Thanks for posting this. It makes me want to write some soldiers and tell them that I'm concerned about them and include some CDs or magazines and some chapstick. I did that a few years ago but they're still there. I know they're doing a lot of good things and I would never blame the soldiers for what has gone wrong.

Some kids get soccer balls? Why didn't anybody tell me that? Go war! Kill the parents and give the children toys! I bet there are some Iranian kids who need soccer balls too! Let's roll!

Reason #71 that I'm glad I'm 32-years old: All of my friends that went into the military too young for Gulf War One and too old for Gulf War Two. Therefore, their military careers found them stationed in hell-holes such as Okinawa, Guam, Germany, and South Carolina. Apart from a seemingly infinite amount of curse words, they slipped right back into Portland's liberal hippie culture without incident.
I'm going to continue to support the troops by voting for anyone and everyone that wants to end this war.
In the mean time, you should let us know your address, Aaron. We could all get together and send you a care package. My contribution would be a copy of Joseph Heller's "Catch-22" and perhaps some body armor. Oh, and Ruby Jewel Ice Cream Sandwiches. That shit is tasty!

It's nice to see someone in military standing up to those others in the military who have those Roseburgian(?) views.

I think that most people who are against the war are keen enough to realize that it is not the soldiers faults (just as those against the Vietnam war probably were), however the problem is that soldiers are representative of something[war] that is fundamentally wrong.

I'm not going to fault a guy for wanting free college education and a stable paycheck through military service but I will fault guy him for thinking that going out on the battle field and killing people is something to be proud of. This Aaron guy doesn't seem to be that way but I think he may be rarer breed of soldier.

"And then to come home and have people who know nothing about me, verbally spit in my face… well it upsets me."

Man, when did our soldiers get to be such whiny-ass babies that they can't even handle a little bit of name-calling? No wonder we're losing.

I truly am sorry to hear from Aaron that he received negative personal treatment from anyone here. I 've not heard anyone express hostility toward the soldiers. On the other hand, the Administration shows it constantly in the way the returnees are being treated by their government.
On a slightly related topic, I do have some concern about the lowering of standards for recruitment (moral waivers)that will lead to less than wonderful people with all those wonderful military skills. (Not aimed at Aron, he obviously doesn't fit that grouping.)

You know, I see a guy in military garb or a truck with Marines sticker on the back and have a knee jerk reaction. Sick of hearing about people being killed for no reason yet somewhere I have a negative equation to the military, in general. America is different now (from Vietnam era) and I HOPE nobody would verbally attack a military guy for giving their service. The anti-war people can hate the violence but they shouldn't hate the soldiers. Myself included.

Cannot fault 'em for getting a degree paid for and an all expenses trip to Iraq (if they come back alive), I *almost* did it. The soldiers have bigger balls than I care to ever have. I would rather be your average, backwoods, undereducated PPS graduate than potentially have missing limbs or worse - in exchange for a crappy degree from PSU. Brave Souls!

Well said, Aaron.
Despite the fact that the politicians are all effed up;
Do your job, keep safe and make it home,
I'll buy you a cold one.

First off, I would like to thank all of you so far who have ‎posted comments on my letter. ‎

I would like to thank all of you who support us over here. ‎Nothing makes me happier than meeting people in a bar or at ‎the coffee shop that are truly thankful for those of us ‎serving in the military. We serve the country, not the ‎politicians. If you think about it, we fight for you. You ‎elect the politicians, and they tell us, on your behalf, ‎what to do. That's how it should work, in theory. If you ‎are against the war, make your voices heard, and remember ‎there are members of the military in the anti-war rallies, ‎though you will never know. ‎

Now, for those of you who are interested in supporting ‎troops with care packages and what not, just stop by a VA ‎office or one of the National Guard or Reserve offices and ‎they should be able to provide you with a list of units ‎that are deployed. ‎

In response to some of the comments.... Jumbo,‎
Yes, the kids do get soccer balls, and I've personally ‎bought stuffed animals and candy for the small group of ‎about 20 or so that I see every other week. And if you have ‎paid attention to the news, although we do have some... ‎strained tenition with Iran, they are willing to assist the ‎coliation forces to try to bring the killings to a stop. ‎Granted they have their own agenda, as does everyone else. ‎But Iran is smart enough to know that one unstable country ‎in this region could bring everything down, and thus they ‎are willing, for the most part, to work with an enemy to ‎stabilize the country. "The enemy of my enemy is my ‎friend."‎

To Mr. Jimmy Kaufmann, ‎
We are not "whiny-ass babies". We are people who have put ‎our lives on the line for a cause we may or may not believe ‎in. We have seen more death than anyone should for being as ‎young as most of us are. Some of us, myself included, have ‎seen true evil. And we have done a duty that others have ‎refused to do. Respect is not given freely, it is earned, ‎and damnit, I think we've earned it. Would you bad mouth a ‎fallen solider with those kind of insults? Better yet, ‎someone who saved the life of the man next to him, but in ‎the process killed four Iraqis? Should he be condemned? ‎Should he be labeled a killer, or a hero?‎

"Should he be labeled a killer, or a hero?"

Killer.

I'm tired of people trying to justify the entire thing. It's assuming that the right and just path includes killing our enemies in an offensive.

If you're so liberal and enlightened, tell me why a lot of what you're saying seems to be a blatant lack of humulity. What you're doing isn't for altruism, it isn't for the better good, it's for yourself.

Karma may or may not exist, who knows-- but what I do know is that you probably don't get any for killing -- and supporting the killing of -- people, no matter the reason.

To Mr. Aaron,

Following a sentence that says “We are not 'whiny-ass babies'” with a full paragraph of whining isn't going to win any hearts and minds.

