A Soldier's Opinion - Two Sides 2 It

[Prophet G]

I know two people who served in Iraq and who're in Los Angeles now. One is my co-worker at work who is a installer for car radios. He fought in Iraq and hes only 21. He has a kid too, lil boy. He always tells me at work how hes willing to go back and fight. So I asked him why do u fight dood, u know damn well its for all the wrong reasons right? He said "yeah I know, but it's good money, u get to travel, have fun and kill." I told em why is that fun. If Iraq invaded Los Angeles right now, and stepped on ur lawn and said get on the floor before i put holes in u.. wudnt u be so enraged emotionally u wud have so much hate to kill them? He said "yeah, well..." I told em the war will never ever ever ever end. I was tryn to enlighten him about not going. He told me "i killed people, i got a kid, ive traveled the world, ive done it all, im rdy to die.. if its my time, im not afraid." That struck me horribly. I also told him bout how I was gon join the army too when i was in H.S. and how the recruiter lied to me. He said, "well yeah thats wat they do, they brainwash you." I tried to tell him not to let a situation u dont have no business in, take ur life. I know I at least put some sense of doubt in him, not to go back.

Also, in my Speech class in college, everyone was gettn up to talk about themselves. This guy said how he came back from Iraq in december. And he said his #1 fear was gettn called back. He got real teared in the eye and said "i dont wanna go back." He too traveled the hole country.

Two Soldiers, Two Different People...
I jus thought I'd share this story with u people, to maybe let some ppl know from a soldiers view of what he truely thinks bout Iraq, not the media fed bullcrap.

 

[Amara]

Remembering back to the old board, when I first arrived, there was a guy from Flint, Michigan, I think, who had really interesting perspectives on the war, having served in the army...dunno who he was (too long ago)....but if he's still here, it'd be good to hear his views again.

I know what you mean though, about service being seen as an avenue for earning money. I have two cousins here who are really keen to go to the Solomon Islands, East Timor and other places where Australia is conducting "Peace-keeping" missions....purely to earn a nice tax-free income. Of course, that's not nearly as dangerous as Iraq, but there are still casualties.

Money or not, I do not think anyone should want, or have to, subject themselves to the reality of war. On this board, we always discuss the political consequences and motivations for war, but I think there is too much that cannot be understood about the concept of war without having experienced it for oneself.

Not to sound disrespectful, but I am not one who believes that death for political gain is glorious.

 

[Glockmatic]

A friend of mine (internet buddy, but known him for years) went to afghanistan and iraq, he sent me some iraqi money too. He said he only joined the army for money, and after Iraq (where there were mortor attacks every day) he quit the army and now becoming a cop. He said he would go back if they told him to go though