Schofield Barracks has practically been emptied by two wars. More than 5,200 Hawai'i soldiers are in Iraq; more than 5,800 are in Afghanistan.Almost 1,000 Kane'ohe Bay Marines have deployed to Iraq, and the 1st Battalion, 3rd Marine Regiment is fighting its way through rebel-held Fallujah. Another approximately 1,000 Hawai'i Marines are headed to Afghanistan.
Sixty soldiers with B Company, 193rd Aviation, of the Hawai'i Army National Guard have been in Kandahar since May performing helicopter maintenance for the 25th Infantry Division (Light).
About 200 other National Guard soldiers from C Company, 193rd Aviation, deployed to Iraq early this year with 14 Chinook helicopters.
Another 400 reservists with the 411th Engineer Battalion are in Iraq.
An additional 2,000 citizen soldiers from the state's 29th Separate Infantry Brigade are headed to Iraq in February and March, along with about 700 reservists from the 100th Battalion, 442nd Infantry in Hawai'i, Guam, American Samoa and Saipan.
13,000 and counting from this state alone. What toll has it taken?
Lance Cpl. Aaron C. Pickering, 20, was killed Wednesday as U.S. Marines fought their way into Fallujah, Iraq.[snip]
Pickering is the eighth Hawai'i-based Marine to die in combat in less than two weeks.
Hawai'i-based soldiers with the Army's 25th Infantry Division (Light) from Schofield Barracks have suffered nine casualties in Iraq and seven in Afghanistan since deploying early this year.
For what?
Posted by Linkmeister at November 13, 2004 12:01 AMSo what do you suggest? Send more troops in, or just pull out and leave the Iraqis to their own devices?
Or perhaps another alternative?
Posted by: Pixxelshim at November 13, 2004 04:44 AMIt's pointless to say I wouldn't have been in Iraq in the first place. Let's say it's my own little war memorial.
Posted by: Linkmeister at November 13, 2004 08:03 AMWho's even naive to think that the US won't be in Iraq for a while more? You can already guess what an extended deployment translates into...on almost a daily basis.
Posted by: RON at November 13, 2004 10:43 AMLink
I was not being critical of you... and a memorial to those who have sacrificed their lives is indeed worthy.
Rather, I was curious about what you thought should be done now?
Many are critical of how we got to where we are now. Indeed, some of us had to be dragged kicking and screaming to the recognition of the serious mistakes that were made, from the pre-invasion planning through many aspects of the ocupation.
But . . . we are where we are, irrespective of how we got here.
What do you think should be done now?
Posted by: Pixxelshim at November 14, 2004 04:47 AMWell, for starters I'd give up the idea of semi-permanent bases in-country, and I'd make it very clear to the Iraqi population that I was not going to do that.
I'd then make it clear that I'm not going to keep any more soldiers in-country than the provisional government asks for post-election in January.
I'd start setting up political education sites throughout the country for potential candidates, so they could be educated in Western democracy as it's supposed to work.
I'd get rid of the Saddam-era law prohibiting labor unions. All civil institutions should be encouraged.
Making the assumption that the new government asks for help, I'd ramp up Arabic language training for every civil affairs outfit I've got, and I'd stop kicking Arabic speakers out of the Army because they happen to be gay. Priorities, priorities.
And then I'd make sure that all those things happened. If I had to fire Rumsfeld, Feith, Bolton, Negroponte, Libby and Cheney, I'd do it (I might do it anyway, on the grounds of sheer incompetence).
Posted by: Linkmeister at November 14, 2004 01:23 PM