HaveRodwillfish,

This is a very difficult subject to write about. Its especially difficult because many people automatically assume that lack of support for going to war equals lack of support for our troops in combat. More importantly, is that professional soldiers such as yourself, will take this debate as a criticism of the work you do for your country. Whether you knew it or not, I was very aware of the constant contact you kept on the phone with your subordinates that were on duty, mind half on the fishing, and the other half still "on-duty". I am sorry for any unintended offense.

However, I think you missed the point of the original post. It was not to smear our Armed Forces. It was to point out no one should be surprised when more 'Haditha' type incidents start popping up in the news. Until we start building armies out of robots, we will see the effects of combat stress get worse the longer our men are under constant threat of fire.

Indirectly, that leads to a criticism of top leadership for not having a solid plan in place prior to the start of hostilities.

Lastly, our uniformed military do talk about the war and the experience of combat. I've read more military blogs in the last 2 years than I could ever recall. And the forums on military.com are very active. In fact I think I prefer them, because there isn't a need to prove ones support of the military prior to exressing ones own opinion.


So here is the question now for you SSG Justin Fordice, and for everyone else. How does the public express its discontent with its government waging war, without alienating and offending the professional soldiers who are ordered to prosecute that war?


BTW congrats on winning the NCO of the year award, thats freakin huge. I would get an aneurysm putting in that kind of work 24/7 and still have a family. I've sent you back a response to your IM when u get a chance.

VHawk