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| Iraq |
| Hope Rides Alone - Sgt. Eddie Jeffers, USA (Iraq) |
| 2007-02-03 |
| I stare out into the darkness from my post, and I watch the city burn to the ground. I smell the familiar smells, I walk through the familiar rubble, and I look at the frightened faces that watch me pass down the streets of their neighborhoods. My nerves hardly rest; my hands are steady on a device that has been given to me from my government for the purpose of taking the lives of others. I sweat, and I am tired. My back aches from the loads I carry. Young American boys look to me to direct them in a manner that will someday allow them to see their families again...and yet, I too, am just a boy....my age not but a few years more than that of the ones I lead. I am stressed, I am scared, and I am paranoid...because death is everywhere. It waits for me, it calls to me from around street corners and windows, and it is always there. There are the demons that follow me, and tempt me into thoughts and actions that are not my own...but that are necessary for survival. I've made compromises with my humanity. And I am not alone in this. Miles from me are my brethren in this world, who walk in the same streets...who feel the same things, whether they admit to it or not. And to think, I volunteered for this... And I am ignorant to the rest of the world...or so I thought. But even thousands of miles away, in Ramadi, Iraq, the cries and screams and complaints of the ungrateful reach me. In a year, I will be thrust back into society from a life and mentality that doesn't fit your average man. And then, I will be alone. And then, I will walk down the streets of America, and see the yellow ribbon stickers on the cars of the same people who compare our President to Hitler. I will watch the television and watch the Cindy Sheehans, and the Al Frankens, and the rest of the ignorant sheep of America spout off their mouths about a subject they know nothing about. It is their right, however, and it is a right that is defended by hundreds of thousands of boys and girls scattered across the world, far from home. I use the word boys and girls, because that's what they are. In the Army, the average age of the infantryman is nineteen years old. The average rank of soldiers killed in action is Private First Class. People like Cindy Sheehan are ignorant. Not just to this war, but to the results of their idiotic ramblings, or at least I hope they are. They don't realize its effects on this war. In this war, there are no Geneva Conventions, no cease fires. Medics and Chaplains are not spared from the enemy's brutality because it's against the rules. I can only imagine the horrors a military Chaplain would experience at the hands of the enemy. The enemy slinks in the shadows and fights a cowardÂ’s war against us. It is effective though, as many men and women have died since the start of this war. And the memory of their service to America is tainted by the inconsiderate remarks on our nation's news outlets. And every day, the enemy changes...only now, the enemy is becoming something new. The enemy is transitioning from the Muslim extremists to Americans. The enemy is becoming the very people whom we defend with our lives. And they do not realize it. But in denouncing our actions, denouncing our leaders, denouncing the war we live and fight, they are isolating the military from society...and they are becoming our enemy. Democrats and peace activists like to toss the word "quagmire" around and compare this war to Vietnam. In a way they are right, this war is becoming like Vietnam. Not the actual war, but in the isolation of country and military. America is not a nation at war; they are a nation with its military at war. Like it or not, we are here, some of us for our second, or third times; some even for their fourth and so on. Americans are so concerned now with politics, that it is interfering with our war. Terrorists cut the heads off of American citizens on the internet...and there is no outrage, but an American soldier kills an Iraqi in the midst of battle, and there are investigations, and sometimes soldiers are even jailed...for doing their job. It is absolutely sickening to me to think our country has come to this. Why are we so obsessed with the bad news? Why will people stop at nothing to be against this war, no matter how much evidence of the good we've done is thrown in their face? When is the last time CNN or MSNBC or CBS reported the opening of schools and hospitals in Iraq? Or the leaders