No end in site Options

[Mommy]

I know we have to be there right now, but man this is scary, especially the first option the author mentions. I guess it just hits home even moreso now because my husband is in the army. He gets restationed in August, and there is a 20% chance it could be in Iraq. That's a pretty low possibility, but if we stay in Iraq for the next decade or so, I'm positive he will go sometime. Thoughts anyone? What do you see happening?

http://news.yahoo.com/s/csm/20080318/ts_csm/airaqone

[impala454]

I hate to give you something to worry about, but I have pretty close ties to a similiar situation. My sister's husband is a captain in the army (out of ft sill, lawton, ok), and has spent 2.5 of their 8 years married overseas. 1 year in Korea and 15 months in Iraq. The Army was good to them though, as he was scheduled to deploy to Iraq in November 2006, and my sister had been scheduled to deliver their first child in November. The Army let him stay behind through Christmas and deploy end of December instead. So he did get to be there for his son's birth, but was gone for the first 15 months of his life. He just got home from Iraq in mid-February though, and supposedly will be able to stay stateside for a minimum of 3 years.

As far as the article is concerned, I see a few things that I suppose are kind of "scare" factors that really shouldn't be.

Overseeing all this are perhaps 30,000 to 50,000 US troops, deployed in Iraq for years, maybe decades.

This may sound terrible, but it is the norm with war. Not sure how accurate this is, but it shows we currently have 37,500 troops in Korea and 47,000 in Japan, wars which ended in 1953 and 1945 respectively. I don't think there is such thing as a war which is fought and won where the victors completely abandon the battlefield and leave it to the surrendered. I wouldn't imagine Iraq to be the first one.

[Dogmeat]

the iraq war will end as soon as the american public stops being a bunch of fucking panzies and supports a draft and supports us just taking the fuck over the entire god damned middle east.

[Seeker]

i wonder how many puppies your husband will kill

[Dogmeat]

i wonder how many puppies your husband will kill

eleventy billion and two.

[Mommy]

i wonder how many puppies your husband will kill

As I told you before, Lance, he isn't going to be in combat. He works in laboratories studying blood, urine, etc specimens.

[Oasis]

As I told you before, Lance, he isn't going to be in combat. He works in laboratories studying blood, urine, etc specimens.

Jessica get on aim

I'm gonna have everyone pissed at me if she doesn't see this soon

[Mommy]

I hate to give you something to worry about, but I have pretty close ties to a similiar situation. My sister's husband is a captain in the army (out of ft sill, lawton, ok), and has spent 2.5 of their 8 years married overseas. 1 year in Korea and 15 months in Iraq. The Army was good to them though, as he was scheduled to deploy to Iraq in November 2006, and my sister had been scheduled to deliver their first child in November. The Army let him stay behind through Christmas and deploy end of December instead. So he did get to be there for his son's birth, but was gone for the first 15 months of his life. He just got home from Iraq in mid-February though, and supposedly will be able to stay stateside for a minimum of 3 years.

As far as the article is concerned, I see a few things that I suppose are kind of "scare" factors that really shouldn't be.

This may sound terrible, but it is the norm with war. Not sure how accurate this is, but it shows we currently have 37,500 troops in Korea and 47,000 in Japan, wars which ended in 1953 and 1945 respectively. I don't think there is such thing as a war which is fought and won where the victors completely abandon the battlefield and leave it to the surrendered. I wouldn't imagine Iraq to be the first one.

Well, I have heard rumors that families are allowed to go to Iraq now with deployed soldiers as long as they stay within certain areas at all times. Families are not allowed to go to Afghanistan or Korea though. That's just what I heard. Don't know the truthfullness of it. I don't think I would go to Iraq though unless he was going to be sent there for a year and a half. Most people in his MOS go there for 6 month tours.

[impala454]

Yeah you're correct on Korea I know for sure (kinda makes me wonder how tense the situation over there really is). Not sure about 6 month tours. My bro-in-law also was not in the fighting, he worked for a general at camp victory I believe, but he was sent off under the guise of a 12 month tour, which was extended to 15 months. I believe 15 months is the standard tour now.

[jonathan83]

I see military families in Korea all the time. Kids, wives, etc.
Hard to believe they're all just visiting and not living here.

Wait a sec, now I know that's wrong. There are freaking international schools here for the military kids.... Whoever told you guys that families couldn't come are wrong.

[jonathan83]

btw, as far as how "tense" the situation is...of course I don't know about all the military stuff, but I do know that there's no ongoing combat or anything like that. The soldiers here have it pretty easy. I'd compare it to the same standard of life soldiers have in any of the other countries we have troops in (Japan, Germany, etc.)

[jonathan83]

ahh i just found an article about the situation. never knew this but this explains it: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/10/world/as...d-military.html

summary:

General Bell’s concept, a reversal of decades of deployment policy for South Korea, also reflects a strategic assessment that troops are less vulnerable than they once were to attack from the North — and that such an attack itself is less likely today, given the enduring American presence as a deterrent and the growth in both the size and sophistication of South Korea’s armed forces.

About 90 percent of the 28,500 troops now deployed to South Korea are not authorized to bring families; most of those who can are among the more senior-level officers.

General Bell disclosed that about 2,000 military families had set up independent living, at their own expense, in Seoul and surrounding areas, in order to be near the bases where spouses was assigned.

American military commanders in South Korea have quietly allowed these children into Defense Department schools, and do not deny these family members medical care at American bases.

guess we were both right

[impala454]

heheh

[Psykopath]

the iraq war will end as soon as the american public stops being a bunch of fucking panzies and supports a draft and supports us just taking the fuck over the entire god damned middle east.

we'll get right on that, Adolf.

[impala454]

we wouldn't cook em, just take em over