Hub rep in Iraq: Troops angry at extended tours

[bemildred]

Source: Boston Herald

Troops in Iraq were visibly angry when they found out they were being forced to spend an extra three months in the country, said U.S. Rep. Stephen Lynch (D-South Boston), who was in Iraq yesterday.

“It was clear and unequivocal anger on their end,” Lynch said.

Secretary of Defense Robert M. Gates announced Wednesday that Army units in Iraq, which currently are on 12-month tours, will now serve 15 months. This applies to troops now in Iraq.

Lynch, who is leading a congressional trip monitoring the surge strategy in Baghdad, said the news was particularly “gut-wrenching” for men and women who expected to leave soon. “All of the hope had been built up.”

Read more: http://news.bostonherald.com/localRegional/view.bg?articleid=194531

[wakeme2008]

1. the real problem is the troops know 15 months could turn into 18 month

and they do not trust Gates not to do that.

[Monkeyman]

19-20-24 And Stop Lost Too

[Monkeyman]

2. This has to Stop

[gratuitous]

3. You've been duped, troops

And while a lot of people like to say that you don't have any rights when you sign on the dotted line, the fact of the matter is that you have plenty of rights. You've been duped, deceived and lied to. In exchange for signing over your life to the military, there is a bottom line floor on how the military can treat you, and this military has betrayed your trust. In cahoots with the civilian leadership in the Executive branch, they have broken faith with you.

You no longer owe this corrupt and broken institution anything. You don't owe it loyalty, fealty, or one more goddam minute of your life. You're serving a mad, out-of-control machine that can't stop itself, but that also can't do any damage without your compliance. Stop complying. Stop serving. Tell the machine and the people running it that you'll come back when it's fixed and operating properly, but you don't have any obligation to serve out a suicide pact because the military structure is broken.

[TheCowsCameHome]

4. Your Commander-in Chief wouldn't lie to you, would he?

Guess what?

[sutz12]

5. Catch-22...it's not just for breakfast anymore..... nt

[bemildred]

6. Your e-mails: 'That time will never be regained'

---

L. Miller in Diyala, Iraq:

Currently, I am an Army officer serving my second tour of duty in Iraq. I fought in Falluja in 2004. I protected Iraqi voters during the first elections in 2005. I'm currently slugging it out with insurgents and terrorists in the violent Diyala province. My soldiers and I have seen and been witness to things that no one should ever have to see and have lived through events that keep me up nights. Like most combat arms officers here, I live with the fact that many of my soldiers have not survived the battles we have fought, yet we survivors continue to soldier on. To learn of my unit's extension by watching the news is an insult. Many commanders and leaders throughout the Army, including myself, only learned of this extension after their own subordinates saw a press conference on TV and questioned them about it. Informing soldiers this way is a disrespectful act and angers me, many of my soldiers, and many of their family members.

While my own soldiers informing me of the inevitable extension of tours of duty disappoints and angers me, the fact that an already arduous yearlong tour is being extended absolutely infuriates me. Do leaders have absolutely no respect for soldiers and their families or is the Army this broken? I'm sure reality lies somewhere in between. As for myself, I am tired. I'm tired of this war. I'm tired of seeing my soldiers die. I'm tired of never being home. I'm tired of having no answer when my soldiers ask me if we're really defending our nation. I'm tired of not seeing my newborn son or my wife. I'm tired of not being home for Christmas. Because I am so tired of these things, I will tender my resignation when I return home ... whenever that is. I'm pretty sure I won't be the only one.

http://www.cnn.com/2007/US/04/12/extension.emails/

[badgervan]

8. Question:

How is the collective morale over there after hearing of this extension? I know that once the grunts realized the futility of continuing an unwinnable war in Viet Nam, that was it - when collective morale sinks, you no longer have a viable fighting force. Troops will put their time in, but their hearts and minds will no longer be in it. If Nixon would have extended tours by 3 months in the 60's and early 70's, there would have been hell to pay with the folks doing the fighting. I wonder if it is the same in Iraq today?

[bemildred]

9. I don't know, except what I read, but it's a good question. nt

[sanskritwarrior]

10. Emailed my buddies today

I'm still in the states but looking at 15 months myself starting in December. Talking to my friends in Iraq there are two kinds of answers:

A. About half are angry but want to believe this is the last tour. If this is the last tour for them then they are willing to accept it.

B. Other half are angry and depressed, don't see the war ending anytime soon, but are also willing to do their jobs.

Discipline still rules for the most part but it is starting to unravel.

My answers might be different than average as myself and most of my friends are senior NCO's so we are well aware that the needs of the Army never take into account the wants of the soldiers. It's wrong but I still don't see a mutiny breaking out. If this goes on beyond 2009 then yeah you will have full scale rioting in the Army. But even today there is anger, sadness, depression and rage, but disicpline is holding for now........

[saigon68]

12. Don't re-enlist

As a matter of fact.

Don't enlist to become a war criminal to begin with

[youngdem]

7. They better look out for fragging

These soldiers have been pushed beyond the breaking point, and some are going to start to feel they have little to lose.

[sanskritwarrior]

11. We aren't broken yet

we're getting closer and closer, but discipline for the most part is still holding. If troops do a 15 month then 12 at home then 15 more, so around 2009........then yes you'll see mutiny. Right now we are hurting but I believe our professionalism will see us through. Don't underestimate those of us in the military, we might be cursed with fuckwads as leaders but we still believe in our country.