I vote for bush...

...Well, not me personally. Today's political system has me too disillusioned to believe that either candidate would have held my best interests in mind. Those were the words of a lieutenant in the Iraqi Regular Army, as said to a NPC reporter just before we went on mission. It's probably hard to appreciate by people who aren't here, but having the press and the IRA with you on a mission is just asking for trouble.
The reporters themselves are all right, but you can almost feel the trepidation on the part of the soldiers when they come around. This is due mainly to the fact that anything you say or do could possibly be misinterpreted or represented in a manner that could have incalculable ramifications. This feeling is not due to any fear that my actions will not bear the scrutiny of some third party, but there's so many people willing and wishing to jump on anything that could be portrayed in a bad light on the US military and it's leadership.
As an example, I usually frequent an on line forum, that regularly discusses politics among other things. Whenever the subject turns to the evilness of the US and what have you, this one particular video always seems to turn up in the discussion. I really don't have the ability to find the video on line right now so I'll try and describe it: The video is of a bunch of marines involved in the initial push into Iraq. The video starts of by showing an Arabic male “taking a knee” seemingly wounded, the video then cuts to a bunch of marines shooting their rifles and than to the man being shot. The action portion of the clip lasts no more than 10 seconds, but it then cuts to an interview with one of the marines as he describes his elation about killing the man, and how he wants to do it again. This video, along with many other things are held up as examples on how American conducts itself in warfare, and how bad it is etc etc.
I can easily see how this clip can be used to justify whatever ill feelings you have towards the soldiers, the US itself or just it's leadership, but my main issue with the video is that A) it doesn't even attempt to describe the whole situation and the viewer has no way of knowing if all the segments are in sequential order, or what may have preceded the events in the video and B) The guy obviously had an AK that he conveniently dropped right before the video cuts in.
I'm quite familiar with the Geneva conventions and its stipulations that require medical assistance to all injured combatants, but I think in this particular instance people are taking things a little too far. I know I'm not gonna personally rush to an enemy soldier to give him aid simply because my initial reaction to contact failed to kill him outright, I'd just finish the job. I may be wrong from a “legal” standpoint in the matter, but I'll just have to concede my stubbornness in this situation and wait to learn otherwise, the hard way.
Anyway, I'm beginning to digress. The point is: the press sucks. Now, the Iraqi military...that's just something in and of itself. All the desertions, betrayals, and ineptitude aside, a lot of em are pretty dedicated. For whatever reason, they come into work and risk their lives everyday for a country that probably didn't give two fucks about them 3 years ago.
I'd like to emphasis the amount of risk that these guys take. For a fraction of what we as American soldiers make, with hardly anyof the benefits, these guys reguarly expose themselves and their family to a level of danger that we as Americans would never expose our soldiers to. A lot of em have to go around with a mask on, for fear that people will discover who they are and then attempt to harm them or their families outside of the military environment. Furthermore, these guys routinely go out on mission with less training, less protective equipment, less fire-power and ammunition, all while being consistently targetted by AIF forces. In the three days preceeding this particuar mission these guys lost somewhere around 43 people, from a company sized element.
Needless to say, if we lost 43 guys from a single company in a three day period you'd have a lot of people back home and in the service decrying the senseless massacre of our soldiers in a senseless war and public opinion would soon start pressuring the government to extractiate itself from this vietnam like quagmire it has gotten itself into.
Of course I'm being sarcastic, it's just a little perturbing to me that some members of our military find it sufficient cause to refuse a mission on the grounds that their “equipment isn't up to par” and that there mission “isn't worth the risk” when a lot of these Iraqi guys are facing more danger than us and are fighting from a Chevy mini van, while our soldiers can't find the courage to conduct a simple convoy while enjoying the benefits of the most technological fighting force man kind has ever sen.
All this isn't to say that the Iraqi guys are the best ever (heh no). There are many issues that make working with them a little “nerve racking”. The first and most significant thing is that most of em don't speak english. Having never personally been in an envrionment where the majority of the people didn't speak english, I tend to take for granted the advantages of being able to communicate with somebody without using simplified and inadequate hand gestures. This becomes increasingly frustrating when it becomes obvious that most of these guys (that is the ones who didn't serve under Saddam) have had a limited amount of training, and they are continuously being pushed through the pipeline in anticpation of a transfer of responsibility from the US to Iraqi forces. A lot of em make mistakes that one of our privates wouldn't make, and it's your job to somehow impart to this guy the error of his ways and it took you about 15 minutes of frustration just to learn their names.
Another issue is that the rivialries in this area of the world runs deep and a lot of times this has a significant impact on the way these guys react to you, the other iraqi soldiers and the general populas. For the most part I've noticed distrinct differences between two groups of soldiers; The kurds and the non kurds. The non kurds compose the majority of the citizens in the country and as thus it's essential for them to become pro-active in the defense of their country. The problem is, that these are also the most likely to desert, be targetted by AIF forces and have a tendency to not like Americans. Of course, that isn't indictive of every single soldier, its just the impression I've gotten.
As for the Kurds, they seem to be the most reliable guys out here. They come into work with a smile on their face and exhibit an exceptional zeal to do the job, learn all they can and become the best they can be. The problem is, a lot of these guys hate Iraqi's and want nothing more than an independent Kurdistand. I guess that isn't really my concern, and I should just be happy that if these guys get stood up I might get to go home a little early (not likely). I just can't shake the feeling that one way or another this country is slowly marching its way into a civil war and we're making the time, but that's a complex discussion for another day.
Something indicitive of most units of ING\IRA I've seen is that they just don't seem to give a fuck and aren't constrained by a lot of the rules we are. While we worry about the media, the ICC and public opinion back home, these guys operate with a measure of impunity that probaly shouldn't given to a 19 year old kid with a chip on his soldier and an AK 47. So in a situation where americans may tie their own hands to keep up public relations these guys are opening up some throats. It's not that I'm jealous it's just a little disheartening when 40 IRA guys decide it's a cool thing to unload all their AK's into a civilian truck. Especially when some guy you wouldn't know from a hole in the ground is shoving a microphone in your face asking “So...whats going on? All the while you're just hoping these guys have the state of mind to check fire in your direction... which of course they don't.
For fairness' sake it should be said that we probaly would have fired a warning shot at this truck, but we most likely would have refrained from unleashing divine fury on the guy. So yea, IRA\ING + press= bad mojo.

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Tomorrow is thanksgiving and I'm having a hard time feeling enthusiastic about it simply because we're gonna be pulling night missions I don't really care for, and the fact that the weather is ridiculously shitty. I prepared myself for the sand, flies, heat, and all the other bad things associated with the desert, but not freezing horizontal range, sub-freezing temperatures and consistent rain that turns the ground into something reminiscent of diarheea.
I wish I could come up with some inspiring words that will console myself , along with my family and friends- something that you all could forward to your e-mail address book and make all of them feel warm and fuzzy, not to mention patriotric at the humilitary and stoism of today's rank and file.

But yea..that ain't happening.

I' ve had some pretty bad holiday seasons in the past, but this one is easily making a run for the title of most shittiest. On the bright side I'm making 225 bucks in hazard duty\imminent fire pay. YES!!!

All bullshit aside, I'm not really into complaining too much I've made my choices in life and can hardly decry the outcome of those decisions. I just hope that most of you are having a good holiday and that you make the most of it. That's about all I got for now. Happy holidays.

-me