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Post by J Jack on Sept 4, 2007 21:59:56 GMT -5
Guys, today I broke down and cried. I read through the list of casualties in Iraq and just snapped. I felt anger like nothing else, I wanted to kill them, he ones who caused this. A good number of the U.S troops would have been my friends if we'd been in the same school, same town. I felt sick to my stomach, I felt overwhelming sadness, anger, passion, and so much more. But some of my thoughts, oh my. I mean they scared the people closest to me, the ones who know me. I'm shaking right now. All I could see was my best friend, lying in the dirt, bleeding shot by some insurgent, and all I want is for time to go back, that none of this ever happened. I ask for your prayer, for your prayer for their families, for them, that they be in heaven, living in eternal peace. Thanks guys, this is the only place right now for refuge. I just need to get this out and ask for your prayers.
God Bless,
Sabre3030
C.S HUA! Go get em bud. Go get em.
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Post by Christian Soldier on Sept 5, 2007 4:12:58 GMT -5
Prayers away! Thank you for your concern, I wish everyone cared as much as you.
God Bless-CS
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Post by jeffisontheroad on Sept 6, 2007 7:29:39 GMT -5
Thanks for your compassion, sabre, and for honoring us by letting us share it with you.
Folks, this is me, Jeff Gerke, writing. I'm not living at home right now and don't have access to my regular username. Living in a hotel while workers go after the mold in our home. That's why I've been out of communication for a while.
Jeff
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Post by Christian Soldier on Sept 6, 2007 10:56:14 GMT -5
Yea, Jeff! Get that mold! Hmm...give me a grid and I can take care of it....
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Post by jeffisontheroad on Sept 7, 2007 7:48:02 GMT -5
I'd like to have you do that, actually.
In the hotel here I met an army artillery man. How cool is that? I told him about you and asked if he'd be joining you, but he didn't know yet.
Jeff
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Post by Kristen on Oct 8, 2007 18:54:18 GMT -5
Guys, today I broke down and cried... Sabre, I used to get really annoyed with myself for crying, especially over people I didn't know. Not just on the news, either. I once went to pieces watching a documentary about World War I. Then once — this was back during the war in Kosovo — I started again, and got annoyed with myself again, and a wonderful woman at church said that if you can cry when other people are in pain, that's the Holy Spirit working in you. I had never thought of it that way, but now I see it's true. True empathy couldn't come from any other place. OK, I need a tissue now... |
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Post by Jeff Gerke on Oct 9, 2007 10:00:45 GMT -5
Another good note, Kristen.
Do you know that it was my tears over a massacre in Kosovo that led to the creation of my Operation: Firebrand series of novels? It's about a covert team that goes into these places and gets the children to safety. I only wish there had been a group like that for the babies killed in Kosovo.
Jeff
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Post by Teskas on Oct 9, 2007 20:41:50 GMT -5
This may not sound quite right, but it is nice to know other people have strong emotional reactions to news reports. Until I read these posts today, I thought I was the only one who had an emotional response. I've been living with the shame of it--I felt like such a coward. I have a physical aversion to reports about servicemen being injured. It is so bad, I experience real nausea and have to force myself to read the Internet news from Iraq and Afghanistan. Even then, I only skim read. Thank you all for sharing your reactions.
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Post by J Jack on Oct 9, 2007 21:04:26 GMT -5
Everytime I hear a soldiers song, read another article I cry. I don't care who knows. It hurts me to think my brothers through Christ knowing so much pain, it hurts to think my brothers in the military are dying for no real tangible cause anymore.
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Post by Christian Soldier on Oct 10, 2007 20:41:19 GMT -5
The thing is, we are here for a reason. A good one, even if the news media won't walk about it. It's the same reason we deployed in the first place.
Take a look at a map. See Iraq? Now look to the right: Iran. They've been wanting to nuke the US for years now. Israel, too, but they know what will happen to them if they do. Now look to the left: Syria, Saudi Arabia, Turkey. Syria is a hot bed of terrorism, many of our problems here come from that country. Saudi Arabia fixed their problems solely because we offered to help...whether they wanted it or not. Turkey is fixing their issues on their own because they want in the EU, enough of them.
If we pull out, we will lose a vital strategic resource. From right where I am sitting, we can hit Tehran, Iran's capital. Within three days we could march there and finish up, the war over before the outlying areas even knew it started. And most importantly: minimal loss of life on both sides.
Does the news report any of that? No. Do they report the thousands of schools we've built and paid for? Nope. The roads we've built? Never. How about the orphanages we support? Oh..surely they've mentioned the hospitals...surely that. No? See the problem here? They only report the negative, only the sensational.
The news media knows full well what it is doing, that is why I hate it. They report the deaths without the reasons. They fail to mention that we lose more soldiers at home due to car wrecks and suicides than we do in Iraq. They fail to mention how our hard work is paying off over here. They fail to mention how the Iraqis are taking over. Not just the government, but the people themselves are taking their country back from the Syrians and Iranians that have destroyed it.
Go ahead, feel mad, guilty, so on. Your empathy shows your deep compassion for us, and it is deeply appreciated, by me most of all. The truth is: our government lied to us. They never once mentioned to us why we were invading. Weapons of Mass Destruction? Erm..no. That wasn't even an issue. Not from the start. The reasons mentioned above, coupled with the fact that the military never felt easy about Desert Storm's end, brought us where we are.
Give us two more years, and we can pull out safely. Give us five, and we'll give you a permanent strong hold in the middle east. Give us ten, and this country will be our stead fast allies throughout the years to come, and we will need them. Trust me.
In closing: Thank you. Thank you for you love and support, but please do not think we are here without reasons. Please, please understand me: God is here, moving and changing. He uses us, the soldiers, sailors, marines, and airmen to do His perfect will here. Just ask, He'll tell you.
God Bless -- Glyn
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Post by Jeff Gerke on Oct 10, 2007 20:51:17 GMT -5
Fantastic message, Glyn! That's so well articulated.
I don't know where to send that but your message ought to get a wider reading than just here. Someone have an idea of where to post this? (With your permission, CS, of course.)
Jeff
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Post by Christian Soldier on Oct 10, 2007 20:58:05 GMT -5
Thanks...I tend to rant over this topic...and I am sure you know why. Feel free to blast it out over the net. This needs to get out.
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Post by scholar on Oct 10, 2007 21:16:37 GMT -5
CS. Right on!! Bad news always gets the attention. As you said, the good news isn't sensational (even though it really is, if you think about it).
I majored in history in college, and know something of the volatility and importance the Land Between the Rivers. It goes back a long way, a really long way. As you also said, strategic location...location...location. All of this must be taken into consideration.
You guys on the ground, though, hold a special place in my heart. You are great example of courage and steadfastness -- somethings we could all take a lesson from.
As far as getting this out, I'm not for sure. There are several nationally-known commentators who receive and broadcast such comments on the air waves. One of them might like it. But as I said I don't know what would be best.
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Post by Kristen on Oct 10, 2007 21:21:38 GMT -5
Glyn, thank you. I really needed that, for a lot of reasons.
K
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Post by Christian Soldier on Oct 11, 2007 17:42:58 GMT -5
Your very welcome...you'd be suprised how many times I have had to type it.
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