Some Americans are not supporting our troops, and they should be ashamed!, page 7

Originally posted by _Phoenix_

Wow, what an offensive reply.

That reply is not offensive at all. It is not even in the category of the truly offensive posts to this thread. It's okay to insult our fighting men and women, but it is intolerable to tell the truth about the leeches who benefit from the sacrifice of others. You are so suddenly sensitive to the feelings of others.

What I stated was the truth as I have observed it.

During the Vietnam war, all the cowards said that if the enemy was on our shores they'd be the first in line to fight.

Well, they have come to our shores. They destroyed the WTC, attacked the Pentagon and were well on their way to hitting the Capitol or the White House and still these worms who are too old to fight now don't even have the gumption to offer support to the war effort and even go so far as to blame our president for the attack on our soil.

Those who today say that they would have fought in WWII because we were attacked must have been asleep since 9/11, because we were attacked and it wasn't a just a naval base in the Pacific. The targets were the center of our economy, the seat our military and possibly the seat of our government or the Chief Executive himself and still they can find no motive to sacrifice so much as a drop of sweat in the defense of our nation.

You ask what Iraq has to do with your freedom. Remember this, nothing happens in a vacuum. Choosing to depose Saddam was not a mistake. It should have been done in the first Gulf War, but UN constraints prohibited it.

But, here we are after the most devastating attack on American soil since the War of 1812 and we have a brutal dictator in power in a key location in the middle east who not only murders his own people wholesale, but brags about his weapons of mass destruction programs and fails to comply with UN ordered inspections. Oh, and remember the first Gulf War when he without provocation invaded Kuwait and set their oil wells afire by the hundreds and blew up pipelines that drained into the Persian Gulf.

Taking out Saddam was a prudent strategy, even if the all the intelligence didn't pan out. The US has broken the back of al Qaeda in Iraq, even if they are not quite dead. The country is becoming more safe by the day. Formerly hostile factions are showing signs of uniting against al Qaeda and perhaps most encouraging, they are requesting a time range for the withdrawal of US troops, an agreement that will be settled in probably less than a month.

Whether the armchair generals agree or not, Iraq became an important front in the war on terrorism, with the added bonus of destroying the tyrannical government and offering Iraq their best chance at liberty in modern times. It's all a part of the big picture.

If you bother to read those links I posted for you, you will see that even in the Good War, WWII, the one that every able-bodied service avoider today would have fought had he just been born soon enough, there were horrible battles that costs thousands of lives each that were in hindsight of questionable value. Regardless, in the face of almost insurmountable odds on a piece of volcanic rock in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, United States Marines battled to the death to take those islands from the Japanese.

Let us consider Peleliu.

One particularly bloody battle on Bloody Nose came when the 1st Battalion, 1st Marines, under the command of Major Raymond Davis, attacked Hill 100. Over six days of fighting, the battalion would suffer 71% casualties. Captain Everett Pope and his company penetrated deep into the ridges, leading his remaining 90 men to seize what he thought was Hill 100. It took an entire day of bloody fighting to reach what he thought was the crest of the hill, but ending up being the nose of yet another ridge, occupied by more Japanese defenders. Trapped at the base of the ridge, Pope set up a small defense perimeter, which was attacked relentlessly by the Japanese throughout the night. The men soon ran out of bullets, and had to fight the attackers off with knives and fists, even resorting to throwing coral rock and empty boxes of ammunition at the Japanese. Pope and his men managed to hold out until dawn. When they evacuated the position, only 9 men remained. Pope would receive the Medal of Honor for his actions.

The Japanese eventually inflicted 60% casualties on [Chesty] Puller's 1st Marines, who lost 1749 out of approximately 3000 men. After six days of deadly fighting in the ridges of Umurbrogol, General Roy Geiger, commander of the III Amphibious Corps, sent elements of 81st Infantry Division to Peleliu to relieve the regiment. The 321st Regiment Combat Team landed on the western beaches of Peleliu, at the northern end of Umurbrogol mountain, on September 23. The 321st Regiment, and the 5th and 7th Marines all took their turn attacking the Umurbrogol, and all suffered similar casualties. By mid-October, the 5th and 7th Marines both lost around half their men while clawing their way through the ridges. Geiger then decided to evacuate the entire 1st Marine Division, to be replaced by more 81st troops. The 323rd Regimental Combat Team landed on October 15, and by the third week of October, most all of the Marines had been evacuated back to Pavuvu. The Army troops headed off to battle the remaining Japanese on Bloody Nose Ridge, fighting it out for another month before finally securing the island. At the end Nakagawa proclaimed "Our sword is broken and we have run out of spears". He then burnt his regimental colors and committed suicide. He was posthumously promoted to Lieutenant General for his valor displayed on Peleliu.

The battle was controversial due to its lack of strategic value. The airfield captured on Peleliu was of little use for the attack on the Philippines. The island was never used for a staging operation in subsequent invasions; the Ulithi Atoll, in the Caroline Islands north of the Palaus, was used as a staging base for the invasion of Okinawa. In addition, few news reports were made on the battle. Due to Rupertus' "3 days" prediction, only six reporters bothered coming ashore. The battle was overshadowed by MacArthur's return to the Philippines and the Allies push towards Germany in Europe. It was said the only useful aspect of the battle was the experience gained in battling the heavily fortified positions across the island. Japan would use these tactics with even greater success at Iwo Jima and Okinawa, inflicting the worst casualties of the Pacific War on the Marines and soldiers.

en.wikipedia.org...

Do you honestly think that the young man who is so sophisticated that it is beneath him to serve in Iraq would be willing to have endured the Battle of Peleliu? And I'll tell you something else, it wasn't just the combat that was a killer on Peleliu. The heat, humidity, the terrain, the mosquitoes, the dysentery, and the malaria made life miserable and accounted for many casualties and deaths.

These are the sacrifices that men who would never see your face or hear your name would make so that you could malign them the way you have on this thread.

Who should be ashamed?

There's quite a bit of wisdom in these words.

THE FINAL INSPECTION
~Author Unknown~

The Marine stood and faced God,
Which must always come to pass.
He hoped his shoes were shining,
Just as brightly as his brass.

"Step forward now, Marine,
How shall I deal with you?
Have you always turned the other cheek?
To My Church have you been true?"

The soldier squared his shoulders and said,
"No, Lord, I guess I ain't.
Because those of us who carry guns,
Can't always be a saint.

I've had to work most Sundays,
And at times my talk was tough.
And sometimes I've been violent,
Because the world is awfully rough.

But, I never took a penny,
That wasn't mine to keep...
Though! I worked a lot of overtime,
When the bills got just too steep.

And I never passed a cry for help,
Though at times I shook with fear.
And sometimes, God, forgive me,
I've wept unmanly tears.

I know I don't deserve a place,
Among the people here.
They never wanted me around,
Except to calm their fears.

If you've a place for me here, Lord,
It needn't be so grand.
I never expected or had too much,
But if you don't, I'll understand.

There was a silence all around the throne,
Where the saints had often trod.
As the Marine waited quietly,
For the judgment of his God.

"Step forward now, you Marine,
You've borne your burdens well.
Walk peacefully on Heaven's streets,
You've done your time in Hell."

/69nc6a

[edit on 2008/7/9 by GradyPhilpott]