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July 12, 2007 at 10:11:23

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Headlined on 7/12/07:
How Many Tours in Iraq are Enough for a Soldier?

by Timothy V. Gatto     Page 1 of 1 page(s)

www.opednews.com

 

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I just read about the story of a young Army Sergeant by the name of Erik Botta. Botta is 26 years old and hails from Port St. Lucie. Erik is like most 1st generation Americans, he wants to work hard and make something of himself and he feels lucky to be in the United States and to have the ability to advance himself.

But young Sergeant Botta, an Army reservist, has a slight problem. It seems as if every time that he gets comfortable and gets moving on all eight cylinders, he gets sent to Iraq. Sure, many guys have been sent to Iraq. They have to make due, right? Well this would be true for most, but Botta is getting tired of it, after all he has served in Afghanistan and Iraq on four other tours, this will be his fifth!

Come on, enough is enough! How many times can a guy kiss his wife and kids goodbye and go to a foreign land and kill people? What’s that done for his marriage? What’s that done to his head? Would you feel comfortable being around a guy that spent five tours in a combat zone in less than six years? I’m a retired Army Sergeant myself, and I’ll tell you point blank, I wouldn’t. He could flashback and make a grab at someone’s throat at the slightest provocation! Of course I’m exaggerating here, and I don’t believe that Erik would do any such thing, but really, what’s it done to his head? Enough is enough. You can’t tell someone to do five hardship tours back to back. Think of this also, this guy is a Reservist! He’s not even on active duty!

Erik has done his share of the fighting. If Bush wants to send this guy on another tour, then he should go with him. This is too much. According to those around him, he could lose his home, and his job at Sikorsky, where he works on the Black Hawk military helicopter. Even that could be on the line. He's halfway to his electrical engineering degree, planning a career in defense work, but his professors say he'll suffer a significant setback if he is deployed. He doesn't mention the danger another deployment would bring, but his wife and parents do.

So Erik is suing the Army. Good for him. This is craziness. We need a plan to get rid of Bush and Cheney. They have had too much time in office already. Their track record warrants their removal. These so-called legislators we have sitting in the capitol building with their thumbs up their ass need to do something before this country erupts into violence. Erik, I’m with you my boy. Sue the hell out of them.

 

http://liberalpro.blogspot.com

Tim was banned from the site for posting private email from the publisher to him on his blog, and then attacking the publisher and the site in emails and articles. OEN has no responsibility to publish articles from people who attack the site. Tim's accusations that he was banned for his political positions are untrue. Check his articles. He repetitively wrote about and had published exactly the things he claimed he was banned for doing.
Former Chairman of the Liberal Party of America, Tim is a retired Army Sergeant. He currently lives in South Carolina. A regular contributor to OpEdNews, he is the author of Kimchee Kronicles and is currently at work on a new novel.

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3 comments

Middle aged guy.
Alessandro MachiMiddle aged guy.

Rather than battle George Bush over Iraq...

Why don't the democrats pass legislation that automatically gives every solider a 10 percent raise EACH AND EVERY TIME they are FORCED to serve another tour of duty.


While some may say you can't put a price on a soldier's right to not be forced to do another tour, paying them the exact same amount each and every time basically turns the soldier additional tours into slave labor.

by Alessandro Machi (13 articles, 0 quicklinks, 1 diaries, 174 comments) on Thursday, July 12, 2007 at 11:29:25 AM
 


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BernardBio not available at this time

No way to fight a war

Needless to say, things haven't worked out as planned. The constant recycling of troops is really unfair. The Bill extending time off was equally unfair. The soldiers should do their tour, get out, and get on with their lives.

The Administration must change their deployment strategy. If we plan to stick it out in Iraq, then we will need soldiers for 10 years, at least. It will not come together in one week. There is more destruction coming and eventually a slow rebuilding, at which time the society will be very fragile.  Nation building takes time.

The recycling must stop. This means the draft. Two or four years in and then out. It is either out of Iraq or institute the draft. Neither will be a popular choice. The President wanted a war and he got one.

by Bernard (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 57 comments) on Thursday, July 12, 2007 at 11:41:25 AM
 


Retired English teacher
Currently freelance copywriter

skyreader7Retired English teacher
Currently freelance copywriter

Backdoor Draft

Bush has fought this war through a backdoor draft by activating reserves and national guard. He has supplemented these with the "private security" mercenaries. Now we're seeing that the Army can't meet its recruiting quota. Everything Bush does is sleight of hand. He hides the true cost of this war in terms of money and lives.

Reservists sign up as backup in case our country is truly in danger, not to further imperialistic land grabs. Five tours for a reservist? You wonder why there hasn't been a military revolt. Well, there will be one in 08. You can bet that these guys and all their families are taking note.

Defeat in Iraq? The real defeat will be the republicans going down in flames in 08. 

 

by skyreader7 (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 181 comments) on Thursday, July 12, 2007 at 1:05:39 PM
 

 

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