Heroic! After being maltreated and deceived by the government and the neocons, many soldiers in Iraq are only pretending to fight. That way they neither kill nor are killed. (Thanks to Joe Schembrie.)
UPDATE Writes Jack Ely: “It was the same way in Vietnam when I was there from 1969-70. All most of us wanted to do was get home alive (I actually didn’t care much about the “alive” part beginning on day 1. I just wanted to get out one way or another). At times I thought about stealing a sampan and sailing to Thailand. I went AWOL while on R&R in the Philippines until I came to senses. With a crew of 65 on a small cargo ship that sailed the Mekong Delta we had two attempted suicides and one self-inflicted injury earning the person who did it a trip home. In the latter incident, the guy who did it jumped from the flying bridge to the deck below breaking some bones in the process. I always admired his courage.
“I did discover marijuana which helped me get through the ordeal. I even smuggled some back home in the bottom of a tube of tooth paste. Ever wonder what they’re smoking in Iraq? Don’t hear much about that.”
2:28 pm on October 27, 2007