“We have put our lives on the line for a cause we may or may not believe in. We have seen more death yadda yadda yadda.” What did you expect? That's your job. What the hell did you think being a soldier was? Oh, wait—the problem with our armed forces is that none of them actually know what their jobs are supposed to entail. And so they bitch and moan and feel all sad inside when they sense they aren't being “supported.” You don't earn respect by doing your job. You earn respect by doing your job well.

And here's the funnest fun fact about soldiering: even if you, single soldier Aaron, are out there busting your ass and being all you can be and making your grandparents proud, you will not be judged on the merit of your work as an individual. No matter what kind of Army of One bullshit we've been fed, the armed forces are (and should be!) a collective, and are judged on their collective merit. If your organization is wantonly killing civilians, torturing captives, covering up inconvenient facts in order to achieve p.r. successes on the homefront, and losing a war we probably never should have started, you, as a representative of that organization, will be accorded the respect you are due.

Fact is, you don't “serve the country.” You serve the President, and you serve as an instrument by which the President implements his policies. The Executive Branch, when it comes to waging war, does not represent the will of the people—not even in theory. According to the Constitution, the Legislative Branch (the one that used to be able to declare war) represents the will of the people. You can argue that there's something wrong with the system, because there probably is, but if you've been told by your superiors that you “serve the people of America,” they've done you a great disservice.

When the American public finds the policies you're implementing agreeable, everything is hunky dory with ticker tape parades and celebratory summer blockbusters.

When the American public finds those policies intolerable, we'd prefer to “verbally spit in your face,” because you, as a representative of George W. Bush, are the closest most of us can get to giving the President himself a piece of our minds. Is that fair to you? Oh, wait—that's a stupid question. It's part of your goddamn job description. Suck it up and take responsibility for yourself.

So finally, to answer your questions:

1.“Would you bad mouth a fallen soldier with those kinds of insults?” No, because a fallen soldier isn't writing pitiably self-justifying letters demanding respect and support.

2.“Better yet, ‎someone who saved the life of the man next to him, but in ‎the process killed four Iraqis? Should he be condemned? ‎Should he be labeled a killer, or a hero?‎” He should be labeled a soldier. That's part of what “being a soldier” entails. Does it suck? Yeah. Is it chock full of distasteful moral murkiness? Yeah. More important, though, is whether or not those actions contributed to the success of the endeavor. Since nobody really knows what success in Iraq looks like or how it can be achieved, it's kind of hard to judge.

Anyway, thanks for writing this letter and having Amy post it. When I've said “you” above, I'm obviously not referring to you as a person. (You're obviously not as big of a baby as your friend from Roseburg who can't even handle a difference of opinion.) I don't know who you are. But your letter is representative of an attitude that's been pervasive for a while (maybe since the 1950s, definitely since the 1970s) regarding the question of what soldiers should expect from the American public when they are asked to fight wars of choice. And the problem isn't with you—it's with the whole damn system, and how we'd prefer to lie to ourselves about certain aspects of what each of us is responsible for.

P.S. -- And oh shit, this took so long to write that a hardcore pacifist just posted something about karma. Which reminds me of another fun fact: I've known my share of armed forces folks, and some are good people and some are not very good people. Since a primary responsibility of the military is to kill other human beings, how do we deal with the soldiers who really, really enjoy their jobs? The fact that those folks exist influences how society responds to the institution as a whole, as seen in Alex-Jon's response.

Mr. Jimmy Kaufmann,‎

First let me say, it's wonderful to hear from someone ‎intelligent and unbiased, or at least as unbiased as one ‎can be on such a subject. ‎

I apologize if I came off as demanding on the subject of ‎respect. I don't expect people to come groveling at my ‎feet, praising me for joining the military and getting sent ‎to this conflict. I just don't think it is right to condemn ‎them. I guess my point is; if you can't say something nice, ‎don't say anything at all. As I re-read my comment, even I ‎thought I was being kind of an ass. Again, I am sorry about ‎that. ‎

I agree with you when you say "the problem with our armed ‎forces is that none of them actually know what their jobs ‎are supposed to entail." This is very true. If you look at ‎the conflict here, most of the units are here as MP units. ‎You have units who are, in theory, non combat units doing ‎combat operations. I will not go into political reasons why ‎this is (mainly because I can't) but one social reason (by ‎this I mean something controlled by the American public) ‎why the military is stretched so thin is very few people ‎are joining. The lack of new personnel to replace those of ‎us who will be leaving puts people who would normally never ‎see combat smack in the middle of it. It's unfortunate. ‎

And now, let me ask you, ‎

What should a soldier expect from the American public for ‎serving in an unpopular war?‎

And yes I saw the pacifist comment, and Karma is a bitch. ‎But what's the old saying, "Do onto others"? Well if ‎someone is trying to kill me, I'm just going to return the ‎favor.‎

Mr. Aaron--

Ah, the old "kill 'em with kindness" ploy! Works every time.

No need to apologize for being an ass, because I'm being a total dick. It's the Mercury blog, dude.

But to answer your question, "What should a soldier expect from the American public for ‎serving in an unpopular war?", I think the answer is, sadly, "Nothing." Hell, soldiers don't even get treated right after serving in a POPULAR war. A lot of lip service, a slow erosion of their benefits, and the ones who come back with serious problems get shoved back into the cities, suburbs, and trailer parks they came from, where they can beat their wives and kids or drink themselves to death.

That's probably not going to change until there's another draft--but there won't be another draft until we're faced with fighting a war of necessity. So let's hope we don't see a draft in our lifetimes.

But as long as we have an all-volunteer force, as long as soldiering is a career choice, soldiers should expect what every American worker can expect when their job comes to an end... well, except for the fact that most American workers don't get invited to march in a parade once a year...