Message from Fireman
 

I received a PM from fireman this morning, indicating, basically, that once more he was running the wrong way ... his convoy was apparently headed out finally, and they received orders to turn around and head back in. He doesn't know when he'll next have access to electronic communications. I'll let folks know of any communiques I receive, if he doesn't post directly here.

I wish him and his compatriots well.

(for those that don't remember, fireman is in Iraq.)

Ai. Poor bastard. Good luck.

Yup. Yup yup yup. That means they are probably keeping an extra 20,000 troops around through the redeployment in case the shit hits the fan.

He needs extra big thanks now and when his work is done there.

Anyone heard from Tobiasly?

I was just wondering about him. Hopefully he's home hugging the wife and having the dog sleep at his feet by now.

Or visa versa, however they get comfy.:)

::Beestie executing crisp salute::

From what I'm hearing on NPR today, much of the shit has hit a substantial portion of fan. Anyone worried how much this "Shia uprising" will spread?

I hope that Fireman, and all of our troops, are as safe as the situation allows. Gods protect them all.

Some U.S. Troops May Stay Longer in Iraq

"Not yet"... but we know the truth!!!! Bwahahahaha!!

While watching the latest news from Iraq I still think back to GWB and that (*^(*&^ing 'Mission Accomplished' banner. I don't think the hubris was that bad even during the first years in Vietnam.

When my son got his selective service form in the mail I told him that I think that there is a %20 chance that the draft will come back in the next 6 years. I'll know more when I hear the reenlistment numbers next year.

I recently bought a used CD of a 1989 Greenpeace concert. Every time I think of that 'Mission Accomplished' sign on that aircraft carrier, I think of World Party's song Ship of Fools. That song with that image would make a powerful statement, if it weren't for the possibility of it being misconstrued as a criticism of the servicepeople on the ship.

If you limit it to GWB and his cabinet, the song is perfect.

Ship Of Fools by World Party

Well, folks....guess what. Im still here. We had to turn around real fast in the middle of the trip and come back. I dont know how long we will be here, but we are asured that since our turn around is 12-18 months, that we will go home soon. I am currently on day 448 days now, and still counting. I dont know how long, or how often I can use the i-net so I will keep this short. Things are looking messy, The name Custer comes to mind.(LOL) Anyway. Please supports us troops here, even if you dont suport the idea of being here,(Radar), support the people out here. Help the moral of your fellow Americans. Thank you agein, I will contact you all when I can.

Hey, fireman! You hang in there, and come home safe, OK? My Dad was career military - fought in WWII, Korea, and two tours in 'Nam. I also have a friend who served in the first Gulf War. If there's any guys in your unit who'd like a letter from the States, PM me, and I'll see what I can do. :)

Keep your eyes open and your ass down, Fireman!

I have good news........and bad news.......

The good news is that we are coming home.
The bad news is........we dont know when.
I will try to make it on the i-net as often as I can to keep everyone informed. Please keep supporting our troops out here. Their moral depends on the support of people back home.
I thank you agein from the bottom of my heart, to all of you that have been supporting the personnel out here.

:thumb:

Support the warfighters overseas? Damn straight, we're Americans too.:thumb:

Good luck Fireman.

America has a Bud Light with your name on it.

Surely we can arrange for DECENT beer for the man ...

:beer:

Well, folks....I made it home safe and sound. I would have written last week, but I was catching up for lost time with my wife. We didnt have any problems with the convoy. Lucky us. I want to thank all of you for your support and thoughts. Now that I am home...... I dont know what to do with myself. Anyway, I am glad to be back in the states. I will be on and off every once in a while. My computer is slower than the one I had over sea. Thank you agein.

Thank God you made it home safely, Fireman! Thank you for letting us all know of your safe return. Now if we only could get the rest of our troops safely back (sighs deeply). I must say it doesn't look good.

Awesome Fireman! Make the transition back to home life smooth as possible... great to have you back in one piece man!

Always a good thing when a soldier makes it back home to his loved ones.

Do you think the others wil be heading home any time soon? or do you think this is going to run on a fair bit longer? What's the mood on the ground amongst your compatriots?

Congratulations on your safe return. Hug your family for us. :)

Welcome back, and thanks for your service to your country!

Fireman,
I don't know you, but welcome home just the same.

Hey thanks for going and 2 thanks for coming home safely. Are you still going to be running the wrong way when the fire bell goes off?
I corresponding with a Marine, in Falluja.:( Sounds bad.

