Cal said:
Oldtimer said:
Yep-- and I've talked to several Guardsmen that have served 1 and 2 tours already- and that will say the opposite...Many don't think they/we are accomplishing anything and are hanging on the upcoming election- knowing that if McCain wins they will again be called up - since we are out of fulltime troops, especially with what is now needed in Afghanistan....And they fear that if Bomb Bomb Bomb Iran gets his wishes and we attack Iran- he will get his wish and we will have 100 years of global warfare....
You were really off of the computer long enough to talk to anyone? When? Or did you "talk" to them in a forum?
Well Cal- if its any of your business- I've spent 2 of the last 4 weeks in and out at the courthouse (and several days before that), where I come into contact daily with them since my old partner just retired as the NCO "supply Sgt"( who pretty much ran the unit- and who both he and his son spent on a 2 year activation)- and I met with him and many of the still actives regularly for coffee, lunch, beer, whatever...(Remember I had a job which worked closely with the Guard- and got to know most in this end of the state).....
I also do know a couple people in the town, county, community, end of the state which I run into quite regularly, which I was able to talk to- especially those that appeared before me... And being aware of this current argument- I've flat out asked them- about their call up tours- and what their feelings were- and what they think can be accomplished there...
Many told me they didn't want to go back on active duty (even those that spent 18 months in Alaska)- most that had been in Iraq told me they thought nothing was really being accomplished- and that the final outcome was going to be whatever the Iraqis (or the synonym I won't use here they called them) will end up going the way they have for the past 1000 years- and some felt downright betrayed by their country, because the jobs/occupations they were promised would be there weren't- the medical care and counseling they were promised wasn't available (something Senator Tester has been raising total hell about) -and they didn't think it was worth the lost years, lost jobs/opportunities, lost lives, lost wives, alienated families, and the unknown of when the next callup will come and inability to plan their lives....
Many servicemen have now spent more active time in combat zones in Iraq, then any of the troops during WWII did....
And they know that without an immediate drawdown of troops- and letting the Iraqis start spending the hundreds/thousands of billions of $ of oil money they have banked, instead of US taxpayer dollars (why should they- Bush just gives them more of ours :roll:

)- and taking on the responsibilty of protecting themselves- and rebuilding "their own" country-- they will be called back to active duty for another 2 years out of their life...
When the rich wage war, it's the poor who die. ~Jean-Paul Sartre
When people speak to you about a preventive war, you tell them to go and fight it. After my experience, I have come to hate war. War settles nothing.
Dwight D. Eisenhower