Comments on: 'War weary' – What are you complaining about?!

By: Raine

Raine — Wed, 15 Oct 2008 14:51:04 +0000

I get really angry at people stating that their tax dollars support/pay for the military's paychecks. We pay taxes as well! And I won't even address the idiot who implied that military wives are the same as individuals on welfare.( Ignorance comes to mind.)
Many people volunteer to join the armed services to support their country, just as others are looking for school benefits, a possible career, support that they may have not had in their upbringing. Pretty much, reasons for why all Americans do the jobs they do, live where they want to live. Why the condemnation?
I think this writer is asking for a little understanding, not sympathy. And, I too agree, that there will always be people who talk the talk, and those who walk the walk. Freedom isn't free, funny how there are alot of Americans are always trying to get something free or at a reduced cost. Hey, why should I go, when someone else will? No compassion, why are so many people so hard?
You know, there will never be peace in this world..... people find a reason to dislike, even hate others because of stupid reasons. And for this, I am truly weary, truly saddened.

By: Jennifer

Jennifer — Wed, 15 Oct 2008 14:46:00 +0000

Rebekah, your thoughts and feelings are well-written here. I'm a local Fort Bragg wife and mom, and I keep up with your Observer blogs (as much as a full time career, school, and children allow that is). You know I'm your sister girl, but I would have to disagree with your assessment of most civilians not knowing someone in the military. Between our active duty, guard, and reserve forces from every town and city, big and small, I think more could rattle off a name or two than we think.
People are war weary because the majority of Americans, according to CNN's own polls, do not support the war in Iraq and a lot of them never have (even before the casualty rates starting to climb and it became more unpopular). They feel their tax dollars are being spent on a cause they do not approve of. Well guess what....my tax dollars are spent on causes I do not approve of... like giving money to women who constantly pop out children they cannot support. My tax dollars are spent to give welfare to people who should not be able to collect it, instead of making them work for something like the rest of it. My tax dollars are spent paying college tuition for people who have never worked, yet I work full time and have to pay full tuition along with it...you get my drift.

I am weary of being mom & dad at the same time, of shouldering the responsibility myself, but it comes with the territory. Your husband enlisted after 9/11 so you knew exactly what you were getting into and I applaud you for sticking with it both for him and your children. You and I both see these wives running around Fayetteville while their husbands are deployed, and it is not a pretty sight. My husband has been active duty army for 14 years, he joined long before 9/11. We married in 2000, never imagining the time he would be away in just a year from then. But you know it's always a possibility and you just live with it. Both he and I were not supporters of war in Iraq. But Iraq is where we are, and we must now lie in the bed that was made.
I do agree that many people cannot possibly understand the full extent of the sacrifice soldiers make, to include families. How could they possibly? I support my husband and his job 100% as I know you do.

And did someone say that military families get free health insurance? Are you kidding me? So this guy's employer doesn't cover any part of his health insurance then? My husband tracking those directly responsible for 9/11 for months through various countries and continents does not earn his kid a teeth-cleaning every once in a while? Seriously, bud. I have to laugh anytime someone says the military families get free healthcare. There is nothing free about it my friends, believe it. Hang in the Rebekah, we love ya

By: veni vedi

veni vedi — Wed, 15 Oct 2008 00:13:59 +0000

Sanderlin sleeps with the US flag and uses it to get what she so desperately wants–sympathy.

The real soldiers are quiet professionals that do their job. They are the one's that deserve the respect, not the ones that demand it.

The Iraqi war is a futile joke. Started by a prankster. If she could just accept the contradiction.

She would serve her family better if she would spend time with her kids rather than begging for love on blogs and spewing rhetoric on NPR.

By: B

Tue, 14 Oct 2008 23:39:19 +0000

Brilliant article! We don't hear the military families' side of the story.

By: Mary

Mary — Tue, 14 Oct 2008 00:40:23 +0000

It is not the job of the military or the media to pay "equal attention" to Iraq and Afghanistan when the operations are so vastly different in size.

It should have been the job of this administration to at least divide resources between the two. Of course, if we are speaking of the Global War on Terror, the best plan would have been to focus primarily on Afghanistan.

My husband has done two tours in Iraq. I am weary. I wonder if perhaps I would feel differently if he had gone to Afghanistan. It's impossible to know.

