hey mom and dad

July 28, 2003 10:39 PM

"hey mom and dad"
a word from the front - i feel horrible for this guy and his family. why isn't he getting food, water and being rotated? where are all our taxpayer dollars going anyway?
posted by specialk420 (41 comments total)

halliburton, silly.
posted by quonsar at 11:19 PM on July 28, 2003

No man, Bechtel. This Hoover is building his dam in Iraq.
posted by Ignatius J. Reilly at 11:23 PM on July 28, 2003

Whiny.

He says there is no water or food then mentions that the supplies are getting low. If they are getting low, you still have some.

And how the Hell would he know what Da Nang felt like. He wasn't even born then.

The loss of life is a sad thing, to be sure, but I really don't see why they published this note.
posted by Dagobert at 2:02 AM on July 29, 2003

To know what it is like, read "Jarhead"
posted by magullo at 4:09 AM on July 29, 2003

"i feel horrible for this guy and his family"

Why? The article says he's in the army and stationed in Iraq. What's the problem? You feel horrible because he can't get the water hot enough? We need to write our congressperson because his laundry needs aren't being met to his satisfaction.

If war is hell this kid seems to be on the spoiled brat plan.

Or perhaps, as he says, everything is fine.

Great post. Absolutely first rate.
posted by y6y6y6 at 4:46 AM on July 29, 2003

Brett Hunt, a 2nd lieutenant with the Army's 11th Signal Brigade and a Globe native,
What is a Globe native? if your a Globe native as in a man of the world, then you know the conditions and pack accordingly, not like they can only take military issued items over to Iraq. Take a look at their sunglasses or goggles a lot brought their own or had them sent from home after arriving.

More than half a month under siege and luckily we are all still safe. ???? Sounds like he needs a rest. His letter sounds like he has been stranded on an island. They have frozen all redeployments, so no one is going anywhere anytime soon, and our Congress goes on vacation July 25 so nothing is going to happen until mid fall.

Can't get the fact that he is not complaining about mail service, this is a problem for some troops. See him not complaining about it tells me he is receiving it, unlike some troops. This has been a big problem too that is rarely mentioned. With his conditions seem one would say send strerno, detergent and de-lice medicine. They also don't need stamps to mail their letters.
PS if he is in signal brigade think he would be better at sending an SOS.
posted by thomcatspike at 5:24 AM on July 29, 2003

>The loss of life is a sad thing, to be sure, but I really don't see why they published this note.

Yeah, can't you guys just publish animated waving flags or something? Or a bald eagle or something?
posted by skallas at 5:49 AM on July 29, 2003

My brother's unit is now receiving Gatorade, they are south of Baghdad and he is north with no water?
posted by thomcatspike at 5:58 AM on July 29, 2003

Or, if you want to point out how bad the war is, find something, you know, bad? I suspect a substantial percentage of the world's population have it worse than this kid just in the course of their daily lives.

Look, I oppose the war. I think it was a very bad idea. I think we should turn over the heavy lifting to the UN. But this article is just pointless. Some kid in Iraq can't get the water hot enough, and he has imaginary lice. Who gives a rat's ass?
posted by y6y6y6 at 6:00 AM on July 29, 2003

Yeah exactly skallas, I'm one big friggin' patriot.

Do you need a bigger paintbrush?
posted by Dagobert at 6:02 AM on July 29, 2003

> Who gives a rat's ass?

Maybe you can start by reading the article. Attacked 18 out of the last 19 days in a country full of people who would just as much kill him than look at him. And for what? For all the WMD they've collected? While the military fails to provide for its troops both in material and rotation.

There's a larger issue here, whether or not you wish to see it is up to you I guess, but I wouldn't call someone under daily mortar attack a "whiny brat."
posted by skallas at 6:03 AM on July 29, 2003

Right on Dragobert and Y6. Tell that whiny punk to shut his mouth. He's obviously a gutless bitch.

I know that both of your were posting your comments from somewhere far worse that where he was. Right? Where are you guys? Afghanistan? Surely, not. You're far to tough even for that cushy job. Wait, I bet your undercover in North Korea preparing for that invasion. Right. Nah...still too cushy for some big, bad, mamajammers like yourselves.

Well, where ever you are, I know that conditions there must be just ungodly bad. You two boys, take care of business, whip whatever towel headed ass you're supposed to whip and come on back home. Beers on me.

