Army Ranks See Imbalance in Iraq War Sacrifice

Army Ranks See Imbalance in Iraq War Sacrifice

by Steve Inskeep

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Morning Edition, July 12, 2007 · Army Maj. Gen. Mark Hertling, commander of the 1st Armored Division, which is soon to deploy to Iraq, has two sons who are Army officers and have served in Iraq. Hertling says many in the military are recognizing, if not resenting, a growing imbalance of sacrifice in the war in Iraq.

KEY POINTS:

"We feel like we are an Army at War not a Nation at War"

"It's very nice to for people to say they support the troops. But we sometimes we just don't see the action being backed up by the words.

Body Counts

I am tired of the left wing anti-American media televising the latest count of dead American sailors, soldiers, and airmen. It is propoganda that the terrorists want you see. They want us to get tired and what to quit. You don't see the American military bragging about how many terrorist we have killed or captured. And why don't you put the 9-11 body counts along side these troop counts so Americans can remember how many civilians were murdered.

I stumbled upon TheReligionofPeace.com. It is a site that counts and tracks the latest terrorist attacks.

IraqBodyCount.net keeps a running count of how many Iraqi civilians have been murdered by terrorist and accidentally killed by U.S. Forces.

I have also added one of their widgets in my sidebar.

Movie Rewiew: World Trade Center

It makes you think about:
*The officer workers that choose to jump instead of burn.
*The first responders that were trapped alive under the rumble
*The wives of the police officers wondering if her husband is ok.
*The fire fighters morning the lost of the friends.
*The rescue workers that refusing to give up.

It's amazing that only 2,974 innocent civilians were murdered that day and we can thank those first responders.

I recommend soldiers watch before shipping off to war. I recommend military family members watch while their loved ones are off at war. I recommend voters watch before heading to the polls. Look it's not the best film, it's not fun to watch, and everyone knows the story. We don't want to think about that day, but we should.

Our soldiers are doing their job over seas but on the homefront we need more big name directors like Stone and actors Cage to tell their stories and help Americans remember and stay united as we continue to fight our enemies. Why aren't there more movies like this?

Favorite Quote:
"You kept me alive"

VetLegacyLdr
http://citizenandsoldier.blogspot.com

The Gratitude Campaign

Problem: When civilians see military personnel in the airports they don't know how to react and end up ignoring them.

Solution: http://www.gratitudecampaign.org/fullmovie.php

American Leadership and War Interactive Map

Which presidents and political parties were responsible for America's deadliest wars? To what extent can you blame a president or a political party for choosing to go to war? This map may hold some answers. It illustrates the history of American war from 1775 to 2006. War is a necessary evil. Politics, however, shouldn't be.

Click here to see a 90 sec interactive map

Movie Review: The Kingdom

First 10 minutes are some what useful to get the American general public to think for a moment and face the reality and savagery of the terrorists we fight today. The rest of the movie turns into CSI meets Die Hard with Jamie Fox leading a special secret squirrel rogue FBI team which takes away from the seriousness that was established from the start of the film. The closing scene really showed the movie's true aim to persuade the average lazy American that hasn't been informed of their real motive. There is a line at the end where someone one asked Jamie Fox "What was it that you said to (some lady on the FBI team) to get her to stop crying when we found out one of our own was killed in the terrorist attack?" Jamie Fox replies with "We'll kill them all" this is paired with the grandson of a Saudi bomb-making terrorist who was killed in the end in front of him. His mother asks him, "What was it that your grandfather whispered in your ear before he died" and he replies with "We'll kill them all." I don't understand how in the end the movie tries to portray Americans as just as bad as the terrorist. What the writers and most Americans fail to realize or remember is, it's not the same, they attacked our Innocent civilians first, we do have moral authority over them. This is strike 2 for Jamie Fox, Jarhead was strike 1, playing action hero and in an ant-war movie, I am loosing respect for him. Another thing I don't understand is why they had to use a fictional terrorist attacks because their has been plenty, see List of terrorist attacks in Saudi Arabia. The Kingdom is an anti-war irresponsible film with an agenda for lame uninformed average Americans. I wouldn't recommend you wasting your money to support them. To get your action fix just watch the trailer:

Vets For Freedom

A good buddy of mine asked to pass this along:

On behalf of Vets for Freedom, thank you for your service! Veterans for Freedom is organizing the country around a pro-mission, pro-victory message: We support our troops and their mission. We are looking for veterans to help get the word out about our message. We need leadership on the ground in your state as a State Captain. Here’s how you can help:

We are asking our State Captains to commit to the following “Six Action Items”

1) Sign-up pro-mission OIF/OEF vets at www.vetsforfreedom.org

2) Write a letter to the editor of your local newspaper (we can help you with this)

3) Recruit pro-mission Vets to attend a Senator’s or Congressman’s Local town-hall meeting (We will provide you with dates, times and locations)

4) Conduct radio and television interviews with local media (we will coordinate these for you)

5) Call your Senators and Representatives: tell them to support Gen. Petraeus and our troops' mission

Need contact information for your elected officials? Click here: http://www.congress.org/congressorg/dbq/officials/

6) SIGN UP TO SHOW UP

Commit to attend "Vets Take the Hill" day in D.C. Over the course of two days Vets from around the country will converge on Capitol Hill, telling Congress to stand strong with our troops and their mission.

Vets Take the Hill will take place September 17 and 18. VFF will pre-pay all expenses making the trip completely free to the vet traveler up front.

Feel free to call 605-254-2624 with any questions.

Movie: United 93

Just finished watching the DVD United 93. Part of my process to get myself motivated to put the uniform back on in 4 days after 2 years of a leave of absences from the Army Gaurd since I returned from Baghdad.

It helped.

I ended up watching the movie by myself. Tried to watch with pops since my wife wouldn't watch with me. Didn't work. Suprisingly my mom sat in at the end.

It was a needed reminder with sharp details (like flight attendants getting executed) that created a sharper picture of that unforgettable day, but I would argue has already become a forgotten day to most.

Amercians need to remember.

To those who fought back. I start this blog in honor of you.

Favorite Quote:
"Let's Roll"