Mean Gene - He has problems with the age and naiveté of the soldiers who are led by American Generals with American ideals and values but has no problem with all of the young and naive prostesters led by communists, foreign governments and Hollywood stars.

Gotta agree with you.

But I don't know if the drop on one soldiers blood to save the sorry a---- of people like him is worth it.

I thank the military for what they do for the rest of us. We can never repay them enough. But for people like this low life?

"The urge to save humanity is almost always a false front for the urge to rule.”   H.L. Mencken

Call Mr. Arkin @ 802-881-8224.

As a business owner just outside the D.C. area I was recently considering using the Washington Post as a major advertising vehicle this year, but I just can't give any of my money to this paper. I will not allow any of my money go to people like this idiot. He has the right to say whatever, but I exercising my right by not supporting.

If there can possibly be any upside to the dems taking control of both legislative branches as well as having always controlled the 4th branch, the msm, that they have always controlled, is that they cannot and never could resist grossly over-reaching. As the old adage goes, "The higher the monkeys climb the tree, the more of their butts you can see".

Having said that, their lust is tremendously greater than it has ever been due to the last few years of creating vacuum on the rear udder.

All of this is bothersome but is greatly exceeded by the Republicans who have turned-coat. I don't care what it takes and I have never voted for a dem in my life but these Republican tun-coats need thrown out of office at the next nearest election.

There was actually one post defending the guy. At least I only saw 1.

Jack...

Thanks for the link... sort of. My blood pressure has gone through the roof reading this dweebs BS. So mad right now I cannot think straight (that's bad news for a clear thinker).

What really burns me it up this is just another form of censorship. From an idealistic standpoint I thought the newspapers were for free speech not against it. It seems to me that Mr. Arkin is just mad that some soldiers dared to stand against his views. I also find it bizarre he is attacking those who are sacrficing so he can have the right to be a member of the "free press". I wish his boss would send him away on a leave of absence and the condition of reemployment would be after he spent 1 year in military uniform. Perhaps he would get a better sense of what an enlisted man/woman has to accomplish for that wage:)

Of course! Arkin could not let this insolent act of lese majeste go unanswered. How dare the peasants speak up to a WaPo columnist! Don't they know their place? MSM exists to guide and instruct. It is mere oversight that Founders lumped the press into the first Amendment when they deserve their own co-equal branch of government.

I hope everyone reads this, especially Mr. Arkin. This was written as a response to his recent article...

Mr. Arkin-

I am an officer in the United States Army. I have deployed to Iraq twice, and been wounded once. I have had my soldiers killed and wounded, I have killed and wounded other human beings. I have carried wounded soldiers and civilians in my arms; crying in pain. I myself am permanently physically damaged by my experience.

Through all those events, I never shed a tear. Yet I sit here today crying; reading your original article and your rebuttal to the overwhelming response.

I am proud of what I do, what my soldiers do, the freedoms we defend, and everything we stand for. I proudly defend your right to publish your article, and it actually warms my soul to see free debate and discourse about any topic, because this is the only nation in the world where such completely unbridled discussion and opinion rage on in an organized fashion. That is the United States I am proud of, the one that has given me so much.

I decry and am ashamed of my fellow warriors who have lost their thin veneer of civilization and chosen to engage in the atrocities committed in Iraq. May God have mercy on their souls.

I have chosen to shelve my right to have an opinion on the war in Iraq. I support our effort to help the Iraqi people, depose Saddam, and promote a free(er) Iraq. Are we (or can we) still doing that? I don't know anymore. I have an opinion, but it is too visceral to be truly rational anymore, so I keep it to myself.

Overall, it does not matter. My country, almost unanimously, asked me to refresh the tree with my blood in Iraq/Afghanistan 6 years ago. That was this country, by referendum. As my country comes to terms with what she has done, and possibly chooses a different path, I will soldier on. I will guide and inspire my Soldiers to do the same. But, it saddens me to see so many of my brothers and sisters killed and maimed, only to find out my country either didn't mean it or had no stomach for it.

