A SOLDIER SPEAKS

I have a friend who recently got back from Iraq. He is in the medical profession and has seen it all first hand. Below you will find his words.
I hope in the future to bring you more from him, as he is a very outspoken young man and has a lot to say.
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Not Today!!!!
I was looking at some of the thoughts that I wrote when I was in Iraq and I came across this one. Until now, I have not been able to allow others to read this because of the emotional turmoil that I face each time that I think about it. To be honest with you, my eyes are tearing up right now as I think about this case and the internal struggle I had (still have).

To put this in perspective, every time a Soldier dies on your table or shortly after, you are always asking yourself if there was something that you could have done better so that you can save the next Soldier. This particular day was really, really hard (sorry, starting to cry again) - we lost a few Soldiers in the last 48 hours. The fighting was very intense and our government has so many restrictions on the behavior of our Soldiers that many of them are dying in vain. I had had enough....these were my thoughts

Not Today!

I have grown so much being here in Iraq. I have learned that war is not pretty. War is not something that should ever be taken lightly. I am not the Soldier that is out in the "red zone" blowing people up or getting blown up. I am the Soldier that tries to sustain the life while the surgeon tries to save it - good or bad. Some days I am able to sustain the life long enough for the surgeon to do what he/she needs to do. Some days, I can not.

Some of things that I have learned here is that although we may change the minds of some of the people here, we will not change the minds of most. This culture of 3000 years will not change because of our "nice" presence. A culture that will dip their children in boiling oil to see which is the strongest, or a culture where they will kill their own child and place a bomb in the child just to kill another person will not or cannot be changed in this lifetime.

However, that aspect of the war is not my job. It is not my job to look at things from a right or wrong view. It is not my job to bring troops here or to take them home. It is not my job to make any decisions in this war.....at least not yet!

My job is to stare death in the face - look at her eye to eye. Nearly everyday I have to face death and plea with her. To be totally honest with you, there are times that I request her presence (like the day the man walked into the orphanage and blew it up) - I wanted that man to die (which he finally did). But most of the time I have to fight with her. Sometimes I pray for her not to see what is lying on the table (like the day we had a 19 year old kid (US Soldier) that was burned over 90% of his body) - but she saw him.

I have seen the face of death and she is not pretty. I have touched her, held her devastation in my arms. I have cried because she took a green eyed, two month old little girl. But today....today was different. I stood toe to toe with her as we fought each other for the life of a 23 year old US Soldier. I refused to let him go and she refused to let me have him. But enough was enough. Before I realized it I said, "NOT TODAY!!!" Death, you will not take him today. For today - we have fought and I have won....Not today, Death - not today!

THE KOALA BEAR AND THE LIZARD

One day a small lizard was walking through the forest. He smelled pot and looked up to find a koala bear sitting in a tree.

The little lizard looked up and said, "Hey koala bear, what are you doing up there?"

The bear replied, "I'm getting high, come on up." So the lizard joined the bear in the tree.

They continued to smoke joint after joint until finally the little lizard said, "My mouth is dry like cotton."

The koala bear agreed and told the lizard to go down to the river and get a drink and in the meantime he would roll another joint.

The little lizard attempted to lean over to drink water from the river and was so stoned, he fell right in and started splashing around.

A crocodile saw this and swam over to help the lizard to shore. He said, "Lizard what is wrong with you?"

The lizard replied, "I've been getting stoned with the koala bear. I needed water and fell in the river."

The crocodile said, "I don't believe this. Take me to the tree you were in."

So they walked through the forest and they come to the tree where the koala bear was sitting. The crocodile looked up and said, "Hey koala bear, what are you doing up there?"

The koala bear looked down and said, "Holy crap dude, how much water did you drink?"


My thanks to 'hot n'SWEET' for this one.

BUSH AND CONDI

Oh my, I'm a thief. I stole this from my daughter, it was just to good to pass up.

If you need a good laugh today click on the link below and watch this. It will definitely give you the laugh you need. I bet this goes on at the White House all of the time.

http://vids.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.individual&videoid=1629816203

PRESIDENT BUSH HAS SPOKEN

Well the word is out. President Bush has made his big announcement, more troops. I think I've heard that before. So what's new.
Some are for, some are against and I'm-- well I'm just totally lost in the whole thing. I don't have any idea what is right and what is wrong in this war. Is there any right? Will anything really help at this point?

In the beginning I thought that our troops were going there to help and I'm sure that what the troops thought too. But as time went by it began to look like they didn't just want help they wanted permanent protection. And we can't stay there forever.
They don't seem to be willing to fight for their selves and their leader doesn't seem like a very strong leader either. If the police run when trouble comes, what does that say for them. How are we going to train people that don't want to be trained.

I'm not saying that I was for or against going there. In truth I was leaning more toward against, but I think that if we were determined to send troops in at all, it seems to me that the time to send a lot of troops was in the beginning. Enough to be able to make a bigger impression, a bigger impact.

Frankly I have to be honest, I do admit freely that I have never liked Bush and I don't see him as a intelligent person. I see him as a spoiled brat that always has to have his way no matter what the cost to others. I think he is irresponsible and I wonder why no one has thought about trying to impeach him. I think he is more of a danger to our country then anyone else and I wonder how we will survive one more year with him.
I don't wish any human being any physical harm, but I do wish someone would find a way or reason to impeach him. Frankly I don't think anyone would want to step into this mess right now.

So you tell me. What do you think? All comments are welcome. I'm sure they will be varied and I am very interested in hearing all of your views.

So come on enlighten me, I need it. Just do me one favor, let's don't get mad at each others comments. Let's agree to 'agree to disagree' politely on this one. I want to hear what you have to say. At this point I'm not even sure that I understand what is going on.

WHAT'S THE PLAN, WE'RE WAITING?

Politics is not something that I talk about often. It's one of those taboo things that usually only cause trouble if you open your big mouth, but today I'm venting so bare with me.

Every day since Christmas, all I have been hearing on the news is that President Bush is coming up with a new plan for the problems in Iraq.
Yet every day he has yet to present it. I am beginning to think that is because he has no 'new' plan.
However, now it has come down to the bottom line and he is pretty much being forced to get with it and present this new plan.
The only thing that anyone has been able to get out of him so far is that he will be putting a different General in charge in Iraq. Hmmmm, he must have found one person that agrees with him. The other General in fact none of the Generals from any of the forces have agreed with what he was wanting to do.
So I'm guessing that it's pretty much going to be the same plan, different General.
Frankly, at this point I don't think any plan is going to be a good plan. I think it's one of those situations where your damned if you do and your damned if you don't.

What do you want to bet it will be the same old thing, President Bush throwing his little tantrum, saying come on people it's my way or no way, like he did with the elderly on the medical insurance plan.
I remember seeing that on television and I couldn't believe it. He was speaking to a group of elderly people and they really didn't like this new plan.
They were confused by it and upset and Bush said,'
Come one people it's all you've got, you have to accept it. You have no choice.
I remember thinking, the arrogance, you ass. You sound like a big bully.