‘He Should Never Have Gone to Iraq’

Wow, that's a great speach, but that does not change the fact that 42,000 weresent back NOT FIT FOR CAMBAT, it should not be a matter of choice for the souldier, if he/she is not fit, done. Get them the help they need, take care of them, but don't send them back to die just because that is the cheaper route, cost less to burry then to care for the rest of their lives.
Now if your speach makes you feel "better" about what this president, govrenment, and country is doing to our children, sweet dreams. I think it is inexcusable and a crime. If you and all the others who STILL support this WAR FOR OIL and yet do NOT support our troops think that by calling them "heros" for following orders, and that clears you conscience, wow, you are puddle deep sir.
Q: How long ago did you retire?
Q: If during this "war" WHY did you retire?
If NOT during this "WAR" then your dealings have NO merrit.
This is a desperate time for our military, bush has not only destroyed this country. Back door drafting, 6 and 7 tours, send them back until they die! Where is John McCain's failed attempt at political theatre...his son? Is he on the front line fighting "this "WAR FOR OIL? Or is he stateside, relaxing in mommies money?

How about a little "straight talk"?"

This is a terrible piece of journalism full of slanderous insinuations and inuendos with very few facts to back them up. This article is so desparately lacking in facts and full of sintilating gossip it would do better to have been published in the National Enquirer. You don't blast our military and place the blame of a kid's death on them without facts. Here are a few that should have received more attention:

1. There is NO EVIDENCE WHATSOEVER that this kid's death can be in any way attributed to his mental health history.
2. The kid would have had to lie on multiple forms to the military and under the penalty of a fine or imprisonment in order to get through the pre-screening process without mentioning his mental health history (the article states he did not mention it).
3. The military cannot randomly check the names of every person to come through every mental health facility in the U.S. Legally they cannot, plus there isn't just a catelog they can scroll through.
4. The kid graduated high school and passed the military cognitive test (many kids that take the test straight out of high school fail it the first time).
5. The author didn't have access to the kid's mental health records so how is that he gets away with insinuating that this kid has the cognitive ability of an ape.

Also, its just poor journalism to rely on one guy's hindsight and hearsay about this kid's performance in the military. What about his performance evaluations? Or how about the comment about the kid not having a drivers license, did the kid fail the test? Was he told he was too stupid to drive? NO, none of that was mentioned because that would have required FACTS. Something this article is severly and noticeably lacking.

Easy solution to the military shortage of qualified personnel; reinstitute the draft and start with those spoiled little bastards that trashed our recruiting stations in Berkley Calif, DC, San Fransisco and New York City. A tour in combat would do them good.

Seems to me there are several ways this young man could have served his country as an Army soldier without going into something as mentally challenging as scouting. Many people with "cognitive deficits" do very well - many develop other talents, and sometimes excellent talents, as a way to compensate for whatever other problems they may have.

Rather than discharge this young man as unfit OR place him in a specialty he was not suited for, I'm sure there were other ways he could have served his country that didn't place him or his platoon at risk.

The sad reality is that the armed forces have always taken in recruits with "deficits" - that isn't new, or news. In the past if such a person found a niche, many actually thrived in the armed forces because of the discipline, taking a marginal civilian and turning him into a soldier.

The Army can and should do a better job of matching abilities to the jobs required, rather than just haphazardly filling slot with pegs.

The tragedy isn't that this young man died in Iraq. The tragedy is that we - the civilian world and the Army -didn't do a better job helping him find a better solution.

Guess we should all feel sorry for the weak. Maybe the author would rather a more gifted individual take his place. Does anyone else feel that maybe this young man took a bullet so that some other young man may live to be a great leader in the future.

My stepfather was once a recruiter for the Navy. Recruiters have quotas much like salesmen and some superiors imply that you should try to lie to get someone to become recruited if they are having doubts about joining. He transferred out of doing this and did something else locally because he morally could not continue to do his job there.

What's crazy is, is that that was about 10 years ago. I can only imagine what it is like today. That is what the author of this story really should have been looking into.

