« Kharnival of the IranitiesMarch 25, 2003 »

Missing It

“I felt disgusted with myself for missing the war and wondered if I was alone in this.”

Don’t worry.  You’re not. Not in missing it. Not in enjoying it.  Not in loving it.  You’ve got plenty of company. Even with the darkness and everything else.  You’re wired that way.  To love it, even though it is one of the worst things there is. 

(h/t Argghhh!!!)

Topics: Iraq, military

  Posted by Jules Crittenden at 3:41 pm on Saturday, March 24, 2007

9 Responses to “Missing It”

1. Old War Dogs Says:
   March 24th, 2007 at 4:09 pm

   Bill’s Nibbles // Open Post — 2007.03.24

   Please feel free to use this post for comments and trackbacks not related to other posts on the site. If you leave a trackback your post must include a link to this one and, as always, comments claiming the sun

2. Bill's Bites Says:
   March 24th, 2007 at 4:10 pm

   Bill’s Nibbles // Open Post — 2007.03.24

   Please feel free to use this post for comments and trackbacks not related to other posts on the site. If you leave a trackback your post must include a link to this one and, as always, comments claiming the sun

3. Purple Avenger Says:
   March 24th, 2007 at 4:52 pm

   Its hard to feel truly alive unless the possibility of death is close at hand. Those who’ve never had a “close call” can’t really understand what the attraction is.

4. alphie Says:
   March 24th, 2007 at 5:44 pm

   So Iraq civilians should be happy that we’ve turned their country into one big thrill ride for the arrested development crowd?

5. Purple Avenger Says:
   March 24th, 2007 at 7:36 pm

   Yes. Because we’re not filling mass graves like Saddam did.

6. alphie Says:
   March 24th, 2007 at 7:48 pm

   Are you saying Saddam and his goons got cheap thrills from killing, too, PA?

7. CavMedic Says:
   March 24th, 2007 at 10:31 pm

   A big part of the attraction of this blog is reading what Jules and the RealJeffS post about life in the sandbox. Only a few other blogs, like Blackfive, offer similar appeal.

   Doing a difficult job well under extremely stressful conditions is very rewarding and you build camaraderie in the combat zone that is very difficult to match in other situations.

   I miss the sense of satisfaction I got from serving my country in combat. I miss many of my friends who have left the service, transferred or gone to back to their original units. I miss the great honor of leading troops and being part of a team.

   Many GIs volunteer to return to theater and most of the guys in my unit do not dread it. I believe that the reason the reenlistment rate is so high is that a lot of other soldiers feel the same way and get a lot more out of combat duty than they ever could out of peacetime service.

8. Purple Avenger Says:
   March 25th, 2007 at 6:50 am

   So, have you stopped beating your spouse Alphie?

9. The_Real_JeffS Says:
   March 25th, 2007 at 11:54 am

   I miss the sense of satisfaction I got from serving my country in combat. I miss many of my friends who have left the service, transferred or gone to back to their original units. I miss the great honor of leading troops and being part of a team.

   Just so, CavMedic. Since retiring from the Reserves, I’ve found myself looking back and wondering if I could return (I can’t, for a number of reasons, so I get past the pain, and move on). Those episodes are getting less frequent, but remain painful, each and every one.

   This in spite of the fact that my tour in the sandbox was relatively quiet and comfortable (indeed, I still feel guilty about that). But I worked with great people doing good things for our troops and the Iraqis, and that’s what I remember the best.

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