I stare out into the darkness from my post, and I watch the city burn to the ground. I smell the familiar smells, I walk through the familiar rubble, and I look at the frightened faces that watch me pass down the streets of their neighborhoods. My nerves hardly rest; my hands are steady on a device that has been given to me from my government for the purpose of taking the lives of others.
I sweat, and I am tired. My back aches from the loads I carry. Young American boys look to me to direct them in a manner that will someday allow them to see their families again...and yet, I too, am just a boy....my age not but a few years more than that of the ones I lead.
I am stressed, I am scared, and I am paranoid...because death is everywhere. It waits for me, it calls to me from around street corners and windows, and it is always there. There are the demons that follow me, and tempt me into thoughts and actions that are not my own...but that are necessary for survival.
I've made compromises with my humanity. And I am not alone in this. Miles from me are my brethren in this world, who walk in the same streets...who feel the same things, whether they admit to it or not and to think, I volunteered for this...
And I am ignorant to the rest of the world...or so I thought.
But even thousands of miles away, in Ramadi, Iraq, the cries and screams and complaints of the ungrateful reach me. In a year, I will be thrust back into society from a life and mentality that doesn't fit your average man.
And then, I will be alone.
And then, I will walk down the streets of America, and see the yellow ribbon stickers on the cars of the same people who compare our President to Hitler.
I will watch the television and watch the Cindy Sheehans, and the Al Frankens, and the rest of the ignorant sheep of America spout off their mouths about a subject they know nothing about. It is their right, however, and it is a right that is defended by hundreds of thousands of boys and girls scattered across the world, far from home.
I use the word boys and girls, because that's what they are. In the Army, the average age of the infantryman is nineteen years old. The average rank of soldiers killed in action is Private First Class.
People like Cindy Sheehan are ignorant.
Not just to this war, but to the results of their idiotic ramblings, or at least I hope they are. They don't realize its effects on this war.
In this war, there are no Geneva Conventions, no cease fires. Medics and Chaplains are not spared from the enemy's brutality because it's against the rules. I can only imagine the horrors a military Chaplain would experience at the hands of the enemy.
The enemy slinks in the shadows and fights a coward's war against us. It is effective though, as many men and women have died since the start of this war. And the memory of their service to America is tainted by the inconsiderate remarks on our nation's news outlets.
And every day, the enemy changes...only now, the enemy is becoming something new. The enemy is transitioning from the Muslim extremists to Americans. The enemy is becoming the very people whom we defend with our lives. And they do not realize it. But in denouncing our actions, denouncing our leaders, denouncing the war we live and fight, they are isolating the military from society...and they are becoming our enemy.
Democrats and peace activists like to toss the word "quagmire" around and compare this war to Vietnam. In a way they are right, this war is becoming like Vietnam. Not the actual war, but in the isolation of country and military.
America is not a nation at war; they are a nation with its military at war.
Like it or not, we are here, some of us for our second, or third times; some even for their fourth and so on. Americans are so concerned now with politics, that it is interfering with our war.
Terrorists cut the heads off of American citizens on the internet...and there is no outrage, but an American soldier kills an Iraqi in the midst of battle, and there are investigations, and sometimes soldiers are even jailed...for doing their job. It is absolutely sickening to me to think our country has come to this.
Why are we so obsessed with the bad news? Why will people stop at nothing to be against this war, no matter how much evidence of the good we've done is thrown in their face? When is the last time CNN or MSNBC or CBS reported the opening of schools and hospitals in Iraq? Or the leaders of terror cells being detained or killed? It's all happening, but people will not let up their hatred of President Bush. They will ignore the good news, because it just might show people that he was right.
America has lost its will to fight. It has lost its will to defend what is right and just in the world.
The crazy thing of it all is that the American people have not even been asked to sacrifice a single thing. It's not like World War Two, where people rationed food, and turned in cars to be made into metal for tanks.
The American people have not been asked to sacrifice anything. Unless you are in the military or the family member of a servicemember, its life as usual...the war doesn't affect you.
But it affects us.
And when it is over, and the troops come home, and they try to piece together what's left of them after their service...where will the detractors be then? Where will the Cindy Sheehans be to comfort and talk to soldiers and help them sort out the last couple years of their lives, most of which have been spent dodging death and wading through the deaths of their friends?
They will be where they always are, somewhere far away, where the horrors of the world can't touch them. Somewhere where they can complain about things they will never experience in their lifetime; things that the young men and women of America have willingly taken upon their shoulders.
We are the hope of the Iraqi people. They want what everyone else wants in life: safety, security, somewhere to call home. They want a country that is safe to raise their children in. Not a place where their children will be abducted, raped, and murdered if they do not comply with the terrorists demands. They want to live on, rebuild and prosper. And America has given them the opportunity, but only if we stay true to the cause, and see it to its end.
But the country must unite in this endeavor...we cannot place the burden on our military alone. We must all stand up and fight, whether in uniform or not. And supporting us is more than sticking yellow ribbon stickers on your cars. It's supporting our President, our troops and our cause.
