again today i talked with another woman whose husband is in iraq. this woman, whom i'll call julie, is in her early twenties, has one child. in fact that child will soon be a year old. but he has not seen his dad since he was four months old. he is too young to even know that he has a dad. his mother is doing her best to raise him alone and does have help. so her situation is not as dire as many that i have seen. but the problem is that when her husband came home this summer after basic training, she became pregnant. as difficult as it is to actually have a conversation when you are halfway across the globe from one another, they managed to do so. and they were in agreement that another child would not be good for their family right now. already, they wonder how their soon-to-be one year old will accept his daddy when daddy returns in another year or so. and, even with help, raising a child alone is not easy so how could she do the kind of job she would want with two? with the miracle of video cams, daddy will be able to see a part of his son's first birthday party but he is missing his son's first words, his first steps and will return to a child in whose upbringing he has not participated for two whole years. to this young couple, having another child would put stress on every family member and, they decided, much to their surprise, that abortion would be best. surprising because in the past, abortion was not a word that ever entered their minds, let alone their conversations. but wars change people, change their thinking, change their decision making. so julie had an abortion today. she goes home hoping that her son's daddy comes home next fall as he is scheduled to. she said she could handle it with one child but not two if he doesn't make it. so many brave women and men, dealing with the longest war in more than a century.
lou
lou,
I would be interested in hearing which war(s) that you have been in that has changed your thinking and decision making. Personally, during Desert Storm, I came to appreciate life MUCH more fully than I ever had. Both my life and the life of others. I can't imagine seeing the carnage and situation that those deprived people had been in and not wanting to do something to help those people out of that situation. I was extremely disappointed in 1991 that we were not allowed to remove the source of their persecution then - Saddam Hussein and his regime.
Beckajo,
"The military is increasing the length of tours of duty, " - No. Due to incredible advances in transportation rates in the last half of the 20th century, warriors can and actually do return from combat zones from across the globe in a time measured in only days. Prior to Vietnam, it was a matter of course that warriors stayed in the combat zone until hostilites ceased. Usually that time was measured in years. That's why there were 'baby booms' in the United States following WWI and WWII.
"instituting stop-loss measures to force them to reenlist." - No. All initial military enlistment contracts are for a minimum of 8 years and have been since the all volunteer force was instituted. This is usually split up into 4 years active duty and 4 years inactive duty, but it could vary in any combination of 8 years. All enlistees consent to being called up for any period of their inactive duty. Stop-loss is the executive order that allows the Department of Defense to change a person's status from inactive duty to active duty. Once their 8 year contract is up, they are automatically discharged unless they decide to re-enlist. No one can be held after their contract is up and no one has ever been forced to re-enlist.
"One-third of military familites rely on welfare to make ends meet, even with combat pay." - No. I have no idea where you got this 'fact' from but in 20 years of active duty I never knew of any of my Marines on welfare. I had heard of one Marine in a unit I was in that qualified for welfare. He was an older enlistee and had 7 children and a E-3 paycheck.
"And I don't think that military family insurance would pay for an abortion." - Don't know. I hope not.
"I do have to take issue with one point. Operation Iraqi Freedom is nowhere near the 'longest war in more than a century.' That was the Vietnam War, lasting from 1965 to 1973. Eight years." - Yes.
"Fewer came home whole - and most who suffered major injuries died, unlike today, where we are turning healthy young men and women into cripples for a political agenda." - No. Just carefully think about your statement and you should recognise its implicit ubsurdity. President Bush rightly knew that in a strictly political sense the worst thing he could do was start a war. But, given his cowboy attitude, he went and did it anyway thinking that it would be best for us and the rest of the world if Saddam were removed from power. President Bush knows the power of words and the power of actions. There were so many U.N resolutions demanding Saddam play fair and he vocally and vehemently refused every one. To put it simply, Bush called his bluff.
Our purpose in Iraq is two-fold. First, we are trying to make our life better in the United States by getting rid of a thug that actively supported terrorism. Second, we are trying to make normal Iraqi's lives better by removing their source of oppression (militant Islamists). It is Islamic combatants that are killing and crippling us and anyone else who gets in the way in the name of Allah in order to restore sharia law and eventually the caliphate. We are trying to prevent this from happening because it denies people the right to chose how to live, especially women.
Jerry
GySgt USMC (ret.)
Posted by: Jerry | Sunday, January 14, 2007 at 11:37 AM
Very sad. Here's one of thousands of families dealing with parental separation - with no idea when or if the missing parent will be home. The military is increasing the length of tours of duty, instituting stop-loss measures to force them to reenlist. One-third of military familites rely on welfare to make ends meet, even with combat pay. And I don't think that military family insurance would pay for an abortion.
I do have to take issue with one point. Operation Iraqi Freedom is nowhere near the 'longest war in more than a century.' That was the Vietnam War, lasting from 1965 to 1973. Eight years. Fewer came home whole - and most who suffered major injuries died, unlike today, where we are turning healthy young men and women into cripples for a political agenda.
Posted by: BeckaJo | Sunday, October 22, 2006 at 08:30 AM
That makes me very sad.
Posted by: DawnML | Saturday, October 21, 2006 at 08:37 AM
This just breaks my heart...in so many ways. Thanks for being there for her.
Posted by: Roni | Friday, October 20, 2006 at 11:04 PM