By: John Rock

John Rock — Tue, 14 Oct 2008 00:15:31 +0000

I have great respect for you and your family and feel for the pain and sacrifice that you have endured.

I am afraid that the tragedy of disconnect here lies in a fundamental difference in the perception of what the reality is here. I dare not speak for all people opposed to this war, but I do feel that my opinion is shared by many. It is no doubt difficult for families of soldiers to entertain, let alone accept, and it is this:

This war is nothing less than imperial aggression. We are occupying a foreign land for the purpose of securing the oil production for the western oil companies, and building permanent military bases from which to launch more invasions in the future. Everything the current administration has said about freedom, democracy and terrorism is propaganda to justify and cover up their imperial and illegal aggression. Whether things might get worse if we pulled out is irrelevant because our presence is unjustified and serving a corrupt agenda and our leaders are not trying to make things better, they are biding their time as they build bases and steal oil.

The sacrifices our soldiers have made are tragically not being made in pursuit of a worthy cause, however painful that is to accept, but are instead being made so the greedy and powerful can get richer and more powerful at the expense of hundreds of thousands of lives.

On top of that, the cost of this war is bankrupting our country.

This is why the only way to support our troops to stop this war, bring them home and not allow them to be used in such malicious ways.

John
NYC

By: Barry

Barry — Tue, 14 Oct 2008 00:15:08 +0000

I am an Afghan vet and have just packed my bags for my second deployment. I can tell you that I and my family am extremely "war weary". I am also very weary of individuals such as yourself insinuating that anyone who disagrees with our decision to invade a country that was no threat to us is somehow unpatriotic and should head down to the nearest recruiting office and sign up for a tour. Civilians have every right to be weary of this Bush/Cheney fiasco and I applaud every one of them that speaks their mind. If we all unite perhaps we can put an end to this useless, resource draining, Iraq war and somehow pull a victory out in Afghanistan (the real war on terror).

By: Craig

Craig — Mon, 13 Oct 2008 23:49:37 +0000

Rebekah,

My heart is with your family and friends and I thank you for all you have given. I agree with your article and while I am not able to enlist anymore I volunteer my time every week doing what I can. It annoys me to no end the people that criticize and complain and yet barely lift a finger help their community and nation. Their idea of giving is just pay a bit more taxes and let someone else deal with handing it out. Or better yet, let someone else with more money pay the taxes too. I too think there have been major mistakes with this war and I do believe there are people in the government and large businesses that are manipulating the American people for profit, but those that just want to stick their head in the sand and pretend that it will all go away, those that think all we need to do is bring our troops home and life will be warm and fuzzy again, those that think we can sit down with vicious animals and talk it out, those that think that if we just mind our own business they won't hate us...are ensuring that it's only a matter of time before the war is right here in our backyards. Oh wait... I forgot this war has nothing to do with freedom.

God Bless You!

By: Wendy

Wendy — Mon, 13 Oct 2008 23:39:34 +0000

I'm a former military brat, wife of a 24 year veteran(special forces) we have 1 son who is to be deployed next summer, a son in law(whose dad is a retired veteran) who will be deployed in Feb. Our youngest plans to enlist when he is out of high school. I know all about what the families have to give up when you are married to someone in the military.

My husband and I spent the first 5 years of our marriage more apart than we were together. I never whined and cried about. Did I hate that he missed the birth of his 4th child of course or when he missed the first day of school. He missed a lot of firsts. Is my son in law going to miss a lot of firsts with my granddaughter yes he is. He missed her birth. But you know what just like my husband and my son he signed his name on the dotted line. Just like my daughter and I signed our name on our marriage cert. We all knew there would be a lot of sacrifices all around but this is the life we chose. Is my daughter going to whine and cry because he isn’t there NO because she knew what she was getting into before she married her husband. She knows her part is to take care of her family even if she is doing it by herself.

So in closing am I going to thank you for your sacrifice NO because you made a choice to be a military spouse and all that comes with it. So put your big girl panties on and deal with it.

One side note on your comment “For the last seven years our elected officials haven’t thought enough of you to ask you to pitch in. They haven’t, so I will.” While they may not have asked outright the government has paid out $750 million in fiscal year 2008 in recruitment bonuses. The only way to get that money is from our elected officials. You know the ones who vote on the DOD budget and then send it to the president to sign. That is their @ss backwards way of asking.