Right now, the burden is all on the American soldiers.
Right now, hope rides alone.
But it can change, it must change. Because there is only failure and darkness ahead for us as a country, as a people, if it doesn't.
Let's stop all the political nonsense, let's stop all the bickering, let's stop all the bad news, and let's stand and fight!
Isn't that what America is about anyway?
Editor's Note: Sgt. Eddie Jeffers was killed in Ramadi Iraq on September 19, 2007. |
Freedom Feels Good
Sgt. Eddie Jeffers, USA (Iraq)~February 10, 2007
From The New Media Journal
Everyday, I live, I breathe, and I think Iraq. It is my life...more so than many of the so called experts who rant and rave about it. I walk these streets, I trudge through this darkness that so much of my life has seemed to become. And I am frustrated. It is hard to battle on the behalf of the ungrateful.
The Iraqis are just as guilty as the Americans in this. It infuriates me to no end to try so hard, to put myself and the ones I lead into the line of fire, and to be forsaken by the ones I am here to save. They turn their heads when we ask questions. They say there are no terrorists...but there are...everywhere. The Iraqi people unfortunately respond only to force, violence, dominance...it has been their life for so long. Our cultures and religions alone widen the gap between our struggles over here.
The ones who have stepped up to fight are few...the Army and police are small, and struggling to grow. They are the hope of their nation ever leaving our control.
But more than anyone, I sometimes see futility in my actions. I fight, I kill, I scar myself emotionally, psychologically, and in some ways physically...and as I lay in the dark at night, I wonder what it's for. I wonder if the Iraqi people will ever get it together or if the country will collapse on itself whether I am here or not. It makes me angry, and a big part of me is content to let it fall apart. Part of me doesn't care what happens to this God-forsaken city after I leave it...as long as “me and my boys” make it out in one piece.
But that is the viewpoint of a man who wishes his actions to be in vain. I do not. I have lost very close friends over here. I don't want their lives to have been given in vain. Simply put, we are fighters. We are all in the same place for various reasons, for me, it's personal. I am in a modern day crusade to exterminate evil. People whose atrocities I cannot even begin to name cannot be allowed to exist among us. As long as these people are here, everything that is just and good is at risk.
I am not naive...not anymore, too many people who believe in good are unaffected by evil. I have faced it and compromised with it and even felt its poison flow in my veins at times. But this is for a purpose; if anything to provide the example. If the Iraqi people have learned one thing, it is that the Americans will not quit. They gun us down and we advance without blinking, through homes, living rooms, kitchens, into the streets, courtyards, palm groves and back into their face. That example of unrelenting spirit is our greatest gift to the Iraqi people. Some of them have taken the example to heart and signed up for the Army and police.
Things can't change overnight and we can't expect a country whose culture has been dominated by state mandated way of thinking to change in an instance...take the Japanese in World War Two for example. Our example as warriors for the just and good, who will never quit no matter what is thrown at us or no matter how many fall will pay off eventually. But first we have to break the back of a way of thinking that has been in place for decades...it took some very horrible things to break the "yamato damashii" of the Japanese in our Second World War, but we succeeded and look at them now.
The Iraqis are capable of free government but we cannot call it quits because we think they aren't. Someone has to believe in them, someone has to help them out; someone has to provide the example. We are showing it to them. Some have taken it, many haven't, but it will spread...because freedom feels good.
"Blessed be the Lord my Strength, who teaches my hands to war, and my fingers to fight.” Psalm 144:1
The Real Deal in Ramadi
by SGT Eddie Jeffers
April 17, 2007
At the behest of my father, I wrote down some notes to be included in a little situation report (SITREP) on Iraq. I decided to address this letter to everyone because by now, you all have probably heard every news station popping off about this and that. So here's to give you an update and clear up some stuff.
First off, in the last six months, 1-9 Infantry has pushed itself into limelight and set the example for victory in Iraq. When we got here six months ago, lesser units that came before us held very little ground in East Ramadi. We pushed in and slowly began taking ground in the northern districts, which were definitely safer. We made nice with some sheiks up there, got them on our team and pushed them into near autonomy in their regions. All this was done for the task of securing those areas and pushing the insurgents there into the fortified and deadly southern district of our sector. Going back was deja vu, as this same area is where I cut my teeth as a private.
So off we went; raid after raid. Plenty of bombs, rockets, IEDs, machine guns and everything else you hear about in Iraq, all within an area roughly the size of six to eight football fields. It was hard, and a good bit of American blood had to get spilled in order to accomplish our mission. My company footed a good bit of that bill and our numbers reflect our actions. The enemy got it worse though.
