The real ordeals of U.S. soldiers in Iraq

[Steve Furlong]

On Tuesday 12 August 2003 13:07, Steve Schear wrote:
> Through email and chat rooms a picture is emerging of day-to-day
> gripes, coupled with ferocious criticism of the way the war has been
> handled. They paint a vivid picture of US army life that is a world
> away from the sanitized official version.

Just bear in mind that it's the grunt's time-honored right to gripe. 
Gripe about the food, about the weather, about the sergeants, about the 
officers, about the weapons, about the mission, about anything under 
the sun. Doesn't mean anything of itself.

That said, they have more reason than usual to gripe. Not the overseas 
posting in a beastly climate, nor even the mission. It's the jerking 
around. "You'll be coming home next month." "Make that the month 
after." "Probably be a year, all told." If the pols and the brass had 
said up front that the troops would be there a year, there'd have been 
plenty of bitching by both soldiers and civilians but the overall 
effect would have been less than what's happening now. Army manning a 
year or two hence ought to be interesting.

-- 
Steve Furlong    Computer Condottiere   Have GNU, Will Travel

"If someone is so fearful that, that they're going to start using
their weapons to protect their rights, makes me very nervous that
these people have these weapons at all!"  -- Rep. Henry Waxman