By: Steff

Steff — Mon, 13 Oct 2008 23:28:47 +0000

I would like to comment to Sean- the elitist who calls Rebekah a "simple woman"... you know NOTHING of patriotism... your tired liberal mantra of "questioning the governments agenda is true patriotism isn't the same as not supporting the troops" grows WEARY to military families. You should be angry, not at Rebekah, but at the liberals of this country that want to forget 9/11. The liberals that want to forget Bin Laden. The liberals that don't want to inform themselves about the mosques going up left and right in the Phillipines, South America, and Africa. You should be angry for being such an uninformed chauvinist that has probably NEVER served anyone but himself a day in his life. You should be angry that your parents didn't teach you to respect and honor the ones that give you the right to blog and run your mouth and have your uninformed political views and you should be angry that you have to look in the mirror every day at a COWARD!!! You, sir, are a simple simple little man!!! I know Rebekah and her family... her husband is an American hero... doubt that word has EVER been attached to your name!!

By: SGT. York

SGT. York — Mon, 13 Oct 2008 23:14:48 +0000

Rebekah – I think the problem is that many of the people here don't think there needs to be a response to terror. Like LRV, I've "been there and done that". I've seen what we're up against up close and personal. If you or someone you love has, then you "get it".
God Bless – Airborne!

By: Rob

Rob — Mon, 13 Oct 2008 23:00:26 +0000

An interesting article, but you miss the key point. We are involved in two wars now for essentially no reason. Iraq was a conflict built on GWB lies, and being there will serve this country. One could argue that being in Afghanistan has merit, or not.

In any case, your husband and his fellow soldiers all volunteered to go where they are told and kill who they are told to kill. If he had not done so, and gotten a job in the civilian world, your family wouldn't have the troubles it has.

The best thing for all involved would be an immediate pullout of all US troops. We'd stop wasting money and stop killing innocent civilians.

Rob

By: jschmidt

jschmidt — Mon, 13 Oct 2008 22:40:25 +0000

Great article- most people don't realize the sacrifice of the soldiers and their families. Some don't want to know. But you foot the burden of ensuring our freedoms and following the orders of the elected officials. The soldiers are their to do the mission and they do it well. 95% of the populace applauds the service and sacrifice. I'm not sure the media appreciates it. They are best at reporting bad news and many it seem go out of their way to report the worst and this could all be due to political reasons. But whatever the reason, not having the good news reported makes you and your families job harder. And you don't deserve that.

By: LRB

LRB — Mon, 13 Oct 2008 22:22:45 +0000

Ted – You too, my fellow American, are totally clueless. No one is going to question the how's and why's of why we went to Iraq, but to think that they are not better off is just wrong. I guess you've "been there and done that", huh? If so, you would see the change in the eyes of Iraq's future – their youth. War is hell, and yes, I've been there and done that – for over 20 years, but the end state is that we have ousted a cruel and horrible dictator to give Iraq a chance in their future, something I guess, you were willing to turn a blind eye to. As for this war being over big oil, have you seen gas prices lately?

And you are right about one thing – they would still be living in fear of Saddam Hussein...

By: Rebekah Sanderlin

Rebekah Sanderlin — Mon, 13 Oct 2008 21:51:12 +0000

I appreciate all the comments being made here, and many of you make some really good points. But I do think I should remind several of you all that this is a war on TWO fronts. Most of the comments here refer only to Iraq. I didn't write this commentary to voice an opinion on the Iraq invasion. Rather, it's a commentary on the public response to the Global War on Terror.
It's been a great frustration of mine for the last few years that the US media and population have largely ignored the fighting in Afghanistan, as that is where my husband has spent his three GWOT deployments. Perhaps if the attention (both military and from the public and media) that was paid to Iraq had been divided more evenly among both fronts to the war, Afghanistan would have remained a success story.

By: Ted

Ted — Mon, 13 Oct 2008 21:42:26 +0000

This is most ridiculous thing I have ever read. The notion that if you do not have anyone you know or love doing the fighting, then we should not be weary of this war of aggression by our country. Contrary to what you and the likes of you believe, we do care what is happening to the men and women of our armed forces. We also care for the lives of ordinary Iraqis lives wasted senselessly. Especially, since we invaded their country on the pretense of finding WMD. When in fact there were no WMD. Our leaders who told us that there exists WMD flatly lied to us not to save us or humanity, but to exploit Iraqis resources by their big oil clients. If you still believe that the Iraqis are better off today that they were under Saddam Hussein then you are as clueless if not more as Gov. Palin. Remember that had we not invaded Iraq, ordinary Iraqis would not have fear their neighbors as they do now. They would not be asking for protection from their fellow country men.

