How Did You Sleep Last Night?

Originally posted by devilwasp
your right its ok to remind them but why does every focus on the bad things now? does anyone think this will help the troops? no it wont, thats the simple truth.

Of course it will help the troops. They'll probably get at least a half-dozen letters of thanks and encouragement from this thread alone, due to the fact that Grady posted it and others posted links to send messages. This is bound to help their morale, if only in some small way.

Every little bit helps.

Thanks, Grady.

Originally posted by curme

Originally posted by GradyPhilpott
How Did You Sleep Last Night?

It's getting a little colder in Florida, had to shut the windows, but I have a new comforter, and it was really cozy!

curme
Didn't you say that you were a member of the military and wanted to join the AF because they had the best retirement benefits? Pardon me if I'm wrong, but I believe that's what you said your background was, at one time.

If so, I think it's a bit callous for you to be so nonchalant about this, almost like you're taking some sort of perverse pleasure in their discomfort.

If I'm wrong, then so be it, but in that case maybe you should have used one of those little smilies in your post.

Saerlaith give me a break.

The man was just trying to give a hand to our servicemen and WOMEN.

To try to turn it into a PC preaching session is show a lack of respect to BOTH sexes fighting over there.

And even though its been a long time ago I remember in school being told if you were talking about men you used the Masculine term if you were talking about women you used the Feminine if you were talking about BOTH you used the Masculine. Thts is why we use the word MANkind not PERSONkind or BOTHkind, it stands for people in general

While I do not agree with the war, and a lot of other views Grady may have, I think we can all agree that we care about our troops and should consider all they are doing for us.
So, thanks for posting those photos Grady. We all need to take a moment to be be proud of our soldiers, whether or not we feel they should be there.

Related to the link posted earlier in this thread, I also encourage anyone, especially as a holiday activity for kids, to consider sending a care package. If they cannot open gifts with family, they should get the next best thing.
(sorry if this was already posted)

click here

I grew up a military brat.

My family always 'adopted' soldiers for the holidays. Every Thanksgiving and Christmas we had a few new faces at the table. We even bought Christmas presents to exhange w/our new 'family' members. These soldiers were far away from their families and very lonely.

What about adopting some soldiers for this holiday? There are quite a few soldiers over in Iraq who do not have families back home to send care packages for the holidays. How sad it is to see your fellow soldiers receiving all kinds of gifts and letters while you just sit and watch the excitement as they open each package.

Maybe we can adopt some ATS soldiers and put together some packages from those of us who are interested? (I think it would be nice to post the process and tell about the lives we end up touching here at ATS.) We can have our own ATS platoon!

If anyone is interested, let me know. I'll even arrange it.

Too bad there's no reason to even be there. I might feel a twinge of appreciation, if this was a real war. Sure, I support the troops. Everyone does, since we're all forced to pay taxes at the threat of imprisonment. Let me know when the cost reaches 500 billion, eh?

Excellent idea Sour Grapes! I think a lot of ATS-ers would like to get involved in this.

Damned- I agree, but, they ARE there, and we can't change that right now. So why not try to at least take a moment to empathize with the crappyness they are enduring, and maybe even do a little something to make them feel better?

Imagine being over there, and feeling the same way about this war. It would be even worse... I have heard many soldiers feel the same way as you and I.

splendid idea sourgrapes, we need to see if we can pull this together

Originally posted by Strigoi
splendid idea sourgrapes, we need to see if we can pull this together

I'll make some calls right now (provided I get a hold of anyone). One of my best friends is an NBC instructor that trains new recruits on their way to Iraq. I will see what I can put together and post back.

[edit on 5-12-2004 by SourGrapes]

there is info at anysoldier.com...

I am planning on sending some stuff like art supplies, comics, and mix-cds... I think that is allowed, right?
I just haven't quite figured out how to use the website to do so.

Any help you can offer me is appreciated, Sour Grapes.

Seriously, if you have any youngins, get them involved. It is so much fun for them to make presents for the soldiers, too.

When I was a little kid, My classroom or Brownies troop always made gift packages for the homeless or sick and things like that at Christmas time. It is so much fun for kids. I just have to add that in!

And As they mention on the website, old childrens toys/beanie babies are always very hot with the soldiers. ( they hand them out to local children)

Originally posted by duh squared
there is info at anysoldier.com...

I am planning on sending some stuff like art supplies, comics, and mix-cds... I think that is allowed, right?
I just haven't quite figured out how to use the website to do so.

Any help you can offer me is appreciated, Sour Grapes.

Seriously, if you have any youngins, get them involved. It is so much fun for them to make presents for the soldiers, too.

When I was a little kid, My classroom or Brownies troop always made gift packages for the homeless or sick and things like that at Christmas time. It is so much fun for kids. I just have to add that in!

And As they mention on the website, old childrens toys/beanie babies are always very hot with the soldiers. ( they hand them out to local children)

Great idea! However, I think we can do better. I have a few contacts I can call and see what they can put together.

Feel free to U2U me, maybe together we can organize an ATS platoon!

BTW, I remember putting together care packages for my dad and fellow soldiers in the Gulf War. They weren't allowed anything that had offensive language or nudity or alcohol.

