It's been awhile since I posted. I don't really have the energy or creativity to put thoughts into words these days. I writing in an effort to reply to Kyle's reply on my most recent statement. I agree with you one hundred percent on the fact that their are heinous things that go on all over the world and that democracy isn't built in a day. Though I don't believe that freedom is earned by a third party. That is something I see everyday here in Iraq and I'm sure it's the same way in Afghanistan. The people continue to work against the American occupation. If not through actual insurgent activity, then it's through their silence. The people in this part of the world are completely aware of what goes on in their neighborhoods and towns. They do know who the ones are who are causing the problems and the destablizing their country. What is the reason for their silence? Fear? So what. Any soldier who set on that border in 2003 had an under current of fear running throughout his body. Any soldier who gets into a humvee or goes out on a foot patrol has fear. It's natural. For whatever reason the soldiers continue to do their jobs eventhough the fear is there. Some might say "well this is what you signed up for." I call bullshit on these people. I did not sign up to defend other countries or to take part in "nation building." I signed up to defend my homeland, not someone elses.

There was a time when I would have been more supportive of intervention in a country who was commiting basic human rights violations. After spending time talking to the Iraqi people who work here on post and having interrogated many the last time I was here, I have lost heart. Why? Because these people do not want to bleed for their freedom. They are to afraid to step up to the ones who would hold them down.

The Afghan situation is a perfect example of why I feel this way. It may have even enforced the feeling in my heart even more. The man on trial, the last I heard, has taken refuge in Italy. His very life is in danger because of his choice in religion. The saddest thing is that from what I've read in the papers is that the government won't even have to execute him. Most of the people seem to feel so strongly about what he has done, I'm sure a religious zealot will most likely gun him down in the street.

Well, I'm off to do whatever it is I do for whatever cause. It seems this "war" means alot of things to alot of people. To me it means one thing. I am away from my family for a cause I do not believe in.

Hello everyone! I know it's been awhile since I wrote anything. I've been trying to keep my mouth shut. However, there comes a time when you just can't sit there and be quiet any longer. Today I read on Think Progress that there is a man in Afghanistan, named Abdul Rahman, who could be put to death because he has converted to Christianity.

Bush during a speech in Wheeling, WV was questioned about Abdul Rahman's case. I found the story on Reuters. I've searched for a video of the speech but I have yet to find one. Here are the quotes.

Bush said in Wheeling, West Virginia: "It is deeply troubling that a country we helped liberate would hold a person to account because they chose a particular religion over another."

And

"We have got influence in Afghanistan and we are going to use it to remind them that there are universal values," he said.

See, my problem with these statements is they are non-commital. Last time I checked we still have troops in Afghanistan. They, whether they like it or not, are under our control. As long as American men and women are still dying in that country, it is in a state of war. This of course is my opinion. Where is the "War President" now? I can't believe that our men and women died so that we could set up a government just as bad as the previous.

I will say this much the Afghan Economy Minister, Mohammad Amin Farhang, has got some pretty big balls. In response to German threats to withdrawl troops if this man is punished for converting Farhang says, ""We don't interfere in Germany's internal affairs or in running court cases." He also says that the German threat to remove troops amounts to blackmail. Blackmail? No buddy. How is it blackmail? Do any troops from the UN have to be in Afghanistan? Did I miss something that Afghanistan did for the world? Nope, I didn't. See the government of Afghanistan still fears the old regime as well as the warlords, but hey they got little to fear from one guy converting to Christianity. So I say we throw these fuckers to wolves! Let the old crew chew them up and spit them out. Of course our great leader wouldn't want to see his "experiment" with nation building (which he promised not to do) fail.

This is the world we have created.

I haven't written much lately, and I just wanted to apologize. I haven't felt to creative as of late, and that includes writing.

This morning I read an interesting article on "The News Blog" about how the Army has made to Basic Combat Training Program easier. What is happening to the world? Read it for yourself and weep.

