Jen Spoke

I "borrowed" this from Jen at Jen Speaks I just wanted to post it here as well because she took the words right out of my mouth. I couldn't have said it better myself.

"I saw a post about the delay of some troops' homecomings over at Thinklings last night and I posted the following as a comment in response. I had been thinking about writing my thoughts for a couple of days, then I heard about the ABC News video of some soldiers complaints about it, Rumsfeld, and Bush. On my way home, a local talk radio show was discussing it, taking phone calls from folks. Since I live in an area with a large military presence, I was interested to see what caller felt. To a man, every single caller said it was reprehensible for these soldiers to speak out like they did. I agree, but with that said, here's my two cents:







Yes, there's free speech for all Americans under the 1st Amendment, but those who wear the uniform are bound by the Military Code, which says that they NEVER speak disrespectfully of or to a senior officer and that includes the Secretary of Defense and the President. So those soldiers who complained to ABC were wrong on many levels. It's unfortunate, but they know those rules and they'll have to suffer the consequences. More than the DOD rescinding their home orders, their complaints to a news outlet harms morale for all of the troops. And it makes our position there politically precarious as the perception could be spread that we're waffling, whining, losing focus, giving up.



My additional comments come from my perspective as a Navy brat. My father was career Navy - he flew bombers. So...



They need to suck it up. This is what happens in war. It happened to the soldiers in WWI, WWII, Korea, Vietnam, Bosnia, Kosovo, and now Afghanistan and Iraq. And it will happen to troops in future wars we may be involved in. War isn't pretty, it isn't predictable. Neither is the peace in the immediate aftermath of war. And so our soldiers, sailors, airmen, and Marines need

to suck it up (even if they're reservists). This is their job. They signed up for it, they took the oath. And that means with no complaints.



On a personal note, and I may have mentioned this here already (and I plan to tomorrow when I post my thoughts at my own blog), my father was on deployment to the Indian Ocean during the Iran hostage crisis in '79-'80. He was on the USS Kitty Hawk, part of the Pacific fleet, which at that time had 9 month "cruises" as standard deployments (they're now 6 months, as are the Atlantic fleet). The KH was headed home when President Carter sent them back to the IO. So my Dad (and a lot of other dads) were gone for just about one full year - a year of missed birthdays, his wedding anniversary, Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Years, Easter, etc. But it was part of the job he signed on for when he took that oath. Did he like it? No. Did we? No. Did the families of the men who lost their lives that year (there were several fatal accidents on that ship in that year)? No.



And I know that's true today - those troops just want to come home. Their families want them home. So do Rumsfeld and Bush. But we need them to stay there for a little while longer. So it will take some patience and prayer to get them, their families, and us through these months/years while we (the US) try to get Iraq stabilized."