"A Wonderful Time To Be A Soldier"

-
This outstanding essay- from Sgt Joe Roche, U.S. Army- reminds us of what we already know... but it is very good to be reminded by someone like this. (Hat tip to SAJ.)

[[ I'm very proud to be a soldier of the U.S. Army because of the war on terror and our missions in Iraq and Afghanistan. I'm not alone either. I'm surrounded by soldiers who are re-enlisting and volunteering to go to units that are deploying. In fact, despite all the negative news and protests, I see everyday that our military is actually doing very well.

This is quite obvious, except for the fact that most of the media seems asphyxiated with defeatism. The message from most journalists would lead you to believe that we soldiers are getting out, that no one is joining anew and that we want to stop fighting. This simply isn't true.

The fact is that we are not experiencing casualty rates anywhere near past conflicts, nor for that matter as bad as during peacetime. There were weeks in Vietnam when 350-400 Americans died, and in other wars thousands would die in single battles. Nothing like that is happening now.

From 1983 to 1996, more than 18,000 soldiers died. That averages to more than 1,300 a year, far more than have been killed in Iraq and Afghanistan each year. Yes, that was mostly from accidents, drunk driving and other mishaps. Yet, while protesters in Crawford, Texas and elsewhere would have you think that our military can't survive with the low casualty rates of this war, I wonder why they were willing to accept the much higher peacetime casualty rates of the past? We lost around 3,000 innocent people on September 11, and with four years of war and the toppling of two regimes, we haven't lost that many in combat. ]] (LINK to superb column - may need free registration)

To help back up Sgt Roche's words, here is a good article on reenlistment figures- along with some good words from a General. (LINK to article)

I love this part:

[[ "The negative drumbeat that we hear is not helpful," General Schoomaker said. "The overemphasis on the negative is not helpful."

"I personally believe this is a very important undertaking," he said.

"It is very important to the security of our nation that we be successful. I think people are being very short-sighted who don't understand that. ]]

How's that for a controlled understatement?

-