5/9/2007
Heavy hands…
American Soldier says,
©American Soldier 2007
The wounds revealed and the stories that go along with it. The many reasons behind our flag are vast. For most the comprehension of what is given in order to preserve freedom is unimaginable. The loss of life. The failed marriages. The absolute horror to see your friend choke on his own blood. The sound that never leaves when he begs to just not die. You sit there and hold his hand and help him die slowly, you are helpless. Those final moments that will never escape you. The war and it’s many stories will never ever be told. The new regulations may and will prevent that. I will not allow that to ever happen to me. I will lose every bit of rank that I have ever earn to ensure that we never forget ‘why’ we fight and what struggles we have within this fight. It is a good fight! Regulation or not, the stories about my fallen brothers will be told.
Fuck the MSM and the lies that they yield. There may be no memo that floats around to twist a story. However, you better believe they will not be telling the truth in Iraq because they lack the balls to go out on patrols and spend more than 48 hours with a unit. The truth is with warriors in the field and trusted embeds who have the balls to step into the death zone. You know who you are. But ‘YOU’, the coward who writes from your safe haven. You tell lies and maybe a stray bullet will miss it’s target and find it’s way in you. You fucking liar, collect your check!
I have not forgotten. In due time I will find the words to talk about their lives. Two times the government has deemed it necessary to provide me a medal to show that I nearly gave the ultimate sacrifice. The times that I was spared and you were not. Oh how I choke up when I reach the dates that were your last. Have no pity on me, you the reader. The honor of death is held high but I have been spared. Maybe given the chance to tell what would otherwise be lost forever on a battlefield long forgotten. With names like Ar Ramadi, OP 293, Michigan, The Crossover. These are some places that my war was waged.
Forgive us of our trespasses and grant us the strength to live through the lone road that is called life. Some were not given that privilege. They gave their life for what they believed in. I have seen honor in its rawest form.
Support your soldier, not by bringing them home but allowing them to finish what we have started. If we leave in vein or for a political belief then all that has been sacrificed will be shamed.
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27 Responses to “Heavy hands…”
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Again, rendered speechless… all Ihave seems so insignificant… but… “thank you.” And I mean that sincerely, not as a trite, flippant, trendy expression that people say without thought or care. I mean it - as do so many others. And… we will NEVER forget all y’all sacrifice on our behalf (including what your families sacrifice)… NEVER. I promise you - We. Will. Never. Forget.
(hug) to the whole AS family.
God bless you America’s son……I consider you mine.
Condsider yerself kissed and enfolded in a big Mamabear hug.
Men like you and my son make me so proud and thankful.
Where would we be without yer valiant and courageous effort.
Keep telling it…….we need to hear it.
thank you.
As a wife who awaits her Soldier’s return you have my upmost gratitude and repsect as do all Soldiers, Airmen, Saliors and Marines who go to the fight. Thank you for all you have given and are still willing to give. Please keep telling you story and the story of others so we may know the truth.
Another Soldiers’ Angel signing in here….. Thank you so much for your message and for the sacrifices that you and your family make daily. Get the job done and then come home safely.
I will strive to live a life worthy of the sacrifices made by the great men and women of our armed forces.
Thank You, AS.
I know - it’s not much, but it’s the best I can do right now. We shall never forget, and I’m raising my children not to forget, and to respect…
You reach into the depths of your soul and bring out another post that is breathtaking in its scope and meaning.
Your words have meaning and power behind them, unlike the MSM who use empty phrases and cliches to explain things.
With words like these (and others) the truth will be known. Try as they might the Liberals will not be able to shut these things down. True, the trolls will show up, but we here know the truth and do not live in a world full of dreams and meaningless words.
Absolutely amazing words. Your family is a part of my family…you are our brothers and sisters who, while aren’t right next door, are our neighbors. Your heart beats as our heart beats and as long as I have a breath in me, I vow to take care of as many of our soldiers, sailors, Marines, airmen, guardsmen, etc. as I am able. Your strength is amazing. Your words so poignant. Your commitment to your brothers and sisters and country unparalleled. You, my friend, are a true American Hero and I’m proud to have you, and folks just like you, as part of my family.
I admire your word’s and they empower me know i so will go over there I’m alittle scaried but i know what we’re doing over there is for the greater good. and I will serve over there with honor and pride. And you absoulte right about what you say in the end we should finsh what he started
- Semper Fi
Web Reconnaissance for 05/10/2007…
A short recon of whats out there that might draw your attention….
Jebus, AS…. you need to get a job as a speechwriter. Never stop writing. EVER.
I know what ever I say will sound trite but that took my breath away and brought tears to my eyes.
Thank you AFSister. I think my swearing deters any sophisticated types from contacting me. One moment I am smooth with my words and then I tell someone to “Go Fuck Themselves!” I don’t get it.
