Soldiers:"what limb they would rather part with, if they had a choice"

[kpete]

November 22, 2005 latimes.com
THE CONFLICT IN IRAQ
Dread Takes a Toll on GIs in Iraq
By Louise Roug, Times Staff Writer


FORWARD OPERATING BASE FALCON, Iraq — A handful of Delta Company soldiers leaned against a barracks wall the other night, smoking. The subject of conversation: what limb they would rather part with, if they had a choice. On the door of a portable toilet a few feet away, someone was keeping the company death toll amid a scribble of obscenities: five KIA.

"When I first got here, I felt like I could actually do some good for the Iraqi people," Sgt. 1st Class Joseph Barker said. But the last six months had hardened him, he said. "We're not going to change the Iraqis. I don't care how many halal meals we give out," he added, referring to food prepared according to Islamic dietary laws.

"Morale is a roller coaster," said Lt. Rusten Currie, who has spent 10 months in Iraq. "We were all idealistic to begin with, wanting to find Osama bin Laden and Zarqawi, and bring them to justice — whatever that means. Now we just want to go home."

Although the battalion was getting ready to leave Iraq, the chaplain feared he would be talking to troubled soldiers for years to come.

"They're going back with all these memories," Blessing said. "The wound they carry back with them is the loss of innocence."

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-morale22nov22,0,4927084,full.story?coll=la-home-headlines

[SunDrop23]

1. All those guys are cowardy and un-American.