Mar 6 2006 - Patriot Act Part 1 (Over Here, Over There)

Monday, March 06, 2006
Patriot Act - I (Over Here, Over There)
Current mood: aggravated
Lately I've been getting a lot of "patriotic" emails and posts, so I felt the need to say something in reply.

For those who may not know I'm a member of the Army National Guard currently serving in Iraq. And let me say for the record, that I do love my country and am proud to serve. I just felt the need to clear up a few things.

First of all please do not feel sorry for us, feel lonely without us. And DO NOT pity us, pray for us.

Also if you have never served or been deployed to a combat zone, please do not try and tell me or anyone else how I feel. Just like I don't know what it's like to milk a cow or do time in jail (although I think I have a better idea of what that'd be like now), you don't know what it's like to be here.

For those of you who say you "support our troops", thanks, but what have you done about it? Have you written to a soldier overseas? Have you volunteered at you local USO? As to the statement "support our troops, bring them home", yes that is very supportive. A recent bulletin I received said "every single one of our troops wouldn't go home right now because they are over there to protect the ones they love." Well I can't speak for every soldier, but this one and almost every soldier I know didn't want to come here and can't wait to get home. For the large majority we don't know why we're here and we don't feel like we are defending anyone's freedom.

Most of us are just trying to understand why it is we are really here. And we are all doing our best to just get home.