I got a group of us together to make some rather 'humorous' gifts. We bought some playboy mags and made little 'paper doll' clothes out of construction paper. We glued the clothes onto all the women in the mags and used a black permanent marker to mark out all offensive language. We also emptied out shampoo bottles and filled them with vodka, and other spirits.

My father said it went over very well! He said all the guys sat around with razor blades trying to remove the 'clothes' from all the pics. He said it was a riot! Although, he said we could wash out the shampoo bottles better next time. LOL I guess their 'martinis' were rather bubbly!

That sounds a lot less confusing, thanks! Count me in! I will wait for you to gather up some info before I u2u for the skinny. This sounds like a fun plan. Hope more get involved (though even 3 members is a great start)

Originally posted by duh squared
That sounds a lot less confusing, thanks! Count me in! I will wait for you to gather up some info before I u2u for the skinny. This sounds like a fun plan. Hope more get involved (though even 3 members is a great start)

Well, when I get more info together, we'll start a new thread on it. I should be able to organize something by tomorrow.

Edit: I started a new thread for this.

www.abovetopsecret.com...

[edit on 5-12-2004 by SourGrapes]

Originally posted by Saerlaith

And no, mankind doesn't not mean men and women, it means men. If you mean to wish both genders of people in the military well, then you should respect them enough to do so.

As a matter of fact, "man" is neutral. Your ignorance of the language does not mean your assertions are correct.

Did I miss something; was there some statement in this thread that would have set off a sane and rational man?

Originally posted by ADVISOR

Originally posted by GradyPhilpott
How Did You Sleep Last Night?

In fact I havn't slept on a bed, couch or anything softer than a floor for some time now.

Bivouac, it's an acuired taste.

Yes, it is. I have not slept on a bed in 30 years,but it still beats what the GI in Iraq is facing. I constantly find myself trying to fit into their heads and wondering what they must be thinking as they watch the average Iraqi walk by and wonder if he/she is a suicide bomber.

Originally posted by duh squared
Damned- I agree, but, they ARE there, and we can't change that right now. So why not try to at least take a moment to empathize with the crappyness they are enduring, and maybe even do a little something to make them feel better?

Imagine being over there, and feeling the same way about this war. It would be even worse... I have heard many soldiers feel the same way as you and I.

Those who feel the same, I have sympathy for. Those who think they should be there, I don't. Simple as that. I'd never join the military in the first place, but if they said I had to go, there's no way in hell I'd fight a war I didn't agree with. It's a matter of principle.

I feel the same way, but I take into account how many soldiers are just kids who had no idea what they were getting themselves into, until they were in it up to their necks. I know I made a lot of poor decisions when I was 18....

Otherwise, we are 100% on the same page here.

[edit on 6-12-2004 by duh squared]

I can rest comfortably and sleep well at night knowing this bloody awful mess won't be hung around my neck for the next 4 years.

[edit on 6-12-2004 by brimstone735]

Originally posted by devilwasp

when you put on that beret or cap then you say i will take the crap and anything thrown at me because i am defending my country.

First off, although I'm active duty Army myself, my service in Korea is not nearly as bad as it is in Iraq as it appears in those pictures, although I still had to sleep in conditions like those, (except for the sandstorms).

Second of all, you have to remember that although they all volunteered for service, manyof them volunteered under false expectations due to the recruiters. Recruiters are infamous for providing false information to potential soldiers. In fact, I know three or four NCO's who refuse to wear the Recruiter's Patch on their uniforms because they are so ashamed of the things they did as recruiters. As a recruiter, the Army expects you to meet a certain quota of recruits each month, and not meeting that quota means facing certain consequences. Recruiters resort to just about anything to convince people to join, including all manner of dishonesties. My own recruiter didn't lie to me about anything, but he left a number of things out that I think were very important. After I joined, he told me that he had to get one more recruit in just a few days, and he was offering up prize kind of things if I could refer anyone who ended up joining. My recruiter also tried to get me to be dishonest on my paperwork, (which I may or may not have done, that's none of your business. ) Another soldier I knew was not able to get a high school diploma or GED for some reason, and the recruiter actually paid for one of those fake diplomas you can get, with his own money apparently. Later, the guy wanted to get out of the Army, tattled on his recruiter, who was court-marshalled, and the kid was chaptered out of the Army no harm done. These recruiters will stop at nothing, not even lying, to get people to sign the contract. I've heard countless stories of people saying their recruiter promised them they wouldn't go to Iraq for certain jobs or whatever, which ended up being lies. We soldiers may have volunteered, but many volunteered under false pretenses. Not to mention if you watch the commercials or go to the website, or even just talk to the recruiter, you won't see anything about Iraq. You'll just see soldiers rapelling from helicopters and playing wargames or whatever, all the fun stuff. False advertising if you ask me.

3. And lastly, you can talk all you want about how these soldiers are making voluntary sacrifices to "defend our country". Can I ask you how in the world you call what we are doing in Iraq "defending our country". As a soldier in the United States Army, I think I have somewhat of a better idea than some of you of what soldiers think. And when their laying in those hasty positions or sleeping on the cement or trying their damndest to fall asleep in knee-deep mud, I'm betting they're thinking the same thing I think when I'm doing similar things in Korea: "What the hell are we doing here? How is what we're doing here defending the United States?" I hesitated to speculate what they're thinking, but I think I'm in a fair position to do so.

[edit on 6-12-2004 by an3rkist]