A Medical Quest - In which I am given new hope, which is crushed a few days later. By Masha?Gessen

A Medical Quest - The story of a woman who is dealing with cancer - before she gets it. By Masha?Gessen

What it means to be a Soldier

The only good reason to ever become a soldier is for what the soldier can give to his country and not what his country can give to him. The country in the end can only offer so much but the soldier sacrifices his life - all that he has.

Winning the War on Terror

Do you want to know a secret? America is winning the war on terror. What we are doing is working. Given time, Al Qaida will be driven from Iraq and most likely Bin Laden will be caught. People hear the negativity in the news and they read about soldiers dying in Iraq but they don't hear the stories about how we are slowly but surely driving the terrorists out. No one pays attention when commanders lament that we are killing the insurgents too easily, marveling at what madness drives young men to challenge tanks with rifles or handguns. Nobody pays attention to intercepted communications from terrorists fretting about how the US Army is depriving terrorists of "space of movement". I make no claims that everyone involved has done all the right things for the right motives. Defeating terrorism has been a clumsy process, but I implore anyone who will listen to just give us time. We will win. The cost of failure is much to high for us give up and go home now.
As a soldier, my distaste for going to Iraq and being separated from home is almost as strong as my desire to do the right thing. The right thing is difficult and dangerous thing to do, but the right thing to do is the only thing we can do. Driving the forces of evil out of Iraq won't prevent all possible terrorist acts, but it will show the enemy that the free world fights terror where ever terror can be found. The enemy will learn that we are an implacable foe. They will know that we will win.

Yahoo! News - Purported Letter: Iraq Holy War in Danger

This link is old news by now, but I hope somebody up high is listening and pushing for earlier elections.
Yahoo! News - Purported Letter: Iraq Holy War in Danger

GUNNER PALACE

As you might expect I am fascinated by anything involving soldiers in Iraq. Check out this documentary filmed in Baghdad.
GUNNER PALACE

For Melissa

I am in South Korea once again. It is time to get down to the serious business of training for Iraq. I was reminded once again of how serious being in Iraq is by the news of the death of a friend of mine in Iraq. I won't divulge her full name since that is not my privilege, but I will say that her death really brings home how real and how dangerous it is over in the "Sandbox".
Melissa (her real first name) had trained in the same platoon with me through BCT and AIT. She told me about her little girl, nicknamed me "Gizmo", boasted of her prowess at physical training, and told of her wild antics as a bartender in civilian life. She was real, I knew her, and now she's cold lying in state with a bronze star pinned to her chest to solace her family.
I don't know whether she died bravely (she probably did), but I do know that I'd rather her be alive. I'd rather that my cocoon of invincibility - people I know don't die - hadn't been shattered. People who win medals die. Coming back alive is my number one goal. The cost in human life has been painful but we cannot falter. The only way to redeem the life lost in Iraq is success. Iraq must become a nation worth dying for. Leaving would be an affront to the people who sacrificed their blood in the desert. Leaving would say that Melissa died for nothing. I can't allow that. We must stay the course as painful as the course may be.