Thank you to all. Well, it looks like my turn around might be sooner than I thought. It was 12 to 18 months, but now, from the sound of whats going on with the civilion firefighters out there, I dont know. But I had a taste of what my father in law went through on his return from vietnam, I went to pick up my daughter in dress uniform, I had to get my hip looked at at Walter Reed, anyway, a little boy came up to me and asked if I was in the Army, I nelt down to talk to him, and the mother grabbed him up and told him," Dont talk to the mean bad man." Then looked at me and told me I should be ashamed of myself for serving a murderer like Rumsfeld. I never felt so humiliated like that. Then, of course, some of the other parents started in on me about the Beheading, the mistreatment of detainees, and the military in general. I thank you for all of your support, and kind words. You dont know how much it means to me and all others over there.

I wont pretend I dont consider Rumsfeld and his ilk murderous...that said, to treat returning soldiers in that manner is a disgraceful thing to do. Regardless of the morality ( or lack thereof) of the war the soldiers who fight it are not the ones who declare it. The last thing any civilised nation needs are soldiers who pick their own wars. Soldiers fight the wars the civilian government starts.

I have a question for you Fireman. Please dont take this as a slight on yourself or your compatriots. Do you believe invading Iraq was a good decision? Given that Iraq has proved not tobe a hotbed of WMD and given the fact that they have been proven not to have been connected to the WTC atrocity.....Was your government right to send you? ( take with that an assumption that having been sent, you were without question right to go)

F$%K those nasty ragheads. and to hell with that lady too.

welcome home, dude. grab a beer. you deserve it!:beer:

Welcome home!

Welcome home dude , glad you made it safe and sound !!!!!!

F$%K those nasty ragheads. and to hell with that lady too.

Yehh , what he said !!!!!

What a distasteful term

Hey Fireman, I didn't see this thread when you were over there.

Thank you for your service. Don't sweat the idiots, what you and so many others did for this country is appreciated more than maybe you can imagine, especially by the quiet majority.

Whether you or those you come in contact with agree about the need for that war is irrelevant, you went, did your damn job and I'm glad you came home alive.

I am a former sailor who never saw combat, but have a hell of a lot of respect for you. Keep in mind you did us proud, hopefully are now done with what may have been the most difficult & dangerous period of your life.

Stand tall and enjoy the rest of your life.

It's a distasteful world, and although I see your point, in the context of this thread I'm sure arabs with hurt feelings is not all that important.

We're after all the great satan, infidels, etc. Lighten up, we were welcoming someone home. My Dad was heavy with the nigger, jap, chink stuff but would be the first damn one to step forward if they ever needed a hand.

Words can be hurtful I'll grant you, but soldiers talk like this, people talk like this...not being PC doesn't make you a racist jerk.

If you run into another one of those nasty ladies, ask her who she voted for. If she says she didn't vote, punch her. If she says Bush, punch her. If she says Gore, punch her.;)

my sentiments exactly. i'm not racist nor am i PC. when i read what happened to fireman, it really, REALLY, pissed me off.

Welcome back Fireman. I don't blame you or any serviceman or woman for this war. You guys signed on to defend the Constitution. Too bad you didn't realize it was going to be the Iraqi Constitution.

I prefer to start blaming people at the top then work my way down, which for some reason doesn't seem fashionable these days considering the public seems to accept any enlisted scapegoat thrown their way and walk away satisfied.

I hope things get resolved before your turnaround.

Are you drinking or something tonight? You're fucking cracking me up. :)

No, just had a visit from an ex-girlfriend, that married someone else a month ago, is all. :rolleyes:

You're right. Raghead can apply to many cultures that wear headcoverings, including turbans. The more appropriate term is "Sand Nigger."

Well said Onyx

Touche :D

Aside from the reason Onyx mentions, dont you think that in diminishing the soldier's foe, you diminish the soldier's achievement and bravery? Wouldnt you rather think of your soldiers achieving victory against a worthy enemy rather than being victorious over "a bunch of ragheads"?

No.

i didn't mean to piss anyone off with my comments. i understand that everyone has their opinion and so do i. and i respect them as well. i respect all cellarites. no matter what.

fireman had no choice about going over there. it's his job. period. if you refuse, you go to ft. levenworth and go to the brig. i'm very glad that he made it back. it just really iritated me when i heard about the comments that the lady said. ask anyone that knows me, i will do anything for anyone anytime. i was just mad is all. shoot, we all say things we don't mean at some time or the other. - fred

Fair enough :)
Personally I think that woman's attitude is utterly shameful. I am against the war , was always against the war, marched against the war.......but soldiers go where they are sent. To hold them responsible for the war is like holding surgeons responsible for disease. I dont think Fireman and his compatriots should have been sent there....Having sent them there, their country owes them at the very least, respect for their courage and gratitude for their service.