And don't you worry none about my tax dollars. No siree bob. I want my money to be spent on something like blowing some camel jockey up. Hell yeah. Them kids don't need to go to school anyway.
posted by damnitkage at 6:46 AM on July 29, 2003

"And for what? For all the WMD they've collected?"

I think you need to read the article. It's not about the larger issue (which I already mentioned) or WMDS, it's about some kid's laundry.

If this "article" is about troop rotation it's shallow. If it's about how dangerous life is for our troops it's pathetic. If it's about putting a human face on the horror of war, well........ it doesn't sound that horrific. Everything isn't about your "larger issue". Appropriating things in that manner is silly.

Sure, if it was me in his shoes I'm sure I'd be shitting my pants when I heard the mortors coming in. But I also hope I'd have the presence of mind to realize that war is hell, and if laundry is the worst I can complain about, then maybe I'm pretty lucky.
posted by y6y6y6 at 6:59 AM on July 29, 2003

what damnitkage and skallas said, with whipped cream and cherries on top. and damn, that y6y6y6 is such a rambo he damn near gives me a boner.
posted by quonsar at 7:02 AM on July 29, 2003

damnitkage, I understood the first half of your sarcastic post but lost you towards the end of the ramble. Did you have a point?

Folks, this is the cost of war. It's good he's writing it, it's good people are uneasy about it, it helps to dispel the notion that (the) war was easy and painless. May our country learn from it.
posted by norm at 7:06 AM on July 29, 2003

If war is hell this kid seems to be on the spoiled brat plan.

Perhaps you have this kid confused with our Dear Leader's days protecting the skies over Texas fron the VietCong?

if laundry is the worst I can complain about

Are you sure you read the same article everyone else read? Or do you consider dirty laundry to be a worse condition than constant attacks?
posted by nofundy at 7:07 AM on July 29, 2003

if laundry is the worst I can complain about

The kid has lice. He's out there in the desert fighting for us (or fighting for Halliburton, or Brown & Root, or whatever). The least we owe him is decent living conditions. You'd think the most powerful military force in the world, belonging to the richest country in the world, would be able to provide some boiling water to our soldiers so they don't have to deal with lice, for crying out loud.
posted by spacewaitress at 7:15 AM on July 29, 2003

My point towards the end of my ramble, is that while we're spending billions of dollars each day on this little exercise in Iraq, our country is basically going tits up.
posted by damnitkage at 7:15 AM on July 29, 2003

I suspect a substantial percentage of the world's population have it worse than this kid just in the course of their daily lives.

That doesn't matter. Seriously. What does that have to do with the matter at hand? What matters is that we have the obligation and the ability to keep our soldiers reasonably housed and fed. This kid's living conditions are not acceptable. And sure, living conditions are not acceptable for most people in the third world, either. The difference is, they're not our responsibility. He is.
posted by spacewaitress at 7:18 AM on July 29, 2003

>Seriously. What does that have to do with the matter at hand?

It doesn't, its just a pathetic attempt at rationalization. Some people can't just say, "Hey, maybe I was wrong. Everyone is wrong now and again right?" That sentence should be a quickkey macro on everyone's web browser.
posted by skallas at 7:26 AM on July 29, 2003

Well, (having had a cup of coffee) it turns out I'm a fucking moronic asshole. I was wrong.

Sorry about that.

In the future I will endeavor to be less of a wishy-washy, bitchy-ass prick.

Please return to your regularly scheduled deconstructionist hyperbole.
posted by y6y6y6 at 7:33 AM on July 29, 2003

What bothers me the most is this:

"We are under siege out here, without supplies, without a mission and we can only roll the dice so many times and not get our (expletive) shot. More and more body bags and amputees will be coming home."

Our soldiers are dying for nothing.
posted by pangmaster at 7:39 AM on July 29, 2003

Attacked 18 out of the last 19 days in a country full of people who would just as much kill him than look at him.

If it's full of people whom want to kill, then most of the population wants to kill him, do I read your comment right. Because sure there are more Iraqis than US military in Iraq thus enabling a gang of Iraqis to over take the military, with or w/o weapons.

if laundry is the worst I can complain about
The majority of Marines were two weeks in the same uniform at the start of the war. When they went into Baghdad some took their first shower/bath or changed uniforms while in Iraq, if they had the chance. Not until after May 1st was when a lot were able to finally shower/bathe and do their laundry.

What does that have to do with the matter at hand? What matters is that we have the obligation and the ability to keep our soldiers reasonably housed and fed.