of terror cells being detained or killed? It's all happening, but people will not let up their hatred of President Bush. They will ignore the good news, because it just might show people that Bush was right. America has lost its will to fight. It has lost its will to defend what is right and just in the world. The crazy thing of it all is that the American people have not even been asked to sacrifice a single thing. ItÂ’s not like World War II, where people rationed food and turned in cars to be made into metal for tanks. The American people have not been asked to sacrifice anything. Unless you are in the military or the family member of a servicemember, its life as usual...the war doesn't affect you. But it affects us. And when it is over and the troops come home and they try to piece together what's left of them after their service...where will the detractors be then? Where will the Cindy Sheehans be to comfort and talk to soldiers and help them sort out the last couple years of their lives, most of which have been spent dodging death and wading through the deaths of their friends? They will be where they always are, somewhere far away, where the horrors of the world can't touch them. Somewhere where they can complain about things they will never experience in their lifetime; things that the young men and women of America have willingly taken upon their shoulders. We are the hope of the Iraqi people. They want what everyone else wants in life: safety, security, somewhere to call home. They want a country that is safe to raise their children in. Not a place where their children will be abducted, raped and murdered if they do not comply with the terrorists demands. They want to live on, rebuild and prosper. And America has given them the opportunity, but only if we stay true to the cause and see it to its end. But the country must unite in this endeavor...we cannot place the burden on our military alone. We must all stand up and fight, whether in uniform or not. And supporting us is more than sticking yellow ribbon stickers on your cars. It's supporting our President, our troops and our cause. Right now, the burden is all on the American soldiers. Right now, hope rides alone. But it can change, it must change. Because there is only failure and darkness ahead for us as a country, as a people, if it doesn't. Let's stop all the political nonsense, let's stop all the bickering, let's stop all the bad news and let's stand and fight! Isn't that what America is about anyway? Sergeant Eddie Jeffers is a US Army Infantryman serving in Ramadi, Iraq. |
| Posted by:Anonymoose |
| #21 That's finding and east. This damn auto spell thing! |
| Posted by: Mike N. 2007-02-03 20:13 |
| #20 If I should ever have the misfortune of funding myself in easy Tennesse ;) I'll look ya up. I think its going to be Scotch for me tonight. Or perhaps old no. 7. I might have to break out Aja now that I think about it. |
| Posted by: Mike N. 2007-02-03 20:10 |
| #19 Actually, Mike, I'm listening to Steely Dan right now with a tumbler of Wild Turkey. If you are ever around East Tennessee stop by. |
| Posted by: Deacon Blues 2007-02-03 19:56 |
| #18 Deacon, you sure as hell don't owe me any drinks. I should be buying you a few. Some Scotch perhaps? We can even listen to some Steely Dan. We can drink Scotch whiskey all night long. Though I would prefer to skip the die behind the wheel part. Lol! |
| Posted by: Mike N. 2007-02-03 19:46 |
| #17 I don't know what all goes on in the mind of someone that insults our soldiers, I'm sure a psychologist could explain some of the many facets involved in making a person do that. Myself, I don't care about all that head shrinker gobbledygoo, it's all self righteous bullshit to me. I think if guys like Mullah Murtha and Tehran John got beat for calling our soldiers cold blooded killers and terrorists, that kind of behavior would be less fashionable. If we ever get another civil war, I'm on the side with the men and women that know how to fight. And that aint the fuckin' media. |
| Posted by: Mike N. 2007-02-03 19:43 |
| #16 I remember it all too well. I also remember the last time I saw my best friend in the whole world. Lance Cpl. William Clyde Northington,Co. A, 9th Marines, my cousin, was killed March 19, 1969 in the Au Shau valley, South Vietnam. He was awarded the Silver Star and I have his Purple Heart. I've taken every opportunity to harass anti-soldier (these people are cowards) demonstrators ever since. Mike, I'll buy ya a drink or three. It's easy, especially now that there is no draft, to denegrate the young men and women who volunteer to serve their Country when one doesn't have to sacrifice anything but a little time. They have no clue what true sacrifice to one's Country and to noble ideas really is. Bugwits. |
