Iraq: Letters from the Front

How do the folks fighting Iraq feel about the war? There's no single answer, of course, even for individual soldiers, whose viewpoints change with experience. One such change is captured in a very personal column in the Nevada Appeal by Kirk Caraway about the e-mails from a friend, Bob Jorgensen, serving his second tour in Iraq as a helicopter pilot.

Bob could never be described as anti-war, but he certainly has questions about how the war is being fought, and the perception we have back here of what it going on. A message talking about a sandstorm evolved into a full accounting of the hell of war.

"Nothing here is fun as a matter of fact. It's not fun hearing gunfire daily. It's no fun hearing artillery going daily. It's no fun aircraft coming back with gunshot holes. It's no fun the phone and Internet getting shut down when someone dies. Needless to say it is down more than it's up. It's not fun being away from your family when you are supposed to retire and you are not allowed to. It's no fun being in a country where you are not wanted and your chances of being shot are pretty good."

The whole column is worth a read, but I warn you that the most passionate part is rather graphic. This is, after all, war.

(Thanks to Editor & Publisher for flagging the piece, getting it much-deserved readership outside Carson City, Nevada.)