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Tis for Tat
Posted by Raven on December 10th, 2005
Uh oh…
To any moms of soon-to-be-deployed soldiers: My daughter called from Mosul today. She has just arrived there and told me she is sleeping on a shelf.
She is in a room intended for one person, but there are three women assigned to this room. She has no mattress, only a sleeping bag. There is no toilet paper in the bathrooms. The PX doesn’t have voltage converters, pens or practically anything else in stock.
My daughter, Kathe Scott, of the 511th MP Company, is fighting for our country, for a man that she has never voted for, and she doesn’t even have a bed to rest in.
Shame on you, Mr. Bush. You wouldn’t put up with this if your daughters were in this situation.
BARBARA L. TSCOTT
Ah huh!
In response to “Roughing it,” Barbara L. Scott’s Dec. 7 letter in the Monitor: There is more to this than your daughter is telling you. She just arrived in Mosul. That tells me a lot. She and her unit are conducting their relief in place/transfer of authority with the unit they are replacing. This process takes about two weeks, and you have two units living in one place.
Yes, the quarters are going to be cramped until the other unit leaves. I know this because my unit is conducting the same process with the unit that is replacing us.
Your daughter is issued a mattress pad from supply, and that is a part of her basic issue. As for the PX, with units coming in and out, just like any store in the United States, it runs low at peak times. In few days, I’m sure it will be fully stocked. She should have prepared herself with items she thought she would need. This is her responsibility.
It strikes me as funny that your letter was printed on Dec. 7, Pearl Harbor Day. Your daughter is fortunate to have the living conditions she has – hot and cold running water, a mess hall that serves four hot meals a day, a living area with heat and air conditioning. Your daughter signed the enlistment papers to join the military. She knew what she was doing.
Next time you drive by a VFW or American Legion, stop in and ask those veterans from World War II, Korea, Vietnam and Desert Storm what “roughing it” is. I am sure they will tell about all the cold nights they spent in the German forest with only a blanket to keep warm, or being frostbitten in Korea, or the leech-filled foxholes in Vietnam. Ask the sailors and Marines how much space they had aboard ship.
Your daughter is not roughing it over here. I have been to Mosul several times over the last 11 months, and the living conditions are excellent in comparison to other forward operating bases.
(Ray Persinger of Concord is a first sergeant with the 1159th Med Co (Air Ambulance) of the New Hampshire Army National Guard. He is currently stationed at Forward Operating Base Speicher in Tikrit, Iraq.)
By RAY PERSINGER
December 11th, 2005 at 2:21 am
My baby joined the U.S. military and isn’t being given living arrangments equal to a fine hotel. She has to sleep on a shelf….A SHELF!!!
Like some damned knick knack.
All she has is a SLEEPING BAG!! This is JUST LIKE the time she went CAMPING and had to sleep in TENT!!!! Or when she went to a slumber party when she was 12 and SLEPT ON THE FLOOR in a SLEEPING BAG.
MY POOR LITTLE BABY!!!
Yeahyeahyeah….whinebitchmoancomplain and then go pray to ST.FU you whiny old bag.
Your daughter knew the score, and I bet she is tougher than you give her credit for, unless she is like you and prone to whining when she isn’t treated like your little princess.
She is a SOLDIER in the U.S. Military, the finest Peace Creating Force EVER assembled on this planet.
I hope she sees your letter and calls you and says “Mom, shut up, your making me look bad.”
But on the off chance she is a whiner like you she will be found out soon enough and be forced to shape up or ship out. Either way, she is gonna have to be an adult about it.
Go have another drink, lady, and quit being such a whiny little bitch.
December 11th, 2005 at 4:41 am
Yep…I spend a good many of my nights crashed on a floor because I’m too damn tired to crawl into my bed…and when I go to the beaches and those places-I never get a hotel. Just crash right on the beach LOL…life isn’t a luxury.
Get a grip.
December 11th, 2005 at 11:12 am
Hell she has it made, I spent the most of a year sleeping on the metal floor of an armored vehicle not designed for anyone to sleep. It she was not a soldier and here in the states she probably would go out and get so drunk that she would pass out on a concrete sidewalk. She joined the military, if she can not put up with the hardships, so what, poor little baby.
December 11th, 2005 at 11:22 am
I forgot to add that I was sleeping on the outside of my tank laying on top of duffel bags where they are stored on the bussel rack when I got my back full of 82mm mortar scrapnel.
December 11th, 2005 at 5:05 pm
I think the expression you were looking for is “Tit for Tat.” It is based on the English saying meaning “equivalent retaliation.” :oops:
December 11th, 2005 at 10:11 pm
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOO look Buttermyself has to be so correct. la de da
December 12th, 2005 at 2:58 am
Wow, guess moms don’t have the right to worry and complain about how their kids are getting treated anymore. Guess being a mom worrying about the conditions in Iraq is being a “whiny bitch.”
December 12th, 2005 at 4:49 am
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOO look Buttermyself has to be so correct. la de da
You’ve got to be kidding me.
When you say ‘la de da’ and ‘OOOOOOOOOOOOOOO’ do you say it with a faggy lilt?
Should I:
(a) be insulted
(b) prepare to tell you “no thanks, I’m straight”
December 12th, 2005 at 7:50 am
i just want to be clear on this–this is how people like you “support the troops”? And people who want them to have proper body armor don’t support them…uh, wait, how does that make sense again?
Oh it’s okay. I just found my copy of 1984 and my NewSpeak translator again. Now I remember.
2+2=5
War=peace
Ignorance=strength
Bush=jebus.
yep, all ok now.
December 12th, 2005 at 8:07 am
Fuck you Ling a Long.
Get a life, stop blaming Bush for Clinton’s cuts in military. IdiOt.
December 12th, 2005 at 8:08 am
Mom’s do have a right to be concerned about legit issues. Being in the miltary, a war zone, isn’t like living in a freaking 5 star hotel you moron. Toughen up a little.
December 12th, 2005 at 8:32 am
Raven,
You forgot rule #1 of “the elements of style”, which state that apostrophes should be used as posessives, not as plurals.
As for “Clinton’s military”, Bush had 5 years to improve it. He hasn’t. This is Bush’s military now, and he has the responsibility. Stop pawning it off on someone who left office half a decade ago.
December 12th, 2005 at 1:52 pm
Oh Verplanck, you forgot! In the 1984 world, nothing that goes wrong can be the fault of Our Dear Leader, anyone who uses aprostrophes correctly is some kinda pointy-headed Commie traitor, and “Fuck you” substitutes for rational argument.
But yes, I love how it’s always the fault of someone who left office half a decade ago. You know it’s hard work, taking that much vacation time! Who could expect Bush to do more?
December 12th, 2005 at 2:23 pm
This is really the ‘Alternate Reality-based community’ coming around here Raven.