Last week, a fellow Soldier approached me and informed me of a deeply disturbing situation. The Soldier had an appointment with behavioral health (mental) at Womack Army Medical Center at Fort Bragg, North Carolina this week. Friday, the Soldier got a call from the hospital saying that due to "schedule adjustments" her appointment had be cancelled and that they would be "unable to reschedule anytime soon". She was given no window for when to expect to hear from them again and no referral to any other DoD or civilian agency or service.
That is if we want to be. First, let’s address the fallacy of the argument. Of course you can be pro-troop and anti-war. You can be anything you’d like to be. As a matter of fact, I’m anti-cold but pro-ice cream; anti-snoring but pro-sleep; and even anti-Sting but pro-The Police. To argue that any of these two ideas are mutually exclusive is just as ignorant and ridiculous as arguing that one cannot be anti-war and pro-troop.
If you haven't been following this story, Bill O'Reilly has claimed on Fox News' "The O'Reilly Factor" that there aren't many homeless veterans in America.
According to the National Alliance to End Homelessness, on a given night in 2006, 195,826 veterans were homeless. Overall, 336,627 veterans were homeless in 2006.
I’m sure we all remember when the admistration got this egg on their face:
A new National Intelligence Estimate (NIE) released today concludes with "high confidence" that "in fall 2003, Tehran halted its nuclear weapons program." From the report’s findings:
We assess with moderate confidence Tehran had not restarted its nuclear weapons program as of mid-2007, but we do not know whether it currently intends to develop nuclear weapons.
We continue to assess with moderate-to-high confidence that Iran does not currently have a nuclear weapon.
Tehran’s decision to halt its nuclear weapons program suggests it is less determined to develop nuclear weapons than we have been judging since 2005
Kennedy is 11 months old. She has two teeth, crawls, and walks when her momma holds her hands. She can say "Momma" "Dadda" and a word the slightly resembles "bottle". Kennedy was born on Groundhog Day. Since then she has lived in what is known as a "broken home"; she does not live with both her parents.
But Kennedy’s parents are not divorced, or even separated. They are happily married and have been for over two years.
Being a good liberal veteran, I subscribe to the VoteVets.org newsletter. Upon checking my email first thing this morning, I noticed I had received an email from Peter Granato and our very own Brandon Friedman (aka The Angry Rakkasan). The email contained a brief on the highlights of a recent VoteVets.org meeting in DC and a referral to the website RestedAndReady.com.
I was surprised, and not pleasantly, by what I found when I clicked the link.
I’m sitting in an office friends let me borrow when I’m in town. There is a computer I can use to check in on work affairs, a phone I can use to call my wife and even a cot in a spare room in case there are no vacancies available in local lodging. This all sounds very normal. Except, this office and I are both in Afghanistan, and tomorrow I go to America.
I, like all of you, am a proud self described liberal. Of all of the Edwards campaign donors last quarter who reported "Military" as their occupation, I am responsible for 10% of those donations. I recently overpaid, for a good cause, for an autographed book written by John Edwards to support Yearly Kos. My only child is named Kennedy. I have credentials. If you doubt this, look at my past diaries. I am no troll.
I also happen to be a Soldier, a Noncommissioned Officer, serving in an elite Army unit in Afghanistan.
I know I’m not the only active duty kossack here, and I definitely know there are a lot of veterans here. So speak up! Make yourself known! Tell your story! But remember OPSEC!
I am an admitted liberal, but I try to be an educated one (as I’m sure most of us do). So, when I can stomach it, I watch GOP TV (AKA Fox News), I check out Redstate and Free Republic time to time, and yes I read Drudge. Of all these, I usually check out Drudge the most because it is the lesser of all these evils. I can generally read it without consuming an entire bottle of Pepto.
So, when I’m at drudge I read their attacks on Edwards, which usually are a rehash of "He does a lot for poverty BUT HE GOT AN EXPENSIVE HAIRCUT!" I click on the headlines that say Gore bought endangered Chilean Sea Bass, but fail to mention that Gore in fact dined at a restaurant that also serves non-endangered, commercially raised Chilean sea bass. So when I saw this headline:
The Senate is debating the Levin-Reed Amendment to the defense appropriations bill which requires redeployment of troops out of Iraq within 120 days of enactment.
Harry Reid has requested a standard simple majority vote on the Levin-Reed Amendment to the Defense Authorization Bill.
Its come to my attention that a shocking number of Kossacks are ignorant to the existence of Cossacks.
The Cossacks are a traditional people who reside in Eastern Europe, specifically Ukraine and southern Russia. They are known for self-reliance, horsemanship, and military skill.
One of the greatest paradoxes I see in America today is the stronghold that conservatism currently has on the military. During a moment of brevity in a mission brief, I once heard a commander utter the phrase, "I don’t think anyone wants us to lose, except the Democrats. Does everyone agree with that?" I sat alone in a corner and listened to the affirming chuckles around the room. It seems odd to me that those who love this government organization which pays everyone of the same rank equally regardless of job or performance, issues everyone everything they need in identical make and model, and provides socialized healthcare for every Service Member and his/her dependents still regularly refer to progressives in general, and on occasion myself specifically, as "commies".
WASHINGTON -- A new threat assessment from U.S. counterterrorism analysts says that al Qaeda has used its safe haven along the Afghan-Pakistan border to restore its operating capabilities to a level unseen since the months before Sept. 11, 2001.
A counterterrorism official familiar with a five-page summary of the document -- titled "Al Qaeda Better Positioned to Strike the West" -- called it a stark appraisal. The analysis will be part of a broader meeting at the White House on Thursday about an upcoming National Intelligence Estimate.
Today is Monday. I wake up. Walk to the shower. Wash my head with a loofa and body wash because I haven’t had hair for a few months. Its too hot, to long of a walk to the barber, to much of a waste of money that I can be saving. Why do I need hair here? Who is there to impress?
I am an American Soldier.
I am a Warrior and a member of a team.
I serve the people of the United States, and live the Army Values.
I will always place the mission first.
I will never accept defeat.
I will never quit.
I will never leave a fallen comrade.
I am disciplined, physically and mentally tough,
Trained and proficient in my warrior tasks and drills.
I always maintain my arms, my equipment and myself.
I am an expert and I am a professional.
I stand ready to deploy, engage, and destroy, the enemies of the United States of America in close combat.
I am a guardian of freedom and the American way of life.
I am an American Soldier.
Perhaps before Fouad Ajami likens Scooter Libby to an American Soldier, he should actually review the Soldiers Creed.
