By Donald Hudson Jr.
donaldchudsonjr@yahoo.com

BAGHDAD, May 12 -- My name is Donald Hudson Jr. I have been serving our country’s military actively for the last three years. I am currently deployed to Baghdad on Forward Operating Base Loyalty, where I have been for the last four and a half months.

I came here as part of the first wave of this so called "troop surge", but so far it has effectively done nothing to quell insurgent violence. I have seen the rise in violence between the Sunni and Shiite. This country is in the middle of a civil war that has been on going since the seventh century.

Why are we here when this country still to date does not want us here? Why does our president’s personal agenda consume him so much, that he can not pay attention to what is really going on here?

Let me tell you a story. On May 10, I was out on a convoy mission to move barriers from a market to a joint security station. It was no different from any other night, except the improvised explosive device that hit our convoy this time, actually pierced through the armor of one of our trucks. The truck was immediately engulfed in flames, the driver lost control and wrecked the truck into one of the buildings lining the street. I was the driver of the lead truck in our convoy; the fifth out of six was the one that got hit. All I could hear over the radio was a friend from the sixth truck screaming that the fifth truck was burning up real bad, and that they needed fire extinguishers real bad. So I turned my truck around and drove through concrete barriers to get to the burning truck as quickly as I could. I stopped 30 meters short of the burning truck, got out and ripped my fire extinguisher out of its holder, and ran to the truck. I ran past another friend of mine on the way to the burning truck, he was screaming something but I could not make it out. I opened the driver’s door to the truck and was immediately overcome by the flames. I sprayed the extinguisher into the door, and then I saw my roommate’s leg. He was the gunner of that truck. His leg was across the driver’s seat that was on fire and the rest of his body was further in the truck. My fire extinguisher died and I climbed into the truck to attempt to save him. I got to where his head was, in the back passenger-side seat. I grabbed his shoulders and attempted to pull him from the truck out the driver’s door. I finally got him out of the truck head first. His face had been badly burned. His leg was horribly wounded. We placed him on a spine board and did our best to attempt "Buddy Aid". We heard him trying to gasp for air. He had a pulse and was breathing, but was not responsive. He was placed into a truck and rushed to the "Green Zone", where he died within the hour. His name was Michael K. Frank. He was 36 years old. He was a great friend of mine and a mentor to most of us younger soldiers here.

Now I am still here in this country wondering why, and having to pick up the pieces of what is left of my friend in our room. I would just like to know what is the true reason we are here? This country poses no threat to our own. So why must we waste the lives of good men on a country that does not give a damn about itself? Most of my friends here share my views, but do not have the courage to say anything.

Donald C. Hudson Jr. is a private assigned to the 1st Brigade Special Troops Battalion, 1st Brigade Combat Team, 82nd Airborne Division. E-mail: donaldchudsonjr@yahoo.com

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Stupid Posted by Kevin Harlowe - 05/29/2007, 01:13 PM What are we doing there? We’re being stupid, that’s what. Stupid is the real god; it permeates all, it suffuses and binds our culture; it's in the board rooms; in the offices; in the White House, most manifestly; in Congress, it's everywhere. Every where people think of their brains as vestigial appendages; everywhere they fail to use them, everywhere we succumb to the easy logic of the visceral, where flag waving suffices for patriotism, and Bible thumping for morality. We haven’t been dumbed down; we’ve embraced idiocy in a loving hug!! The people who got us into this mess aren't evil; that would require minimal intellect, at least sufficient for a personality. Our leader is a rum soaked, Bible thumping, village idiot, and his lackeys in congress are equally culpable. Not evil, simply stupid--too stupid to ask hard questions; too stupid to ask for verification; too stupid to have an actual plan; too stupid to entertain the possibility of failure; too stupid to understand a foreign culture....need I go on? None of this will help Pvt. Hudson, or save Mike Frank. The best we can do is act like a society that has finally come to its senses after six years of fear induced panic in which we surrendered our hearts and minds to a cabal of lunatics. We speak of the "lessons" of Vietnam, but we sleep through the class. If we haven't yet learned those lessons by now, how many more wars will we need before we learn the "lessons" of Iraq? As a practical matter, I remember a quote from one of my favorite plays, Shaw's The Devil's Disciple, when General Burgoyne is haranguing his flunky, Colonel Swindone, for his unfortunate tendency to wave the flag instead of formulating a plan: "The British officer need not know his business, then, the British soldier will get him out of all his blunders with a bayonet? In the future, sir, I must ask that you be a bit less generous with the blood of your men and a bit more generous with your own brain!" I believe that last sentence should be tattooed on the foreheads of every politician in Congress and the White House.

