A Soldier's Perspective

The Chemtrails Are Coming, The Chemtrails Are Coming

On Wednesday, I was invited to a meet and greet with my Congressman, Lamar Smith. After fighting traffic for an hour during business day DC traffic, I made my way to the Capitol. As I drove down the street on my motorycle past the western (front) side of the Capitol I noticed all the "Out of Iraq Now" people in their tents with their scaffolds up and their big, glorious signs. A few things struck me about it all. First was that there were a bunch of "Stop the Iran War" signs. Interesting how they're fighting a war that doesn't even exist. Maybe those banners were meant for Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, I don't know. Then, of course, was the recycled and poorly attinuated hippie music blaring from the overtasked PA system.

The last thing that stuck out was this one lady holding a sign in front of all this facing the street that said "Victory Before Withdrawal" and another that said "I Support Our Troops". She stood out among the 30 or so dirty, stinky, unshowered hippies gathering for the upcoming demonstration on the 17th. I noted the lady and continued on to my Congressman's office.

Finding parking in DC, especially during business hours, is horrible and virtually impossible. For that reason, I took my motorcycle. I still had trouble finding a spot but was able to squeeze my bike at the end of a parking zone with about a half inch to spare. Since it had taken over an hour to get there (about 25 miles away), I ran the three blocks to the Rayburn Building where my Representative works. Sweaty, I arrived in time to be told that Mr. Smith was going to be late because he still had two more bills to vote on. I decided to take the time and thank the wonderful lady standing alone outside in a sea of stupidity (yes, I said it and I'll explain later).

I hurried down to the lady and noticed that a man with a camera was already speaking to her. I waited till he was finished and when I realized he wasn't a real reporter, but one of the people documenting the peace movement's presence, I interrupted and thanked the lady. I explained that I was an active duty Soldier and veteran of Iraq and appreciated that she understood that we can't leave without Victory. At that point, a young man of maybe 22-25 years had approached as well and asked her what "victory" means. She explained and then I chimed in by introducing myself again.

I told the young man, Evan, that victory means leaving the country better than we found it. It means leaving behind a government that can defend its people and a police force that can protect it. It means leaving behind a standing Army that can protect its borders and respond to emergencies within them. It means repairing infrastructure that was destroyed during the war and helping to improve what wasn't. If we leave now, millions of people will be displaced and/or killed.

He asked me many questions during our nearly hourlong talk. The first thing he brought up was the phony 650,000 Iraqis who have supposedly died since 2003. I explained that there is only ONE study touting that number and there have numerous studies to contradict it. I asked him how many Iraqis does he think dies every month in Iraq. He said about 5000. I asked him to run the numbers in his head to prove that it doesn't make any sense. Even though I think that's a high number, if that were indeed true then only 240,000 Iraqis total would be dead, less than half his touted 650,000. I told that more than 13,540 Iraqis would have to be killed EACH month (more than 450 per day) to equal those numbers. It simply doesn't compute.

Then he asked about all the bombs we're dropping on the innocent Iraqis. Again, I educated my young friend that we rarely drop bombs. The instances when we use aerial ordnance anymore are when we're being ambushed from strongholds that we are having trouble suppressing on the ground. We don't just arbitrarily drop bombs all over the place. We try to minimize our use of bombs because that just means we're going to have pay out more money to families killed in the bombing and clean up the mess anyway. We prefer not to do that, so we're judicious in our use of force. I explained that our purpose for being over there isn't all about chasing down terrorists and kicking in doors. It's about reconstruction and training the Iraqi police. He seemed in awe that we were actually training Iraqi police as a main effort over there. His perspective is that all we're doing over there is terrorizing the populace and killing indiscriminately. Then things got weird.

I knew things were gonna get weird when he started to mention the dreaded Halliburton and KBR, those evil capitalistic, war mongering, money loving defense contractors. I have to quote here, because I want to make sure you know that this is really what he asked me. "If they aren't just trying to get rich off the war, why are they blowing up vehicles that get flat tires so they can make more money replacing the whole vehicle than just changing the tire." WHAT?!?! I half expected the tinfoil hat to slowly creep from under his hemp-woven cap. Apparently, there is a "documentary" out there called "Iraq For Sale" (I went ahead and added it to my Blockbuster.com queue) where a supposed Soldier talks about destroying his vehicle because some civilian contractor guy wanted more money to replace the vehicle instead of just the tire. I'm serious!! How preposterous is that? If we destroyed every vehicle that got a flat tire, we'd be walking everywhere we went. I then explained the benefit of contractors, while also blasting the corporate mentality of contractor executives. Think of it: if a Soldier is killed in combat, right away it's cost the government about $500,000 ($400,000 life insurance and $100,000 combat casualty pay to next of kin). Then, the surviving family member of that Soldier get a check for the rest of his or her life equal to the pay of that Soldier at the time of his death. After funeral expenses, transportation, casualty assistance officer dedicated to that family, and other expenses, the government pays more than $1 million for a dead Soldier. Instead of having that Soldier driving supplies up and down the roads, the military hires contractors to do it. If that contractor dies, it costs us nothing. Yes, Halliburton and KBR are making a lot of money, but we're saving a whole lot more not having Soldiers do that job. It sounds crass and uncaring to put in those terms, but it's the truth. The contractor makes money and the government SAVES money. He actually admitted that he never thought of it that way and saw my point of view.