By: rick

rick — Mon, 13 Oct 2008 21:41:33 +0000

A great perspective from you and its amazing how much resolve the military and military families have-unlike most Americans in this country. I am not in the miltary and do not know anyone in the miltary, however, I have always have had great respect for those that serve.
Especially now! And Iraq is ajust a great example of how decades
of "Not doing anything" results in toxic layers of corruption, greed, oppression, brutality, crime and terrorism. And the world seems
surprised for some reason that it may take many years to stabilize, and remove that threat. Just for that fact alone, I am not war weary, but
more importantly, like you, I have no right to be war weary, when i'm not actually doing the fighting. There is just something fundamentally wrong when only a certain segment of the population is doing the fighting and the other significant part of the country is sitting on the couch with their game boxes, and complaining about the mismanagement of the war. Heck, most families can't even manage
their 2.3 kids. And its really sad that i dont hear enough people say that they want this country to win this conflict. And by the way, great work on the surge and its success.(you know,"The Pivotal" part of the war that every media outlet made it to be(and is), but hardly hear of since its success). Safety to you and your family.

By: Willie L. Steed

Willie L. Steed — Mon, 13 Oct 2008 21:39:33 +0000

Those in the military are victums of the folly of politicians to peacefully resolve difficulties between peoples. Your words should not be directed toward the American people but toward our present and past politicians who have made our path to the present condition. I feel that the root of our present terrorist problem is the failure to bring Israel and the Palestineans to terms. It appears that many in Israel want to
seek all the land that was promised by the Old Testament rather than only the land provided by the UN when Israel was made a state by the United Nations. Terrorism as we know it wil likely to continue until Israel backs away from land acquisition and the Palestinians are provided statehood. I wish our service members well; but I am not optimistic that terrorism will be defeated so long as there is a shread of injustice in their minds. However; we took the land of the American Indian and when they protested we killed them until they submitted the land. Maybe Israel will likewise be successful. We should have some influence on our friends or maybe choose to be even handed between friends. I hope you will consider my comments to be constructive.

By: Charles

Charles — Mon, 13 Oct 2008 21:38:50 +0000

Why do you think that the war in Afghanistan gets little attention and even less resources even though the people responsible for 9/11 planned and executed the attack from there? Could it be because they have no oil? Why did we attack and occupy Iraq and invest billions even though they had nothing to do with 9/11. Why does McCain want to stay there for 100 years? Could it be oil? Enjoy your Hummers.

By: Paul

Paul — Mon, 13 Oct 2008 21:30:18 +0000

Hi Rebekah,
I, too, come from a military family where my dad was gone for most of my life trying to win that tragic war in Vietnam. A war that started a long time ago and a war that went from being a 'right' war against the spread of communism to a complete and utter foreign policy blunder.

The war you descibe, the war on terror, is George Bush's war, and he has you and your family and so many other families doing a job that is thankless. Our president sent us into Iraq when the real and correct response to 9/11 was to wage a complete and powerful war against Osama Bin Laden and his terrorist organization...not a war against Saddam Hussein in Iraq!

Civilians are 'war weary' b/c many of us see the tragedy of this costly mistake...the loss of lives, the devastation, the financial cost. And still, Osama Bin Laden lives on making a mockery of the US and the west. Some of us don't buy the 'war on terror' as being the right war...in the same way the public turned against the war against the spread of communism in the 60's...

Poor judgement and bad decisions on the part of politicians caused the debacle of Vietnam and today, George Bush's war is heading in the same direction.

So please forgive us for growing war weary with Iraq...a war waged against a made up enemy when the real enemy still causes destruction, still taunts the US and the west, and grows in new places like Iraq b/c of Bush's mismanagement.

Those of you in the military have chosen a noble path...a job that involves protecting America and the freedoms it is founded on. But you are fighting a war that just doesn't make sense to the world and to many Americans. Please forgive our apathy, it's not personal.