Hi Matt,

Thank you for your blog. I'm going to become a frequent visitor.

I'm a former grunt with too much combat experience -- at least enough for one lifetime. Different war, different times. But some things are universal about it and I empathize with the boots on the ground.

I see what's happening to returning GWOT vets because I frequently go to my local Veteran's Service Center and to the nearest VA hospital. It's worse than you can imagine.

I'm not saying that to break morale or to undermine the effort of the military. I know as well as you, politics has no place in combat. It's the furthest thing from your mind.

I notice that you write often about the Mainstream Media being anti-war. That's interesting, because from over here, back in the World, it looks to me like they use the war to gain ratings and ratings drive advertising. War sells. I see the mainstream media as feckless and opportunistic. They go which ever way the wind is blowing as long as it results in ratings and advertising dollars. The American people have soured on the war, so the mainstream media panders to their current fervor.

But when I read the blogs coming from embeds in Iraq I see this recurring theme of the "left-wing media" never showing the progress in Iraq I have to wonder how you would know this. It's not like you have unfettered access to the same variety of media as we do.

I fully understand that morale in a combat zone is a fragile thing. When morale goes down, it causes more casualties than necessary. So the DoD has a bias for positive, upbeat stories that like to put the best light on things and make the soldiers feel good about their mission.

So I'm not shocked or surprised that the DoD will allow Fox 'news' and right wing radio pundits like Rush Limbaugh to reach the troops, but finds plenty of ways to keep out what they would consider to be anti-military, anti-war "propaganda."

So how do you really know what the daily fare of news is here?

I know you get it from people who have a vested interest in telling you that the media is infested with left-wingers bent on surrendering to Al Qaeda. It was the same in my war. They used to tell us that Uncle Ho read the New York Times.

The irony is that from your perspective outside the wire, we here in the States just can't see the "whole truth" because the media won't let us, and from our perspective back here in the World, you just can't see the "whole truth" because the DoD won't let you.

Keep safe my friend. And don't trust anything you see on the news, here or there. It will all start to make sense only when it's over.

I'm currently in Fallujah as a member of the media. I interviewed a medical corpsman who was treated for PTSD. The DOD is preparing to meet the needs of servicemembers. I think that's a good thing.

www.matt-sanchez.com

Lots of people ARE joining. Complaining to me about the brutality of war won't change anything.

And for what it's worth, chasing SWAPO & MPLA through the bush wasn't all that comfortable either. Those guys are fairly brutal.

I am sure not only blacks and poor and desperate and droggos are joining the Army. Apparently your neighbors are going too. That is fine. For the longest time the US mythology, in the form of TV and Cinema has been feeding the myth that war is cool and heroic and glorious and glamorous. . .

Have you ever been to a War?

Have you ever felt that smell of fecal matter, mixed with urine and blood coming from the carcass of what used to be your best buddy?

That unique oily stench of that emanates from rotting brain out of a broken skull?

Have you ever killed someone?

Have you spend at least an hour at a Veteran's Psychiatric ward?

Talked to a vet?

Think about it. . .

Thanks for doing the math.

For someone with something like PTSD, eight visits per year is a joke. For someone with something like major depression with suicidal "ideation," eight visits per year is a suicide just waiting to happen.

For families that have to deal with the mental problems of returning servicemen and women, eight visits per year is divorces waiting to happen, acting out that may result in spousal or child abuse, and eight visits per year is a whole lot of tears for people who have made serious sacrifices.

For a nation that must bind up these wounds, eight visits per year will mean the need for more addiction treatment centers, more disabled employment services, more homeless shelters, and, sometimes it will mean more people on the streets holding signs that will read "Iraq War Vet."

We and they, will be paying for this travesty of a war for the rest of our lives.

And yet the armed forces have continued to maintain their recruitment levels. In fact I know 3 teenagers who having already been turned down because of flunking drug tests are trying and trying again to make it into the army or in one case, the Coast Guard. It appears that whatever you tell people about Iraq just rolls off their backs. Now you can say they're retarded or deluded or just plain dull. But you'd be wrong. For whatever reason Army is a big deal now for people. They want to join. And no these are not all poor blacks and rednecks who have no other choices in life. These are suburban white kids from Long Island.

So I think there are limits to whatever you propose in some way. Seems that until people stop signing up there will be a steady supply of people to send over there.

"Overwhelmed by the number of soldiers returning from war with mental problems, the Army is planning to hire at least 25 percent more psychiatrists, psychologists and social workers."

A contract finalized this week but not yet announced calls for spending $33 million to add about 200 mental health professionals to help soldiers with post-traumatic stress disorder and other mental health needs, officials told The Associated Press on Thursday.

The 200 new medical health workers will be added to more than 600 uniformed and civilian mental health professionals now working at three dozen Army medical centers and hospitals.

Yet, about 35 percent of soldiers are seeking some kind of mental health treatment a year after returning home under a program that screens returning troops for physical and mental health.

According to the Institute for Policy Studies "More than 210,000 of the National Guard’s 330,000 soldiers have served in Iraq and Afghanistan." . Which totals 540,000 troops have rotated in and out of our quagmire war theatre.

If 35 percent are seeking some kind of mental health treatment after returning home, then that works out to 189,000 of our soldiers that require professional mental health attention. With only 800 mental health workers, that works out to roughly 236 patients per worker. If they work a 40 hour week, for 48 weeks of the year- five days a week, eight hours a day... each patient in need of mental health treatment will get about eight hours of attention per year. Now how do you think that will play out?

Once again, this worst of all administrations, is setting us up for another disaster that will unravel badly within our society, whilst they retire behind the high walls and security that I am sure they will need for the rest of their miserable, criminal lives.