A soldier's thoughts...

[Mike45]

Please take a minute to read this from one of our best.

http://newmediajournal.us/guest/e_je...t/02012007.htm

Thanks

[mardo]

Good read. Thank you for sharing.

[PA Highlander]

Posting full text for all. Excellent article from a soldier's perspective.

Hope Rides Alone
USA Sgt. Eddie Jeffers, USA (Iraq)
February 1, 2007 URL: http://www.newmediajournal.us/guest/...s/02012007.htm

Sgt. Eddie Jeffers was killed in Iraq on September 19, 2007. He was 23.

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 Bush 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 II, 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?
Sergeant Eddie Jeffers is a US Army Infantryman serving in Ramadi, Iraq.

Opinions expressed by contributing writers are expressly their own and may or may not represent the opinions of The New Media Journal, its editorial staff or its publisher. Reprint inquiries should be directed to the author of the article. Photographs featured in The New Media Journal are for educational purposes only. While some of them are factual in nature others are creations meant to incite thought to further the socio-political and ideological conversation amongst of our readers. Contact the editor for a link request to The New Media Journal. The New Media Journal is not affiliated with any mainstream media or ideological organizations . The New Media Journal is not supported by any political organization. The New Media Journal is a group of non-compensated, independent writers bringing researched, fact-based commentary to the public in the midst of the mainstream media's blatant, agenda-driven bias. The New Media Journal is a non-profit educational effort.

FAIR USE NOTICE: This site contains copyrighted material the use of which has not always been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. We are making such material available in our efforts to advance a more in-depth understanding of critical issues facing the world. We believe this constitutes a 'fair use' of any such copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, the material on this site is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml. If you wish to use copyrighted material from this site for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use', you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.

The New Media Journal.us © 2007
Site Meter

[ChamberedRound]

Great post. Sgt. Jeffers is dead-on in his assessment of the US' slow, unintentional, but definite establishment of a military/warrior class.

[P89]

EXCELLENT POST! This should get a sticky, PM'd to everyone and published in every newspaper.

[wboggs]

How right he is, how right he is....

When will the outrage of citizens start to do something about it?

One person took prayer out of our schools and destroyed the morality of our children. One person is at the helm of more than 50 million unborn children slaughtered for a profit because it was more convenient; even Halloween candy being checked for razor blades was was started by only one person that wanted harm to come to his own son. A handful of homosexuals demonstrated in Americas streets naked and not one of them got arrested for it and they rule us now. When will the outrage of citizens start to do something about it?

More than 80% of Americans claim to be Christians; how can this happen in a democratic society? You cant imagine how that question consumes me; it sickens me to read letters like that from soldiers.

Bad things happen when good people do nothing.

[bradjc72]

Ok, I will be the first to bring God into this.

God Bless this soldier, his family, friends, and his group of soldiers that he has to lead. Please take care of him, and the rest of our soldiers till it is time for them to return, and give president Bush the strength he needs to keep up his pursuit of what he has started and give Iraq the freedom it desperately wants.

Amen.

---We need to get this soldiers statement to the media all over the country. Wboggs is 150% correct in stating that it only took one person to get prayer out of school, and everything else, so lets not sit on this. We have to put our heads together and make this happen!!!!!

[wboggs]

Ok, I will be the first to bring God into this.

God Bless this soldier, his family, friends, and his group of soldiers that he has to lead. Please take care of him, and the rest of our soldiers till it is time for them to return, and give president Bush the strength he needs to keep up his pursuit of what he has started and give Iraq the freedom it desperately wants.

Amen.

---We need to get this soldiers statement to the media all over the country. Wboggs is 150% correct in stating that it only took one person to get prayer out of school, and everything else, so lets not sit on this. We have to put our heads together and make this happen!!!!!

Actually unfortunately it's becoming true that our Soldiers are fighting for our rights and freedoms and the only ones taking advantage of those rights are those who use the rights in a perverse way; the results speak for themselves, we are no longer a Democratic Society when the minority rules and the Black Caucus can walk out and rule over the popular decision democracy is no longer among us.