Today on "Bring it On" I came across a link to a very interesting article. The article from Military.com, titled "Unemployment Rate Rises", states that the unemployment rate for soldiers between the ages of 20 - 24 coming out of the service is at 15%. The national average is approximately five percent. The article attributes the high unemployment rate partially to the fact that "most service members seriously injured in Iraq and Afghanistan are in the early stages of their military careers and possess limited transferable job skills or very little civilian work experience."

The article also states that veterans Affairs has just recently started a program called "Fulfilling the Commitment -- Coming Home to Work." I went to their website to get more info on the program, but unsuprisingly I couldn't find anything on it outside of their initial announcement that it had been formed. Perhaps someone with more time than me can find info on this program and send me more intel on it.

That said lets get to the bitching! That's right, I'm upset by the fact that veterans returning from the all holy War on Terror are in a pinch when it comes to finding a job. We truly live in strange times. We live in an era where everyone supports the troops no matter their stand on the war. I personally think it makes a really nice slogan that people can throw around which requires no action of themselves outside of a yellow ribbon attached to their car antenna. Yet, when it comes to helping these noble soldiers out what happens to the support??? Wait perhaps it is because they are no longer soldiers, they no longer receive the support. That seems to be the present way of things. Now I can here the conservatives and liberals alike already bashing me. The republicans are going to say that it's up to the individual to get a job, that the VA already offers plenty to the returning veteran. The liberals are going to stand up and start screaming that the conservatives control everything in DC so it is their fault that nothing is being done.

Well enough is enough already! It's time to stand up and do something on your own. My first question to why these veterans aren't finding jobs is what are they doing to find them? What kind of job skills do they have? Without knowing the individual it's hard to make a statement in favor or against. The second question is why aren't these businesses they are applying to not hiring them? Whatever happened to patriotism? Is it wrong to give a veteran a chance just because you want to be a good patriot? Or is the yellow ribbon and a strong supporting view of the war enough? See, overall I see America as weak when it comes to truly supporting something. We want to seem like good loyal people, but what it comes down to is money and chances. Why let patriotism blind you and hire that disabled veteran in a wheel chair when you can hire a perfectly healthy freshly graduated college student who chose himself over the greater good?

I wonder what really goes through the minds of the masses. That is directed world wide. I truly feel that the world is being ran by the chase for more money. It is a sad time we live in. I can only hope that I can find myself a community after I leave the Army that looks after and cares for one another. I had the semblance of that before I joined the Army, hopefully I will find it again.

"Army forces 50,000 soldiers into extended duty"

That is the title of an article by Will Dunham in Rueters press. Since I am a stop-lossed soldier anything dealing with the subject is of special interest to me. Let me start off by first saying that the number 50,000 is extremely misleading to the layman who tends to skim the headlines and not actually read the article. If you journy into the meat and potatoes of the article you discover that approximately 50,000 troops have been stopped from leaving the service since the policies creation in 1992. However the article does say approximately 12,500 soldiers are currently being held under this policy.

I'd love to see a more indepth study done on the affects of the stop-loss policy on the Army as a whole. Most of the people I know who have been stopped from leaving have grown extremely discontent and their morale is at an all time low. This angst spreads throughout the unit and is felt by troops who are new to the Army. I know many people who are basing their reasons for not re-enlisting off the views of the discontented. In the end the stop-loss policy is hurting the Army and the call of defense more than it's helping. Perhaps if the Army asked the people destined to ETS before or during a deployment to voluntarily extend their stay in exchange for some kind of incentive (extra money? bonuses? college? Use your imagination) then many people would choose to continue their service. These people would not be the sullen malcontented people many of the stop-lossed soldiers are. Let's face the facts, no one likes to forced to do something against their will. Now in the Army you are ordered to do numerous things everyday. When you join the military you except this, but the one thing you don't expect is to have the Army violate your contract and tell you that you will not leave the service. You attract more flies with honey than vinegar.

