Remembering our military men and women
While we remember and honor those who have fallen, we can't help but think of all the soldiers now condemned to policing a civil war, with no end in sight.
Sometimes I think all we've managed to do is to turn what would have been a fast civil war into a long slow one.
The war goes on and on as politicians argue about how to end it.
The president warns there is more danger and more death to come this summer.
The soldiers are exhausted from being stretched thin .. from constant redeployment .. no time to rest.
The bodies continue to fall.
The soldiers say nothing and fight on.
This is what some in the 82nd Airborne Division are experiencing ...
From the NYTimes, May 27, 2007: Doubts Grow as G.I.’s in Iraq Find Allies in Enemy Ranks
BAGHDAD — Staff Sgt. David Safstrom does not regret his previous tours in Iraq, not even a difficult second stint when two comrades were killed while trying to capture insurgents.
“In Mosul, in 2003, it felt like we were making the city a better place,” he said. “There was no sectarian violence, Saddam was gone, we were tracking down the bad guys. It felt awesome.”
But now on his third deployment in Iraq, he is no longer a believer in the mission. The pivotal moment came, he says, this past February when soldiers killed a man setting a roadside bomb. When they searched the bomber’s body, they found identification showing him to be a sergeant in the Iraqi Army.
“I thought, ‘What are we doing here? Why are we still here?’ ” said Sergeant Safstrom, a member of Delta Company of the First Battalion, 325th Airborne Infantry, 82nd Airborne Division. “We’re helping guys that are trying to kill us. We help them in the day. They turn around at night and try to kill us.”
His views are echoed by most of his fellow soldiers in Delta Company, renowned for its aggressiveness.
A small minority of Delta Company soldiers — the younger, more recent enlistees in particular — seem to still wholeheartedly support the war. Others are ambivalent, torn between fear of losing more friends in battle, longing for their families and a desire to complete their mission.[..]