In the Army don't they once a year do a month stint training and in camp out style. Also he doesn't say he starving just they are rationing his meals. This guy didn't complain about eating cold meals what does that tell you. Seriously if this is a true note, he needs some rest. Sounds delusional by his grammar alone, no sleep. we had a similar post last week, and I think there was more to this note, why would you not talk about more, especially if think you're about to die?
posted by thomcatspike at 7:52 AM on July 29, 2003

y6y6y6. dagobert.


why all the hate - let alone hate directed at kid fighting for your war loving chilling in the suburbs with the air conditional on asses, writing home to his parents?


where is your hate and outrage for the unbelievable amounts of tax dollars going somewhere (baathist officials now being recruited into the new iraqi/US puppet governent, haliburton, bechtel, ahmed chalabi, payoffs for tribal leaders, reconstruction of the oil infrastructure (much uncertainty on who will make a return on that investment, but it's safe to assume american tax payers and the average iraqi are at the bottom of the list), etc etc...

real letters from real men on the ground in iraq are few and far between, the embedded reporters have all been kicked out - this letter was mild enough to slip through the minders, and for the soldier who wrote it not to fear rummy's revenge ... perhaps in another life you will meet the young american men and women as well as iraqi civilians who died in your war - i wonder what you will say to them? "i supported this war, and your death was just - because george bush and tony blair told me so..." ?
posted by specialk420 at 8:08 AM on July 29, 2003

It really doesn't matter whether he has lice or a huge boil on his ass. The fact is that HE SHOULDN'T EVEN FUCKING BE THERE.

Now let me go back to my deconstructionist hyperbole.
posted by damnitkage at 8:10 AM on July 29, 2003

Sounds delusional by his grammar alone
... says thomcatspike. Oh, the irony!

I don't usually resort to comments like this, but in this case I couldn't resist.

I hope you don't take offense, thomcatspike. It's just that usually your posts, while interesting, seem to come from a whole 'nother grammatical plane.
posted by spacewaitress at 8:10 AM on July 29, 2003

This guy didn't complain about eating cold meals what does that tell you

MRE's come with a neat little heat pack. You add water to the line and put your MRE in the envelope, and wait like 10 minutes.
Of course you have to hope that you got an MRE that doesn't make you want to puke. Number 11, chicken and rice, god, the mere smell of it. Absolutely gross. Cat food from the can is all I could equate it too at the time.

I can sympathize with his apathy though.
posted by a3matrix at 8:22 AM on July 29, 2003

Our soldiers are dying for nothing.

That is going to be the phrase that sticks with me all day. I am not entirely sure they are dying for nothing, they are dying for something that just does not happen to serve the interests of the average American citizen. What exactly that is, I have no way of knowing.
posted by thirteen at 8:26 AM on July 29, 2003

the interests of the average American citizen

Cheese flavored pork rinds, Bud Light, NASCAR, tv shows with nearly nude women mud wrestling or fighting each other for a cup of coffee or something, Rush Limbaugh and Bill O'Rielly telling them what they should think and do and Wal Mart.

Damn was that more deconstructionist hyperbole? I'm working on some constructionist hyperbole, but it's hard work and I'm a lazy, hippie, pinko commie.
posted by damnitkage at 8:42 AM on July 29, 2003

It is only those who have neither fired a shot nor heard the shrieks and groans of the wounded who cry aloud for blood, more vengeance, more desolation.
War is hell.--William Tecumseh Sherman

I think he has every right to bitch about it to his Mom and Dad to whom the letter was intended. He didn't write the press, he wrote his mommy.
posted by jopreacher at 8:59 AM on July 29, 2003

"where is your hate and outrage for the unbelievable amounts of tax dollars going somewhere"

Here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, etc, etc. That's about a year of highlights of my disgust for Bush and his oil war.

My point, and I'll be the first to admit I'm not making it well, is that while our troops are dying for an unjust cause, this kid's letter isn't going to help one tiny little bit.

The majority of Americans still support the president and still support the invasion of Iraq. A letter like this, where the water isn't *hot enough*, and he *might* have lice, and they *might* have to start rationing food in the future? How is that going to convince the Americans whose mind needs to be changed?

I'd be happy to march in a protest to bring this kid home. But his story isn't going to raise much of a crowd. Why not post something that will? There are plenty of horror stories surrounding this invasion. Let's shout those from the street corner rather than stories of discomfort in a war zone. He's in the military, in a war zone. It's suppose to suck, and it would suck no matter how just the war.

