downingolsen

I know that some of you may wonder why I decided to do what I am doing knowing that I would be going to Iraq. Sure there is the I am not happy in my jobblah blahneeded a changeblah blah and although all of that is still true, there are also other reasons. Ever since I can remember I have always felt a need to give back to my country. JFK said in best in his inaugural speech,

And so, my fellow Americans: ask not what your country can do for you--ask what you can do for your country

I have never believed that my country has owed me much except the basics but I have always believed that I owed my country much more for the freedoms that it has given me. There are some of you that agree with me on some of my political views and there are others that agree to disagree. Whether or not I support this war in Iraq is not for me to say anymore, for the most part I have stopped discussing politics altogether as I no longer have that luxury. I have always supported the idea of iraq, whether we went in too soon or not is a moot point now and I stand ready to protect and defend my brothers and sisters over there anyway that I can. Someone asked me if what if I died in iraq, I thought for sometime on this always returning the same quote by Capt. Nathan Hale as he was about to be hung by the British,

I only regret, he said, that I have but one life to lose for my country.

As morbid as that may sound it is very true to my beliefs. I sometimes believe that I was born a few centuries too late, either that or there is a past life that comes through at times in my dreams. It is not I, the soldier that decides where or when I am called to action, or where it may be that I go. There are some that may disagree with war or not totally comprehend the necessity of it. Just remember that you are sitting in your comfy little world because of people greater than you that have given their lives defending your freedoms.

I will soon have to write out my final words and give them to someone so that they can email them to my friends and family should I make the ultimate sacrifice. I will even make one to be posted on here. This will not be an easy task but I will get through it so that my friends can know why.

In closing this rant session I will leave you with a poem that is moving

To look into a soldier's eyes, the window to their soul.
Look out from inside their mind and see horrors never told.
You say we are just killers, it's not that plain you see.
Take a walk inside my boots and see what I have seen.
Many innocent lives taken and soldiers, they were some.
Giving their life freely to get the mission done.
The last cold stare of death, we see in our buddies eyes.
They fought for all your freedom, this is why we die.
Some wonder why we fight to protect this nation and maybe lose our life.
Ask this question to a soldier, the answers in their eyes.
Always will we be here waiting, the call we won't deny.
We'll always fight for freedom, never asking why.
We'll go away to far off lands , leaving our loved ones behind.
Many times we die alone, several times inside.
Open windows to our soul, see the tears we hide.
Secrets that we cannot keep are in a soldier's eyes

By SSG M.Lynn McCulley

edited for spelling and to add...

what i see and do this next year will forever change my life, whether it be for the good or bad i do not know. all i know is that i will never be the same person that i was.