The story is deprssing from beginning to end. It is ironic, I read not to long ago that "Milatants" or Al Quidah were using the mentaly ill to carry out matyr attacks against the US forces in Iraq, and then I read this story of the US army doing pretty much the same thing, go figure. I would like to mention one thing though, that this is the American soilders job, IT IS THEIR JOB!!! To fight and die for the paycheck that they are given by the American government. Whether they are mentaly stable should have been discovered after weeks of exposure around their peers. If not, then they are required to perform the same duties any other soilder is required to perform. Remember that eddiewhere. First George Carlin and now this.

I am disappointed in Newsweek for printing this drivel. They are emboldening the enemy by portraying these lies. These men VOLUNTEERED to serve and signed a CONTRACT to that effect. Just let them do the jobs they are to do. They agreed to go into combat year after year per their contract. Nothing wrong with that.

ONLY A CHEERLEADER WOULD DISPUTE MY ARGUMENT

Posted By: eddiewhere @ 06/24/2008 11:15:12 AM
Comment: There is this argument out there that I hear our troops repeating over and over agian. WE CANNOT LEAVE UNTIL THE JOB IS DONE WE CANNOT LET OUR BROTHERS DIE IN VAIN.

NOW THAT IS REAL BUL****. THAT STATEMENT IS GOVERNMENT IDEOLOGY AND NOT MILITARY IDEOLOGY.

COLIN POWELL SAID IT BEST. DEFINE YOUR MISSION CLEARLY SET YOUR OBJECTIVES AND USE OVERWHELMING FORCE AKA SHOCK AND AWE to accomplish your mission.

WE HAVE NO CLEAR AGENDA and NO CLEAR OBJECTIVES. WE ARE NOT SURE. SO HOW ON EARTH CAN WE JUSTIFY THE LOSS OF MORE AMERICAN LIVES. AS LONG AS WE STAY IN IRAQ YOUNG AMERICANS WILL CONTINUE TO DIE IN VAIN. WE THE AMERICAN PEOPLE HAVE MADE OUR POINT VERY CLEAR. WE ARE SICK OF IRAQ AND WE ARE SICK OF OUR DEPENDENCY ON MIDDLE EASTERN OIL.

OBAMA WILL BE THE NEXT PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES.

THE LAST FALLACY I WANT TO ADDRESS IS THAT THE SURGE IS WORKING.

THIS ARGUMENT IS SO CRAZY THAT IT IS HARD TO EXPLAIN.

SURGE means temporary. OUR TROOPS PRESENCE IN THAT COUNTRY OF IRAQ IS THE MAIN REASON FUNDAMENTALIST HAVE FOR ATTACKING US.

WE NEED A PRESIDENT THAT WILL DO WHAT IS BEST FOR AMERICA NOT WHAT IS BEST FOR IRAQ.

for all those out there who still think this war is about Iraqi freedom is about democracy for should be advised that THE JOB TO BE DONE IS GET THE UNITED STATES OUT OF IRAQ THEN THE HELL OUT OF THE MIDDLE EAST. YOU HAVE AN UNELECTED PRESIDENT AND A PISSANT CONGRESS. A LOT OF YOU SONSOFBITCHES GOT SCREWED THE SAME WAY I DID AND MY FRIENDS IN VIETNAM. THE BUSHES AND THEIR TYPE LIED THEIR ASSES OFF AND ARE STILL DOING IT. I've found that there is a boatload of good information out here. I only wish all the flag wavers and jesus freaks would get off their dead asses and just for once, look for the truth. when you find it, you better sit down with a strong drink because it's an ugly story and it goes back nearly 250 years.

tedbohne

Being in the Army 14 years and with 3 combat tours behind me now I can say that this is nothing new. Even long before the war began you would run into a soldier who seemed out of touch with what's going on around him and then later hear that this same soldier was discharged for "failure to adapt". The screening process for the military isn't perfect and it may well never be. Stories like this aren't rare but it seems to me that all of a sudden they are getting a lot more attention. .