Look, while I'm making a mess of it, I'm still proud of this kid, and I'm thankful he's willing to fight for my country. He deserves our support and I don't seem to be very supportive. I just think it's the wrong approach to try and drum up support for an anti-war movement with stories like this. No one's mind will be changed.
posted by y6y6y6 at 9:09 AM on July 29, 2003

I just think it's the wrong approach to try and drum up support for an anti-war movement with stories like this.

not my intention with this post.
posted by specialk420 at 9:29 AM on July 29, 2003

y6:

My point, and I'll be the first to admit I'm not making it well, is that while our troops are dying for an unjust cause, this kid's letter isn't going to help one tiny little bit.

of course it won't "help." this letter was published because it gives perspective on the living conditions of a soldier fighting our current war. the perspective ranges from near-daily assaults to boiling water and lice; those who've mocked the latter have sadly missed the point.

He deserves our support and I don't seem to be very supportive. I just think it's the wrong approach to try and drum up support for an anti-war movement with stories like this. No one's mind will be changed.

people often feel the need to opine when they post to metafilter, and they did so in this thread. i don't know that he was trying to "drum up support" with this -- in claiming so, you assume he has an agenda when he may simply be expressing his feelings -- certainly the days when we could think of avoiding opinion in front page posts are gone.

people's minds may, in fact, be changed by reading an article like this one. this article isn't "anti-war": it's documentary. nothing exists to better inform others than the truth in its plainest form.
posted by moz at 10:40 AM on July 29, 2003

As I said, I seem to be a fucking moron. I don't need that patiently explained to me. I get it already.

I'm a dork.

Can we move on now?
posted by y6y6y6 at 11:06 AM on July 29, 2003

As I said, I seem to be a fucking moron

I'm one big friggin' patriot.


thanks for clearing things up guys - perhaps slightly less foul language as you yell at yourself and bang on your keyboards would help. and certainly be appreciated by the rest of us.
posted by specialk420 at 11:27 AM on July 29, 2003

"perhaps slightly less foul language"

Oh...... I see what the problem is: you're one of *those*.
posted by y6y6y6 at 11:52 AM on July 29, 2003

why isn't he getting food, water and being rotated?
What is he? A plant?
posted by elwoodwiles at 11:56 AM on July 29, 2003

he's writing home to mom. he probably would like to avoid upsetting mom. one may have preferred the arizona paper reprint a letter containing concise depictions of mortar blasts ripping away limbs and soldiers sleeping under roiling blankets of voracious sand fleas. this would certainly have had more impact. as in, probably gotten the guy court-martialed and his military career (if he's planning one) cut off at the knees like the soldiers who spoke too freely to the media the other week.
posted by quonsar at 12:29 PM on July 29, 2003

I've read and reread my posts and I don't see any hate I might have or the men and women in uniform fighting overseas for American, be the cause just or unjust.

So, let me state again: I think the tenor of the letter is whiny. That's it. I'm not passing judgement on the mission over there or the sheer horror of armed conflict. He is a second looey and this is probably his first time in the field where it is not an exercise. Lice are a concern (although it sounds more like sand mites than proper lice) and the shelling and body bags are reprehensible. The bodies that inhabit the body bags are a crying shame. But I fail to see how the letter provided any benefit by being published. Such things are personal and should remain that way.
posted by Dagobert at 11:37 PM on July 29, 2003

It's just that usually your posts, while interesting, seem to come from a whole 'mother grammatical plane. :)

This guy didn't complain about eating cold meals what does that tell you

MRE's come with a neat little heat pack. You add water to the line and put your MRE in the envelope, and wait like 10 minutes.
Of course you have to hope that you got an MRE that doesn't make you want to puke. Number 11, chicken and rice, god, the mere smell of it. Absolutely gross. Cat food from the can is all I could equate it too at the time.

So why is he not complaining about the the crappy MRE you talk about which they just redesigned(there was a FPP on this). Not saying they are all good, yet my brother no longer eats MREs while in camp now. He is south of Baghdad and drinking Gatorade too. But he is a Marine. Looking at it now feel this was a note written out in the field and there may be more written words that we are not seeing (when you edit you may make things one sided).

Would you write mom & dad and just complain? Also he is a second leuitnent, may be he is giving his food and water to the soldiers that he commands as they are rationing.
y6y6y6 Your comments have merit.
posted by thomcatspike at 12:21 PM on July 30, 2003

The bodies that inhabit the body bags are a crying shame.

but at least we got that murderous, torturing tyrant out of there.
posted by specialk420 at 1:51 PM on July 30, 2003