What are YOU doing there? Posted by Errin Familia - 06/01/2007, 01:16 PM What I'd like to know is your reasons for being where you are today. I am sorry for the loss of your friends and fellow soldiers. Still, that is part of what you and they signed up for when you joined our armed forces. While I feel Iraq is a lost cause and there is actually little concern for our troops among our politicians, I still feel that no US soldier had died in vain in Iraq. They died for the US of A, not for Iraq. Our fallen in Iraq have fulfilled their oath to the American Constitution, even if our politicians have not. That is enough for me to feel that no soldier has died in vain. Yes, the Iraq war has been in vain, but that does not mean the sacrifice of our soldiers in the war have been in vain. Sacrifice is called sacrifice for a reason. Every death of a US soldier in Iraq gets felt back here at home, and it will be a long while before we ever rush our soldiers needlessly into a war of choice like we did with Iraq. I truly believe that each soldier that has fallen in Iraq has been an abject lesson in our country curbing it's militaristic enthusiasm, and that we will not repeat the mistake of this Iraq war in the future. No death in Iraq has been in vain, as there is now a lesson learned that we didn't learn before the war. Too bad that lesson had to come at the cost of so many American soldiers' lives.

Answers Posted by John Farnham - 06/03/2007, 10:54 AM I'm a civvie - foreigner yet. My dad died young - sometimes he had hard questions he asked himself about the 'logic' of war. There isn't any logic to the experience. We grow up in a world we inherit - not one we make. Detectives sent to solve crimes 'follow the money'. I have no problem trying that here : what else is there ? Another is knowing that mind games have been going on a long time.People study odd things - including the idea that 'military intelligence' being a joke is good disinformation. You are going to have flashbacks and nightmares. It goes with the territory. The guys who came back from 'Nam have a lot of sympathy for the young pups who are going through the hell they knew for no better reasons. They should have experience to share. They're online too. I have links - that's what my Blogroll is for. Or you can search : whatever turns your crank. And I was sent this link yesterday. Wade through the antique dry humour and you should find something of value. http://www.ikanlundu.com/literary/The_Art_of_Polit ... Stay safe. opit

opit's links Posted by John Farnham - 06/03/2007, 11:06 AM http://opit.wordpress.com/ ...

Insanity Posted by Kash Figueroa - Former Loral Electronics Sytems, Senior Engineer (now p/o Lockheed-Martin) 06/03/2007, 12:46 PM I live in Canada but my 21yr old son is in the USMC fighting in Ramadi. We are in touch frequently via IM and other PC technologies. The stuff I hear from him and the article above hit me very hard. I worked 15 yrs in the military/aerospace industry producing and suporting the gear user for warfare, and my teams were all veterans of all services, one of which had been a POW and was lucky to escape. I have heard a bit too much about what goes on when fighting this type of war Sometimes insanity can be defined as making the same mistake over & over expecting different results. The British tried it during the first quarter of the 20th centyru and had to leave. How arrogant of Bush @& Co to be so naive and to think they can go against the grain of human history and repeat the same mistake to a people that did not attack us. It was Al Qaida who attacked the US. For that, a half-a.s.s. force is assembled. In spite of that our guys spotted Bin Laden and Co. up in the mountains. The generals calls for inmediate support and guess who says no, but Mr Darth Vader himself, our VP. Why let him go ??? That is why we still cannot beat the Taliban. We did not cut the chioken's head when we had the chance. During WW2, the moment we had intelligence of General Yamamoto's whereabouts (architect of Pearl Harbor, a mission was sent to intercept and shoot the general down, which we did. And they say the democrats are weak on defense ??? who was president when we won WW2 ?? What's up with Osama and Cheney & Bush...An attack like Sep 11 and let the guy go? Now our kids are dying and geting hurt, not to mention the poor civilians trying to survive fday to day. Thanks to this insanity created by this rogue, naive, neo con faction of the Republican Party. The media had a feast for their own reason waiting for the Iraq war to start....Imagine the ratings, a made for TV war again. Let's see how we get out of this one. Why can't the American people rise like it when Vietnam was out of control like Iraq now. Thank You

Just Another Place to Discuss the Press Posted by R C - Ra Conteur 06/16/2007, 02:41 PM Unfortunate to see that the writers here have no understanding of this site's purpose. It is to provide discussion and critique of the way the worldwide press operates. If the press and those who employ them had behaved anything like the functional press during Viet Nam - the specter of Iraq would never have risen. Since the summer of 2001 the press has been a dysfunctional tool of the militants, lacking authenticity, candor and humanity. Submit a comment - Jump to top of list