In all due respect to your friend and fellow military compatriate, this reminds me of the stuff that we used to see in the Viet Nam war when certain newspapers would publish letters from soldiers either telling "how well" things were going or seeking support for the war. At the time I was a teenager living on a NATO base in Europe in conflict with my senior officer father as to whether Viet Nam made any sense.

As somebody who grew up in a military family, the soldiers should always be supported, but there is a time when you might question the reasons for them being there and whether or not risking their lives is the right decision.

Viet Nam was a mistake. Only time will tell if Iraq was.

What ever man. There is enough shit said about this war with out your reflections of Nam. God forbid you just accept a good letter.

---

customerjon @gmail.com is where information happens.

That el-tee has been sending daily action reports to Laura Ingraham via the emails since he got over there. Having been privileged to serve with those guys back in my younger Navy enlisted days, and then as a Navy officer later during the first Gulf War, he says what a lot of former and retired military personnel really feel in their bones about true conditions in the field. That comes from having the experience of being out there and remembering how truly professional the vast majority of the personnel in the military really are. Of course, there's always going to be a hardcore 3 to 5% of screw-ups who end up causing 95% of all the problems (Abu Ghraib, for example). But that shouldn't count as an indictment of the military as a whole.

A lot of the bumpf spewing from the media only shows one very small aspect of a much wider effort that the U.S. is carrying on in Iraq. My wife's over there on her second tour, too (my people in this forum have heard me say that about ten-gazillion times :-). First as a reserve officer and now as a DOD civilian. She sends me back as much news as she can, and from her point of view, admittedly. I just don't think it's nearly as bad as some on the Left would like us to believe.

But they're comfortable hiding behind their invincible pacifism, and always will be, even when the barbarians are getting ready to drop us in the boiling oil ;-)

"There is enough shit said about this war with out your reflections of Nam"

Dude, you were barely born back then. There is a parallel in some ways. Just ask any boomer.

Personally, I think Iraq is a mistake but as I said, time will tell.

"There is a parallel in some ways. Just ask any boomer."

Born in 1950, Vietnam war protester, do I count? I see absolutely NO parallel between a war no one wanted, fought over a god-forsaken jungle with antiquated technology and a body county of about 58,000 Americans to the quick knockout in Iraq that cost just over 1000 US lives.

In Viet Nam, we intervened to stop the spread of communism, which no on Nam really cared about one way of the other. Iraq invaded Kuwait, and we ran them out. Then Saddam thumbed his nose at us and the UN for 13 years until we had had enough.

Sorry, no sale on this one. Not even parallel universes...

---

Cousin Elwood - Team Over-the-hill Racing
Brought to you by the good folks at Metamucil and Geritol...

"quick knockout in Iraq "

Sorry C.E. but once again we'll have to agree to disagree. This one is a long way from over yet, especially if GWB gets back in. The middle east is a potential powder keg with no logical or quick fix due to the religious fanaticism of the area.

But reading the original post, one of the parallels I was referring to is the letters from home type editorials that were quite common during the Nam era.

"This one is a long way from over yet, especially if GWB gets back in."
- - That would be "stays in." And yeah, 176 years from now, if this "quagmire" drags on, we might lose 58,000, but I doubt it. Viet Nam was a quagmire because we won and lost little friggin' worthless hills and bits of rice paddies. In Iraq, we strolled from one border to the next and knocked out the opposing military in about 17 seconds. There is a law enforcement problem in Iraq, much as there is in Washington DC. So we'll deal with it. I think I read somewhere that you were safer in Iraq right now than in certain parts of DC or NYC.

"the letters from home type editorials that were quite common during the Nam era."

In WWII as well, just took longer for the letters to get home. Probably did it in WWI as well. Back then no one questioned the authenticity, they just all rallied 'round the flag. Many of those letters could have been faked as well as some that we've seen from Iraq.

---

Cousin Elwood - Team Over-the-hill Racing
Brought to you by the good folks at Metamucil and Geritol...

"I think I read somewhere that you were safer in Iraq right now than in certain parts of DC or NYC. "

I'll buy you a ticket to find out.

Thanks but no thanks. Not goin' to DC or the projects in Chicago either. I'm not nearly as dumb as you think...

Might go to Ironman® Fallujah though. Chance for an AG win just by showing up!!

---

Cousin Elwood - Team Over-the-hill Racing
Brought to you by the good folks at Metamucil and Geritol...

Hahaha...I love it.

"Join us for the first annual Ironman Fallujah! You'll start your morning with a competitive swim in the sewage choked Tigris river. Once you exit the water, you'll be treated to a scenic, 112 mile bike tour through the Sunni Triangle -- watch out for roadside bombs! Finish your day with an easy out and back 26.2 mile run in the hot, shadeless desert. Just don't stray from the trail, we haven't had time to clean all the land mines! All for the bargain-basement Ironman NA price of $7,000 (we need a lot of course security). Sign up now!"