U.S. troops praise Iraq withdrawal: ‘I don’t think we really had a whole lot of direction.’

[bispo]

Today, President Obama announced the withdrawal of most U.S. troops from Iraq by August 2010 in Camp Lejuene, NC. After Obama’s speech, the AP interviewed several soldiers at the military base. While conservatives have long insisted that service members do not want to withdraw from Iraq, the troops interviewed heaped praise on Obama’s military

Comments

[saramiskismet]

Yes. To all of it. Thank you.

[sunoftheskye]

Reminds me of this stupid redneck hick I was arguing with on Facebook after the election who was saying her boyfriend was a soldier and he told her they didn't want Obama in office. God my blood boiled that day.

[tiddlywinks103]

YES.

[nmgirl98]

Can someone answer this for me: Back in the day, when my ex was in the Army, it was very VERBOTTEN for any active duty military member to speak to the press without express permission of their Commander.

Has that changed?

Speaking as a former Navy enlisted sailor ...

[box_in_the_box]

... And a veteran of more than one PAO, yes, it has.

Granted, troops get warned not to say anything that would either a) compromise OPSEC or b) not qualify as "staying within your lane" (ie. don't talk shit about a mission or a job field unless you yourself have direct and current experience with both), but when I was on board the TR, if a civilian reporter wanted to talk to a specific crew member, bottom line, they got to talk to that crew member - which is precisely what made our job, as JOs, so important, because we stuck by the reporters, to make sure that a) we could steer them toward crew members whom we knew would make us look good in the press, and b) we could monitor their statements to the press, again, to make sure OPSEC was not broken.

Re: Speaking as a former Navy enlisted sailor ...

[nmgirl98]

Thanks for the reply. I guess this is the new Army! I remember more than once hearing the PAO give 'The Speech' to new enlisted. When I was in the media (waaaaaaay back in the day!), I knew to never approach a soldier without getting permission first.

[box_in_the_box]

It might still be different in different situations, but on board our carrier during Operations Enduring and Iraqi Freedom, the Word of God was to make the civilian press feel like we were being as open and honest with them as we could be, without violating OPSEC. The last thing they wanted was to look like we were misleading them or covering anything up. Even though it meant extra hours for me on my job, I liked it, because it made me feel like we were respecting that the press was simply carrying out the freedom that we were fighting to defend.

[jwaneeta]

Thank you, Mr Pres, for starting to get our people out of that pointless, horrific quagmire. They have always deserved better.