Category: Iraq: The Present Crisis
Friday, September 24, 2004
One of the less-talked-about consequences of George Bush's mishandling of our national defenses: the disintegration of the National Guard as an institution.
The unit knew it would soon be shipped to the front. Some soldiers responded by deserting. Others got drunk and fought. In response, officers locked the unit in its barracks, allowing the troops out only to drill, not even to smoke a cigarette, until it could be put on the transport that would take it into combat.
It sounds as if I am describing some third echelon Soviet infantry regiment in, say, 1942. In fact, I am talking about the 1st Battalion of the 178th Field Artillery Regiment, South Carolina National Guard, in September 2004.
Here's the Washington Post story that Lind talks about, too -- it's by Thomas Ricks, an excellent reporter on national security issues.
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Get your facts straight, commy. First, the 1st/178th outperformed and outshone all other units doing the same duty overseas; second, the Washington Post story is a blatant distortion of the facts; third, you need to do your fact-checking before you use these web-based resources to vent your diarhea of the mouth; fourth, Rumsfeld and Bush weren't in Fort Dix at the time inciting riots; fifth, the majority of the guys interviewed by the Post for that story were and are morons; sixth, according to you and your ilk Bush is a bumbling boob, but he manages to single-handedly kill every soldier in Iraq, manipulate almost 400 supposedly educated representatives, undermine the antiwar movement, kill puppies with Carl Rove, and destroy the poor.
Shut your hole and grow up,
Spc Watkins C Btry 1st/178th FA
Get your facts straight, commy. First, the 1st/178th outperformed and outshone all other units doing the same duty overseas; second, the Washington Post story is a blatant distortion of the facts; third, you need to do your fact-checking before you use these web-based resources to vent your diarhea of the mouth; fourth, Rumsfeld and Bush weren't in Fort Dix at the time inciting riots; fifth, the majority of the guys interviewed by the Post for that story were and are morons; sixth, according to you and your ilk Bush is a bumbling boob, but he manages to single-handedly kill every soldier in Iraq, manipulate almost 400 supposedly educated representatives, undermine the antiwar movement, kill puppies with Carl Rove, and destroy the poor.
Shut your hole and grow up,
Spc Watkins C Btry 1st/178th FA
5 million miles and not one soldier lost. Where's the Washington Post at now? 1st/178th FA is true and tried.
Sgt Canupp B Btry 1st/178th FA