ABC, Military Team Up To Attack Obama's Iraq Withdrawal Plan

[stnewton09]

eckyspondoolie, it's been almost six months, I don't know why you're antagonizing now.

If you knew anything about Al Salman/Salman Pak, you'd be singing a very different tune.

[saintsubversive]

Gen. James Conway, the top Marine commander, said Friday that the combat portion of the Iraq war was effectively over. "The time is right for Marines in general terms to leave Iraq," he told reporters. "A building fight taking place in another locale -- that's really where Marines need to be."

[stnewton09]

I've illustrated nothing. Never had a knack for drawing, sadly.

[stnewton09]

The way you're saying it, we have no officers or NCOs, just a huge mass of enlisteds with only one leader.

I guarantee you a decent Soldier would do the right thing in defiance of orders. We will do things we don't like to do or don't want to do. We will not do something that is wrong, at least the vast majority wouldn't.

[stnewton09]

No, unnecessarily risking my fellow Soldiers is against our principles. 99% of the Army would end up disbanded if such actions would cost us our careers.

Reasonable can fall under what I just said, but also practicality. I wouldn't waste lives or resources or ask anyone to do something that is literally impossible. The same would apply to my own actions.

[stnewton09]

I apologize, got caught up in the other questions.

If Senator Obama became Commander-in-Chief, and issued a lawful and reasonable order, I would follow it without hesitation and give 110% effort.

Though not likely, but hypothetically, if I were in a leadership position then, at platoon or company level, if ordered to retreat or withdraw from combat, or take an action that was not tactically sound, then I could not do it because it would be putting my fellow Soldiers at unnecessary risk.

[stnewton09]

Nah. Just answering your questions.

[stnewton09]

I bleed green.

Since you know it all...I enlisted just after turning 17, shipped out so fast I couldn't even go to RSP. My birthday is 12 SEP. Find the CPC for the 53D IN BDE (SEP).

[stnewton09]

No, a soldier is a ground pounder from a foreign military. A Soldier (note the capital letter) is one serving in the US Army. I earned that title at Fort Benning, I believe. At least that's what the certificate says.

[stnewton09]

If. Assuming I pass the board. RSTA units are full of hard-charging Soldiers like me. It would be E-5, if you're talking about paygrade. I say SGT though, because as we're taught in Combat Arms units, "There's a big difference between being an E-5 and a Sergeant".

[stnewton09]

You decide what my job is? Obviously you're not supporting us in our mission.

[stnewton09]

No, graduated OSUT quite a while ago. Long enough ago that all my DSs have finished their trail time and are now in line units again.

I wouldn't be 18. I'd be mid-19 or possibly 20. The board is simply a part of the process. Usually takes a few months from there. The board reviews your records, and decides if you are promotable or not. A lot of times, SPCs get promoted to CPL after passing the board but before putting on SGT.

[stnewton09]

I'm not saying anything bad about your son. I'm simply saddened that his own mother wouldn't support him. You erode away at our battle focus and combat readiness and eventually get us killed. I wish nothing bad on your son as he is my brother, though we're not related we share a bond that not even mothers can achieve or understand. You purposely misinterpret my words just to have something negative to say.

I think the fact that I wear a blue shoulder cord has already proven my worthiness.

[stnewton09]

Yes. It's all about TIS. Secondary-zone-approved Soldiers can be promoted to SGT after 22 months. Usually you go to the board a few months in advance. I was approved for early promotion to SPC (18 months TIS). It doesn't often happen in POG units. I'll pin on SPC a couple weeks after turning 19. I enlisted just after turning 17. You should see my squad leader. He promoted PV2 at 4months, PFC at 6, SPC at 18, SGT at 22, SSG at 48. That's the exact minimum prescribed by regulation.

[stnewton09]

As for being a little wet behind the ears, I'm pinnng on SPC next month, and going to the SGT board in DEC.

[stnewton09]

So, the Boston Globe is a reliable source? Kinda like the Onion on MySpace. :P

From a SOLDIER to the CIVILIAN KNOW-NOTHING PARENT of a Soldier, if or when your son or daughter comes home in a box and I am forced to bury yet another one of my brothers or sisters, I want you to remind yourself of how your dissention put him or her in the ground. Your bullshit rhetoric makes us feel like shit, and lacking focus at the crucial moment means we won't see that trashbag IED on the side of the road.

[stnewton09]

I'll not do something that would endanger innocent civilians or my fellow servicemembers. If that means violation of orders, then so be it. It is my duty to disobey them in that situation.

[stnewton09]

11B in an 11C slot. About to go MOSQ. Not practically necessary, but they want me to anyway, and I'm not complaining because it means I get more training and full-time pay.

Obama probaby hasn't gotten ANY contributions from the military. I believe a study was done a year or so ago, a total of 1,800 active/reserve component servicemembers were against GWOT. Only maybe 100 of them had ever deployed, and none had seen actual combat. All services combined, we have two million people.

[stnewton09]

Will you quote it? Wanna tell my entire chain of command, up to a COL (as I have never seen a General, except once in OSUT), that they're not allowed to support the good guys?

[stnewton09]

Moms don't fight the war, so they don't rate opinions.

We can't attend political events in uniform. That's the only restriction. Of course you'd be a black-sheep of the military to not support GWOT, and a combat vet would probably beat your ass for rambling.

[stnewton09]

I talk politics all the time. MCCAIN '08! HOOAH!

[Bloodlustless]

9 Americans died yesterday in Afghanistan. The American death toll in Iraq is far greater than the death toll of 9/11.

All you Yanks who want to keep them there are a gift to the resistance forces. Your troops don't deserve to die for scum like you.

[gunnyranger2]

Mccain will be the next president.And as far as i know,he wont leave Iraq until the mission is complete.He wont cut and run like obuma would,if given the chance.

[doughborne]

It ain't gonna be easy any which way we go ! Keep up the Fire ! Pro Patria doughboy

[jefeisdguard]

McCain, NO doubt, would love to have the troops home A.S.A.P.! WHY?

Because HE HAS SONS IN IRAQ!

There is no better reason than to have this man as president! He knows that as a father he wants his sons safe & home & as president he wants to get the job finished & complete or at least until the Iraqis are sustainable in defense of their own country!

Now .. . what does Barak HUSSEIN OBAMA bring to the table?

The promises to 501c3 anti-war anti-American Charity groups like Code Pink?

[lutermark]

yeah I know go figure!

[infidelforlife]

if we pull out right now it would be a mad house. let the troops finish the job and win this damn war in iraq.

[lifeovdeath]

i as an iraqi support the withdrawal, but obama's plan is unrealistic, you cant pull out that many enforcements without actually arming and preparing the iraqi army.

[lutermark]

usually a war lasts at least a generation. I am unsure of what you actually mean, we can't just go over there and snipe the culprit and expect the followers to fall in suit. If our troops weren't over there doing our dirty work, we wold have many more 911's here in our country, are you American?

[lifeovdeath]

i am iraqi, Anyways, i mean the US has to actually arm and strengthen the iraqi army before leaving.

[lutermark]

One would think that makes sense. I sure hope that is if he does get in he uses his human side on making decisions, and not his dangerous robot side. So far he has been changing swiftly right in front of our faces.