I am fucking pissed, but well get to that. Here is back story.
I have a friend that joined the military last year, he is 20 years old.
"This is in Kuwait"
We talked to him last week and they were just waiting to be sent across the border from Kuwait into Iraq. He had sent us this the day before.
im still here in kuwait. we are leaving to cross the border in few days and im holding my breath. this place is soooo strange. we went out in the middle of the desert to set the sights on our rifles and scope and stuff like that and mind you that there are no hills no mountains no trees, no water, nothing and we were shooting and all the sudden some one yelled cease fire and we stopped shooting. and i looked out into the empty desert and i saw a man walking with about 30 camels with no ropes or anything and they were just following him with no where to run to even if they wanted to. i thought that was weird and then there multiple guys doing this and with like llamas and sheep. all the animals were grazing and not one of them got scared from the gun fire. they didnt even look up. like their whole life had been one big fire fight and they werent scared anymore
This was difficult to take maybe even surreal. I have a hard time with this, I didn't want him to go, He signed up at a point in time where he and I weren't talking for certain reasons. That message couldn't have prepared me for our next Message though, this came.
here i write a letter from the mainbase here in iraq. there no phones where im at so i cant call, and no internet so i cant write. this place is terrorizing. im afraid to leave the building to the tank because there are snipers everywhere. my first night at the combat outpost, i was sitting on my bunk and i started to hear machine gun fire. i thought it was kinda exciting so i got out my video camera and began to record. it became boring on my bunk so i moved downstairs. i was standing in the hallway that lead to the front door, or at least where the front door used to be. i started to smoke a cigareete and then...BOOM!!!.... a fuckin rocket hit 8ft above where i was standing. it knocked me straight to the ground. and blew the camera out of my hand. i only had some minor cuts and bruises....<Snip>...... the fire fight went on for a long while longer and then i hear MEDIC!!! MEDIC!!!! and they brought my friend down the stairs with half of his face missing and his intestines hanging out. apparently the same rocket that blew up over head killed him, it blew him from one rooftop to the other. i didnt know what to think, and i kinda blacked out. he died moments after, on the way back to the hospital. then like ten minutes later, i was running ammo up to the machine gunners on the roof, and then i heard, we need a body bag, the brought this poor 19 year old kid, blown in half and missing his arms. my knees got weak and i began to shake. this place is so mind shattering. we walked out of that night with 4 casualties and 2 kia.
and then two days later i was sitting in the tank at an observation point and i was scanning (moving the turret back and forth) looking for anything suspicious or dangerous. and then all the sudden i heard ....BOOM!!....BOOOM!!! it only took me a second to realize what it was, 2 insurgents fired a armor piercing rocket propelled grenade at my tank. and hit only 5 feet away behind me but i had already loosened up by then. i dont even get scared with i hear gunfire. well im sorry to have to scare you like this, but i dont want to lie about what really happens here. i love you and talk to you later, love, pvt AMERICAN HERO u.s. army
While Those Motherfuckers in Washington are arguing over semantics semantics semantics semantics semantics semantics semantics semantics semantics semantics semantics semantics semantics semantics semantics semantics semantics semantics semantics semantics semantics semantics semantics semantics semantics semantics semantics semantics semantics semantics semantics semantics semantics semantics semantics semantics semantics semantics semantics semantics semantics semantics semantics semantics semantics semantics semantics semantics semantics semantics semantics semantics semantics semantics semantics semantics semantics semantics semantics semantics semantics semantics semantics semantics. Stop Playing politics with peoples' lives you. Young men are dying in IRAQ. IF YOU ARE AN ELECTED OFFICIAL GROW SOME FUCKING BALLS AND END THIS SHIT, IF YOU ARE AN AMERICAN PUTTING UP WITH THIS SHIT, WAKE THE FUCK UP!!!! YOU WERE FUCKING LIED TO!!!! CALL YOUR REPS CALL YOUR SENATORS... END THIS SHIT!!!