Pretty much sums it up for me.

Well even a blind squirrel finds an acorn
once in awhile.

The surge seems to be working
(I'll bet you'd think I'd say different)
but whether it continues to work
remains to be seen.

That doesn't mean I hope it doesn't work,
but there is a shaky 6 month truce with
anti-U.S. Shiite Muslim cleric Muqtada al Sadr.

Let's hope the truce holds.

It's a hard thing to differentiate "enemy" from common criminal/thug/gang member out here... but good point, I think you'll notice that's dropped considerably as well.. just be sure to take note of how many are local to local killings.

OH! I have some news... This past month it snowed here. Despite the joyous occasion the media made it out to be, most of us soldiers hated it, as it just meant another few inches of mud to wade through, lol.

Peacekeeper101

Thank you for your service.

News on the war has a lot more
meaning coming from the perspective
of a soldier serving overseas.

Soldier Suicides at Record Level
Increase Linked to Long Wars, Lack of Army Resources

By Dana Priest
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, January 31, 2008; A01



Lt. Elizabeth Whiteside, a psychiatric outpatient at Walter Reed Army Medical Center who was waiting for the Army to decide whether to court-martial her for endangering another soldier and turning a gun on herself last year in Iraq, attempted to kill herself Monday evening. In so doing, the 25-year-old Army reservist joined a record number of soldiers who have committed or tried to commit suicide after serving in Iraq or Afghanistan.

"I'm very disappointed with the Army," Whiteside wrote in a note before swallowing dozens of antidepressants and other pills. "Hopefully this will help other soldiers." She was taken to the emergency room early Tuesday. Whiteside, who is now in stable physical condition, learned yesterday that the charges against her had been dismissed.

Whiteside's personal tragedy is part of an alarming phenomenon in the Army's ranks: Suicides among active-duty soldiers in 2007 reached their highest level since the Army began keeping such records in 1980, according to a draft internal study obtained by The Washington Post. Last year, 121 soldiers took their own lives, nearly 20 percent more than in 2006.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/01/30/AR2008013003106_pf.html

Right, and not to sound harsh here, but it's to be expected... as with any job that keeps you away from your family and loved ones for extended periods of time. Look up the suicide rate of truck drivers, fishermen, etc. For that matter, look at movie stars, and music professionals, who spend all their time working... it's unfortunate, but it's expected in a stressful environment. I don't believe it's something that should be used to label the military in general.

You are sick. In order to dispel all the good news I posted, all the great successes of our troops and Iraqi forces, you decided to post an article describing how there were 121 soldiers who committed suicide last year?

There have been 1,067,971 US military members who have served in Iraq or Afghanistan or both. - http://majorityleader.house.gov/docUploads/Iraqbythenumbers031907.pdf

20% less of 121 is approximately 100.

So, I took 221 suicides divided by 1,067,971 servicemembers in Iraq, the percentage who committed suicide was .0002%

"The Army responded to a 26% increase in active-duty suicides from 1997 to 1999 by implementing the suicide-prevention program in 2001." - http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2003-10-13-army-suicides-usat_x.htm

Of course suicide is going to be higher among those who have served in war and have experienced the disasters of it. However, to completely deny all the good news and to focus on solely bad, especially one which details suicides/deaths of US servicemembers is absolutely despicable and shows an odd fascination of focusing solely on deaths, which anti-war people and media do cause they are sole sensationalists. Sick fascinations these people have with death.

I decided to look into this further, maybe even to dismiss the point that those who have served in war commit suicides more often than normal US citizens.

I found that the myth may be just that, a myth that doesn't hold up.

I mirrored the 1,067,971 servicemen and women who have served in Iraq (http://majorityleader.house.gov/docUploads/Iraqbythenumbers031907.pdf)

With Maine, whose current population is approximately 1,300,000 according to classbrain {http://www.classbrain.com/artstate/publish/article_1240.shtml)


From 2000-2004 there were 789 suicides in Maine (http://www.maine.gov/suicide/about/data/facts.htm)

I was unable to find 2005-2007 figures from a quick search so let's just say that the trend continued. That would mean in those 3 years about 592 people committed suicide.

From the figures provided by madisonman's own source and in my previous post the number of suicides among servicemen came up to 221 from 2006-2007.

So, 789 suicides divided by two would mean that there were 395 suicides in Maine in two years.

221 suicides among Iraq War servicemen and women in two years, and 395 suicides among Maine citizens in two years.

