Monthly Archives: September 2006

We did get a bike ride in today.  We’ve gone for a ride the last 3 days.  Today was a bitch for the ride.  I had worked my ass off last night and did a ton of walking, so I was sore as hell today but I made it.

I didn’t get any work done today, but we did get about half our packing done.  I’m fearful to gather the rest of the stuff…….where I am I going to put it all?!?  icks

I have a work meeting to attend tomorrow.  I have a 1-2 hr drive ahead of me, that part really doesn’t bother me, it is that I’m not familiar with the area.  I so hope that I’m not late for it.
Straight to the Heart
Battle Cries: For U.S. troops and their wives and children, the Iraq war’s invisible costs just keep on piling up

Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld got a taste of this rage and frustration in August when he met with family members of the 172nd at Fort Wainwright, near Fairbanks, Alaska. In a video of the meeting obtained by NEWSWEEK, one woman asked him why the 172nd was spending most of its time clearing houses, instead of patrolling the streets in the relative safety of the big armored vehicles. “My husband hasn’t set foot in his Stryker since he arrived in Baghdad,” she said. “Over 90 percent of the house clearings are being handled by the Iraqis,” Rumsfeld responded, whereupon women in the audience began shouting “No!” and “That’s not true!” Flummoxed, Rumsfeld shot back, “No? What do you mean? Don’t say ‘No,’ that’s what I’ve been told. It’s the task of the Iraqis to go through the buildings.”

The 4-23’s soldiers say they, not the Iraqis, do 95 percent of the searches. “I’d like to punch [Rumsfeld] in the gut,” says one seasoned NCO on his second Iraq tour. “He treats us like we’re not human. He acts like he’s not destroying families.” 

***Sounds like Rumsfeld is living in a bubble and doesn’t have a clue, but we knew that.

Study: Gulf War Syndrome Doesn’t Exist.

There is no such thing as Gulf War syndrome, even though U.S. and foreign veterans of the war report more symptoms of illness than do soldiers who didn’t serve there, a federally funded study concludes.