I continuously hear folks BITCH about why we are in this war, what do we have to gain, why do our younguns have to die, why is the Pres deceiving us about his intentions? Maybe this is not appropriate to post, but I like to get the perspective from our guys and gals on the ground. I certainly wish this voice could be heard by all of the Cindy Sheehan types out there so maybe they could get a grasp on the reality of it all. Just my $.02, I'll get off of the soap box now!!
From a soldier in the 101st.
Posted on 12/06/2005 6:41:05 AM PST by Paratrooper
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http://www.freerepublic.com/~paratrooper/
Mom ,
Be my voice. I want this message heard. It is mine and my platoon's
to the country. A man I know lost his legs the other night. He is in
another company in our battalion. I can no longer be silent after watching
the sacrifices made by Iraqis and Americans everyday. Send it to a
congressman if you have to. Send it to FOX news if you have to. Let this
message be heard please.
My fellow Americans, I have a task for those with the courage and
fortitude to take it. I have a message that needs not fall on deaf
ears. A vision the blind need to see. I am not a political man nor one with
great wisdom. I am just a soldier who finds himself helping rebuild a
country that he helped liberate a couple years ago.
I have watched on television how the American public questions why
their mothers, fathers, brothers, and sisters are fighting and dying in a
country 9000 miles away from their own soil. Take the word of a
soldier, for that is all I am, that our cause is a noble one. The reason we
are here is one worth fighting for. A cause that has been the most
costly and sought after cause in our small span of existence on our little
planet.
Bought in blood and paid for by those brave enough to give the
ultimate sacrifice to obtain it. A right that is given to every man, woman,
and child I believe by God. I am talking of freedom.
Freedom. One word but yet countless words could never capture it's
true meaning or power. "For those who have fought for it, freedom has a
taste the protected will never know." I read that once and it couldn't be
more true. It's not the average American's fault that he or she is
"blind and deaf" to the taste of freedom. Most American's are born into their
God given right so it is all they ever know. I was once one of them. I
would even dare to say that it isn't surprising that they take for
granted what they have had all their life. My experiences in the military
however opened my eyes to the truth.
Ironically you will find the biggest outcries of opposition to our
cause from those who have had no military experience and haven't had to
fight for freedom. I challenge all of those who are daring enough to
question such a noble cause to come here for just a month and see it first
hand. I have a feeling that many voices would be silenced.
I watched Cindy Sheehan sit on the President's lawn and say that
America isn't worth dying for. Later she corrected herself and said Iraq
isn't worth dying for. She badmouthed all that her son had fought and
died for.
I bet he is rolling over in his grave.
Ladies and gentleman I ask you this. What if you lived in a country
that wasn't free? What if someone told you when you could have heat,
electricity, and water? What if you had no sewage systems so human
waste flowed into the streets? What if someone would kill you for
bad-mouthing your government? What if you weren't allowed to watch TV, connect
to the internet, or have cell phones unless under extreme censorship? What
if you couldn't put shoes on your child's feet? You need not to have a
great understanding of the world but rather common sense to realize that
it is our duty as HUMAN BEINGS to free the oppressed. If you lived that
way would you to want someone to help you????
The Iraqi's pour into the streets to wave at us and when we
liberated the cities during the war they gathered in the thousands to cheer, hug
and kiss us. It was what the soldier's in WW2 experienced, yet no one
questioned their cause!! Saddam was no better than Hitler! He
tortured and killed thousands of innocent people. We are heroes over here, yet
American's badmouth our President for having us here.
Every police station here has a dozen or more memorials for
officers that were murdered trying to ensure that their people live free. These
are husbands, fathers, and sons killed every day. What if it were your
country? What would your choice be? Everything we fight for is
worth the blood that may be shed. The media never reports the true HEROISM I
witness everyday in the Iraqi's. Yes there are bad one's here, but I assure
you they are a minuscule percent. Yet they are a number big enough to
cause worry in this country's future.
I have watched brave souls give their all and lose their lives and
limbs for this cause. I will no longer stand silent and let the "deaf and
blind" be the only voice shouting. Stonewall Jackson once said, "All that
I have, all that I am is at the service of the country." For these brave
souls who gave the ultimate sacrifice, including your son Cindy Sheehan, I
will shout till I can no longer. These men and women are heroes. Their
spirit lives on in their military and they will never be forgotten. They
did not die in vain but rather for a cause that is larger than all of us.
My fellow countrymen and women, we are not overseas for our country
alone but also another. We are here to spread democracy and freedom to
those who KNOW the true taste of it because they fight for it everyday. You
can see the desire in their eyes and I am honored to fight alongside them
as an Infantryman in the 101st Airborne.
Freedom is not free, but yet it is everyone's right to have. Ironic
isn't it? That is why we are here. Though you will always have the
skeptics, I know that most of our military will agree with this message.
PLease, at the request of this soldier spread this message to all you know. We
are in Operation Iraqi Freedom and that is our goal. It is a cause that I
and thousands of others stand ready to pay the ultimate sacrifice for
because, Cindy Sheehan, freedom is worth dying for, no matter what country
it is!
And after the world is free only then can we hope to have peace.
SGT Walter J. Rausch and 1st Platoon Charlie Co. 2/327 Infantry
Regiment
101st Airborne Division (Air Assault)
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