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Exclusive: One Iraq veteran’s harrowing journey from the battlefield to suicide (Part I)

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Tuesday, September 7, 2010 8:39 EST
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“He said three times that he should have just died in Iraq and I would have loved him forever, because he didn’t think we were going to get back together,” Krissy Caudill, Sgt. First Class Spencer Kohlheim’s fiancée said after his grandmother found him hanging in her garage less than a month after he returned from Iraq.
–> (At right: SFC Kohlheim minutes after his vehicle was hit by an IED in Kirkuk.)

What happened in Afghanistan

Soldiers speak of the firefights, of the thrill of getting shot at. In the mountains of Afghanistan a firefight can happen any day, and it can be a powerful, almost drug-like fix.

A fight, no matter how short, fills the void of routine — of standing at guard, staring at rocks, eating bad food, using port-a-potties and having no Internet. The sounds of incoming explosions, the whizzing of bullets going by and the release of the trigger pull fills a purpose for being deployed.

But IEDs (Improvised Explosive Devices), planted by insurgents targeting American troops, can be done without. It’s the one attack all soldiers fear. The bombs reach up from the earth and rip your arms from your shoulders, legs from your torso, or if you’re lucky, rattle your bones, inside your head, for days, months, years afterward. Soldiers will tell you they’d rather get shot at any day than deal with IEDs.

Sergeant First Class Spencer Kohlheim was deployed to Afghanistan before Iraq. He saw what IEDs did to four of his buddies there in 2006.

A few years later, he was deployed to Iraq. His vehicle would take direct hits from IEDs in two separate attacks.

What happened in Iraq

Sergeant First Class (SFC) Spencer Kohlheim, 38, was from LaGrange, a town tucked in the Northeast corner of Indiana. During the winter months, metal irrigation arms span the snowed-in farmland like one-armed giants.

He went to Prairie Heights High and joined the Army right out of high school. Whenever he was deployed, Indiana seemed to be calling him back. But Spencer Kohlheim’s last deployment was to Iraq, and he brought the physical trauma he experienced there, back home to LaGrange.

On a sunny April morning in 2008, Sergeant First Class (SFC) Spencer Kohlheim’s vehicle led his platoon on convoy from Tikrit North to the volatile city of Kirkuk, Iraq, on a mission guiding Army tractor trailers bearing the new heavily-armored Mine Resistant (MRAP) vehicles to a distant outpost.

A tall platoon sergeant with a deep scar on one cheek, Kohlheim’s pale blue eyes gave him a sensitive but restless look. He’d volunteered for the mission because he couldn’t stand to be stuck in the battalion’s command center for too long.

In Indiana, citizen soldiers run in generations of families. For several years after 9/11, the Indiana Guard outpaced states as large as Texas and California in total numbers of Guardsmen recruited. It’s a tight knit group, with only a few degrees of separation between any Hoosier deployed to Iraq or Afghanistan since 2001. But Kohlheim had been deployed more than anyone had heard of — over seven times in twelve years between his service with the Guard and regular Army.

In fact, Kohlheim had to volunteer just to get to Iraq. His unit wasn’t selected as part of the 2007 massive mobilization of over 3,500 Hoosiers from across the state. Command Sergeant Major Rodney Spade, Kohlheim’s superior in Afghanistan, said Kohlheim called him up and asked to go. (<– At left: Kohlheim receiving a get-well card after his release from the base hospital.)

“He reminded me a lot of myself,” Spade said of Kohlheim. “He was out of control sometimes, opinionated, but a hard worker and a hard trainer.”

When Kohlheim went outside the wire, he often put himself as leader of the convoy. That morning it was in the driver’s seat of the five-ton truck with rollers on the front that looked like the heads of an old push mower.

But the rollers didn’t work if the bomb was “command wired” — if it had a human waiting and watching for when to detonate it. This was how Kohlheim’s lead truck exploded just outside Kirkuk. We felt the blast four vehicles back, and watched the ball of black smoke rise in the sky. Then we saw Kohlheim running towards us carrying his rifle.

A man had given them the middle finger from the roadside just before the IED went off, riddling their five-ton with shrapnel that just missed his gunner’s head. Kohlheim seemed to be moving everywhere, gesturing to Iraqi Army and Police, helping to load his vehicle onto the tow trailer. He moved in his body armor like some kind of superheated android who had initially tried to drop his smoking vehicle into first gear and grind out of the kill zone, with fluids leaking through the shrapnel holes.

By the time he got in our Humvee, Kohlheim’s hand was shaking just to lift the water bottle to his lips. He spent the night being evaluated in the base hospital for concussion symptoms.

“I think we all got our melons scrambled a little bit,” he said the next day. “This morning I woke up and I remembered everything.  Last night I couldn’t remember too much.” He smiled at the get-well card the guys presented him. When the platoon got back to FOB Speicher, Kohlheim made sure all his soldiers signed sworn statements so those who’d been close to the blast could get their combat action badge for having been in the line of enemy fire.

