While you read this i want all of you to keep in mind that I did four years in the Marine Corps and I served two combat tours in Iraq. I've been there, done that and literally gotten the t-shirt.
When I enlisted near the end of 2002, I knew what most of you know right off the bat. I knew that there was a damn good chance that I was going to go to war. Granted the war in Iraq hadn't started but was in the works and we had been in Afghanistan for about a year at this point. I knew that there was a chance that I may not come back.
The hardest thing about it wasn't living in a hole in the ground or eating MREs or having to dig a hole every time I needed to take a sh*t. It wasn't even being separated from family or knowing that one of those mortars that have been going off all day could hit me and end it all.
It was the loss.
The first time I went over there (Sept 04 - Mar 05) we lost two Marines. LCpl Reppuhn and Sgt Davis. I never knew loss like I did the day they told me that Reppuhn had been killed. This wasn't your grandmother who died of old age. This was a 20 year old kid with his whole life in front of him that had it violently taken away. Sgt Davis was not only a motivated Marine but a volunteer firefighter, husband and father of two. Words can not describe the pain and anger that I feel on a seemingly daily basis. Even as I type this out now and look at their names I cry. These are not the only two. We lost 9 during my second deployment.
I get angry at times when I hear about these f*cking politicians that want to end this war now and bring everyone home. Most of these assholes, including the Clintons have never served a day in the military let alone in war because they were busy dodging the draft during the Vietnam war.
i ask myself, what would Reppuhn or Sgt Davis want to happen? Would they want their sacrifice to be all in vain or would thye want it to mean something? I know personally, if I were to die over there I would want us to finish the mission. I would want my sacrifice to mean something.
I get angry when this subject comes up. i think it's funny how people who have never spent a day in a pair of combat boots, lugging a weapon through the desert seem to know what the best course of action is. The audacity one must have to speak on their behalf...
http://www.fallenheroesmemorial.com/...hnjustind.html
http://oklahomasfallensoldiers.net/P...sZachariah.htm