Godspeed

This weekend, I said farewell to some of the members of my unit. We are sending a company to Afghanistan in support of Operation Enduring Freedom. Although the war in Iraq is still going on, we have a commitment to the Afghan people and government.

It was hard to see them off. I spent the better part of last year with many of them in Iraq. Now, I'm the company training NCO and assistant battalion S-3 NCO. I lucked out this time by not being selected to go. In a way, I'm relieved. I've been to Iraq twice and Somalia once. I'm not the same gung-ho NCO I was when I was stationed at Bragg.

In another sense, I'm sad that I'm not going. It is hard to see your buddies off into the unknown. I stood at the door of the bus, shaking everyone's hand, hugging others. It was sad, bittersweet, and a little scary. I pray that everyone comes back O.K. and that there are no issues with the deployment. They are now at the mobilization station, getting shots, screening records, qualifying with their weapons, etc. I miss every one of them already.

We are a Psychological Operations Battalion in an Army Reserve unit (Felton and I are the handful of Active Duty soldiers among them). For those of you not familiar with PSYOP, you probably think of us as the “propaganda guys”. Kinda sorta. We like to think of ourselves as the marketing division of the U.S. Army. Our mission is to sell U.S. policy to a foreign “target audience”. Our battlefield mission is what you are most likely familiar with. We make and drop the leaflets, produce and transmit television and radio spots, make posters, disseminate information. We support the battlefield commander with loudspeaker broadcasts. We work in Prisoner of War camps, gleaning information that will save lives in combat. We are a force-multiplier.

Don’t believe the liberal media. To them, we are a load of uneducated hicks straight off the farm. Miscontents and ne’er-do-well’s who had to choose between the Army and jail. Losers who could not and would not hold down a job to save their lives. Dupes. Cannon fodder. Idiots who found a home in the service of their betters.

Most of the people I have the honor to serve with are highly intelligent. Many are college-educated or working on degrees. Several more (including me) are current or former police officers. We live, fight and train as a team.

We are a family.

While I’m on the subject, the liberals are also having fun with something they call a “backdoor draft”. Just what in the blue hell are they on about?

This is an all-volunteer force, truly the best of the best. We all swore an oath to God. We knew the risks when we joined. All service members incur an eight-year obligation when they sign on the dotted line. There are many ways to serve. 4 years active, 4 years Reserve or National Guard is one of the more popular options. Liberals starting this scare are most assuredly the fools, not the Soldiers. We know what we are getting into. If you’re joining the military and not reading your contract, woes be on your ass. I mean really, would you buy a car or a home and not read the fine print? The only people I can think of that would do such an idiotic thing and then piss and moan about it would be Democrats. They cry when things don’t go their way ALL THE TIME. Think Florida. Is that a dangling chad I see before me?

So, may God protect everyone in my unit who deployed this weekend. I look forward to seeing your happy, smiling faces and hearing your war stories when you get back.