mmrobins.com

Another post from my friend stationed in Iraq.

I was watching the news the other day and saw GEN Pace, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs, speaking to wounded Veterans, and he said that they “did not loose an arm, they did not loose a leg, they gave an arm, they gave a leg”. This is an important distinction that is little understood. Everyone talks about how much the war costs and how hard it is on everyone. I would beg to differ. This war has cost the military and their families nothing, we have sacrificed and given more than is measurable, but it still has cost us nothing. Those who do not understand pity us, and say they want to bring us home as soon as possible, we do not want and nor will we accept your pity We are proud of our sacrifices in ways that only those who have truly sacrificed can fully understand. Our sacrifices hurt, and cut deep. Seeing good men give everything, and the pain in their loved ones voices and hearts is a hard thing to bear, but this is a willing sacrifice given for their comrades in arms. We ask for support, especially for those left behind, we ask for compassion, we ask for remembrance, we ask for others to come and share the burden, and most of all we ask for respect. We ask for the means to ensure that these sacrifices are not given in vain. To demean our sacrifices with pity and false support is the worst sort of betrayal to those who have given so much, and will continue to give more.

Another post from my friend stationed in Iraq.

One of the greatest displays of courage I have ever seen was exhibited by the soldiers of my battalion on the day of our deployment. Most of these guys are straight out of basic, 18 years old and this is their first experience away from home.

As everyone is waiting for the order to march over to the manifest site, they wait with those close to them. Parents have flown in, sweethearts, wives and children are gathered everywhere. In the background, a football flies and anyone driving by could understandably mistake this for a party or unit picnic. As you look closer you see couples holding each other close and parents still striving to explain what is going on to their small children. Every so often someone finds an out of the way spot to compose themselves as the emotion becomes too much. In spite of everyone’s attempts to remain strong, the sense of loss is already palpable, and as the order comes to move, so comes the courage. All of these soldiers from the old veterans to the newest soldier packs up and marches smartly away when the order comes, leaving behind everything they cherish for uncertainty and danger. It takes a remarkable person to do this and an even more remarkable one to do it with dignity.

It is this experience and courage that no one who is not in, or close to, the military can understand or comprehend. There have been many songs on leaving home and loved ones behind, but in all honesty what do they know. They usually know when the person is coming home and unless there is an act of god, that person will come home, and come home much as they left. These amazing soldiers are setting of for who knows how long and are not even allowed to speak of most of their experiences until they return, and that is if they return. Who knows who will still be here when we return home and how will they be changed. What scars will they bear physically, mentally, and most tellingly, what will be the damage to their spirit. How many relationships will be strengthened and how many will break under the strain. It is into this uncertainty, danger and change that we go, and go willingly that sets the soldier, and those that care for them, far above the regular citizen. I am honored to call these fine soldiers my comrades and at the same time, I am completely frustrated with the outside world’s lack of understanding and unwillingness to help shoulder the burden. The outside world touts their patriotism and says they support their soldiers, but if you want to support them, join up, or if this just is not for you find some other way to render service to your community, nation and those around you. Our nation has too long looked only after itself, and I feel that these Soldiers are one of the last vestiges of our true national spirit that we do not even acknowledge we have lost. I ask that everyone seek to find this courage within themselves and strive to do something that is difficult, changing and at the same time important. Release your secure world and strive to serve a better one!

A highschool friend of mine is currently serving in the military in Iraq. He had some writings to share and asked that I post them.

I finally have a couple of those blog posts I was talking about. I pulled no punches, hopefully you don’t take offense. Things are going pretty well, aside from boredom. A couple of comments on the war, most of the footage on the news is years old, most of the reporters and politicians who visit never leave the green zone, weapons are coming in from Iran (they killed two of our Soldiers and took the legs from another), and the surge has the bad guys running scared and attacks are down.

Here’s one of his posts.

