A short last minute tribute on Veterans Day

4 thoughts on “A short last minute tribute on Veterans Day”

1. That letter always gives me chills.

   Log in to Reply

2. .
   
   but listening with the ears of a soldier, I hear strains of the fear of death.  
   
   Soldiers are afraid of dying.  

   Granted, most people wearing the ACU of the US Army in Iraq do not go out on daily dismounted patrol, and are not at risk of being shot or blown up EVERY SINGLE DAY for 60 days at a time.  
   
   But for the soldiers who are in that position, it is a real grind.  Every day that they walk out past the concertina wire they must suppress that bone-chilling fear.

   The Marine Corps limits Iraq tours to 7 months precisely because of this calculus:
   
   3 rotations of 2 months each on the FOB, with a little break in between to get a hot shower and real food from the Burger King back at Al Asad Air Base, is all a normal person can stand.  
   
   Yet the standard Army tour is 12 months, because 90% of soldiers don’t have to face that grind.
   
   Makes it especially tough on the 10% who do.  PTSD isn’t a bad reaction to that situation; its a normal reaction.
   
   .  

   Log in to Reply

   1. He said it’s the weirdest thing in the world to eat Burger King in Iraq. I think they have a KFC too.

      Log in to Reply

      1. It’s Pizza Hut.  They use some kind of goat cheese, instead.  

         Not.  Good.

         Log in to Reply