Private whine
: I may get crap for this, but I’m bothered by the stories about U.S. soldiers in Iraq whining because they aren’t coming home yet.
On the one hand, I want to say that I understand the work is hard and the environment awful and the separation from family unbearable, but this is their job; this is what they volunteered for (and they all volunteered). And in Vietnam, soldiers went for a year at a time; in WWII, they went until they won.
On the next hand, I doubt that the whining is as widespread as we are being led to believe by stories such as the ones linked above. I wonder whether this is an attempt by some reporters to sculpt a story about a quagmire. They’re Vietnaming Iraq again. The truth is that we all knew bloody well that this was not going to be over in weeks; we knew that we were going to have to stay there until we get things in order; we knew what we were in for; the soldiers especially new.
The fact that this is hard duty should only make us more grateful for the good work and hard sacrifice they are giving us. I still think they’re good soldiers, not a bunch of whiners.
