Author Topic: It ain't over... (Read 931 times)

Hangtime · « **on:** April 09, 2003, 05:41:08 PM »

..till it's over, and our boys and girls are home.

Today, I was shamelessly spilling tears.. after many a false start, after wearing the uniform of my country while she staggered through the miasma of southeast asia, after losing faith in my leaders and my government and after growing long in the tooth and short of temper.. it has finally happened.

We did something 'wrong' and from the 'wrongness' of pre-emptive war, a rightness, a good deed; done grandly; on a stage vast and foriegn.. a great nation has reached through the uncertainty and disdain of international politics and freed a people from the yoke of a murdering dictator. Once again, America and her allies can stand tall, our young people have their 'great deed'.. we have another 'greatest generation'. Good on them.. good on us.. good onto all who stood with us.

Today, more than any day in a long long time... I am proud to say, I am an American.

But.. it's not over.

Lets get the boys 'n girls back here, so we can show 'em we appreciate their professionalisim, their courage and their sacrafice. Lets get 'em re-armed, retrained, and get 'em ready to go again.

Because, boys 'n girls... it's not over. This is just the beginning..

CyranoAH · « **Reply #1 on:** April 09, 2003, 05:44:35 PM »

This post definitely deserves a big !

Daniel

Gunthr · « **Reply #2 on:** April 09, 2003, 06:00:11 PM »

That is a well-said sentiment. ~~Hangtime. Lets bring em back, the sooner the better.~~

Pongo · « **Reply #3 on:** April 09, 2003, 06:10:03 PM »

It is going very well. The boys and girls looked sharp.

anonymous · « **Reply #4 on:** April 09, 2003, 06:40:13 PM »

hey hangtime feel better knowing that alot of the professional motivation of the boys came from anger over how you guys were treated after SVN. for every superbowl team theres a dozen guys who fight the good fight with just as much skill but never get the recognition they deserve. also know that alot of hard learned lessons paid for by you guys made for better training and better tactics for future generations of American warriors. thanks. my lpo in my first platoon was in SVN. he taught me things that are invaluable that i still pass on to this day.

Thorns · « **Reply #5 on:** April 09, 2003, 08:41:02 PM »

Hang! Yes, it was a good day. Now, mop up Badhdad, move North, mop up............bring em home!

(wonder how many people in snowbelt are thinking time-share)

Thorns

Raubvogel · « **Reply #6 on:** April 09, 2003, 09:34:34 PM »

I had a blast watching Joe Scarborough on MSNBC replay tapes of all these Hollywood buffoons making fools out of themselves. The title of the piece was "Eat Your Words." These people need to learn to leave the politics to the folks who didn't drop out of high school.

Big ~~to our guys and ladies over there, they did a helluva of a job like I knew they would.~~

john9001 · « **Reply #7 on:** April 09, 2003, 09:43:25 PM »

saddam has been in power for some 25 odd years , a represive govt where if you said any thing bad about saddam you could have your tongue cut out and/or torture and death for you and your family.
when the iraqis saw the marines in baghdad, for the first time in some of their lives the iraqis could speak freely without fear of the secret police.
at first they looked like they could not believe it was happening, then they said things like "marine good" "i feel safety" "i see much happy people" "saddam gone"
i saw a man bring his kids out to see the marines.

yeah, i got a little emotional

44MAG
former marine

Dinger · « **Reply #8 on:** April 09, 2003, 09:59:42 PM »

okay, don't get me wrong.
I honestly want to believe it, but so far all I've seen is maybe 1000 people (and about half of them foreign photographers) in a square in Baghdad pulling down a statue, and cheering. Yeah, Iraq is free of ol' SH, and thank the almighty for that. Yeah, I really want to see Iraq with an ostensibly democratic but actually minimalist government; the Iraqis I've known and shared a roof with have merited that (I've seen a lot of people from a variety of countries, and had many of them as neighbors or housemates; of the bunch, the Iraqis were the most "free thinking"). But here we are in a city of 5 million, and maybe 1000 folks show up for this event witnessed around the world. How many of these grew up learning to worship the guy with the gun to your head? All I'm saying here (so don't read more into it) is that, as a citizen and taxpayer of one of the occupying armies, the big job is ahead of us. Nobody with any brains doubted the ability of our military forces. The big problem is and has been to convince this people that the foreign force invading their bellybutton and slaughtering their young men has their best interests at heart.

That's a Psyops detail I wouldn't relish, but I wish for the best.

Hangtime · « **Reply #9 on:** April 09, 2003, 10:09:01 PM »

I hear yah dinger.. and yeah, it seems a small start; but have you noticed.. wherever the cameras go now.. pictures of sadaam burning, regime offices smashed, people in the streets, crowds forming around the marines.. friendly crowds.

it's spreading.

it's like watching the berlin wall come down.

unbelivable.. and undeniable.

Freedom.

I sure hope we don't screw this up.

Tumor · « **Reply #10 on:** April 09, 2003, 10:20:20 PM »

Cool post Hang! ~~BUT knock it off willya? Gettin me all teary-eyed AND thinkin I might get to start packin soon!~~

Sandman · « **Reply #11 on:** April 09, 2003, 11:16:33 PM »

There isn't going to be an end. The war on terror has no exit strategy.

NUKE · « **Reply #12 on:** April 09, 2003, 11:26:59 PM »

Quote

Originally posted by Sandman_SBM
There isn't going to be an end. The war on terror has no exit strategy.

Damn, here we go!

Sandman, there will be an end when terrorism ends. You see a problem with a war against terror as long as terror exists?

The war on terrror just may end when terror ends..... is that logical enough for you?

NUKE · « **Reply #13 on:** April 09, 2003, 11:31:42 PM »

Quote

Originally posted by Sandman_SBM
There isn't going to be an end. The war on terror has no exit strategy.

another addition to my sig. Thanks Sandman!

The war on terror has one exit strategy.......when terror ends, the war against it ends. Maybe that is to simple for you to understand.

NUKE · « **Reply #14 on:** April 09, 2003, 11:39:37 PM »

Quote

Originally posted by Sandman_SBM
There isn't going to be an end. The war on terror has no exit strategy.

Sandman??? you go to bed? Your statment needs an explanation sir.