By the end of the summer I was in Baghdad and got an email message from Kohlheim’s ex-wife, Beth. She said one of the Indiana Guard’s family liaisons had called to tell her Spencer had been hit by another IED. “He says it was another concussion, but I’m not supposed to even know that much,” she wrote.

For Kohlheim, a second concussion meant confinement to the base. “The second hit, I said he’s done,” CSM Spade later told me over the phone. “He was mad at me. He didn’t talk to me for a couple of weeks.

Spade caught Kohlheim going outside the wire a couple of more times.

“He thought as a leader, you lead from the front,” Spade said, not quite excusing his disobedience. Spencer never told his Command Sergeant Major that he was suffering any effects from the blasts.  But by the end of summer there wasn’t that much time left. Roughly four months later, the 76th Brigade’s 3,500 soldiers started re-deploying back to Indiana.

By mid-December the 76th Brigade was finalizing their out-processing paperwork at Camp Atterbury, including the military psyche evaluation that consisted of a briefing and a questionnaire covering any issues related to trauma the soldiers had encountered in Iraq.

A Guardsman who served with Kohlheim said of the screening process for Post-Traumatic Stress: “Before you leave country you do a questionnaire of what you were exposed to, and if you are feeling these symptoms. That gets printed out on your records.  If a soldier doesn’t want to get held up [from returning home faster], they don’t have to check it. Back in the States, it’s the same out-processing. If you don’t bring it up, [the Guard] won’t pursue it.”

“Leaving Iraq he wasn’t flagged for risk,” CSM Spade said. “We had a list who we thought could fall into that depression mode.  Kohlheim did not come on the radar. He and his girlfriend were planning to get married. He asked about his promotion to First Sergeant.”

James Foley has been embedded with US troops in Iraq and Afghanistan and writes periodic dispatches for Raw Story. The lead editor on this story was Sahil Kapur, in Washington.

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  • Anonymous

    How about the torn apart to bits muslims from overhead bombs dropped on them. Recall,USA rounded up over 5000 men that surrendered put them in steel shipping containers–150 men in each,Temperture 140c and cries for air. Our great brave FKN soldiers ordered fresh air– 50caliber gun riddled each container and cries stopped but the blood flowed in streams.Nice guys these puke troops of oursBringing Demockracy
    Military communities among wealthiest in U.S.

    By Dennis Cauchon – USA Today
    Posted : Tuesday Sep 7, 2010 5:14:55 EDT

    Military communities are now among the wealthiest in the country, according to a USA Today analysis.

    That’s no clearer than in Jacksonville, N.C., the home of Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune, where a spike in military pay and benefits over the years has kept its economy going.

    In 2009, the city soared to the nation’s 32nd-highest income per person among the 366 U.S. metropolitan areas, according to Bureau of Economic Analysis data. In 2000, it ranked 287th.

    The Jacksonville metropolitan area, with a population of 173,064, had the top income per person of any North Carolina community in 2009. In 2000, it ranked 13th of 14 metro areas in the state.

    The USA Today analysis finds 16 of the 20 metro areas rising the fastest in the per-capita income rankings since 2000 had military bases or one nearby. Other examples:

    • Manhattan, Kan., home of the Army’s Fort Riley, is the state’s most affluent metro area. In 2000, it was the poorest of the state’s six metros.

    • Killeen, Texas, home of the Army’s Fort Hood, is today more affluent than Austin, the state capital and university town 60 miles away.

    What’s driving the income growth? Pay and benefits in the military have grown faster than those in any other part of the economy.

    Marines and other service members received an average compensation of $122,263 per person in 2009, up from $58,545 in 2000.

    Military compensation — an average of $70,168 in pay and $52,095 in benefits — includes the value of housing, medical care, pensions, hazardous-duty incentives, enlistment bonuses and combat pay in war zones. More than 300 U.S. service members have died this year in Iraq and Afghanistan.

    “You have to have a good compensation package if you want to recruit and retain the best people,” said Pentagon spokeswoman Eileen Lainez.

    After adjusting for inflation, military compensation rose 84 percent from 2000 through 2009. By contrast, compensation grew 37 percent for federal civilian workers and 9 percent for private sector employees during that time, the BEA reports.

    The military has met or exceeded its recruiting goals in 2009 and so far this year, helped by a weak economy and the improved compensation.

    “It’s booming here,” says Mona Patrick, president of the Jacksonville-Onslow (N.C.) Chamber of Commerce. Construction is robust, she says. Extended-stay hotels are full of military contractors.

    The Marines have added 10,000 active-duty personnel at Camp Lejeune since 2000 for a total of 48,000, plus 5,000 civilian employees.