It doesn't matter if they're fighting a bunch of grade school girls. The enemy has weapons and the possibility of death is always preeminent to a soldier.:(

The shameful part are those civilians who would put soldiers in harm's way only on myths, lies, and their emotional beliefs. Clearly there was no smoking gun to justify war in Iraq. Why then did so many so hate the military man as to promote thatwar? And why did so many civilians so hate the military man as to not demand the George Jr administration let them complete the mission in Afghanistan?

Go back and review posts of 2001. That is what a soldier's best friend and ally says. Soldier is never put into a Vietnam type, 'no-win' situation. At least not by patriots. But that means the patriot first learns the lessons of history.

We should have let our military (ie Tenth Mountain) achieve victory in Afghanistan. We did not. Now some will disparage a soldier when, clearly, 85% (and more) of all problems are directly traceable to the 'mental midget' top management. Again, cited as example, posters in The Cellar, some who advocated what I consider disrespect to the men in uniform.
First strike and your out!

In that thread, it is painfully obvious why and what justifies war. We did not meet that critieria in Iraq. We are now suffering what happens when war is fought only because "W would start a war against a middle eastern country because of pride" and personal agenda. "He simply doesn't have that kind of standing to be able to pull it off without good reason?" I guess he was not lying? Maybe a little hindsight is now in order.

There were many things shameful about this war. The people to look to for responsibility sit at the top as they have always done.

As opposed to EVERY other war?:haha:

There are always shameful aspects to war . However......some at least have a shred of legal or moral footing.

Thank you agein for all your support, folks. I hope this should clear alot of things up.

1) I felt it was nessesarry(sp) in the fact that several of the things we found(ie: Long range missles w/ serine residue, long range fighter jets that were not on his armiment list, empty drums with unknown chemical residue.) These are some of the items that were just on BIAP.

2) The rockets and mortors that were hitting us almost every night seemed to get closer, and I kept feeling sicker.(physically) I have to get blood drawn because of alot of symptems.(sp) I dont think war is a good thing, anyone that does, is not a good person in my book, but just from what I have seen and felt and heard, I thought is was a sound decision.(not for this long though)

3) As a firefighter, I felt we did a great job, teaching and training the Iraqis to become better firefighters, and tought them proper tecniques in rescue and firefighting. Not to mention the new friends that I have made there, that were greatful that we did come and oust the rageme(sp) .

But all in all, I am proud of what my part in the war was, "to serve and save lives". And like what you have all said, what that woman said and did, is her own problem. She can deal with it. I have friends here and abroud, and online, and down in the Cellar, that support me. Thank you so much for supporting me and my fellow trooops.

Fireman - I don't know you, but I would like to offer you my respect and admiration for being selfless and altruistic enough to risk your life for something you believe in. You will have pushed yourself to limits and taken risks that most of us could never imagine.

Understandably people are dubious about this war - the only reason you are attacked is because as a soldier you are - quite inadvertently - a symbol of the war, and it is this they despise, not the soldiers themselves.

I have a friend who considered enlisting. He didn't because after a week's induction he knew he didn't have what it takes. He didn't have what it takes to be able to kill; and to kill for reasons he didn't understand - that would never be explained, or to take such an order from a person who may not be fit to make that decision, because even they may not know what they're fighting for.

Personally, I am opposed to any war, not just this one. How can we subject our loyal and courageous citizens to such terror and pain? What does it actually achieve? There are no winners in a war, except maybe those who escape it. Welcome back.

Fireman, I’m corresponding with a Marine in Falluja. He’s a radio operator for a medical outfit. The wrinkle is, when they don’t need a radio operator, which is a lot when they aren’t on the move, he is a warm body. Infantry first, radio operator second, so he has to do a lot of patrols. Did you run into that?

No, I didnt run into that. My first job is Firefighter and life safety. If we have to defend ourselves, then we pick up the rifle. This is why I picked this MOS. This is the first Combat zone (my third) that I didnt have to discharge my weapon. Desert Storm, I discharged my weapon, Samolia, I dicharged my weapon. I am happy that I didnt have to do that this time. I felt that I was doing more good fighting fires, than shooting at the enemy(sp).
I had a 19 year old kid that kept on wanting to shoot his weapon. I asked him why, he kept telling me that he was inf. first and firefighter second. Needless to say, he was a terrible firefighter.(LOL) But all in all, we all came out of there safe without shooting at anything. My opinion is that if you dont have to shoot your weapon, its a good tour. At least thats what my step father says.(25years marine) Tell your friend that I respect what he is doing, and keep his head down. Thank you agein for your support for the troops.