| Posted by: Deacon Blues 2007-02-03 19:25 |
| #15 Pan, I would have paid to see someone go crashing through a group of protesters! |
| Posted by: Mike N. 2007-02-03 19:12 |
| #14 Dave, I was nine as well. I remember the helicopters on TV and the body counts. Thats about it. I guess its where I got my love for helicopters and distain for the media. |
| Posted by: 49 Pan 2007-02-03 18:52 |
| #13 MIKE!!!! You my hero! I will drink a toast to you tonight. I thought I was having fun when I ran my mountain bike through the literature stack and the protesters behind the whit house during gulf war 1. Knocked the drum they were beating off the stand. |
| Posted by: 49 Pan 2007-02-03 18:51 |
| #12 I've been insulting war protesters to their face. Its too cold here now, so we have none outside, but when spring comes they'll be back. We used to get them at a place near my house. Last summer there was a small group of 6 protesting. One of the assholes was wearing some shit he must have gotten from an Army surplus store. As soon as I saw the sign he was holding, I locked up my brakes and got out of the car. The sign said "killer". I walked up to this guy - I'm guessing he was about 20, they all looked like college kids - and just as I was about to start talking to him, I drilled him in face instead. I stood there long enough to watch him hit the ground before I got back in my. I never saw protesters at that spot again. |
| Posted by: Mike N. 2007-02-03 18:13 |
| #11 It would be interesting to see the reaction to a few well-placed IED's in San Francisco, Beverly Hills, Manhattan, Chevy Chase, etc. Let the flame touch the "liberal elite" ensconsed in their patrician enclaves and see what happens next. The antiwar movement of the 60's and 70's was funded by the KGB to ennervate America. I wonder if the current crop of a$$holes is funded by the Saudis. |
| Posted by: Creash Chonter3721 2007-02-03 16:53 |
| #10 I was 9 in '68, so I don't remember it much, but it seems the will to stop the anarchy and violence is the biggest part. Stop that shit like the graffiti on the capital steps, before it starts. Peaceful demonstrations or heads get cracked. Today, most of the high school and college youth are apolitical, wishing to advance their lives rather than fringe antiwar(but supposedly 'pro-troop') causes. If they can't demonize the military, and without the draft, they have trouble, then they can't rally against a giant Military-Industrial Complex™ sending involuntary draftees to their death. Big diff in my mind. There is no depth to the antiwar feelings, most Americans want to win and get out |
| Posted by: Frank G 2007-02-03 16:14 |
| #9 "I was too young to see how it was in the late 60's..." You don't remember the Summers Of Fire, then? '67, '68, riots, cities burning? It can get bad. REAL bad... |
| Posted by: Dave D. 2007-02-03 15:34 |
| #8 Look for a strong gun control push by the Left, to pre-empt armed attack by those who are losing patience. Look also for them harassing soldiers until someone just home from the war snaps and hurts one of them -- just the excuse they can use to whip up support for gun seizure/control. As they open the borders and then pay jizya to Islam -- but that is the later step. First they need to isolate and try to disarm us, who are now their sworn enemies. |
| Posted by: occasional observer 2007-02-03 15:27 |
| #7 I sure hope to hell time proves you wrong Dave,for your son and for this nation. I was too young to see how it was in the late 60's, just how it got later. as long as I'm in the bar, soldiers will get a round on me, and their back covered from the left. |
| Posted by: 49 Pan 2007-02-03 15:20 |
| #6 "God I thought it would not be the same, not let it happen again. I have not seen the hate from our public toward soldiers like in the past, just flat ignorance." Give it time; it's coming. I figure that by the time the next Presidential election reaches its ignominious conclusion, the Leftists who are now the Democratic Party will have managed to whip large segments of the public into full-blown contempt for the people who have been giving their lives to protect us. I remember coming home on leave Christmas 1970, in the airport. Walking down the concourse from my arrival gate, passing some longhair: "Baby Killer!" Yes, it's coming. |