  • Anonymous

    Anyone notice how the comment section following General Betrayus’ whining about burning of the Koran disappeared from the RAW comment section following the article?

    Why did that happen RAW?

  • Kayttt2000

    I’m a Rothschild/ Jew CIA Mk Ultra Victim now Under Protective Custody,,
    In regards to your first paragraph,,
    In the United States of America the above were using technology on me,,For over 3 years I walked with burning pain,,I dragged my legs,,Law rescued me and it took me over 1 year to relearn to walk again,,
    Then they opened up Soviet Union Mk Ultra–you can read about this on the internet..
    This hell on earth was done to me in the United State of America/Minnesota,,

    Lets mention what they were discussing many months before the events, how they were going to blow up the Twin Towers,,what Fairy Tale they were going to tell the American people and World,,There planning of the Iraq War,,along with specific details of how they were going to torture Iraq’s..
    The CIA discussed every detail of how they were going to torture Iraq’s,,including cramming broken bottles up there rectum..

    I have a 100 books to write as every major crime in the USA and many crimes outside the US were planned and perpetrated by the above going back to JFK’S death..

    In regards to my own suffering at the hands of the Rothschild/CIA gang in the USA/Minnesota..
    I was begging them to stop the mental torture..
    Take everything I own,,but please stop the pain..
    Cut off one of my arms,,but please stop the pain
    Cut off both arms,,but please stop the pain
    Cut off both arms and one leg,,but please stop the pain
    Cut off both legs and both arms,,but please stop the pain
    Cut off both legs,,both arms and take my eye sight,,but please stop the pain
    Kill everybody I know including my children,,but please stop the pain..

    They continued,,
    For several years they took me to the above torture,,then pulled me back to take me there again..
    The Atrocities they have did upon the Christian people with unseen/4D technology in the United States and other Countries is horrifying..!

    Sgt. First Class Spencer Kohlheim family can thank the Rothschild/ Jew CIA,,along with there criminal helpers for the suffering and death of there loved one..All a LIE/CON for profit..
    As I was used to store there plans and deeds…
    It wasn’t stored New World Order,,It was stored Jew World Order!

  • Anonymous

    “The sounds of incoming explosions, the whizzing of bullets going by…” and “the release of the trigger pull fills a purpose for being deployed.”

    What a line shit! Where the fuck did this supposed writer come up with this crap? The “sounds of incoming explosions” and the “whizzing of bullets”? Apparently this dork writer was never in combat or been shot at.

    “Incoming” doesn’t sound like explosions. There is no explosion until the round hits something or a time fuse sets off the round, and I doubt the Afghanis are using timed fuses.

    The whizzing of bullets? Whizzing? Whizzing is what’s done when you relieve your bladder. Bullets make a distinctive “cracking” sound as they go near you. Anyone who’s been shot at by an aggressor shooting a high velocity rifle has heard that “crack” sound.

    “and the release of the trigger pull fills a purpose for being deployed.”

    No butt face, it’s when you “pull the trigger” that gives you a thrill.

    My suggestion, do some time in combat and then do the writing, without the creativity.

  • http://twitter.com/shivabeach Shiva

    Where is your interest? The troops or bashing the general and Raw story? Why do you think the general was whining?

  • Anonymous

    What a shameful waste of taxpayer resources. A million bucks a year for one GI in Afghanistan! It’s obscene! Being a hired killer is not an acceptable career track, at least if you want to live in a civilized country. We need to fire these mercenaries, declare Peace on the World, and try to cultivate our own garden for a change. If anyone is foolish enough to attack the U$, rest assured that there are enough true patriots to more than adequately defend her. And if we’re ever forced into a war, I’ll take my chances with a draft, under which you get a much better percentage of intelligent, thinking people – I know, I served from ’65 to ’69…

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Bob-Zentrails/100001475536421 Bob Zentrails

    Yeah, Big_Alpha1. That story was poorly written on a number of levels, but at least someone is writing about it. Right wingers who crow about “freedom of speech” never mention that “freedom of the press” is directly related to it and is nearly non-existent in Iraq or Afghanistan or Pakistan or Kuwait or Saudi Arabia or …..

  • http://www.facebook.com/Sisyphus73 Kevin A Maynard

    It’s only going to get worse..and now they want to prescribe E to soldiers with PTSD. They are already medicating these people to death and frankly the Pentagon doesn’t give two-shits about them.

  • Foleyphoenix

    Big Alpha, Perhaps my adjectives were a little off, cracking instead of whizzing etc. Read the whole series and let me know if you still think it’s crap. I’ve definitely spent time with troops in combat, embedded since March and I’m still here in Afghanistan.

    jim foley

  • english

    then maybe he should have stayed at home, instead of joining in the killing!

  • Anonymous

    Oh, I’ll read it alright and when the wording is off, I’ll let ya know.

    Now, get on the line and print exactly what the people doing the fighting are saying, or, will that be cause to end your embedded position?