My constant prayer is for the safety and victory of America’s warriors in this Long War. My son, too, is in Iraq for his second tour in combat with the 5-7 CAV. The ringing of the door bell stops my breathing as my heart jumps into my throat, while racing thoughts of my son’s condition fill my mind. I regain “normal” status by trying to imagine what he is going through. I grasp for the reality with which he’s having to cope over the death of three young soldiers from his unit in the last couple of weeks, comparing it with the losses I’ve suffered in life from my Army service (”69-’73). My heart won’t hold the sorrow, and I mourn for all those like yourself who are left with the pain, the loss, the sacrifice so inadequately acknowledged and rewarded. In the end, God knows, and that is enough, if our mission be righteous and purpose be pure. I know of no purer and more righteous cause than liberty - the exercise of free will in pursuit of happiness by a free people. I thank God that He has given you this cause for which to fight, and I thank you and your fellow warriors for the courage and fortitude to continue against the enemies there, who are being aided by so many here. I pray God will visiit his judgement on your enemies, foreign and domestic. Truly, millions are in prayer moment-by-moment for God’s keeping of your body and soul. Keep your mind strong and stay alert. Where ever you are, God is there, and He is not indifferent to the outcome of your fight. Hoooah!!!
Hooah! No end but victory.
Trust me AS, the ‘intellectuals’ want to speak that frankly, but they’re afraid if they did, it would mean they aren’t who they think they are. Because they think they’re better than everyone else and better people would use larger words. It’s a classic mistake. But if they think they’re being cool by playing hip hop and rap which spouts some of the most un-smooth language known to man, woman or cretin, then real cool would rap the true stories of men like you. How about 50cent rapping about our military heroes, like SFC Paul Smith? See, that idea scares them so hard, they can’t even hold that thought in their head. If they were to tell the story of his heroism? Oh, fuck that. And they’ll laugh.
Thank you! Pithy and passionate. Keep it up.
I told someone tonight, who asked about milbloggers, that the best thing about you guys is that we never have to wonder what you’re thinking. Along with your service to our country, your honest words are the second biggest gift you give. Godspeed.
heh.
Yeah… I can see why that might scare them off. LOL Like Alexa said though, they’re just jealous they can’t do the same!
So amazing! Reminds me of the medals I had just found out 1 of my grandfathers had gotten 2 bronze stars and I teared up….
Thank you for your sacrifice. Not every soldier or vet feels like you do, however. A recent poll found that 70% of Iraq veterans believe the U.S. should withdraw from Iraq. Nearly half of soldiers in Iraq believe it’s ok to mistreat Iraqi civilians.
Phrases like “finish what we started” and “if we leave in vein [sic]” might sound good, but what do they really mean?
Truth is, the Iraqi government is taking a two month summer vacation while our men and women die to give it to them. That’s bullshit. We might have started this war, but it’s theirs now, and it’s time to hand it over.
OneVet:
Excuse this cake-eating civilian for butting in, but until Iraq has a sustainable, rights-respecting government that can keep it out of the hands of the next Saddam wannabe … and fills the hole that otherwise will be filled by the next Taliban wannabe … this is still our fight, too.
Pull out before that, and not only will the sacrifices of today be splattered with our shame …
… we’ll be compelled to do this again — and very possibly, under conditions that will make today’s look quite good, in comparison, with a death toll that will make the butcher’s bill (both military and civilian) to date look like the line for the sales tax.
This war isn’t going to stop by our departure from the theater … it will be fought, instead, at times and places chosen by our enemies, after they are left in relative peace to plan and plot our demise, inside the terrorist safe-haven that Iraq once was … and will become again, if we leave now.
Leaving known enemies alone, instead of confronting them in a credible/timely/resolute and decisive manner as they appear, is how we ended up with the events of 11 September 2001.
Haven’t we learned a damn thing?
AS: I will patiently await for you to find the words to express the reality … for I, and our nation, need to hear them.
Mr. Casebolt: I have skin in this game…do you? I have a nephew and son “deep in the shit”". squared away warriors. second tours…one will be doing 27 months in combat on a 3 year hitch…thanks to the extension.
4.5 years later, I’d have hoped the iraqi’s would have picked up their weapons , and united for freedom. They have not for the most part.
The silk ties, neocon Scum, pushed out the Warrior Generals and fucked our boys. No better military then we have now….but abusing them …is not acceptable.
Rumsfield, Wolfie should be hung drawn and quartered on the White House lawn.
When Rumsfield “STAMPED” the Death cetrificate/Letters going out to the fallen hero’s families …I knew , this prick was scum. When wolforwitz’s eyes glazed over …as he stammered for an answer he had no clue about….when asked by Congress, ” how the number of troops lost”…the prick had NO CLUE.
Bush has not had the leadership to recognize these pricks, or control them. He needs to be held accountable.
In the words of a great American Leader: “That we are to stand by the President, right or wrong, is not only unpatriotic and servile, but is morally treasonable to the American Public. - Theodore Roosevelt
These war Profiteers must be held accountable…they cannot be allowed to use the backs of our brave soldiers as spring boards to power and corporate profits.
These chicken hawks…led by Mr 7 DEFERMENTS Cheney …cannot pre -empt a War based on false Intel…inorder to further their PNAC agenda. ( google this slimey think tank..PNAC…they have wanted this long before 9-11….don’t be a chuckle head…look deeper)
Had these Scumbags not fired general Shenseki and ran off General Zinni when they questioned their goals…and demanded 250,000 + troops….this mission and our brave troops would be better off.