The seeds of discontent have been sown. How long till the fruit on the vine is ripe? How long till the nations forces are only a bare visage of what they once were? What happens then? Mandatory service? Oh how the nation; liberals, conservatives, do-nothings, and I don't cares; will scream with anger at the wrongs commited against them. I, safe in my having served my time, will sit back and laugh at them all. Our country is full of people who love to voice their opinion, but when it's time to step up and actually do something to push their agenda they back down into there corner with a hundred excuses as to why they don't have the time to stand up for their views and wait for someone else to do it for them.

(the last part is a generalization, I shouldn't have to say that but people seem to be uber-sensitive these days. I know plenty of conservative, liberal and independant people who go the extra mile and stand up for their views everyday. I do honestly believe that the majority of Americans are nothing but a bunch of blowhards.)

It's been awhile since I last posted here, sorry about that. I've just returned form R&R. I am happy to say that my beautiful baby boy is happy and healthy. I can't explain how it felt to hold this child in my arms. Now for those of you who don't know me well, I've never been one for kids, but there was something about him that just pulled me into it. Perhaps it's the knowledge that this is my son. I enjoyed everything about him, from watching him sleep to changing his dirty diapers. It's a wonderful feeling fatherhood, I would only think one feeling surpasses it and that would be motherhood.

Well, the time at home was good and well spent doing nothing but spending time with my wife and son. The torturous pain and the agonizing guilt I feel for leaving them is unexplainable. The moment I held my son in my arms I knew that I could never spend another moment away from him and his mother, but I haven't a choice in the matter. So I left them.

I left them behind for what? A war I don't believe in. A job I despise in a country I find repulsive. Pretty strong words, but all of them true. I'm so tired and exhausted by the military and it's bullshit. It's no wonder that recruiters are being found to have shady practices because if they were honest no one in their right mind would enlist. I don't know how anyone in the military who has a family can stay in. Who can spend a year from their family and then look at them and say, "Well, I'm back for two years maybe less." How can someone risk their lives for a cause that the very people in this country are not willing to die for. All I can think about is my wife and child. All I can think about is that I've done my time, that I've served my country, let someone else do it now, but who? When the call to arms go out no one comes running. It's only after the blood is flowing that the warcryers appear looking for more fools to go bleed. They are called chicken hawks, the people who support a conflict that they aren't willing to sacrifice for. I think a better term would be buzzards. I remember being young and watching buzzards fly in circles high above a dead animal carcass. The buzzard is a carrion bird, they live off of what others kill.

Today I want to take this time to discuss an incident that has occurred involving my good friend "Danger." Our command, by regulation, required all of us who are writing a blog to turn in the address to our commander, at which point he would then send it to the proper people within the Brigade who had a "need to know." All of us have turned in our blogs to the command as required (as far as I see it, Big Brother was already watching). It is my opinion that the command felt there were more blogs out there than what were turned into him. So, this guy sends out the spreadsheet with our blogs on it to the entire battalion. Obviously, we felt that this was a horrible lapse in judgement on his part. These were personal blogs that we had given out to our family and friends, if someone discovers it on their own great, but we didn't want them put out to 100+ people. So Danger finds a picture of the Commander and throws it up on his blog with a little piece basically saying (I'm paraphrasing) "Thank you sir for giving this out to everyone in the battalion. This was meant to be for my family and friends only." So the commander sends him a scathing letter accusing him of attempting to slander him on the net. Sir, let me address you directly and say "You need to learn what slander is."

First and foremost slander is a verbal defemation of character. The term you are looking for is libel. Libel is the defemation of character in writing. Second off in order it to be defematory the statement in question has to be untrue. Now I'm not completely positive, but in most cases of libel or slander all the defendant has to do is prove that the statement was true in order to be innocent of the charge. Danger did not accuse you of anything untrue. He stated the fact that you did send the email to everyone on your mailing list, that this email did contain all the blogs that had been turned into you up to that point. He did not try to "slander" you as you have accused him, nor did he in my opinion even remotely attack your character. He basically said that what you did was wrong and that he was pissed off (understandably, we all were and are.)

Well, for further information I would point you to wikipedia's entry on the terms slander and libel.

Oh, and on a different note, congradulations to me on the birth of my new baby boy. I would say thank you sir for saying congratz and good tidings, but you haven't.