    Also, tell us what a great job the United States of America is doing imposing it will on another country.

    Sorry my friend, but I don’t think you’re going write anything that even comes close to describing the 5 O’Clock Follies like instances that happened in Vietnam and were reported by people Halberstam. You’ll write exactly what keeps you in the good graces of General Betrayus, or you’re gone.

  • Satan

    Through early morning fog I see
    Visions of the things to be
    The pains that are withheld for me
    I realize and I can see

    That suicide is painless
    It brings on many changes
    I can take or leave it if I please
    That game of life is hard to play

    I’m gonna lose it anyway
    The losing card of some delay
    So this is all I have to say
    That suicide is painless

    It brings on many changes
    I can take or leave it if I please
    The sword of time will pierce our skin
    It doesn’t hurt when it begins

    But as it works its way on in
    The pain grows stronger, watch it burn
    That suicide is painless
    It brings on many changes

    And I can take or leave it if I please
    A brave man once requested me
    To answer questions that are key
    Is it to be or not to be

    And I replied oh why ask me
    That suicide is painless
    It brings on many changes
    And I can take or leave it if I…

    That suicide is painless
    It brings on many changes
    I can take or leave it if I please

    That suicide is painless
    It brings on many changes
    And you can do the same thing if you please
    ——————

    My my, what a sad little puff piece designed to create some empathy for people that signed up by and large specifically to murder people for money. It should be no surprise that someone like this killed themselves, people who commit suicide are often selfish like that. Let his grandmother find him, what an ass.

    “But IEDs (Improvised Explosive Devices), planted by insurgents targeting American troops, can be done without. It’s the one attack all soldiers fear. The bombs reach up from the earth and rip your arms from your shoulders, legs from your torso, or if you’re lucky, rattle your bones, inside your head, for days, months, years afterward. Soldiers will tell you they’d rather get shot at any day than deal with IEDs.”

    NATO Bombs have done the majority of the limb ripping in these unjust wars, far and away, and the victims are mostly civilian. Victims of soldiers will tell you they’d rather get shot at than bombed nuclear weapons delivery system like the B1B, capable of carrying 24 tons of bombs and dropping them on civilians. Yet news like that gets swept under the rug and replaced with shitty garbage like this waR Story.

  • Anonymous

    Yeah… and no doubt between now and then you and all of the rest of the dip shits who decry the military will go run everyday with a 50lb pack on your back, fire your M-16 regularly, practice dynamic room clearing and urban warfare with you neighbors all so you will be prepared to defend you country when the time comes right? LOL

    You have no idea what it takes to protect your right to say stupid shit do you?

  • Anonymous

    I wonder if any of these people doing the killing in Iraq and Afghanistan are pro-lifers?

  • Anonymous

    Well, jarhead, in the event that it has a new meaning since I served, mebbe you have a point in there somewhere, but in that case I am truly clueless. I maintain that there are many ways to stay in shape that don’t involve blowing people up! Give Peace a chance, dude! Try it – you might like it!

    Love and Peace and Rock and Roll and Happy Trails!

  • Anonymous

    So, you don’t like there’s no freedom of the press in those places cited above, and I loved the left out one, United States Of America, then don’t move there.

    And like I said to Foley, if he didn’t write what the power there wants said, it won’t get printed, and he’ll be on the next plane for home.

    Embedded writing is usually crap. It’s controlled so it can’t be anything but crap the military power that is wants it to be – - Puff.

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Richard-Cleary/685251799 Richard Cleary

    I lived in Indiana for about 13 years.

    Living in Indiana is enough reason to off oneself.

    While I have empathy for the young man, may I remind everyone that it is a VOLUNTEER army.

    The young man’s decision to join was a voluntary one, a matter of FREE WILL.

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Richard-Cleary/685251799 Richard Cleary

    It is a VOLUNTEER army. The right of free speech is not protected by soldiers fighting an undeclared war in a volunteer army. It is guaranteed by the Constitution.

    Troll.

  • Anonymous

    Where’s my interest? Getting the fuck out of Afghanistan and Iraq once and for ALL. And I mean everyone of our military people taken out of those countries. They should never have been sent there in the first place.

    You fuck heads ever hear about a place called Vietnam? Shouldn’t have been there either but Americans love war and killing other people or dominating them.

    Think we have military bases around the world protect America? Get fucking real. The reason we have those bases is so that we can reach and quickly kill the uppity rabble who would dare take us on.

  • Anonymous

    What the grunt on the ground does has absolutely nothing to do with illegal invasions directed by civilians in the white house. And the fact that you still have a constitution. Is BECAUSE of the military. Do you really think that during the cold war Russia didn’t invade this country because they were worried about what the “civilians” would do?