Within three to four days we racked up 69 confirmed (key word is confirmed) enemy killed-in-action. Countless more severely injured and even more detained. Some serious whackin' and stackin' by some pissed off infantry boys. We broke the infrastructure of their insurgency by seizing roughly fifteen to twenty caches, each one containing enough guns, mines and explosives to equip a small army. We called in airstrike after airstrike, catching them in their homes and safehouses. Through the magic of the Air Force and Guided Multiple Launch Rocket Systems (GMLRS), we brought down destruction worthy of the Old Testament. Over the course of the deployment so far, we have had sixteen KIAs across the task force and over 100 seriously wounded. No small price, but a lot better than the enemy.
So now, the war has changed on us. Transitioning into a new role, we strapped on the guise of military advisors, security guards and bringers of goodies to the Iraqi people. After the push we established a Joint Security Station and reintroduced the Iraqi Army and the Iraqi Police back into the area. They've been doing patrols and keeping the peace and doing a damn fine job of it. We go out with them here and there but we leave it mostly to them.
We've been recruiting more police and outfitting them with better vehicles and equipment. We've been going around, getting the citizens to take a little charge and fix their city up. We've tossed around a little money and hired day laborers so to speak. The people have grown to trust us. They make citizen's arrests of insurgents and turn them over to us. We received little to no contact since the push and we have implemented a system that is working now.
All across Iraq, units are taking note. Everyone from the media to General Petraeus himself has come out here to see what we've done. We're winning the war and setting a good example of how to do it. Although my boys are bored because there aren't any doors to kick in or insurgents to shoot, they realize that this is the ticket out of this country in the right way. Overall, things are going good.
Now on to some bad news... Anyone who has watched the news in the past few days has probably seen it, so I will clear up any rumors now. Due to a leak in the Pentagon, the secretary of Defense had to make a very abrupt announcement or risk the New York Times or someone else spilling the story.
The Army is going to fifteen month deployments to assist the surge in Iraq. Does that affect me? Yes it does. What does this mean? Expect me home around January. Every active Army unit will serve 15 months, including the ones over here now. It may change, as is the Army's way, but we will have to see. In the meantime, expect January 2008 to be my return time.
So, three more months than originally planned.Nothing that can be done about it except what we're doing now; continuing the mission and insuring America's success in this war.
Sgt. Eddie Jeffers, USA (Iraq)~February 10, 2007
From The New Media Journal
Everyday, I live, I breathe, and I think Iraq. It is my life...more so than many of the so called experts who rant and rave about it. I walk these streets, I trudge through this darkness that so much of my life has seemed to become. And I am frustrated. It is hard to battle on the behalf of the ungrateful.
The Iraqis are just as guilty as the Americans in this. It infuriates me to no end to try so hard, to put myself and the ones I lead into the line of fire, and to be forsaken by the ones I am here to save. They turn their heads when we ask questions. They say there are no terrorists...but there are...everywhere. The Iraqi people unfortunately respond only to force, violence, dominance...it has been their life for so long. Our cultures and religions alone widen the gap between our struggles over here.
The ones who have stepped up to fight are few...the Army and police are small, and struggling to grow. They are the hope of their nation ever leaving our control.
But more than anyone, I sometimes see futility in my actions. I fight, I kill, I scar myself emotionally, psychologically, and in some ways physically...and as I lay in the dark at night, I wonder what it's for. I wonder if the Iraqi people will ever get it together or if the country will collapse on itself whether I am here or not. It makes me angry, and a big part of me is content to let it fall apart. Part of me doesn't care what happens to this God-forsaken city after I leave it...as long as “me and my boys” make it out in one piece.
But that is the viewpoint of a man who wishes his actions to be in vain. I do not. I have lost very close friends over here. I don't want their lives to have been given in vain. Simply put, we are fighters. We are all in the same place for various reasons, for me, it's personal. I am in a modern day crusade to exterminate evil. People whose atrocities I cannot even begin to name cannot be allowed to exist among us. As long as these people are here, everything that is just and good is at risk.
I am not naive...not anymore, too many people who believe in good are unaffected by evil. I have faced it and compromised with it and even felt its poison flow in my veins at times. But this is for a purpose; if anything to provide the example. If the Iraqi people have learned one thing, it is that the Americans will not quit. They gun us down and we advance without blinking, through homes, living rooms, kitchens, into the streets, courtyards, palm groves and back into their face. That example of unrelenting spirit is our greatest gift to the Iraqi people. Some of them have taken the example to heart and signed up for the Army and police.
Things can't change overnight and we can't expect a country whose culture has been dominated by state mandated way of thinking to change in an instance...take the Japanese in World War Two for example. Our example as warriors for the just and good, who will never quit no matter what is thrown at us or no matter how many fall will pay off eventually. But first we have to break the back of a way of thinking that has been in place for decades...it took some very horrible things to break the "yamato damashii" of the Japanese in our Second World War, but we succeeded and look at them now.
The Iraqis are capable of free government but we cannot call it quits because we think they aren't. Someone has to believe in them, someone has to help them out; someone has to provide the example. We are showing it to them. Some have taken it, many haven't, but it will spread...because freedom feels good.
"Blessed be the Lord my Strength, who teaches my hands to war, and my fingers to fight.” Psalm 144:1
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