Anonymous said...
HI... YOU DON'T KNOW ME... IS BETTER THAT WAY... WELL, LET ME TELL YOU SOMETHING... I'VE BEEN IN TAJI FOR ABOUT 10 MONTHS... THIS BASE IS BETTER THAN IS HAS EVER BEEN... YOU ARE STILL LIVING IN THE PAST... APPARENTLY YOUR PREVIOUS EXPERIENCES LEFT A BIG SCAR ON YOU... LET IT GO MAN... GO WITH THE FLOW.... I'VE BEEN IN COUNTRY FOR 15 MONTHS STRAIGHT.... I'VE SEEN PEOPLE LIKE YOU COME AND GO... THEY ALL SUCK... YOU DON'T BRING ANYTHING TO THE IRAQIS... SO, WHY YOU ARE HERE FOR....???? JUST TO WRITE YOUR LAME BLOG....???? JUST FAKE AN INJURY AND GO QUIETLY BACK TO THE STATES... I'VE BEEN INVOLVED IN SERIOUS "INCIDENTS" AND IF IT'S NOT FOR THE IRAQIS FIGHTING NEXT TO ME, PROBABLY I WOULD NOT BE HERE WRITING TO YOU... SO, I RECOMMEND TO EMBRACE THE SUCK, GO WITH THE FLOW, AND YES, STOP WRITING LIES TO INOCENT PEOPLE.... THIS COUNTRY CAN BE STEERED TO THE RIGHT DIRECTION, BUT NOT BY PEOPLE LIKE YOU... BUT BY PEOPLE WHO ARE PASSIONATE TO RECONSTRUCT AND POSITIVELY INFLUENCE THESE IRAQIS AND THEIR INSTITUTIONS....IN ADDITION, PHOENIX ACADEMY DON'T SUCK.... YOU ARE WITH THAT ATTITUDE.... AND IS NOT A WASTE OF TIME... IS A LULL FOR ALL YOU "GUNG HO" DUDES TO REFLECT IN THE REALITY OF YOUR OWN MEAGER AND POINTLESS EXISTENCE.... BY THE WAY, I AM NOT A "FOBBIT"..... MAYBE YOU SHOULD BECOME ONE...


Normally, I wouldn’t bother to respond to individual comments, but I have to interject because sometimes people remark with comments that come from outer space, so it becomes the duty of responsible people to reply.

Nowhere in any of the comments did I ever say that Camp Taji sucked. I think my comment was, that it basically looked the same, except a little neater. Now, the anonymous commenter says he has been here for 10 months, and I must give him credit, because that’s a long time to be here, but I helped build this camp, worked with the first Iraqi units to set up here, spend many long days and nights building the facilities, and remember walking the streets with hundreds of soldiers picking up trash along the fences, so I know what this camp used to look like and I can say from experience it is a little neater. Now, if the commentor can infer anything deeper from that, well, you need to work for FOX news.

Commentor also says he has seen people like me come and go. We don’t bring anything to the Iraqi’s. I assume that commentor thinks that all I do is sit at my desk at write blog entries. I think my goal is the same as every body else:

Take care of my Marines, Sailors, Soldiers, and Airmen.
Train and advise the Iraqi Army/Police to do the job that will enable them to secure the nation.
Bring my people home.

What else is there? Along the way, I have had the opportunity to work with some of the finest people on both sides, Americans and Iraqi soldiers working side by side. I have lived with them, fought with them, trained with them and grieved over them when they died, so I think I can say that I bring a number of skills and experiences to the table. I know that when I leave here, I will have done everything that I could to help the people of this country, and that makes me happy.

Now, commentor says that Phoenix academy don’t suck. Now, call me stupid, but I don’t remember anywhere where I said it sucked. What I said was that I get the feeling that it is going to be pointless. The reason I say this is simple. Prior to the Army units getting deployed, they spent 5 weeks doing pre-deployment/advisor training at Ft Someplace or other. The Marines did 3 weeks at the Foreign Military Training Unit/SCETC/Advisor Course. Air Force does some 3 weeks, and the navy guys train with the Marines. So, all 4 services have advisor courses, then they all come to Iraq and do the same thing over again. That would seem to me to make the training redundant, and BAM! Pointless. How much does this cost, to do the same training 5 different ways? I don’t know how commentor feels, but I am pretty sure the majority of the people do not need the same class over and over and over again. So, why do it? Why not let the services either

Stop doing individual service advisor training and allow the Phoenix Academy to do its job,
Eliminate the Phoenix academy and mandate the type of training the services are doing.

Sounds like a simple solution to me.

Lastly, commentor says that Phoenix Academy is a lull for us “Gung Ho” dudes to reflect in the reality of our meager and pointless existance. I suppose in commentors mind, the statement has some relevance and was intented as some kind of written jab or insult. I fail to understand the nature of the insult, it sounds like commentor is a little upset about the reality of where his own life is going. But I submit that the reason we are here is to ensure the basic freedoms that all humans should be entitled are not erased from this country, and I think that the majority of us “Gung Ho”dudes share the same goal. And, as I read comments, I suspect that commentor is part of the same collective mindset with the same general goal as everybody else here. That would make commentor, just like the rest of us. But then, maybe I am wrong. Maybe commentor is the Savior of the Iraqi People, and we should all be grateful to be in commentors prescence. Maybe commentor is the key to the democratization of the middle east, because he alone is not Mr. Gung Ho.

Or maybe commentor should just do what every American has the right to do, just turn the channel if you don’t like what you see….

Oh, another thing. What is a “fobbit?”