| Posted by: Dave D. 2007-02-03 15:07 |
| #5 This just makes my stomach churn. God I thought it would not be the same, not let it happen again. I have not seen the hate from our public toward soldiers like in the past, just flat ignorance. It seems they don't want to know, sort of wish the bad away. Soldiers have a bond, unlike any other. The bond of knowledge, not the shit philosophers from the universities wo hide in there warm offices, but from the reality derived from holding on when your scared shitless and cant run away because you friend is trusting you with his life. The paranoia will fade, you will learn to sleep soundly again, but the wall beteen those who know and the ignorant will always be there. At first i was angry, then I found them amusing, now i fear for our nation. |
| Posted by: 49 Pan 2007-02-03 14:38 |
| #4 This was heartbreaking to read. It's pretty much what my son said (although expressed here far better) when he returned from Iraq in early 2005. "People like Cindy Sheehan are ignorant. Not just to this war, but to the results of their idiotic ramblings, or at least I hope they are. They don't realize its effects on this war." They're not ignorant; they're malicious. And they most certainly DO realize the effects of their words and actions on this war, and on those fighting it: those effects are by design, and are intended. "...my alienation from most of America and especially the "enlightened" sectors is even more acute than that depicted by Sgt. Jeffers. I felt it before I came back, and it's actually getting worse, not better." That's the way it is with my son, too. This is not going to end well. |
| Posted by: Dave D. 2007-02-03 12:49 |
| #3 Tommy I went into a public-'ouse to get a pint o' beer, The publican 'e up an' sez, "We serve no red-coats here." The girls be'ind the bar they laughed an' giggled fit to die, I outs into the street again an' to myself sez I: O it's Tommy this, an' Tommy that, an' "Tommy, go away"; But it's "Thank you, Mister Atkins", when the band begins to play, The band begins to play, my boys, the band begins to play, O it's "Thank you, Mister Atkins", when the band begins to play. I went into a theatre as sober as could be, They gave a drunk civilian room, but 'adn't none for me; They sent me to the gallery or round the music-'alls, But when it comes to fightin', Lord! they'll shove me in the stalls! For it's Tommy this, an' Tommy that, an' "Tommy, wait outside"; But it's "Special train for Atkins" when the trooper's on the tide, The troopship's on the tide, my boys, the troopship's on the tide, O it's "Special train for Atkins" when the trooper's on the tide. Yes, makin' mock o' uniforms that guard you while you sleep Is cheaper than them uniforms, an' they're starvation cheap; An' hustlin' drunken soldiers when they're goin' large a bit Is five times better business than paradin' in full kit. Then it's Tommy this, an' Tommy that, an' "Tommy, 'ow's yer soul?" But it's "Thin red line of 'eroes" when the drums begin to roll, The drums begin to roll, my boys, the drums begin to roll, O it's "Thin red line of 'eroes" when the drums begin to roll. We aren't no thin red 'eroes, nor we aren't no blackguards too, But single men in barricks, most remarkable like you; An' if sometimes our conduck isn't all your fancy paints, Why, single men in barricks don't grow into plaster saints; While it's Tommy this, an' Tommy that, an' "Tommy, fall be'ind", But it's "Please to walk in front, sir", when there's trouble in the wind, There's trouble in the wind, my boys, there's trouble in the wind, O it's "Please to walk in front, sir", when there's trouble in the wind. You talk o' better food for us, an' schools, an' fires, an' all: We'll wait for extry rations if you treat us rational. Don't mess about the cook-room slops, but prove it to our face The Widow's Uniform is not the soldier-man's disgrace. For it's Tommy this, an' Tommy that, an' "Chuck him out, the brute!" But it's "Saviour of 'is country" when the guns begin to shoot; An' it's Tommy this, an' Tommy that, an' anything you please; An' Tommy ain't a bloomin' fool -- you bet that Tommy sees! |
| Posted by: gromgoru 2007-02-03 12:48 |
| #2 I had a cheese-ass easy job in Iraq, but my alienation from most of America and especially the "enlightened" sectors is even more acute than that depicted by Sgt. Jeffers. I felt it before I came back, and it's actually getting worse, not better. |
| Posted by: Verlaine 2007-02-03 12:02 |
| #1 I salute you SGT Jeffers! Be safe. Hooah! |
| Posted by: Besoeker 2007-02-03 09:42 |