God Bless Gen Petraues and all our troops….keep fighting the good fight.
As Americans it is our duty to put our politicians in check. I support Jim Webb and Chuck Hagel…real Warriors….who also have skin in this game! We need an Old Hickory leader to step forward!!!
One more quote from a great warrior/ american President. ..regarding these NeoconChickenHawkscumbags:”"That we are to stand by the President, right or wrong, is not only unpatriotic and servile, but is morally treasonable to the American Public. - Theodore Roosevelt
The figure 70% Iraq VETS think we should pull out - that does not square with the VETS I talk to say, certainly not my son’s friends who served with him. Look, I don’t want to see another soldier hurt, certainly not killed, nor did I want to see those who were suffer such a fate. But what we want and what it takes is not always the same. I can tell you this, and I think I know my son well enough to speak what I believe he would speak - finish the job - and I firmly believe, if 20/20 hindsight were within his grasp, he would still go to Iraq.
Politics aside, polls being polls, let’s not forget, those we fight will not leave us alone and have proven they will come to our shores and attack us. So, is it not better to fight them there than here? Mike Stokely thought so and that is why he went even when he could have taken a pass on Iraq, for he loved his family, friends and country that much and he went so someone else wouldn’t have to go in his place.
proud dad
SGT Mike Stokely
Purple Heart and Bronze Star
KIA 16 AUG 05 near Yusufiyah - Triangle of Death
US Army E Troop 108 CAV 48th BDE GAARNG
I have to say that I am so blessed to have found your site. Your words have warmed my heart and made me cry. We are all, as Americans, as Humans, lucky to share this earth with men and women such as yourself.
Please know that the true majority of Americans support you and the mission you undertake. Thank you from the bottom of my heart, for facing the devil so we don’t have to.
I warm hug and if your ever in central Texas… dinner and drinks are on me!
A very big thank you from the bottom of my heart for all the sacrifices you and your families have made.
Mr. Johnson … yes I have skin in this game; not in the same way as you, but skin nonetheless.
About one hours’ drive west of me, in lower Manhattan, there is a big wound in that skin.
We all have skin in this game … even more than we did during the Cold War, when my uncles’ farms shared the same west-central Missouri ground with a SAC missile wing.
Back then, we had an adversary who was visible, rational and perceived they had something to lose … which made them less like likely to attack.
A characteristic set that does not necessarily apply to our present enemies … and also renders the invocation of the Powell Doctrine to defeat them, as you keep suggesting, counterproductive to winning the war … that is, unless you want to see millions of innocent people dead, preceeded by too many of those additional soldiers being used for insurgent target practice and/or starring roles in Al Quada videos.
This is an asymetrical war, sir. A large footprint of troops could have resulted in a full-blown civil war … which, despite all the MSM bloviation, isn’t there!
What was missing, was intensity … the authorization to engage, without overly-restrictive ROEs, and defeat the enemy when and where he is found.
Our forces, led by Gen. Petraeus — not an advocate of invoking the Powell Doctrine in Iraq by any means, at least at present — are doing just that.
Yes, it took the Iraqis a while to come around … but they ARE coming around.
“Anbar Rising” — google it.
You’d take a while to come around too, after three decades of Stalinist repression, interspersed with two wars … an uprising in 1991 that America encouraged, then refused to support … two years of dithering with the UN … and the perceptions of America “going wobbly” derived from the activities of the critics of this Administration.
Yes, I know what PNAC is … and it is not the Grand Corporate Conspiracy you make it out to be.
I agreed with their basic premise, long before I knew about them:
Nations that implement rights-respecting governance … which by necessity is more than mere democracy, for it includes structural protection for individual and minority rights, checks-and-balances upon the government along with representation … are inherently resistant to being hijacked by terrorists or others to further totalitarian expansion — and are therefore much less of a menace to global civilization than the alternatives.
Since we have seen this proven out in many nations … and since waiting around for the others to figure things out for themselves has not produced sustainable peace in the MidEast and elsewhere, but instead has provided fertile ground for fanatics and thugs to grow upon … then why shouldn’t we act to see such governance implemented in dysfunctional nations, especially when they support terrorists or commit acts of war against us?
Maybe then, just as the threat of nuclear war was greatly diminished in the 1990’s by the political changes within Russia, we can can see the threat of terrorism in the name of Islam (or any other name) diminish, by rendering the ground infertile for its growth through the application of rights-respecting governance.
As along as we don’t give ground, Iraq will come around to this … for the yearning to live free and pursue happiness transcends culture and religion, as our own founders realized.
OTOH, we have examples of the greed you accuse this Administration of supporting … can you say “Oil-For-Food”? If Cheney and Bush were as bad as you say, they would have been hip-deep in that … and they might have even been nominated for Nobel Peace Prizes for doing so, and “avoiding” war, when they would actually have just been kicking-the-VX-can down the road for the next Admin to deal with.
Says something about the judgment of European elites ….