  • Anonymous

    The loss of even one good American is a heinous crime when that life is thrown away by corrupt, arrogant, self-serving cowards who call themselves leaders. Everyone except those who are personally benefiting in some way from this war want it over now.

  • luzmejor

    You are not a free person if you like and watch Fox news. Propaganda has taken over on all those outlets and everyone watching them is deliberately misled. Now the greedy movers and shakers are moving on the freedom of our internet sources too.

    Americans are in trouble when they begin to believe those greedy commercial liars.

  • luzmejor

    Well, it’s easy to see you don’t care about anything but yourself. I guess that’s all we need to know about you then, right?

  • Anonymous

    I was rushed and really didn’t answer your question about the troops, or bashing the general and RAWSTORY – - Yep, to all three.

    Betrayus was whining because he’s a clown, I really don’t like the guy, whose job it is to kill and destroy and possibly lose people in the process, but he’s complaining he might lose even more people because of the Koran burning.

    Hey, tough luck. Shit happens when you occupy a country illegally and for no good purpose other than you’re a fucking politician in a military uniform and you want to keep your fucking job!

    Fuck Betrayus! Fuck the people he commands and sends to their deaths. There’s a chance they’re going to die no matter what, so who really cares how? They’re still dead and there’s no honor, absolutely none about dying in some foreign country for no good purpose. When you die. You just fucking die.

    I watched a lot of people do it when I was in the service. I don’t recall one of them telling me they thought it was an honor to do so. They all just said they didn’t want to die.

    And I never heard one of them call out for their mother. That’s “Hollywood Movie Bullshit”. Pure and simple, movie bullshit! They just fucking died!

  • Notorious Kelly

    The “volunteer” Army is actually an economic draft.

    We should have a regular draft now and which includes women, since they are equal.

  • Anonymous

    The “Volunteer” part is the part that demands you respect. And there wouldn’t be a constitution or your right to talk out your ass or a free country were it not for the “Volunteers” you freakin moron

  • Anonymous

    That’s why we need a draft. To do away with that damn stupid argument. EVERYONE should fight in whatever war we deem necessary.

  • Anonymous

    Big deal you’re clever enough to post the MASH theme song. Pretty heartless post though. You show no consideration for whatsoever his surviving family members. Have you ever even felt empathy?

  • Anonymous

    “Soldiers speak of the firefights, of the thrill of getting shot at – and it can be a powerful, almost drug-like fix.”

    this is so scary — it sure explains the trigger happy police officers…wonder how many of them are Iraq *unnecessary war vets?

  • Syed92

    A moving account of a young patriot!
    BUT WHO WOULD WRITE FOR THOSE WHO ARE THE FALLEN PATRIOTS IN THEIR OWN LANDS!

  • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_VR6FJHRULWPPYU24WGNQSYG264 Tim

    We’ve got kick ass people like this soldier stuck in Iraq only to return home to suicide, he got stuck in the wrong place at the wrong time, wasting away like this, all for what, for Cheney’s oil grab, for neocon political theory and because pussified Democrats couldn’t find a way to stand up to this madness, whether they were willing or not.

    Cheney was carving up Iraqi oil fields for sales PRIOR to 911 (see judicialwatch), now look at this mess, so much wasted and it seems not enough people have learned anything from it either.

    Watch any cable show right about now, the 911 propaganda is in full swing, promoting the official government lie, promoting the bs that was used to get use stuck in Iraq, to waste all these lives and resources when we need them at home.

    People really should stop joining the military. People have total control over that but quite a few buy the argument that it’s noble, when in fact it’s all for the large corporations and their interests. There;s nothing noble about being in this military, maybe it was before, but not now.

  • dickarmeysgoats

    You are right, Leggs. And you can bet if we had the draft, this crappy unncesary war would have been over before it got started.

  • Anonymous

    Seems like my comment got disappeared, I’ll try again:

    The Z_____ hands behind 9-11:

    1 of 2: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t-vHv0SKpl8

    2 of 2: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P7UQr0PjRQU&feature=related

    Also, Google September Clues. It’s no secret who owns the U.S. news, entertainment, and publishing industries — you won’t get the truth from your TV.

  • Anonymous

    **Yeah, cuz that really stopped the last war we used a draft in.

  • Mike Astro

    the final solution will be here soon hehehehhehehehehehehe

  • Anonymous
  • Matt

    I am thankful someone is reporting on this. This troop went overseas time after time to do his best to make sure his people came home. Why are you arguing the semantics of the sounds of a battlefield? Is that what matters? Get your head out of your ass.

  • Anonymous

    There will NOT be a draft on my watch, leggs. When corporations use military power to gain resources then it’s completely contrary to the ideals of freedom to force peace-loving people into an illegal war of choice. Only those who choose to live in a military reality should fight in a war of conquest.

    One day, when even those gung-ho-killem-all=-dead types learn that these wars are without honor, we will only have a military for humanitarian reasons. Then, perhaps, we’ll talk about a draft. But as long as we’re killing innocent people for no good reason then there will be no draft.

