A Soldier's Thoughts

Zachary, a U.S. soldier in Tikrit, Iraq, is now on his second tour of duty under stop-loss (involuntary extension of service past the end of his enlistment). This week he simplified things for the holdout bush war supporters:

A Promise

There are battles which need to be fought and there are battles which serve no good purpose. Afghanistan and Bin Laden lay forgotten as if they were discarded toys left by a spoiled child.

Iraq is the new frontier of poor foreign policy and poor planning. Even the soldiers can see it. Why do you think nobody is re-enlisting? They don't want to keep leaving their families to go fight a losing battle and to die for an empty promise. The promise that somehow staying in Iraq makes America safer.

We have created a martyr factory here, and we are beginning to wade through the next Vietnam. How wrong do you want to be before you close down shop and send the troops home? 2,000 dead? Is that wrong enough? How about 10,000?

There is a field back home at Ft. Stewart, Georgia. There a tree has been planted for each soldier who has been killed in Iraq. After we returned in 2003 there were only a few trees, now an entire side of the field is full of them. My sister asked where they would plant more now that the row was complete and sadly I replied, "we still have three more sides to fill." Maybe then when we have enough names for a beautiful war memorial we can leave Iraq.

Visit Zachary's blog here: A Soldiers Thoughts and photos here: nevadog.

Another blogger I read regularly, Kerensky97, also provides excellent insights of his tour of duty in Iraq, along with incisive analysis of the political scene at home: An Eye Opener and A Soldier's View.