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My husband's nephew's son has been stationed with the Army in Iraq for about six weeks. He volunteered to go. His father has glorified war, first the Civil War (from the South), and most recently the Revolutionary War, to this kid for his entire life. This young man is 20--less than a week older than our oldest boy. His father tried everything--including offering him $20,000 for a trip around the world if he would forgo serving. Talk about the chickens coming home to roost. This young man wanted to go--for the adventure. His parents are die-hard Republicans from Georgia and big Bush supporters.
Well, he's getting his adventure. Here's the latest report from his Dad:
He tells us that they go out every other week on missions that may last 5 to 8 days and then come back to the FOB (Forward Operating Base) and chill for a week or 2. He is located near Tell-Afar in the North part of Iraq and close to the Syrian border. ------- has had several close calls. He told us that a ricochet hit him in the chest. It knocked him down but the body armor saved him. What he told one of his friends was that he got hit twice in the chest by direct AK-47 rounds and knocked him down and he was no worse for wear. The body armor saved him. Needless to say, his mom's and my sleep habits have not been very good since we heard all of this. I asked ------ what he was doing getting into a position to get shot at and his come back was "Dad, what do you think we are doing over hear?" I was under the impression that he was in a safe place, but I guess no place is safe over there. He did tell us that on his last mission they captured 5 high ranking terrorists loaded with bomb making materials, weapons, radios and large quantity of counterfeit American dollars. He said that several of the 5 were Saudis and the others Iranian. He said this was a big catch.
So, if it weren't for the body armor, this young man would be dead. Notice that the terrorists they've caught are all from outside of Iraq. This is small confirmation that Bushco have turned Iraq into an attraction for terrorists from other countries.
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