A few days ago I received an email from Spc. Phil Van Treuren in the Ohio Army National Guard, JAG Corps asking me if I would
add his blog, Camp Katrina**, to my blogroll. He is one of the soldiers charged with the mission of protecting New Orleans after the devastation of Hurricane Katrina. A little taste of this blog's mission: "We at Camp Katrina believe that the United States military is the greatest defender of freedom and the most virtuous humanitarian force in the world. If you come across any stories, pics or news links that reflect this view, please give Camp Katrina a heads-up."I never, ever expected to be asked to post blogs to my blogroll, as if my blog is worthy enough to be considered a place for people to be connected. As I mentioned, I hoped it would be, but Spc. Van Treuren has given me the ultimate honor. I am definitely sending this link along to my buddy Roger so that he can keep in touch with his other troops charged with other missions around the world. Thanks, Spc. Van Treuren. :)
**Melissa-in-London pointed out this link was not working. It was missing its http://. I have fix-ed it.
5 comments:
Bryan: There are many people all over the world that are helped on daily basis by the US military. I'm not going for one minute pretend that I'm at all for the Iraq situation, but the military does a lot of good things. I don't think your opinion is unpatriotic, but I'm sure there are some that do. I am all for free speech, but we all should think before we speak.
To say that we are in Iraq to make relations between the Iraqi people and America better is ridiculous. That was never the reason given for going into this war. But while we're there, might it not help to extend some good will? Maybe they'll blow up one less helicopter or hummer that way.
I also applaud the effort in New Orleans.
And Poppy, I applaud the fact that you're putting the link on your blog. Everyone's entitled to their opinion, and good for you for putting a link to an insider's opinion. Those of us that go home every night instead of dealing with people who hate our country firing at us or trying to restore order to a devastated area need to remember the ones that do have to deal with that kind of stuff.
I also wanted to mention that the link in your post doesn't work, but the one in your blogroll does. :)
Roger asked us back home to send candy for the kids, which I felt squeamish about doing after hearing of all the attacks on the kids who took the candy, but the latest instruction was that the troops not give candy to the kids so they won't run out in the street for fear that they'll get hit by an oncoming car.
Despite the reason why the troops are in Iraq, each individual troop agreed to an oath to not only serve and protect our country but also to follow the orders given to him or her by the superior officer. Yes, a soldier can refuse a direct order if he or she believes that it is contrary to the goal of the mission, but to rock that boat will possibly result in: dishonorable discharge, shame, jail time, demotion, loss of benefits, being placed on a more dangerous mission than already assigned to (this briefly happened to Roger, I'm not kidding). I think our soldiers need to believe they are doing something good lest they be severely depressed by the idea that what they are doing is wrong and unjust. I am very convinced that another US president would have guided our troops in a very different direction, but they're deployed and they're following their orders.
Bry, when you are president, please keep this war in mind and don't let it happen again.
Melissa, thank you. (Sorry, I think I was writing my comment while you were writing yours, so I didn't see yours before I posted the first one.) I still reserve my opinion that it is an honor to be asked by a soldier to blogroll his site. :)
Is it wrong that the only thing I thought when I saw this post was, "He's cute"?
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