from the mouth of a marine vet.....

[radfringe]

our production manager is a Marine veteran and was in Viet Nam in the last couple of months of that war.

He has the marine emblem tatooed on his arm, his office has several Marine posters, and the back of his truck is plastered with marine bumper stickers and support our troop magnets

based on that description you might expect him to be gun-ho Hooo-rah for bush* and Iraq. NOPE.

yesterday, he says to me - "we gotta get out of Iraq. This is the most stupidest war I've seen - our guys are dying over there for what? I can't see us just pulling out, it's a f***ing mess - but we do need a plan - not this crappola that bush* is shoveling. They (the bushies) don't know what they are doing - and we have another 3 years of them!!!???"

we talked for a bit more - and without any prompting from me he says sadly "I think bush*'s only exit plan is going to be shipping our guys out of IraQ and into IraN and Syria. When do you think we can impeach the idiot before he really f**ks us up even more?"

about 1/2 hour later - he comes into my office, asks me what he needs to do to switch parties for voting. I tell him he needs to fill out a form, either go to the court house and get one or download it from the PA government website. He asks me if I could find it on-line for him and download it. I said sure thing - then he says "Print out a bunch of copies so I can give them to my wife, daughter and for some of the guys at the vet club"

I asked him if he saw the news clips regarding Schmidt's comments about Murtha - he snorts "the b*tch with the scungie? yeah - that really pissed me off. I'd like to see those f***ing republicans go over there and fight - see what they think after one of those road bombs goes off under their butts. A buddy of mine was in Korea and Viet Nam - he thinks we should take bush* and the rest of them, drop them in the middle of Iraq and see how they like being tin-ducks in a shooting gallery."

p.s. he is/was registered as an independent will be re-registering as a Dem, didn't vote for bush either time

[NMMNG]

1. The people who are over there, or who have been over there

Tend to believe that we should get the hell out. Only the moronic chickenhawks who won't put their asses on the line, but love to talk the talk, think this effed up war is a good idea.

[opihimoimoi]

2. Murtha is right, we do need some kinda plan to pull out

But Bush is not a Solver...neither is his CREW...they all flummoxed as schmidt.

[Hekate]

3. Ooo-rah! Sounds like an ex-Marine I knew when I was younger

He used to swear that the cure for war would be to pile all the generals and presidents of the world into a locked room -- naked -- and let them hack each other to pieces with their bare hands. No more sending other men into battle to kill and die for nothing.

Your friend has seen the light magnificently, and from the sounds of it he will not be shy about sharing his views with others.

Hekate

[WilliamPitt]

4. get some

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=104&topic_id=5431684&mesg_id=5431684

[Historic NY]

5. I know how he feels.......

I am not a VET but a military historian so I've studied lots of really boring stuff. I have many friends that are active or retired military, so we sometimes talk policy & tactics and of course Iraq comes up. I usually try to skirt around the perimeter when discussing it. My normal routine is to listen to them first. So far I've not had one disagree with me, they usually ask my take and then I unload. From the very onset I was against this action, based on past history of Iraq and the Otterman Empire. It amazes me that with all the Army historians at Carlisle Barracks and those at the War Colleges, that this administration never even read their treatise's. They predicted, exactly how this occupation would shape up right down to the insurgency.

[REP]

6. Sounds Like a Marine Vet I Spoke To The Other Day

As I was pulling up to have coffee, I noticed another car pulling up tuned to the same radio program (ATC). I mentioned it as he got out of his car, and as we chatted, turned out we were both heading for coffee. He noticed the copy of The Nation I had with me, and that's when I found out he was a) a Marine vet b) VERY opposed to the war and Bush and c) had a kid considering enlisting and he wanted to talk him out of it. I trotted out to my car and gave him the issue of The Nation with the anti-enlisting info and gave it to him (he hadn't heard of The Nation, and when I told him what it was, he asked if there were subscription cards in it!).

I know anyone can claim to be a vet, but no matter what, it was nice to have such a pleasant encounter with a stranger who was more than happy to let it be known that he's against this war.

[TomClash]

7. You signed up a new recruit!

Congratulations.

I know a tiny bit about how he feels. I was there on 9/11 and I'm sick of the bullshit War on Terror excuse.