I think it’s a disgrace. Bush talks about the sacrifice they made and he can’t even given them a hero’s welcome.

I am an American Soldier. I personally have been to Iraq and back. I spent countless days and nights wondering whether or not I would live to see the next day. I watched some of the greatest people and the best friends I have ever had injured and killed. I honestly wish we never would have gone to Iraq. I did however see good things happening while I was there, but do the good deeds and kind acts add up for all the misguided actions and loss of lives?

My company finally returned to Germany in February after a long year in Iraq, but not with everyone we deployed with. Those of us who made it home safely were relieved, as our families met us at the front gate of our post. We all had our close calls, we all have our mental and physical scars to show. Those in our company with Purple Hearts can tell you what its like to see hell. The sad thing is that we are shortly deploying back to Iraq. We are working hard to get our equipment back into good working condition just to be sent back to that God forsaken country where neither their or our people want us. We don’t even want to go back. While we were there we told ourselves that it was for a good cause, but we had to actually believe our own lies to make it through with our sanity intact. What good are we doing for our country if we are just being slaughtered like cattle? My platoon was forced into hostile situations where we COULD NOT fire back because of the presence of Iraqi civillians. If we were to accidently hit one we would be raped by the Geneva Conventions. We could not fire to save our own lives.

In one instance, while taking a brief stop from a convoy heading north to Mosul. We began recieving hostile fire. We took cover behind and under our vehicles. It was a woman, using her son as a human shield. No one could believe their eyes. The boy looked like he was no older than 12. We all continued to take cover behind our vehicles. One of the soldiers from my team stood up, ignoring the volley of pot shots the woman was taking, took aim, and fired. It was a perfect shot. The round he fired hit the woman in the head, nuetralizing the threat instantly. The soldier did not realize that his M16A2 rifle was on Three Round Burst. After the first round fired killed the woman, the second and third struck the boy in the chest and the right leg above the knee. We called in a medivac for the child as one of our medics tried desperately to aid him, but that boy did not survive. The soldier responsible killing the mother and the child was harshly punished under the Geneva Conventions and the Uniform Code of Military Justice. I am full of grief for the young life that was lost, but the fact that a soldier was punished for protecting the lives of his comrades and himself is extremely disturbing. At times we are like dogs to do our masters bidding, but can’t bite a stranger for the well being of those we serve without being put to sleep ourselves.

I personally would like to see all the Coalition Forces pull out of Iraq. If it is really to the world’s best interest in helping these people, we should let them sort out their own problems and back them up with their decisions. Instead of speading miilions on a war that brings nothing but an ever growing pile of bodies, insist them where they need it financially. We have enough problems of our own in the U.S., but for some reason our leaders are more interested in the well being of other nations. If we really want to prevent future terrorist attacks I honestly don’t think invading other countries is going to accomplish anything. Its an internal problem. We have to not give others a reason to target us. If we go around waving a big red, white, and blue flag flaunting our nation and spitting on others, than we are giving others a reason to hate us. It never stops. Everytime I’m somewhere there is always some one being loud, vulgar, and rude, and its another American. It would be one thing if I was in America, but the fact that it happens when I’m all over Europe and the rest of the world. People like that make my life alot harder. Everywhere I go I am hated, because of the uniform I wear. I’m going to stop while I’m ahead. If you really want to hear anymore, I’ll talk. I really just get sick of it though. I don’t even watch the news anymore because all they ever talk about is the war. I don’t want to even think about it. I don’t want to remember it. I wish none of it had ever happened.