  • Anonymous

    Yes, and shall we take a look at the remnants of depleted uranium? http://www.thewe.cc/weplanet/news/depleted_uranium_iraq_afghanistan_balkans.html

    In the beginning I supported the troops who were already enlisted before 9-11. They had no choice but to obey their orders. Today it’s different. Those killing the innocent in the Middle East are new recruits. They knew there were no WMD, knew that the Taliban had nothing to do with 9-11. The soldiers of today are just killing for selfish reasons. I can’t support that.

    And when they come home after finding out that murder is difficult to deal with I’m much less sympathetic than I used to be. These people signed up knowing we weren’t fighting the perpetrators of 9-11. They knew they weren’t “defending” the country. But they signed up anyway. I’m sorry. . . I can’t pity them. As my late mother would say, “You made your bed. . . now lie in it”.

  • Anonymous

    Yes, and shall we take a look at the remnants of depleted uranium? http://www.thewe.cc/weplanet/news/depleted_uranium_iraq_afghanistan_balkans.html

    In the beginning I supported the troops who were already enlisted before 9-11. They had no choice but to obey their orders. Today it’s different. Those killing the innocent in the Middle East are new recruits. They knew there were no WMD, knew that the Taliban had nothing to do with 9-11. The soldiers of today are just killing for selfish reasons. I can’t support that.

    And when they come home after finding out that murder is difficult to deal with I’m much less sympathetic than I used to be. These people signed up knowing we weren’t fighting the perpetrators of 9-11. They knew they weren’t “defending” the country. But they signed up anyway. I’m sorry. . . I can’t pity them. As my late mother would say, “You made your bed. . . now lie in it”.

  • a toll the nation reaps for it’s illegal wars of unjust aggression

    just one more casualty of the zionist jew infiltrated U.S. government, owned and operated by ISRAHELL.

    suck it up, people! you broke it, now PAY FOR IT!

  • Anonymous

    EXCELLENT POST! EXCELLENT!

  • Anonymous

    How do you think the Vietnam War was ended? Because the people finally had enough of the bullshit lies and the “FORCED DEATHS” of so many young men. They finally said enough already and the protests began. They even forced an asshole president to take himself out of the running for a second term, but left the door open for another dipshit to take over the White House.

    sandi2, we really do need a draft to force an end to this worthless military bullshit. When every family is affected then they will stand up and demand to know if the reason for their young to fight and die is really as noble as another asshole president claimed it to be, and another current ASSHOLE president keeps the bullshit killing going.

    Combat operations have ended in Iraq, according to the current ASSHOLE president, but yesterday we lost one soldier killed and 9 wounded when a US soldier and an Iraqi soldier decided to have a go at each other. The reason remains unknown, but the Iraqi soldier opened fire on ten of our people. People who were supposed teach the Iraqis how to be soldiers and do their own killing.

    Funny thing, it seems they already know how to do it.

  • Anonymous

    What you’re saying in the second and third paragraph is absolutely true.

  • Anonymous

    Then do you support this war? I don’t. What i’m saying is this – it is easier to send another’s children to war than it is your own. If there is a good enough reason for war i want the young men and women of every level of society to fight it. If not don’t fight it. I DON’T WANT A RULING CLASS LETTING SOMEONE ELSE’S KIDS DIE. It’s easier to keep a war going for ten years when so many politicians have no family in it. Whats wrong with national service anyway? There will be a draft again. It is the only fair way.

  • Anonymous

    No, this is not my first war.

    I protested the Viet Nam war, too. I was young but I did my part. I had a P.O.W. bracelet engraved with the name Lt.Col. Charles B. Davis, Jr. He never returned. I was young but I staged sit-ins at my school. I was young but I was emotionally effected when the National Guard killed four students from a local university. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vyzoNCJvy4c). Nixon killed Ohio’s children rather than end the war. That war went on for years after the event that turned me into a pacifist.

    No, the PowersThatBe will not stop their wars until no one volunteers to fight those wars. Even Charlie Chaplin knew this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IGfLAtiUi1A

    Is it surprising that “they” blackballed Chaplin after that speech?

  • Elim

    This is what the High Command wants all the soldiers to be like. Deny their injuries and get back out there, be gung-ho at all times. We need people like this to fight our wars for us, but clearly the Sergeant had some mental or emotional problems even before he was deployed to a combat zone for the first time. It is these very people who use the thrill of combat as a “fix” that are at the most risk for suicide after they return home.

  • Neil Macdonald

    He was and will always be a SOLDIER May he now Rest In Piece. Neil

  • Tour of Duty 82-92

    One must recognize that it is NOT an All-Volunteer military. You might “voluntarily” sign your life away for 8 years in the military but once you’re in, you’re not a volunteer any longer. You do as you’re told, go where and when you are told to, dress as you are told. If you like being told what to do, then the military is for you.

