Few answers for 1st AD spouses (Told don't talk to press)

[RamboLiberal]

http://www.estripes.com/article.asp?section=104&article=21625

The meetings were called April 8 on short notice.

Spouses of soldiers from units in the 1st Armored Division already suspected what was up. They were going to be told that their husbands, and in some cases wives, were going to be kept in Iraq for up to four more months, even though their supposedly one-year tours were finished.

“Some people were angry and didn’t shed a tear,” said Lisa Box, a Family Readiness Group leader with Baumholder’s 222nd Base Support Battalion. “Others just totally broke apart.

“But as an FRG leader, you have to be poker-faced. We’ve come this far and we still support .”

<snip>

Spouses in both Baumholder and Wiesbaden, home to 1st AD units, said they were told by rear-detachment commanders not to talk to the press. The wives said they feared that allowing their names to be used would cause them to lose their jobs on base or cause repercussions for their husbands downrange.

[saigon68]

1. Time to get out when the enlistment is up

What morally reprehensible behavior. If you talk we will starve you

One could expect this in the former Warsaw Pact

Disgusting.

Isn't this Krazy Killer Kimmitt's outfit?



KRAZY KILLER KIMMITT enforcer for the Viceroy

His quote " if you don’t like watching women and children die, change the channel."

[RamboLiberal]

2. I heard the other day but haven't seen it anywhere

I think it was Mark Shields who said it on Capitol Gang that 45,500 last month were prevented from leaving military - more stop-losses?

[NMDemDist2]

3. Ed Schultz today said 200,000 on stop loss this year eom

[nadinbrzezinski]

4. That explains how we are on target for retention

That is what General Casey said today during the brief, they are just not letting them out.

A-HOLES!

[PaDUer]

7. Shit!!

Just hope and pray these guys don't do what some others did, OMG, this is a disgrace!

[DemoTex]

11. Never trust a skinny general ...

Especially a general with one puny star. Most especially a one-star who is the "spokesman" for the cause. What was his name? Kermit? Kermit the Frog? Sounds French to me.

[leftchick]

14. Krazy Killer Kimmitt....

Is the name. and a quote...

"If you don't want to see dead women and children, change the channel"

[0007]

16. Everything is based on lies, threaths and fear

and screwing over the Army is the dumbest thing that junior and this General can do.

The channel will be changed without turning a knob or touching the tv changer.

[JaySherman]

5. That these families are being silenced is an outrage!

I don't even know what to say other than that I'm just about reaching my boiling point with these Kremlin-style tactics.

Land of the free indeed.

I sometimes wish we could just give them South, let them secede, create the fascist state they want so badly, and leave the rest of us the fuck alone! Of course we all know they wouldn't be satisfied with that. It would just be perpetual war as they'd have to use their newfound military state to wipe out the "infidels."

I'm going off on a tangent here, but really. I've nearly had it. I don't know how much more of this crap I can take.

To quote Malloy, "Have I said yet today how much I DESPISE these people?"

:mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad:
:mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad:
:mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad:
:mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad:

/rant

[nadinbrzezinski]

6. I will send a letter to my congress critters

as well as the papers, I invite you to do the same

[lebkuchen]

8. The headline in Wed. Stripes: Some in 1AD told to return to Iraq

but Gen. "fuck-up" Pace said last night during his and Evil Rummy's press conference that that wouldn't be happening. Those troops already redeployed home would stay home. If Pace had 1AD families jumping for joy over that declaration only to renege when the press isn't watching, the families' despair and anger will be monumental, and they will scream their displeasure to anyone w/in a 7,000 mile radius.

[SoCalDem]

9. These are our DU soldiers, guys..

The ones we sent packages to.. The ones who made it out of Iraq ALIVE...The ones who were being told they would go to Afghanistan next, because soldiers from Afghanistan would be sent to Iraq (The round-robin-war).. They had their stateside leaves cancelled.. They were supposed to come home for a month after they were released from Iraq...
and NOW.. They have to go back to Iraq..

Jimmy, My friend Mary's son, told them that they were told that the "replacements" that took their place "are not ready for what they found themselves immersed in", so they have to go back. They will be deployed in a "front line position", because they have experiewnce and know the "lay of the land"..

Damn..Damn..

[nadinbrzezinski]

10. Damn them, to the tenth hole of HELL

My husband and I were following this way too closely, so we quietly put a packet together over the last week, and today I put it in the mail, AFTER Rummy's Press Conference.

I wish I could send any of those incompetent fools on patrol in down town Baghdad... instead of our kids.

By the way, I encourage all who have sent packets, put one together ASAP, it will mean a lot ot the troops right now... as it will tell them we are paying attention.

Oh and I realize, we not only have become responsible for those kids, but also for speaking for the wives... which is sick... the ACLU will take that case in a heart beat I think, btw.

Oh and this is what I sent my congress critter... (with the full article of cousre, use it as a model if you want to)

Land of the Free, land of the Brave, and a land where we all can speak freely. Marrying a service member means taking on certain obligations to the services, but one not taken is standing in front of the Constitution, insteand of behind it. It is the Service Member who is subject to the UCMJ and should not speak to the press while in Uniform (unless his last name is Lt. General Boykin of course, but that is another story, or rather part of the same)

This is coming from Stars and Stripes, Europe and Asia. I find this to be an outrage, and those wives did not marry to be silenced on the threat that if they speak to the Press... their husbands may face retribution. Last time I checked these were the kinds of tactics used in places such as the USSR (former... I understand, after all it was the mothers who got the resistance to Afghanistan going)... or Iraq. But surely these are not the tactics used by DoD in the United States. Now exactly what are those boys and gilrs dying for in Iraq? Oh yes, our freedom, which includes the right of those wives, if they so wish, to contact the Press... as long as they do not reveal mission specific information (as a Submariner's wife I was very aware of that by the way) So again, what are they giving their all for?

Oh and we assumed worst case, Pvt. Murphy has been too active with this FUBAR, and CLUSTER *****, so we sent our adopted soldier a care package, AFTER they were suposed to come home. I am assuming her unit is also getting extended... ce la vie, ce la guerre... I still finid it disgraceful that wives have been threatened with dismissal from work on base. Knowing how much that income means to families on food stamps this is DESPICABLE!

[RamboLiberal]

12. I agree SoCalDem - damn Rummy and AWOL

Let us know when they get back to Iraq - poor guys. I'd be glad to go back to sending a Care package.

Right now I'm sending to another soldier who has a relation here on DU.

[bleedingheart]

15. you mean their replacments were overcome by all the love

the Iraqis have for us...was there too much flower throwing? <sarcasm off>

I feel very bad for these families.
This is just horrible and silence them is worse.

[JohnOneillsMemory]

13. But weren't the families told that this is a sign of success?...sorry..n/t

[DoYouEverWonder]

17. Not all the family members are being quiet

There was a woman on NPR this morning. It was heartbreaking to listen to her. She said the family members of the 84th(?) are so po'd that they are planning to march on DC. I hope all the families who are getting screwed by this misadministration do the same.

[Obamarama]

18. I can't beleive Rumsfelds statement:

"We're going to allow those troops to see the situation through."

Have they no clue how transparent their spin is? What a fucking disgrace.

[T Bone]

19. rummy: "we are going to ALLOW those troops to see the situation through"

What perfidy.