We talked about Walter Reed, WMDs, Iraqi security, Abu Ghraib, and other military topics. Then, it got really weird. While wrapping up the WMD discussion he asked me if I knew what chemtrails were. Sure I know what chemical trails are and explained it's how you can find the origin of a particular chemical used in a particular blah blah blah. "No, not that," he interrupted. He pointed to some of the planes in the sky and referred to the "chemtrails" they were leaving behind (naturally, he's referring to CONTRAILS). He said that the pharmaceutical companies paid to have jets spray these chemtrails all across the sky to create clouds. The clouds then trap the heat and pollution thus making people sick. Sick people buy or are prescribed drugs, thus enriching the pharmaceutical companies. I explained to him they weren't "chemtrails" but more like "vapor trails". I tried to give him a quick chemistry/atmospheric lesson on the subject and how it was just increased moisture in the air caused by engine exhaust and/or wingtip vortices (I'm a nerd, sorry) at extremely high altitudes. He still wasn't buying it so I challenged him to pick any particular week in the summer and any particular week in the winter. He is to count the number of planes leaving these "chemtrails" and compare. I bet him my military paycheck that he would see more "chemtrails" during the winter than the summer because temperature plays a huge role in when these things occur. And I assured him there was no conspiracy to make us all sick so that Pfizer could get richer. He maintained his point and I cut off the conversation. I told him I couldn't have an educated person with ignorant arguments.

BUT, before I left I wanted to impart one more piece of wisdom. I motioned towards his encampment and asked him which of the tents before us were collecting letters, cards or care packages for troops. I asked which tent was asking for donation of shoes, clothing, toys, school supplies or other good that Soldiers can hand out to the Iraqi people to make their lives better. I told him I don't have a problem with the peace movement and anti-war movement. But, I DO have a problem with a peace movement and anti-war movement that purports to do it in the name of supporting the troops and yet nothing there makes me feel supported. I told him the reason why his cause will never gain acceptance from Soldiers is because they go about it all wrong. I may feel more inclined to listen to their speeches and read their literature if I actually something there that REALLY supported the troops. I asked him when the last time they went to Walter Reed and brought cookies, movies, music, flowers, letter, cards, drawings, anything to make those Soldiers they supposedly support feel better. NEVER. And that, my tin foil hat wearing friend, is why I don't support you and made an effort to thank that ONE lady standing alone on the side of the road instead of any of the many people mulling about without deodorant. I also thanked him for the civil conversation (up to the point of "chemtrails") and that it's a rare day that I have a conversation with people like him and don't get called names or have to deal with screaming and yelling. We shook hands and departed.

I also find it hard to believe how "peaceful" these people really are when military members are getting their tires slashed and their cars keyed.

There has been an outbreak of vehicle vandalism at the LaFiesta Apt Complex in San Antonio, Texas, near Fort Sam Houston over the last six weeks. Cars being keyed and tires being slashed has become a common occurrence. Last week, one of the cars had "no blood for oil" carved into the vehicle. That car belonged to a young girl and it has terrified her.

In Washington state this week, the peace brigade showed their ignorance at the Port of Tacoma. More than 300 Stryker vehicles and other equipment were being moved from Fort Lewis to Iraq in support of the 4th Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division's upcoming deployment as part of the ongoing "surge" and counterinsurgency efforts. The Strykers are equipped with slat armor to protect the troops from rocket-propelled grenades. These "peace activists" took their places and began to yell at the Stryker Brigade and local police guarding against obstruction of the convoys headed to Iraq. They told the soldiers to disobey the orders of their "scumbag sergeants". The police told the protestors not to cross a certain point with any type of bags, backpacks, breifcases, etc. or they would be arrested. There was concern about what could be stored in bags and the police wanted to protect the soldiers doing their jobs. As a result, 23 of these ignorant morons blatantly disregarded the police instructions and walked into the area to be arrested. The cheers went up from the other protestors who did not choose jail.

The same jerks that purport to care so much about the troops not having enough armor and protection stood and jeered at those deploying to bring more protection to their fellow soldiers in Iraq. Who are they trying to protect? Their only agenda is to create criminal mischief and bash Bush. Does this type of activity affect our troops morale? What do you think?

This is why the Gathering of the Eagles is so important. These people only THINK they're supporting the troops. If you want our country out of the war in Iraq, say so and leave it at that. Don't do it "for the troops", especially if that's the ONLY thing you're "doing for the troops". Just do it because those are your beliefs and values. You don't speak for me. But, anytime Code Pink or ANSWER or Out of Iraq Now! wants to bring me boxes of goodies to mail to our troops, I'll accept them (after inspecting the packages for arsenic, anthrax, explosive materials, and needles in chocolate). And they'll have gained a little of my respect.