Take those numbers as you will, and considering Maine's population is about 250,000 more than soldiers who have served in Iraq.

However, from the figures, a citizen of Maine is more likely to commit suicide than a soldier who have served in Iraq.

think about it for a sec...we aren't over there just for the welfare of the iraqi people my friend. It may have started out as a separate issue from the "war on terror" but now it has grown into much the same subject. Here's some inside intel as of 04-05 that you never really here people come out and say. During my tour most of the insurgeants weren't iraqi, they were instead iranian or syrian. (Although some were iraqi) Anyhow, the interesting thing is that they rarely targeted U.S. troops. They attack the iraqis that supported us. Ask yourself why you think that is? If you think about if Iran and Syria are terrorist run countries (supposedly). What would terrorist run countries want with another country in conflict? If i were them i would be thinking that another country=way more money+ way more recruits. Taking over the country would be easy if they could get us out of there, then it would only take bute force (which they have). So how would they defeat us? If they read their history they would find that the "most powerful nation on the planet" has a weakness. The people are that weakness. We control the government (or we are supposed to). Don't get me wrong, i am VERY much a constitutionalist. But, media controls the large masses. One thing that these people understand is propoganda. That is their primary means of recruitment. Anyway, the point is, if they want our country out they just give the media tragic things to report. Then they can also try to drag out the conflict as long as possible, hence the killin or our supporters. (this is what the vietnamese did in vietnam. In fact we were winning (numbers-wise) the vietnam war despite polititians getting our troops killed.) So, when you think about it and take into consideration that corporations won't allow us to seal our borders, what do you think would happen if we ran home with our tails between our legs? Essentially we would be giving the terrorists very valuable ground while we retreat the the U.S., which is a bit of an unsecured compound at this moment in time. Not saying this would happen for sure, maybe the people of iraq would stand up against their new dictator. Maybe the terrorist cells would be convinced that we learned our lesson by pulling out. It's possible that they might leave us alone after all that. Im not trying to attack anyone's opinion, just trying to get them to think about things from a different angle. I am a veteran of this war and i also spent 4 years in a unit whose primary purpose was to train u.s. soldiers to deal with people like this. This is my angle. It's your god-given right to believe what you want.

well said, very well said

...

be safe soldier...and thank u...

being a marine mom..I rather hear things from soldiers who r or have come home.. than ppl here...
u men and woman are the ones who I feel truely know the most...

be safe..u are thought about every day...

First of all, if you send 30,000 more troops into an area, I would hope that you get some results. Second, and most important. Is there an exit strategy in there somewhere? Senior Bush did not take Baghdad for this very reason. He knew there was no viable exit strategy.

So is the answer to stay there indefinitely? How many more American lives are we willing to lose and how much more money that we don't have are we prepared to spend?

exit strategy = hopefully get the iraqi government working (slow process) which would give us an ally and make it so the soldiers didn't die for nothing

back up plan = secure our boarders, rethink anit-terrorism plan, then pull out....and find a way to honor those who have fallen for a lost cause

It's not my place to discuss the politics of this conflict. That's what we pay the wigs to do. I, however see the plain and obvious fact that withdrawing from a nation that is not ready to defend themselves will not only have detrimental effects on that nation, but also on the safety and security of our country and several others. No matter how you look at it, there is work yet to be done, and there is no question in my mind that the progress is more than apparent. Something that's much easier to say when you see it for yourself, rather than through the warped looking glass of the media, while sitting in your dirty dorm room eating 2 day old pizza scratching your balls.

*edit*
Yeah, I was a college kid once too...

very wisely said my friend. I wish you and your wife luck during your tours. May god watch over you both. I extend forth many prayers as well as a drink on behalf of each of you. Be safe.

Sorry, this is all a lot of bad image for the anti-war supporters. For the most part people that are argueing the war are dropping generalizations giving people like myself that find things that are contradictions within the war itself a bad name in the first place, thus making my comment(s) less credible. Generalizations over the suicide rate for the military is useless, not because the numbers but because of what has been said-long time away from family in any occupation will lead to depression, it is a fact. The media is not war mongering, as a matter of fact the only bad media outlet I know of is Fox and they are fear mongering the difference between the two is we watch if it is going to happen on the home front (killer bee's) overseas is not the least of their concern because that doesn't garnish viewers (hence why they are the leader aside from MSNBC which is far more credible in their reports).

Don't get me wrong I am in no way for this war, but in order to put the word out of the contradictions in the war they have to be sought after and discovered...not read off some blog and/or propaganda liberal website.