"Another Angry Mom"
To Whom it may Concern,
I have been opposed to this war since the beginning, but as the mother of a
soldier I was given no choice but to get on the roller coaster ride from HELL.
As many times as I had wanted to voice my opinion, I held back because I felt I
would be doing an injustice to my son and his courage, so I was torn between
what was right, and the life I knew he was living. I knew that war was hell,
but I never thought that hell could be made worse by
the very people you are trying to protect.
I followed it all very closely, because I am a mother who must know where my
kids are,...while I didn't know where mine was for awhile, I did however find
out more than I ever wanted to along the way. I found that Kevlar vests were
not even ordered until September 2003,.Yet we supplied Coalition forces and
CPAs with the ones that we did have, while our own soldiers duct taped plates
to their already obsolete vests to protect themselves. I found that although it
was a known fact since 1986 that Humvee's could be better protected with Kevlar
blankets against IED and mortar attacks, our soldiers were told there was no
money for them, after asking for them repeatedly. The money flowed like water,
woops, sorry., that also was rationed in the beginning of the war to our
soldiers in 130 degree temperatures, while they handed clean bottled water to
the Iraqi's. The money flowed like water to buy us intelligence, comrades, and
to sustain a war, yet there were no funds left over to protect our own
soldiers. I have a list a mile long, yet these were the items I found most
appalling.
The only thing a soldier looks forward to is going home, ''that costs us
nothing !'',...We have not even found a way to give them that. My son had been
told three times before September that he would be going home, before it
finally was decided time was defined as "boot's on the ground". When moral was
at an all time low, we gave them a "leave", of 30,000 soldiers scheduled to
leave at the rate of 1,000 to 1,500 a month, your chances are better at winning
a million in the lottery. My son is single with no children, it is extremely
tough on us as a family, I can't even imagine what the young fathers and
mothers, husband and wives are enduring. Our administration wants to put more
money into promoting marriage, perhaps they should put some aside for the
families that have been broken apart by this war. Still after a year, we have
no date of return, but we do have a maybe you will be back here in 2005. Nice
to know !
They don't know why the suicide rate is up,...Gee now there is a tough
question, It doesn't take a ROCKET scientist to figure that one out,....and
speaking of rockets, ...WHY in HELL would we want to be planning a trip to the
moon when we can't even find a way out of IRAQ....
I have been through thick and thin in my life, but this last year of my life
has been the worst experience of my life. I have cried with every mother, I
have lost every son or daughter,...and yet I have been extremely lucky not to
have lost my own,..BUT I do hold my breath daily and pray that today will NOT
be my day.
I knew that this war would change my son, and I know exactly when it did, I
heard it in his voice. Now I hear things in his voice that scare me more than
ever,...I know we are on the downside, and I just hope we can make it until the
end. The closer it gets, the worse it gets. This deployment was too long, much
too long for any of them to have to endure. If you doubt me take a good look at
the pictures in the internet. Look at the faces, take a good look at the faces.
And yet now we will still short change them just one more time, we will pull
them out of their combat mode, tell them to turn that switch off, and bring
them home where they can watch the media rip this war apart, while they try to
justify why we were there in the first place, as they watch the politicians
stomp all over the last year of their life.
Now there is a heroes welcome for you ! WE owe them more than that !
Another angry Mom