There is a sharp debate going on in the government and across the country on the cost of this war. The debates are full of experts talking about a losing battle, and the high cost of war. They have no idea of the cost of war and what it means to leave with the job unfinished. The American public, the government and the media have regularly spoken on how much they support the troops and how much the war is costing the nation. The nation has paid next to nothing for this conflict and honestly does not care to. Taxes have not been raised and 99% of the people in the nation do not even know anybody in the military. The highest price they pay is the occasional ugly image on the TV and they cannot even handle that. This conflict has not changed their habits or affected them on any deep level and will not despite their claims. They have not given years of their lives simply because that was what was required of them. They have not spent hours in 120º weather patrolling the streets, they have not missed anniversaries, first steps, births, deaths, and holidays on the other side of the world away from everything they cherish. They have not seen their friends and comrades injured or worked to stop the bleeding as their friend slowly slips away and then had to wash the blood out of the vehicle and go back out on patrol. They have not had to walk up to the front door of a Soldier’s house and tell his wife and children that their loved one is not coming home. They have paid none of the cost of this war and yet they are the ones who cannot handle the cost and want to pull out. To pull out before the mission is accomplished is to tell all of the Soldiers and their families that their sacrifice was for nothing. If this nation can so unthinkingly tell all those who have sacrificed, that the war costs too much, then perhaps the nation we are serving is already dead.

I realize that most of my friends and family don’t have a clue what RSS is or use any kind of feed reader, so I’ve setup email subscriptions if you want em.

I’ve also converted my feeds to feedburner so I can see if anyone ever actually does subscribe to an RSS feed. I figure once I move to Peru more people might be interested in reading about that than me moving across town.

It’s truly unbelievable how much ‘stuff’ we accumulate, and you don’t realize it until you have to pick it all up and move it somewhere. Moving from a 2000 square foot house to a 600 square foot apartment really shows it. Before moving Kim and I donated boxes and boxes of books, clothes and other things thinking we’d be lean and mean for the move. Then we opened up cupboards and cabinets and nearly cried. Thanks goodness we’re getting this taken care of now and not right before we’re planning on leaving the country for Peru.

On the upside, it’s easier than ever before to get rid of ‘stuff’ responsibly, that is not just throwing it in the dumpster. Anyone who hasn’t heard of craigslist has been living under a rock and missing out on the best mover of stuff maybe ever. Freecycle is another cool idea, but I use it much less often. People will come and take your stuff off your hands, usually picking it up at your house and sometimes paying for it! It’s a great way to accumulate a lot of stuff for dirt cheap too… Of course, if your stuff is worth a lot and small it’s probably better to put it on ebay and get more money for it. Or you could get all philanthropic and probably save yourself a lot of time by donating your stuff. I’m finding out the tax benefits are decent too now that I’m having to itemize my tax returns. For clothes we like giving to The Last White Elephant in Seattle, which uses money from sales for educating people about animal rights and vegetarianism. Books and CDs we always give to EcoEncore, partly because Kim used to work there but mostly because they’re a great organization that uses proceeds to support local environmental nonprofits.

EcoEncore even promotes a great book called Stuff: The Secret Lives of Everday Things that’s a great little read on how much energy actually goes into making ‘stuff’.

The less stuff I have, the better I feel lately, no matter how much I sometimes crave buying new toys, they don’t usually satisfy me for long, but having a clean, clutter-free environment really does feel satisfying, even if it’s difficult.

At last, we’ve rented our house out and will be moving to Capitol Hill! We applied for the place today and will probably move in Wed or Thurs. Kim will be able to walk to school and I will be able to bike to work without getting totally nasty sweaty. We almost splurged and got a place on Queen Anne with a Space Needle view, but then we found a closer place for cheaper that we liked.

I don’t think there will be time to throw a goodbye party for the house we’ve lived in the last 2 years since people are moving in on the 24th, but it’s been a good time, and hopefully the house will continue to be a good one to own. See y’all on Capitol Hill.

• aktt_notify_twitter: no

Kim surprised me today with a trip to Banya 5 and a deep tissue massage. I felt sick with a sore throat last night and knew I wasn’t going in to work today, and I slept for 13 hours. It was wonderful. I was on the verge of lucid dreams a few times too, but kept waking up for some reason when I realized I was dreaming. Kim had been planning this trip the last few days and didn’t tell me anything. On the way there she finally told me where we were going since I was driving. We relaxed in the steam room and sauna before I went upstairs for my hour long deep tissue massage. I’ve never had professional deep tissue massage before, but I’m never getting that wimpy Swedish style relaxation massage again. At a few points the massage was on the verge of being too much but never was. I still feel good from it. After the massage we spent another few hours doing the spa thing before finally heading home. Now that’s a kick ass valentines. Forget dinner and flowers.

• aktt_notify_twitter: no