Lunch with a GI
Today, I had lunch with one member of the United States Army who has spent the past 5 months in Mosul, Iraq. While he was lucky enough to receive proper armor and equipment, some in his unit actually had family members buying their equipment on ebay and mailing it to them. That is not some crazy media story as part of me once hoped it was. It's the reality. Our mothers, fathers, brothers, sisters, sons, and daughters are over there fighting a war without proper equipment. This dearth of supplies is likely going to get worse with the troop surge. The troop surge is coming in concert with a new strategy to win the hearts and minds of the Iraqis and this strategy is incredibly dangerous. American troops will no longer speed through town squares and brushy areas. They will stop and talk with these people. Hand them food and supplies. Talk to them about their problems. Winning the hearts and minds, so to speak, is necessary to win an unpopular war, but is incredibly dangerous. It necessitates sufficient armor and protective gear for these young Americans.
Lunch today was so enlightening. He did not care at all about politics. He had the mindset that his job was to go where to government told him and do what he could to the best of his ability with what he had. He did not like that the sensational media publicize some unfounded fact that some people do not support our troops. He was in an awkward position to talk much about the course of events over there, because he is heading back next week (after a 5 day break) and it would not be appropriate to discuss one's opinion of how one's boss is doing his job. Although, I will say he did not paint an encouraging picture of Iraq with the loyalists and foreign nationalists doing what they are. He even compared the war to Vietnam... thinking that there is little chance that the premature "Mission Accomplished" won't be accurate when the 7th year after the invasion comes and goes.
This is not pretty.
Lunch today was so enlightening. He did not care at all about politics. He had the mindset that his job was to go where to government told him and do what he could to the best of his ability with what he had. He did not like that the sensational media publicize some unfounded fact that some people do not support our troops. He was in an awkward position to talk much about the course of events over there, because he is heading back next week (after a 5 day break) and it would not be appropriate to discuss one's opinion of how one's boss is doing his job. Although, I will say he did not paint an encouraging picture of Iraq with the loyalists and foreign nationalists doing what they are. He even compared the war to Vietnam... thinking that there is little chance that the premature "Mission Accomplished" won't be accurate when the 7th year after the invasion comes and goes.
This is not pretty.