hear this voice.

Words from the 172nd Stryker Brigade.

Right now we are living in big warehouses, sleeping about 150-200 guys in each warehouse. We have one trailer with 8 showers, 5 toilets, and 5 urinals. That's for the 150-200 guys living in your building. Not to mention we are living on the other side of the FOB -- away from any other living human being, phone center or internet café.

Did they mean to keep us away from everyone for a reason?

We don't bite, although some might think so. The females on this FOB were all given whistles before we arrived on this FOB. Bet that's something they didn't want us to find out, yet we were approached by the same females you gave them to.

We were called on to come here and take care of business. We were called on to come here and take of what I read on the internet as the most important mission of this war, the mission that will make or break this war, but we seem more like the black eye that no one wants around.

So be it, we will be the black eye of this FOB as long as they want to look at us like that, but with our backs against the wall we will never quit. We will fight tooth and nail as hard as we have to, to get home to what we deserve.

As our brothers in arms fall in Baghdad to save this city for a people we will most likely never see again, we will grit our teeth and do the job we were asked without any armchair quarterbacks losing sleep at night.

As everyone knows we were extended with some of us already home in Alaska, some in Kuwait and some of us living out of our bags with a matter of days to go before we were to fly home. It was about the biggest low blow we could have got. The morale of this unit was definitely 6 feet underground after that, yet we were being called on for the big game.

One of the arm chair quarterbacks at the top fell asleep playing his game of chess and now we have to pay the price and pick up the slack. We were in Mosul when Baghdad took its turn for the worst after the February bombing of the shrine that sent the country into a downward spiral.

Like it or not this country is in the middle of a civil war. When there are more civilian casualties from each other than there are deaths of soldiers involved in this war, what do you call that? When the morgue in Baghdad alone reports of 1800 plus bodies in the month of July alone. We may have been put in the middle of this civil war but theres only one way to referee it and thats to take care of every kidnapper, death squad and terrorist until only the deserving walk the streets of Baghdad.

When that bomb went off at the Golden Mosque they knew then that the units here in Baghdad didnt have the mobility of the Strykers but they sat on their hands hoping the problem would go away on its own. Well it didnt. It got worse and worse as the months went by and we watched it all over the news from our northern FOB. Why not call on us 3 or 4 months ago and move us to Baghdad and move another unit up to Mosul, a city that we made a hell of a lot safer.

We could have come to Baghdad for the last 3 to 4 months of our year long tour and still been able to go back stateside like we deserve after our performance over here. I know many of us had vacations planned and paid for, many of us had flown our families up to Alaska already and now are having to fly them right back home. Whos dishing out that refund? Wheres the money going to come from for my trip to the white sand beaches of Hawaii? Right out of our pockets.

Some had paid first and last months rent on a new apartment or starting buying new vehicles. They knew before they extended us that it was going to happen. Maybe a little heads up could have saved a lot of HARD EARNED money. We made that with blood, sweat and tears.

One other thing that people might not have thought about was our leave situation. We got 15 days of leave back to the states for being over here and well Ill just put it like this we went on leave 2 months after being here. Do the math and you will figure out that time was no where close to the middle of our tour and many of us will be here for over a year straight.

Now I know at the start of this war that happened to many veterans and I have to give it to you for that but how many years are we into this war now. We went on leave early and were held from leave in other months so this country could hold elections with all of us here.

Where did those so called 4 day passes go that we were told we would get since we went on leave so early? Ill tell you where they went, to non-combat MOSs that never left the wire. Do you have any idea what its like to hear someone talk about how they hated going to Qatar when they got there 15 days of leave also yet never left the wire. They went to Qatar and had a two beer limit, got to drop their flak vest that they never wore and had some free time in a green zone.

We worked our knuckles to the bone and held one of the safest elections in Iraq working 27 to 35 hours straight. Sometimes all we did was come back in to refuel and go back out in hostile territory. We had been promised those over and over again and have yet to see a single soldier in our unit go on a 4 day pass.

We have done everything from tower guard, gate guard, and chow hall guard. Not where the infantry should be used but our so-called down days were spent pulling 8 to 10 hour guard shifts on the FOB. When the non combat MOSs were talking about how they had days off. Thats ok we will continue to pull our weight and others' weight as long as the sky remains blue.

When we go back home each of us will know what we did over here. When we see you with your dirty M16 in the chow hall and hear you complain about how hard your day was, just remember standing right behind you is the man you keeps you safe while you sleep. Take a look around at the men that surround you before you decide to open your mouth about a job you had to do on the FOB.

Whens the last time the PX took small arms fire or had an RPG fired at it while you were pulling guard with no flak vest on. When you hear that firefight going on outside the FOB just remember who is out there fighting for their next meal, fighting for the next time the get to hear a loved ones voice on the phone. We go to the chow hall and they tell us we have to have a magazine full of ammo to get into the chow hall.

Ill tell you nothing makes me more nervous than being around a bunch of people who probably havent fired their weapon the entire time we have been over here and I can already see plenty of ammo laying around if something were to break out inside the wire.

I love my job as an Infantryman and I wouldnt trade it for any other MOS. I will do the dirty work that others pray to never see, I will be the red headed stepchild of the army, I will be the chosen one, just remember who we are cause the FOB you walk on has been secured with blood, sweat and tears.

One last thing I would like to put out is the next time some big wig wants to come to Camp Taji you make sure to show your face around the guys you called on for the fight of all fights, cause every time a V.I.P. showed up at our FOB for our year long tour we were always mysteriously out on patrols. We are like guard dogs at a rich mans house, whenever company comes over they put us in the garage and tell us not to bark, but when its dark outside they let us out to hunt and kill what goes bump in the night.

Make sure Mr. Rumsfeild the next time you serve dinner up at a chow hall like you did in Mosul a few months back you make sure your serving it to the men who are fighting the good fight as their time is due. Also I wont forget about you Mrs. Rice who has made many trips to the Middle East and yet to pay dues to the Artic Warriors. Its not the higher ups who search house after house and fight day and night in the streets that need to hear from you. Its not the higher ups who risk everything they have out there trying to track down the next suicide bomber who need you to pat them on the back.

Its the men who fight and die for a cause only some of us may understand. We have been told we are not the main effort of this mission down here we are simply the muscle behind this operation, but every thing I have been told and everything posted on the news and internet puts us front and center to turn Baghdad on its head. Maybe all these Generals and armchair quarterbacks should show their face to the men they signed off on with only days, hours and minutes to go.

We stood up a Police and Army that were decimated in 2004 in Mosul and we will do it again here if we have to. As we sit here talking of children and wives that we may never see again we will push on with our backs against the wall. We may be the black eye now but we will have our time in this life or the next. We will not go quietly, we will accomplish this mission. We may be a unit once forgotten after the Vietnam War, we may be a unit you have never heard of until they extended us, but we will be a unit you will never forget. Mark my word!