Re: Montana soldier describes duty in Iraq as a nightmare

Dave Lister <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote in message news:<[EMAIL PROTECTED]>...
> Bush is misusing the reserve, loon.
The reserves do not exist for Fourth of July parades and floods.  In
the aftermath of the Vietnam and Cold wars the Pentagon specifically
designed a system whereby the reserves would have to be called up if
the US made a major military commitment.  The pentagon did this to try
and preclude another Vietnam, meaning a President would have to have
significant public support in order to fight a large conflict abroad.

> 
> [EMAIL PROTECTED] (Errant_Eye) wrote in
> news:[EMAIL PROTECTED]: 
> 
> > Harry Hope <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote in message
> > news:<[EMAIL PROTECTED]>... 
> >> From The Associated Press, 11/29/03:  
> >> http://www.billingsgazette.com/index.php?id=1&display=rednews/2003/11/
> >> 29/build/state/40-iraq-complaint.inc 
> >>            
> >> Montana soldier describes duty in Iraq as a nightmare 
> >> 
> >> 
> >> HAVRE - 
> >> 
> >> Neither the Pentagon nor the news media are giving the American
> >> public an accurate picture of the situation in Iraq, which is "a
> >> nightmare," says a soldier who is about to go back. 
> > Uhh..  is this an accurate picture?  It is certainly being given by
> > the media.
> >> 
> >> "It's nothing like what the people back home have been hearing," Army
> >> Sgt. Michael Badgley Jr. said. 
> > I have been hearing that it is a quagmire and that lately soldiers
> > have been dying at the rate of about 2 a day.
> >> 
> >> "They're saying the war's over. The war's not over. Now, it's more of
> >> a guerrilla war." 
> >> 
> >> But despite the problems and the mixups and poor troop morale, allied
> >> forces seem to be accomplishing some great things, he said. 
> > Wow Harry, you didnt draw our attention to this portion of the
> > article.
> > 
> >>   
> >> "The waste and frustration, everything that goes on over there, it's
> >> just a nightmare," Badgley said.   A Great Falls police officer for
> >> five years, Badgley was activated by the Army Reserve on Feb. 7. His
> >> 889th Quartermaster Company left for Fort Lewis, Texas, on Feb. 10
> >> and arrived in Kuwait April 22. Badgley entered Iraq on May 15. He
> >> returned home on a two-week leave Monday night. He is to report to
> >> Baltimore on Dec. 10 to return to Iraq. Badgley said the fact he's
> >> still in Iraq speaks to confusion and changing rules. 
> > Perhaps it speaks to a flexible administration willing to change its
> > plans and force structure as it deems the situation warrants.
> > 
> >> 
> >> He was supposed to be there until September. Then his tour was
> >> extended 60 days, and now everyone has to stay for at least one year,
> >> he said. Some of the troops in Iraq have been told they are there
> >> only to provide numbers, and there are more troops in Iraq than there
> >> are jobs for them, he said. 
> > I thought we needed more troops?  The demos are saying two things
> > either pull out now or get more troops in.  Doesn't this undercut your
> > arguments there Harry?
> > 
> >> 
> >> "Morale over there is very low." 
>  Compared to what?  
> >> 
> >> He said the success of the operation, as far as the Iraqi people go,
> >> is mixed. 
> >> 
> >> Badgley said he hears about humanitarian projects the United States
> >> and its allies are doing, but in his seven months in Iraq he hasn't
> >> seen a single food or water distribution point set up or a school
> >> being constructed. 
> >> 
> >> The Iraqis seem happy about their freedom, or at least to be free
> >> from Saddam Hussein's rule, Badgley said. 
> >> 
> >> The message the military is providing to the people is not helping
> >> improve relations, Badgley said. 
> >> 
> >> An area controlled by multinational forces "was more of a horse and
> >> pony show," he recalled. 
> >> 
> >> Once while Badgley was on guard duty, an Iraqi approached him and
> >> said he had captured a leader of the fedayeen, Saddam's guerrilla
> >> force. 
> >> 
> >> Badgley called U.S., Filipino and Polish units, but was told nothing
> >> would be done. 
> >> 
> >> He had to tell the Iraqi to deal with the fedayeen himself, Badgley
> >> said. 
> >> 
> >> "Any time you throw six armies together there's going to be some
> >> glitches, but I really felt for that guy," he said. 
> >> 
> >> Five years on the Great Falls Police Department has taught him that
> >> the police must have the support of the public to serve effectively,
> >> he said. 
> >> 
> >> "That's what we need to do in Iraq, is get with the people and find
> >> out what we can do for them," Badgley said. 
> >> 
> >> "Then be there to help them, not just pass the buck to somebody
> >> else." 
> >> 
> >> Badgley's main job is to be a mechanic, but he was designated a
> >> .50-caliber machine gun operator. 
> >> 
> >> "That distinction allows me to go out on all the convoys, so I'm on
> >> the road a lot," he added. 
> >> 
> >> "Actual combat where I'm shooting, no. Combat where they're shooting
> >> the compound or mortaring the compound or (rocket-propelled
> >> grenading) the compound, yes," he said. 
> >> 
> >> He has seen only one death. 
> >> 
> >> An Iraqi civilian stepped in front of his convoy and killed a
> >> soldier, he said. 
> > This is a nightmare?  
> > "War is hell but actual combat is a mother fucker" -- Col. David
> > Hackworth.  This guy's service and sacrifice are much appreciated but
> > what he describes doesnt really strike me as a "nightmare".  If this
> > is a nightmare, then what was 9/11?
> > 
> >> 
> >> "No matter how bad it gets or how frustrated we are, at least people
> >> in my company, we still accomplish our mission. There's time at the
> >> end of the day to kick and scream and holler, then go to sleep and
> >> get up the next day and do it all over again," he said. 
> >> 
> >> "But I guess the thing that keeps you going is I know I did my job
> >> for the day. I did what I was expected to do." 
> >> 
> >> _______________________________________________________
> >> 
> >> That's life (or whatever ya wanna call it) in the Bush-created
> >> quagmire.
> >> 
> >> Harry
> >