by James Glaser
February 13, 2007

I had a couple of Marines stop by my shop today. They said they saw the Semper Fi on the front plate of my truck and they just want to "shoot the shit."

Both of these guys are active duty, one had done two tours in Iraq and the other three. Both agreed that in their last tour they were just trying to stay alive, and that was the order of the day. "Do your job, don't do anything that could get you killed, and keep a low profile," was the way they described their last tour of duty.

When Marines hunker down in a combat zone, you know the battle is coming to an end. Both of these guys said they didn't "have it" any more. The drive to win was gone, and counting the days left in country had taken over.

I asked what they would do if they were sent back. Both did not hesitate at all, saying, "We'll ship out." They are Marines, and when the Corps tells them to go, they will be ready, but you can tell they were no longer gung ho.

When you come home from a war, you can read the relief in your mother's face. If you are married and have kids, you see it there too. When you get called back to duty over and over again, you have already figured out what that duty is doing to your loved ones.

You can call on a Marine one or two times, and he will answer with everything he has, but when you start sending a guy into combat a third or even a forth time, you are using him up.

That is what George Bush has done, he has used up our troops. Yes, they will still answer the "call," but their hearts will no longer be in it. That is when your military starts to break down. George Bush has taken what our troops are giving for granted for too long. Because George Bush never heard his nation's call to arms, he has no idea of what he is asking of them, and three, four, or more tours of combat is asking too much of anyone.

Free JavaScripts provided
by The JavaScript Source