Why can we not take care of those who took care of us?

http://www.cnn.com/2009/LIVING/09/25/homeless.veterans/index.html

This story hits a nerve with me. My heart goes out to this woman. Many will roll there eyes at her claims of PTSD because nothing actually 'happened' to her during her tour in Iraq. Bullshit. When I was there, nothing happened to me either. As far as the Army goes, I had one of the safest jobs available (go Commo! You can talk about us but you can't talk without us! lol) in Iraq. I rarely left the FOB. When I did, the route we used had been swept (gone over and looked at for the presence of anything suspicious) before we went. Such is the life of a solider is my particular MOS and position.

Nonetheless, it is difficult to be on your guard ALL THE TIME. It is mentally and emotionally taxing to be ever vigilant- even if nothing ever happens. At one point, the FOB I was on took mortar fire everyday for weeks. Luckily, I was never in the area where the mortars hit when they did so. That doesn't mean the possibility was not constantly in my head- causing me to fall in bed exhausted some nights- even if the most I did that day was monitor computer systems. Even worse was the thought of one of my soldiers or friends being in the area of a mortar attack- that actually kept me up more than fear for myself.

Add to it that the poor woman in the above article had been sexually assaulted by soldiers of a higher rank than her and it gets even worse. How defeating one must feel to be away from all loved ones, in hostile territory, and then feel she can't trust even other soldiers who are on 'her side' because of her treatment in the past.

If I could, I would reach to this woman- offer her a place to stay, help her find a job and get back on her feet. I would do this for nothing other than to help a fellow soldier and one I can relate to more than others.

I too, have had superiors hit on me. I was luvky enough it didn't go further. One was an MP who I worked with. He spent several hours one da telling me about dirty little tactics that he used when he had road duty to get sexual favors from women. He laughed as he told me how gullible most Army wives are and how easy it was to get what he wanted (a blowjob usually) from wives scared that their husband's may get in trouble for their (the wife's) traffic violation.

Six months later, he pulled me over at 4a on a Friday night- I had not been drinking at all- I was the designated driver that night. He pulled me over for going two miles over the speed limit (37mph). After questioning me and my friends, he told me he was taking me to the station and allowed my friends to drive my car away from the spot. I told him there was no way in hell I was getting in a car alone with him and that if he was arresting me he needed to allow someone else to come along or he needed to call another officer because I remembered all the stories he had told me. I have great friends- they stayed. When he ordered me in the car and began driving, they hopped in my car and followed. He pulled over and called another officer to assist. Lucky me, I had a great chain of command who stood up for me. My 1SG came to the station and picked me up. I spilled the whole story including the duty I had with the MP and all the stuff he told me. Last I heard, he was allowed to only work at the gate and was not allowed to drive a squad car alone. Turns out, the situation with me was not the only bad thing hanging over his head. I don't know what happened to that MP; he was a SSG. I hope he was demoted- then I feel guilty for that thought because I had met his wife before. She was an angel- she brought home-made spaghetti to him when he had CQ. And always enough for his CQ runner as well (me- the night of all his talking). I hope he got kicked out of the Army- men like him make me sick and I don't believe they deserve to wear the uniform that I work hard to make look good and stand for morals. Asshole. And the same for the chain of command that failed the soldier is the story I linked to. Assholes. Every single one of them. Shame on them for not trying harder to help this woman.

I am finally cool!

So, I don't know much about blogging. I really have no need for the knowledge as I doubt anyone would want to follow my random ramblings anyway. Well, maybe my husband. But he would only do it in the hopes of gleaning information I had failed to mention to him in real life and then using it later (I read on your blog you spent 30 bucks on a new pair of shoes you didn't need! Stop griping at me for the 500 dollar plasma cutter- you spend money too, woman!). Haha. I crack myself up.

Anyway, I am finally cool because it seems all the 'cool' kids have blogs and, like in everything else, I am one of the last to join the elite group.

So, what do I hope to get out of this? I really have no expectations. Of course it would be great to be discovered as the next great writer and have my blog picked up and somehow make money from it because people the world over find my blog so interesting, well-written and relatable (is that a word?)- but yeah, I'm not delusional so I know it won't happen, lol.

Really I am writing because It is almost 4 in the morning, I am home alone with the kids and my husband, who returned from his fourth tour of duty in Iraq less than two weeks ago is at the bar- drowning his memories of the past year- the same as he has done after all previous deployments. It is snowing outside- the first I have seen this winter. I am hearing noises and the door alarm has gone off twice- though I have yet to see any prowlers. With hubbs being at the bar and me being paranoid because we live in a rural area and I am hearing (probably imagining) noises outside, I can't sleep. I'm surfing the internet, came across a couple interesting blogs and thought 'what the hell- I'll make my own."

The one that got to me most was of a 20 something Iraqi woman who despises Bush, and blames American soldiers for the crappy life she leads. At many points in her blog she states she has no compassion for them, cares not of the families left behind and pretty much thinks Iraq is worse because of us. My thoughts? OK lady. THe exact way you feel about American soldiers- many of us have come to feel about you and other Iraqis. And we blame you (Iraqis collectively) for causing us to feel that way. I use the term 'we' because I was once in the Army as well and served in Iraq myself. I did two enlistments and did not re-enlist again because Army life was finally getting in the way of my family obligations (I.E. being a mother to my child). But that is a story for another day. And I will probably get back to that dumb woman's blog as well.

Until then, welcome and enjoy. Night, all