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Serving in the military
Hey,
i came across your page while browsing through pages, and i noticed that you serve in the military. From a young age, i have always been really interested in soldiers and the work they do. I met a WW2 vetern and a holocaust survivor, but surprisingly i have never talked to anyone who served in Iraq or Afghanistan. I just wanted to know what it is like serving in the military. How does it feel knowing your risking your life for other citizens in your country? How do you cope with the major shift in society and atmosphere? How does it feel killing other people whom you don't know? Have you changed as a person? Do you think kids these days do not honour fallen soldiers as much as they should? If you have time, whenever your free, please tell me a bit about your life. Thank you for reading.
(16/f)
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oooh. fun.
serving in the military sucks, I hate how stupid it gets, but at the same time I'm proud of what I've done, my unit, and our ability to fight and win every battle with our hands tied behind our backs. being stationed over here in germany is awesome, I've been all over europe in the past four years, but its a double edged sword. I rarely see my family and friends, and all I know of whats going on in the states is from the TV and the fifteen day leaves I get to take every six months or so. to be honest with you, I'm not risking my life for them, we're over there for them, but when it comes down to it, I'm doing it for the guys in my unit, they're risking their hides for me too, and I hate my enemy, its like fighting the japanese, you never let them take prisoners, the fight is a lot more vicious and personal than americans can ever know, they'll torture and murder our guys if they get ahold of them, and they've tried dragging american bodies off, but we stop them at all costs.
As far as the society, yeah, its cool that people support us, but not supporting our mission is a slap in the face. we are there to save lives, and we've done an awesome job at it. its like drawing fire, america sends us out to soak up and kill these crazies that are coming out of the woodwork so that they're too preoccupied with us to attack america. the shift has been ridiculous, the media(as if they don't get harped on already) is a sham, back when I was a little kid, you could trust tom brokaw and peter jennings to give it to you straight, then these 24 hour news networks came out and it went to hell from there. its like watching an opinion editorial, and its helped to drive americans further into this new consumer capitalism, making the real american a scarce resource as the country turns into a society of entitlement, fashion, and general sissies. Killing is a little on the crazy side, it goes against every moral bearing. but it has to be done. At the time, you're hopped up on adrenaline, running on your training and more base instincts, you're firing at targets, the goal is to eliminate those targets, and until they scream and thrash around when you hit them, you barely realize they're human. one incident back in march 08, we got attacked with 107mm rockets and took a casualty. we fired a ten round barrage of white phosphorus mortars at the launch site, and laughed as the four taliban ran around on fire. I live with it quite well, its watching my own guys getting killed that fucks me up. heard a great story about an airline steward asking if anybody could name a medal of honor recipient from the war (there are five), offering free drinks if anybody could. only one person could name SFC Paul smith, third Infantry Division. none of the other four. when she asked who could name an american idol winner, nearly every hand went up. thats wrong. The american military is at war, not the american people, and we've done a great job of keeping it that way. I got several letters from elementary school students in care packages, I used to keep them in my body armor, tucked in front of the forward hard SAPI plate, those kids don't even know me. I got so many care packages over that deployment I couldn't use it all, my hooch was so full of candy and beef jerky that I barely had room for my gear. It gets to be a little much, I'm happy with just getting letters from people, when I was out of food and water, eating crickets and collecting dew near the PAK border, I didn't care, I knew I'd survive starvation for two weeks or more. reading letters from kids, old war vets, that was what kept me in the fight. Its those people that use me as a point in a political argument that piss me off, they don't give a damn about us, they're just trying to win a petty debate by using "I support our troops, and thats why I'm right" no, those people are dirtbags, they have no Idea what its like for my mom and pop, waking up at night wondering if I'm alive or dead. its horrible finding out that your mom had a nervous breakdown and had to be admitted to the hospital because of you. what I do is hard and worthwhile, but my family's the ones paying the sacrifice, waiting for the knock on the door and the letter from Bob Gates. America honors her dead, I've seen an entire town lined up on a road watching their son come home for the last time, people who don't even know the kid waving flags, the VFW lined up saluting, and the Bikers providing escort. its moving.
I'm getting ready to go back soon, still haven't told my family, I'm going to fly home next month to tell them in person, I was supposed to go home for good in october, but it doesn't matter whether I come home now, or two years down the road, I know I'll get there eventually.
thanks
-gunner
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