Faustian Posted July 19, 2008 Report Share Posted July 19, 2008 Sad tales from the forgotten war... http://edition.cnn.com/2008/US/07/17/airborne.soldiers.family/index.html?eref=rss_latest Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flashermac Posted July 19, 2008 Report Share Posted July 19, 2008 Looks like the EM were all promoted to corporal posthumously. Airborne does that. Fact is the US military is overstretched. Everyone knows that ... but the idiots in Washington could care less. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
simie Posted July 19, 2008 Report Share Posted July 19, 2008 Flash, I really just can't see how the U.S. policy of these 15 months tours in Afganistan and Iraq does anything but harm for recruitment, retention and soldiers family life and moral? British troops do 6 month tours which at least gives a bit of light at the end of the tunnel for guys wanting to get back to their families for while? Simie. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flashermac Posted July 19, 2008 Report Share Posted July 19, 2008 The Army in Vietnam did 12 months, the Marines did 13. That was plenty long. Even so, it wasn't the best arrangement. We used to say you had an effective soldier for about 6 months. The first 3 months he was learning his job. The last 3 months he was making sure he came out of it alive. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Neo Posted July 19, 2008 Report Share Posted July 19, 2008 With just a few days left in their 15-month tour, Gunnar Zwilling and eight of his comrades were killed July 13 in a clash with as many as 200 Taliban militants during a mission to set up an outpost near Wanat. Good men die for an outpost in the middle of nowhere that nobody wants and means nothing. Why America puts up with these wars is unknown to me. We don't want to be there, they don't want us there, but we just have to because otherwise the world would come to an end, or so we are told. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Old Hippie Posted July 19, 2008 Report Share Posted July 19, 2008 The fact is, we had NO good reason to go into Afghanistan, or Iraq. It doesn't matter what the American people want anymore, we have the government we "deserve." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Julian2 Posted July 19, 2008 Report Share Posted July 19, 2008 Flash, I really just can't see how the U.S. policy of these 15 months tours in Afganistan and Iraq does anything but harm for recruitment, retention and soldiers family life and moral? British troops do 6 month tours which at least gives a bit of light at the end of the tunnel for guys wanting to get back to their families for while?Simie. What the US is using now is a type of economic conscription. The money a soldier earns in Iraq is a lot better than any menial job in the US, and then there is the guarantee of citizenship at the end of service to non citizens. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Old Hippie Posted July 19, 2008 Report Share Posted July 19, 2008 I also don't think they have fresh troops to send over...without a draft. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flashermac Posted July 19, 2008 Report Share Posted July 19, 2008 Very few non-citizens are volunteering. In peace time it used to be a shorter way to become a citizen - 3 years residence instead of 5. But who is going to go to Iraq to save a couple of years now? Pay is actually much better than I ever saw. It has to be to get enough people to volunteer. I think an E-1 (same same OR-1) got $109 in 1968. Now it's closer to $1,000. Conscripts come cheap. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ghelseth Posted July 19, 2008 Report Share Posted July 19, 2008 With just a few days left in their 15-month tour, Gunnar Zwilling and eight of his comrades were killed July 13 in a clash with as many as 200 Taliban militants during a mission to set up an outpost near Wanat. Good men die for an outpost in the middle of nowhere that nobody wants and means nothing. Why America puts up with these wars is unknown to me. We don't want to be there, they don't want us there, but we just have to because otherwise the world would come to an end, or so we are told. It all comes down to the complete stupidity of the average American voter. First, you have the evangelical Christians, who were Bush's base. All you have to be is against abortion and gay marriage, and they will happily vote against themselves and the country for you. Add to that the latest term, the 'low information voter'. These are the people who believe Iraq had a connection with the World Trade Center bombings and that Obama is a Muslim. Don't laugh, there's a lot of them. Haven't read a newspaper for years, unless its the NY Post or the Enquirer. Sometimes they watch news on TV, always Fox. Couple that audience with a morally bankrupt administration and a timid congress, and we have what we've got today. As Old Hippie says, the government we deserve. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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