I received an e-mail back from him which I'll provide here, consistent with some editing he requested. As an added bonus, I'll reprise one of the most beloved Soonergrunt diaries
for those newbies who maybe don't know why Soonergrunt is so beloved and missed here. This classic was cited by
as bringing him to the Kossack Kommunity in his comment yesterday.
For clarification, my unit is OK National Guard, but we are on full Federal status and part of the regular army.
We have been training hard, on various aspects of the coming deployment from new equipment issue to learning VERY basic Dari and Pashto, as well as extensive briefings on the Laws of Land Warfare, Customs and Culture, medical threats, and so on. Of course, we have spent a lot of time at the ranges with various weapon systems. We have been working seven days a week since we got here on the first of March. We have also been doing Physical Training seven days a week. I don't think my wife will recognize me when we go home on leave. We've had four days off since we got here.
We've been out of the loop on news to a great extent, but we do follow anything and everything we can about Afghanistan. We note with concern the elevated levels of violence there, as well as the fact that the insurgency in Afghanistan has adopted many of the tactics, techniques, and procedures of the insurgency in Iraq.
Feel free to post anything I've told you that is not in the sensitive items category.
May God bless and keep you, your loved ones, and all Kossacks safe and true.
With great respect, [Soonergrunt]
Wingnuts in a Star Wars line
by soonergrunt [Subscribe]
Thu May 19, 2005 at 08:35:26 AM PDT
And I'm not talking about the guy with the Darth Vader suit and helmet.
I went to the 12:21 AM showing of Star Wars III: Revenge of the Sith last night. I got there about 11:00 PM and stood in a long line with people of varying ages and walks of life. I met up with a friend who is on mid-tour leave from Iraq, and we hung out together while waiting for the film to begin. The movie was mostly excellent. There were some uneven moments, but I did enjoy it. To my story, then. I was wearing one of my unit t-shirts for the simple reason that I had slept in it earlier and I didn't care to change--it smelled clean enough anyway.
While waiting in line with my fellow moviegoers, We listened absentmindedly to snippets of some of the conversations taking place around me in the three lines for the various showings as we shot the shit ourselves. The conversations were mostly centered around Star Wars, of course, but also current events and occasionally various personal issues.
One conversation in particular caught our attention, and we listened to it intently. A gentleman of about mid-twenties or so was holding forth on the 'war on terror,' democrats, Jane Fonda, and so on. His listeners appeared to be the same age range as he. "We need to kick these raghead murderers out of the country...kill them wherever we find them...expand Israel all the way to the persian gulf and make Saudi Arabia a subsidiary of Exxon..."
His listeners, two of whom were wearing 'OU Young Republicans' t-shirts, were nodding their heads and making generally approving comments.
My friend just shook his head and muttered, loud enough for them to hear "fucking ignorant assholes."
About my friend, Richard--he volunteered to join a unit from another state because he couldn't find work with he shiny new college degree for almost a year. He accepted a direct commission as a 2nd Liutenant of Infantry as part of the mission. He and I had been together as NCOs during the ground offensive into Iraq, and he's as good a man and a combat leader as they come.
The guy turned to us and said "I suppose you 'liberals' think we ought to just let the Arabs take over our country and kill all the adults and convert our children to muslim (sic) huh?"
Richie--"Not likely in any event, but we don't have an army worth the name anymore, thanks your lord Bush. I'm halfway through a tour over there and I don't see any way we can prevent a civil war, let alone win anything but what do I know? Back here in the land of SUVs and roses, you have a clearer picture don't you?" (I had always thought Richie was a republican--what's up with this?)
One of the others said something to the effect that Richie was full of shit, which he countered by producing his leave form and ID card from his wallet.
"We're winning. Why else would the insurgents do these large attacks that they know they can't win? It's frustration, or make sure they stay in the news. Things are getting better there all the time, but you probably can't see it at your level."
"If we're winning, how come the insurgents are even able to stage these large attacks? If we had that level of control, they wouldn't have any safe assembly areas from which to attack us in any numbers. All we can do is react to them, which means they have the initiative. That's bad," I said.
"They're attacking mainly Iraqis now," said one. "They're afraid to come out and fight us" she said.
"Three things," said Richie, "one, attacking Iraqis is a great way to start a civil war-that's a lovely thought-a three-way civil war with us in the middle, and two," he said, "they're attacking us more than enough as it is, thank you, and three," he asked, "are you in the military?"
"No, but I support the troops and our Commander in Chief," she replied.
"Then what's this 'WE' shit? It's not your ass over there getting IED'ed and RPG'ed and shot at and mortared, so who the fuck are you to talk about 'we'?"
"Come on, I'm sure the young republicans here all have yellow ribbon magnets on the SUVs their daddies bought them-go easy, man. They support us," I said. (One could, in fact, hear the italics in my voice.)
"He's been there, and got the t-shirt," Richie said, making a twirling motion with his finger to me. I turned around so they could see the image on the back of my shirt.
"Well, with attitudes like yours, we won't win," one of them said.
"Then why don't you join up so you can go over there and show us how it's done?" asked Richie. They looked away. "That's what I thought," he said, "so why don't you all shut your fucking yaps since you don't even believe in your own shit enough to stand up for it?"