Quote:
Originally posted by khazadman:
Yes Ranger, it is. If I remember correctly it's called insubordination. And these whiners need to shut up. In the WWII the soldiers and sailors were gone for years. In the US some of them were gone from December of 41 to late 45, early 46. And with the UK and other allies it started in september of 39. These guys don't know what hardship is.
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I tend to agree, but I think there are reasons. In WWII, by the time the americans joined in, it was pretty obvious that this wasn't going to be a short or easy campaign. Pretty much everyone who was in the army knew they were going to be in hell for years, and with typical human resiliency, they (in general) knuckled down and got on with it.
However, things are different now. Thougn no firm return date was given, I can't help but think that the US military was convinced, down to a grass-roots trooper level, that this would be s short and embarassingly one-sided war (which it was), and that after that the Iraqis would be so happy and eager to take over on their own (and the US-led administration would not suck), that they would be back home soon. Instead, they are struck in Iraq, doing police duty and generally being target practice for every Iraqi lunatic with a gun and a grudge.
I can't help but feel that if the government and military leaders had pushed the "it'll be hard, and you may not be back for a long time, but it's all going to be worth it" line, the soldiers would not feel so cheated. instead, I get the feeling that the common thought in the military was "We're the US, and we'll whup these guys quick and be home in time for cornflakes." Hence, when the soldiers learn that the cornflakes part of the plan is being put on hold in a manner frightfully reminiscent of a Microsoft release date ("you'll be going home tomorrow ... next week ... next month for sure ... in about 6 months ... whenever we're ready, okay???"), they get pissed off.
Sometimes I just think that we in the west are a little to scared to be plain to our military forces and say, "Look, we're going to pound these guys in a stand up fight, but you're gonna be stuck there for months afterwards trying to rat out all the resistors." I actually think that if confronted with the honest line, the troops would be more of the opinion 'Well, this is what we signed up for', rather than the rather bitter 'They told us we'd be back in a joffy, but my plane tickets keep getting cancelled'
of course, I'm not in the military, so don't have much idea whether my instincts on this matter and what our guys were told going in are right or not. Ah well, that's what you get when you rely on a 24-year old introvert for his opinion on world matters [img]smile.gif[/img]