  • Elim

    Our entire political system has been compromised by corporate and political blackmail. The pussified Dems who might have stood up against George Bush were in danger of losing their careers, their reputations, and maybe even their lives or the lives of loved ones if they did not toe the line. That’s how it is in this country today, and the fault is ours.

  • Elim

    Even though this personality type likes what they are doing and complains little, this type of person is ripe for abuse by Command. If they’re willing to keep going back for more, they will be sent back for more, regardless of whether or not they are physically or mentally fit for it.

  • Elim

    As was his suicide.

  • Elim

    What’s this “we” shit?

  • Elim

    A draft is never fair. If it were, Cheney and Bush would both have been in Vietnam, but they were excused, as would thousands of children of the elite.

  • Anonymous

    The ruling class will always find a way to keep their kids out of the fighting. They always have. I made up a phrase many years ago: What if they gave a war and nobody came?

    It’s up to the People to stop being slaves to the PTB. They just have to say “No. . . I will not die for your wealth”.

  • http://www.facebook.com/rhitchings1 Richard Hitchings

    just another pleb.. misused by a government that started a war for no good reason.

  • http://www.facebook.com/rhitchings1 Richard Hitchings

    just another pleb.. misused by a government that started a war for no good reason.

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  • Vic_pittman

    Arrogant, ignorant jarhead trash…

  • Vic

    Two sentences and six grammatical errors….what an idiot. The military is for cretins like you who cannot think for themselves, and who probably cannot function in the real world. You are nothing but a pawn..an idiot pawn who thinks he is some kind of hero. Well, soldier-boy..you are not a hero..you are human garbage. Arrogance and ignorance combined…what a package. I feel sorry for anyone who has to be around you.

  • Vic

    So…using your logic, the Manson family killers should not have gotten into trouble because they were only following orders..?? That defense didnt work for the first Nazis and it doesn’t fly now. Maybe one of these days you will wake up and realize what a fool and a pawn you have been.

  • Vic

    So…using your logic, the Manson family killers should not have gotten into trouble because they were only following orders..?? That defense didnt work for the first Nazis and it doesn’t fly now. Maybe one of these days you will wake up and realize what a fool and a pawn you have been.

  • Anonymous

    what is your point?

  • Liberty

    Facist

  • Eee

    “I made up a phrase many years ago: What if they gave a war and nobody came?”

    You made that up? I thought it was Carl Sandburg…

  • Elim

    What’s yours? Do you want people like him to come back and become police officers? Or would you rather have them kill themselves? I’d rather our leaders stop abusing them by using them for immoral purposes.

  • Elim

    An economic draft? You mean a way for poor jobless people to have something to do that they get paid for, a place to sleep and (usually) three meals a day? Then I agree. At the present time, America is experiencing an economic draft, due to the destruction of the middle class.

  • Anonymous

    I must have missed the hundreds of thousands of civilians rioting outside the white house right? The demonstrations, mass recalls of politicians, the investigations and prosecution of YOUR elected officials…..

    The entire military is 1.5 million. The entire population of the United States as of 2009 was 307 million. How about you talk shit about the military once you and the other 305.5 billion sheeple get your shit together.

    We only go where you send us.

  • Elim

    I agree, if you’re going to off yourself, don’t leave the mess where someone you love will find it. That really was a dumbass move.

  • Elim

    The Sgt went over there for his own selfish reasons, not to save anyone else. Suicide is always the worst solution, but frankly, this man sounds like he was an adrenaline junkie.

  • James

    ?! who are you referring to?

  • James

    Worthless scum, you ungrateful little nobody. Die slowly.

  • Anonymous

    And we can only hope some of those patriots have more shit on the ball than you do Bob. You better do some research before you drift off to sleep tonight thinking this country is invincible and that somewhere there is some volunteer dumb enough to give his life to protect your ungrateful ass.

  • Anonymous

    I don’t know where you came up with your bullshit numbers…. But here are some real ones based upon actual FACTS.

    The highest percentage of military Volunteers protecting your right to lie out your ass on a public forum is an E-4 w/4 yrs active duty.

    His monthly take home in 2010 was $2200 a month. He has no union, gets no overtime He works on average a 60 hour week which makes his hourly wage about $9.00 an hour.

    When….not if…. he get injured…he will have to PROVE any injury he recieves was a direct result of his service to this country. And will have to accept whatever “percentage” the VA says he is entitled to. He can’t file a work comp claim, he won’t be sitting home drawing a work comp check and he can’t sue his employer.

    If he stays around for 20 years to retire he will get 1/2 of his base pay at retirement. If he is injured and is granted any disability… He too will only recieve a partical percentage based upon whatever the VA dictates.