None of these are the reasons I cry. I cry for the lack of purpose, the apparent lack of caring, the lack of compassion you displayed in your original article and in this subsequent failure to apologize to me, my fellow warriors, and all those who came before me. Here's why.

1. I am not a mercenary. You could make me work two jobs and this would still be one of them, because I am that passionate about defending you and your rights. Many in the National Guard and Reserves do just that. My country needs professional warriors to do her bidding, and he is me, and thousands like me.

2. I have the right to express my opinion within the bounds of the UCMJ, as do my Soldiers. How dare you imply that I do not, or that I should reprimand them? We already accept an abbreviated set of rights willingly. Do not attempt limit my liberties that I have already willingly limited while I defend without complaint the unabridged version you are so rightly entitled to.

3. As an officer, my needs are met. However, in the three months leading up to my first deployment and the entire 13 month adventure, my pay amounted to 173 cents an hour. My friends and I logged our hours as a joke, but $1.73 is the reality. That equates to 19-20 hour days, 7 days a week, for 16 months. That's with the relatively lavish bonuses and benefits we receive while deployed. And I am an officer. Think of our junior enlisted, and find someone else in our great country that is willing to work so hard, day and night, no weekends, under fire, threat of death over their head, for so little? Find me one and I will retract this comment graciously. Of course, even when not deployed, it takes my wife and me quite some time to get through the line at the grocery store. That's because we get in line behind one of my fellow warriors, who with shame in their eyes and faces flush with embarrassment fill out their WIC paperwork because they don't make enough to support their wife and two kids (an average sized family).

4. This response is taking an inordinate amount of time to type, because I have only one functioning hand after being wounded in Iraq. I am trying as quickly as possible to use the medical system your (and my) taxes paid for to recover, so I can go back to Iraq and continue to fight for what you don't believe in, because I believe in you and my Soldiers. Still, I count myself lucky, as I received my Purple Heart next to a 19-year old warrior with both his legs amputated above the knee. No matter how wrong the majority feels the decision was at this juncture, that Soldier gave (I use the word gave deliberately) his legs at his nation's calling. Not for money. Not because he was too stupid to get into college. Not for the great benefits. Just because you asked him to. Please don't imply that this fallen hero is not entitled to the basic medical care he receives.

5. Given the opportunity, I would fight the Germans in 1944. Oh, to have that definition of purpose, that sense of righteousness! But, that is not to be. This is the war that this country has chosen for me, my peers, and my Soldiers. With its vagueness, dirtiness, ambiguity, undefined enemy, amorphous center of gravity, and undefined purpose. The actions of our administration, the decisions higher-echelons of our military, the blunders of the CPA, (I could go on) etc. aside; it comes back to one thing. America chose this fight for me, and I will fight it with all my skill and might until she tells me to stop. The woes and throes of the majority, hawks, doves, liberals, neocons, etc. mean nothing to me or those Soldiers you quoted. What matters to us is that you told us to be there, 3000+ of our brothers and sisters have died there, and we are still there. Change that - in reality, not in the abstract - and we will gladly leave and prepare ourselves for the next challenge and opportunity to defend your freedoms.

I am a Warrior, a Soldier, a Scholar, and a Patriot. This country has spent hundreds of thousands of dollars to train and educate me. I am well-versed in our government, our demographics, our history, and our Constitution. Perhaps I am an idealist. To the end of my life or capability I will defend your rights and this country. I am proud that I live in a country where a free-thinker such as you can write an article so critical of current policy. But I am deeply hurt by the insinuations and accusations listed above. I request an apology, on the behalf of all the Armed Forces, for your insensitive and boorish comments. I only wish I could communicate with your entire readership the bitter taste of betrayal that is in my mouth as easily as you communicate your speech and thoughts.

With Respect,

A United States Army Officer
"Army Strong"

Posted by: Army Officer | February 1, 2007 04:41 PM