A US Soldier's Baghdad Internet Diary - A Grim Account

[Tinoire]

Editor's Note: A U.S. soldier based in one of Saddam's former palaces describes a life of fear, apathy, pride and frustration seldom seen in media reports from Iraq.
"I've been asking random soldiers who the Vice President of the United States is...a very simple question...but I found a surprising answer...the majority of those I asked did not know the answer, nor do they care...this is bad...our lives are at stake...our country as well...and we do not even pay attention...we have a voice...but we do not choose to use it..."
Sgt. Sean, an American serviceman now based in Baghdad, has been keeping his Internet journal, Turningtables (http://turningtables.blogspot.com/), since early June. He has six years of military service under his belt, including stints in Bosnia and Afghanistan.
"We volunteered for this...we sit here because we raised our hand...and sold our souls...most would think that we knew exactly what we were getting into...they would be wrong...we were naive...we were homeless...we were living with our mothers...this is just a job for 75 percent of us..."

<snip>
"It's a sad state that originates when the death of soldiers becomes common everyday news...and it stops being surprising...and shocking...and horrible...when it takes a really gruesome story to remind you that you are in the middle of this shit...and you can't go home...YOU CAN'T GO HOME...you want to curl up and quit..." Circumstances may have set this soldier on a course he hadn't foreseen, but his appreciation for military life shines through.


<snip>

PNS contributor Paul Woodward edits The War in Context (http://warincontext.org), and has corresponded with Sgt. Sean since late June. All quotations are from Sgt. Sean's weblog, Turningtables, and are used with the author's permission. Frequent ellipses are the soldier's own style and do not signify omitted text. Turningtables can be found at http://turningtables.blogspot.com.
>http://news.pacificnews.org/news/view_article.html?article_id=b
def4db453784667d43eb87b336235b2

http://www.rense.com/general39/diary.htm

[Karenina]

1. Hmmmm....

NO responses???

[brokensymmetry]

2. It's interesting - very interesting.

But sometimes, you look at something and you don't know what to say. It's as if any commentary would detract.