Mike's Place

By Michael L. Craner

Long before the sun begins to rise, it begins to gradually lighten the landscape. The stealthy figures I watched all night with the night vision are moving less furtively and more like early risers, heading to work… whatever job they might have.

As the sun breaks the horizon casting golden rays on the war torn town I’m suddenly reminded where I am, as if on cue the smells of poverty and destruction become once again noticeable.

My shift is nearly over, I’ll be relieved soon, and none to soon either. I’m always nervous on guard duty, because you never know what will happen during the night, and if it does, you’re somehow responsible for allowing it.

It seems most of the people in this town are simply trying to get their lives back in order and pose little threat to us, but you never know who anyone is. No one is ever what they seem, and when kids are chasing you down the road with an RPG you don’t know if they’re trying to trade it for food, or just get a clear shot at you.

We’ve pushed Saddam Hussein back out of Kuwait, but things seem curiously stalled. You would think we would continue to push inward and take him to hold him for war crimes, but the word is that it will never happen. To depose Saddam would only allow someone worse to come in and take over.

I tug at the collar of my flak jacket, trying to release some of the built up heat and move my sore muscles. I have never understood the flak vests. It’s well known they won’t stop a bullet, just stray shrapnel, hardly worth the discomfort, yet it’s something. It’s all we have aside from an M16 with empty magazines and a Kevlar helmet.

See, I’m not a tanker or grunt, I’m a satellite communications technician and apparently our commander’s feel arming us is a bigger threat to them than for their defense, (and ours). It’s a common scenario I would see the rest of my years in the Signal Corps.

Somewhere below the rooftop where I’m stationed I smell breakfast being warmed up from the foil tins they come in. Little better than T-Rations, they still set my stomach to growling despite the knots it’s tied in.

I’ve made it to another day, and God willing, I’ll see the sunset too.

Fast forward sixteen years…

I made it! I came home! I deployed again several more times to that theater and others like it, most of the time the only difference was the name of the country. The people were much the same, the situation was the same. It was all a bunch of bullshit, but we did the job we were told to do.

Today there are a couple guys I used to run around with that are now the platoon sergeants, and company commanders, and they’re probably floating the same BS orders we followed back then, because it all comes down from the top.

Most of the others I served with are out now too and making their own lives. I’ve been in contact with several, but the common bond we once shared has been lost with most of them. Most of us are trying to forget, because for each of us, there was something that didn’t make sense, and forgetting it seems the only logical thing we can do to deal with it, but we can’t ever really forget.

I think they, like me, still think back on it, and they’re looking at politicians differently now, and speaking out however they can, for whatever good it will do.

Six years ago, I honestly believed that there were weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, and I still believe that they were there, but were moved, and exaggerated. I believe Saddam needed to be removed from power, and I rejoiced the day that bastard took a long drop from a short rope. He was an evil man who studied and admired the likes of Hitler, and would have done more to be like him if he knew he would get away with it.

But war is war, and the ones it affects most are those who have the least control over what they can do. To me, Islam has shown its evil face. I no longer am naïve enough to believe that it is a religion of peace. It is barbaric and evil as Satan himself. To me, Allah is just another name for Lucifer, and I am against any further support of any kind for its followers for any reason.

I do see the need for a proper withdrawal of troops from the theater though. It’s nothing that should be rushed like so many Democrats would have us do. The only reason for a rapid withdrawal is if we were to follow it up with a few nukes, but that’s not a proper response at this time.

They say we rushed in on false intel and didn’t have a realistic plan; well rapid withdrawal without a realistic plan would be even more foolish. Stay the course? Not exactly, but let’s not run home with our tails between our legs either.

There are brave men and women on the front lines that are depending on us to make the right choices to protect them, and the people they have fought so hard to protect these past years. Let’s bring them home, but let’s make sure what they did will mean something too.