It means my husband will be extended 6 more months and be gone for a total of 18. This is war and I understand that, I do. But we aren't adding to our troop levels so to speak. Our rotations are merely overlapping now which means that soldiers such as my husband will now be deployed an extra 6 months. These are 12 hour days 7 days a week understand. I myself use to work 12 hour days. But I also worked 4 on and 3 off and I was still exhausted. I don't know about the rest of you, but working 84 hours a week will eventually take a toll on your mind and your body. These are soldiers carrying weapons, and I cannot be the only wife, spouse, citizen that this bothers. Whether you are for the war or not, this is definitely is not good.
Since my husband is over there, I try to see the positve side of our presence in the middle east. But, it's hard to find the positve when my husband defines his days as "pointless". As my husband puts it, there will not be peace or order there because the Iraqi people will not step up to the plate for whatever their reasons. Fear, I 'm sure is one, but we shouldn't be there indefinitely because they are unwilling to stand up for themselves and fight for what they believe in.
Of course there's the side that believes we are fighting insurgents and terrorists, but I often wonder if we are making it worse or if it is getting better. I suppose time and lives are all there is to go by at this point.
I myself voted for Bush. Right next to my husband with our eldest son by our side. I suppose as my husband says " We all make mistakes...you kick me when I get home and I will kick you."
I think our initial intention to go to the middle east was a valid one. Somehow I think we have been side tracked and have found ourselves in the middle of something we cannot fix. It seems as though it started out as a terrorist hunt and has now became a mission to to unite a country that however you want to word it, it in the midst of civil war,
I hope for every soldier who is and has been deployed that we are making a difference...somehow for the better. You see for me, that is all I have to hold onto. To justify to myself the orders of OUR COMMANDER IN CHIEF.