    But what most people never take the time to find out is…..that retired military actually pay for their own disability. Whatever compensation the VA awards is deducted from his DOD retirement check…..sent to the VA and they send it to him as a “disability check”. Its not IN ADDITION TO..his retirement……its IN LIEU of.
    Tell me of a civilian organization were that shit will fly?

    Your claims of SOARING wages is pure Bullshit.
    This is what an E-4 over 4 has made for the past 10 yrs. Keep in mind…this is monthly. He doesn’t get extra for 60 hours, He doesn’t get overtime. He works when and where they tell him to go for as long as they tell him to go there. And for that this is what he gets paid per month.

    2000…$1497
    2006…$1935
    2007…$1978
    2008…$2047
    2009…$2128
    2010…$2200

    If his gets married he has a choice of either living in base quarters…. which most people don’t want to do. Its something you wouldn’t understand unless you lived in one.

    The current rate before taxes for a housing allowance in Jacksonville, NC. is $1047.00.
    So for a married E-4 his total monthly income before taxes in 2010 is $2247.00 a month

    I’ve lived in military communities for 20 years and they…and more specifically Jacksonville…is not the “wonderful” place this lieing geo moron is painting a picture of.

    Reality is…if you want to go drinking, pawn your stero, buy a piece of crap used car, see a strip show or get a tatoo…
    then a military town is right where you want to live.

    Its also where your average married E-4 with 2 kids qualifies for food stamps.

    According to the US DEPT of Labor Statistics the AVERAGE hourly wage in 2006 was $20.30 an hour and in 2010 it was $22.60 an hour… an increase of about 10% For the E-4 in 06 $12.09 an hour for 40 hrs and in 2010 $13.75 an hour. And at $2200 a month it is STILL $852 a month ccording to the US DEPT of Labor Statistics the AVERAGE hourly wage in 2006 was $20.30 an hour and in 2010 it was $22.60 an hour…
    and increase of about 10% For the E-4 in 06 1935 and in 2010 2200 and increase of 13%. And at $2200 a month it is STILL $852 a month L E S S than the average production/nonsupervisory wage in the U.S. in 2010. A more realistic comparison would be to compare the $2200 a month to someone else who works in a hazardous job. A policeman in 2010 made $4080 a month. Almost twice as much.

    In order to “meet or exceed” the recruiting goals. The military had to reduce the number of “acceptable” felonies, raise the entrance age to 52 and “stop loss” service members in country regardless of what their enlistment contract said.

    All of this was necessary DESPITE THE FACT that total military strength IS AT AN ALL TIME HISTORIC LOW

    The numbers are so low that service members are seeing 4 and 5 tours. This has NEVER happened before…. EVER. NEVER in the history of this country has service men and women EVER been asked to repeated put themselves in a hostile situation.

    GEO…you are proof that figures can lie and liars can figure. and that’s being kind considering some of your numbers are out right lies.

    In WWII there were 16 million people in the military.
    During the Korean War. 5.7 million
    During the Viet Nam war. 8.7 million.
    First Gulf War. 2.2 million
    Currently 1.4 million.

    I’m not sure if some of you morons see the danger here?

    Chinas active duty military 2.2 million
    Indias active duty military 1.3 million
    Russia active duty military 1.2 million
    North Korea active duty military 1.1 million
    Iran active duty military .5 million

    If this trend continues… all of you between the age of 17 and 52 will get the chance to “serve” your country.

  • Jack Burton

    The USA should have a draft that only takes kids from rich, white, conservative families. You would see how quickly the American war machine would suddenly become the American peace machine.

  • Ronk092

    No. The Iraq war was calculated to get rid of the strongest Arab enemy of Israel –for Israel and of course at the expense of America

  • Anonymous

    Bob you and me can both agree on one thing for certain.

    You are clueless. And I mean that in a really nice way LOL

  • Anonymous

    What the fuck are you talking about “this troop”…? Do you know what a “troop” is moron? I doubt it. When you get your head out of your ass then come back at me. Until then keep quiet and let people think you’re stupid instead of opening your mouth and confirming it!

  • Anonymous

    meh they sign up to serve in the military, no one puts a gun to their heads and makes them. Yes I would like to see our leaders stop doing a lot of things but it’s not gonna happen ms. barcode.

  • Danny Horn23

    THIS IS THE REAL SIDE OF WAR, WE KNOW FOR OURSELFS, VEITNAM DAN HORN

  • Matt

    A troop is just another word for a soldier. A soldier is a word for some one who is in the Army. NG functions as a part of the Army, especially during basic training and AIT when active duty trainees, reserve trainees, and national guard trainees are treated the same and called the same. At least that is how it was for my 6 years of active Army. So yeah, may know what I am talking about… prick.

  • Matt

    Also, a troop is the same as a company in a Cav unit. Just encase you want to be special.

  • Anonymous

    Check the dictionary ….ASSHOLE!

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