First paragraph (Teaser):

Interview with a soldier deploying to Itraq for a second time.

Rest of the text:

US Soldier: Dead heroes can’t pay the bills! Stop killing us and then waving the flag! It’s sick and disgusting

Interview with an U.S. soldier

Interview by Jay Shaft- Coalition For Free Thought In Media

Released on 5/29/05

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/CFTMGroup/message/491

IMPORTANT NOTE: CERTAIN FACTS AND DETAILS HAVE BEEN CHANGED IN THIS INTERVIEW TO PROTECT THE IDENTITY OF THIS SOLDIER. The soldier asked to be interviewed anonymously, and I do not know his name or any facts that can lead back to him. He was directed to me by a member of Military Families Speak Out. I am dedicated to protecting him from military reprisals and harassment, and I have taken every precaution to keep his identity hidden.

This interview was conducted in January 2005, but the soldier asked me not to release it for several months after he was deployed. He contacted me earlier this month from Iraq and asked me why I had not put it yet. I felt that it needed to be released over the Memorial Day weekend. This interview and the initial fact finding interview he refers to were conducted by phone, with a member of a peace group and one member of MFSO being present during the interview.

The soldier that I spoke too in this interview was about to deploy for the second time to Iraq. He has already completed one tour and only been home for about five months. He wouldn’t say exactly how long he had been home. The person who set up this interview has confirmed that it was less than six months. This soldier was extremely angry and scared about having to go back to Iraq. I also have a letter from him that he sent from Iraq two weeks ago. I will release it in the next week after I have removed certain things that might identify him or get him in trouble.

An article was published by the Fresno Bee that give some very graphic details of how hard it is for soldiers to adjust after coming home form Iraq. It is really an important piece that tells a story very similar to what this soldier talks about.

Battle Scars: Upon returning home, soldiers face the daunting task of forgetting the images of war in Iraq while reconnecting with the families they left behind. http://www.fresnobee.com/local/story/10582158p-11371543c.html

This soldier has asked to be called Sergeant Nobody when I published the interview, so I have done so. Here is his story and his message that he asked me to deliver to the American people.

JS- Okay, let’s get this out of the way real quick. Why aren’t you willing to go on record with this? Why won’t you give your name? Out of everyone I have talked to that is going back to Iraq only one was even remotely considering going on record, and he changed his mind overnight and decided not to.

SN- Oh f..k that! Are you crazy? How can you even ask me that? You want me to hang up before we even start this?

JS- I’m just asking the question everyone will want to know. I’m going to be taking a lot of heat on this for not releasing your name, so I want to get it real clear about why you are not willing to go on record.

SN- Okay, I can understand that. I have seen the shit that flew around when some anonymous interviews came out in the past. I have had my doubts that soldiers were actually talking to anyone, but I guess I need to change my mind on that, I am talking now too. I am going to say stuff that will get me in so much sh.t that I may as well just shoot myself if they find me.

JS- So you are afraid of what the military will do if they find out you talked?

SN- Look it’s just too dangerous with me shipping out and all. I have a family to think about and I have to watch my back. The higher ups have a real nasty way of making it really hard for anyone that bucks the system.

JS- So you think they would make it hell for you if they found out?

SN- Oh, hell yeah! No telling what would happen, but it would be ugly and they would make an example out of me for all the rest of the troops. Trust me, I would have hard duty in the worst place in Iraq they could find. They’d find a way to send me to Fallujah or Sadr City or some other hellhole with insurgents and a good chance of getting killed. Let’s just call me Sergeant Nobody, because I ain’t nobody that needs to get any sh.t from the intel a..holes.

Anyway let’s get down to it. Quick time man, I want to get this done.

JS- All right. What’s making you do this?

SN- Damn it I don’t have all day! We went over that already when you talked to me before. Ask me some quick questions and get it done son. I ain’t got much time because I got to ship out the day after tomorrow.

JS- Okay, let’s get into details. This is the second time you are going to Iraq as a Reservist, correct?

SN- Right, I am in a unit that is going for the second time. I am not in a normal Reserve unit, and there is no way in hell I’m giving you enough to track it down. The first time our whole unit did not go, most of us did, but now the whole unit and then some is going over. I came back thinking I was all done and the motherfu..ers pulled a switch up on me. They called me up again! How the f..k can they keep doing this to all of us old men when they have all these young buck active duty troops stateside that aren’t going?

It just burns my ass when I think about it!

Most of the guys in my unit are over 30 or 35 and we’re all pretty beat up. We all did a tour, or at least a good part of us did. F..k that sh.t! We will deploy with another unit that has some younger guys, but ours has mostly people that did active duty first. We should be sitting at home watching our kids grow up, not leaving them so we can go off and die. Hey this is a real f..ked up fact, ya know some of us have grandkids? Yeah, grandkids, what the hell are we doing going off to fight some god forsaken, piece of sh.t war so they can get rich?

JS- What are they sending you back for? What type of duty or job will you be doing?

SN- The same sh.t everyone else is doing over there. Mostly trying to stay alive and hoping you get to go home in one piece. They make you do security or combat patrol, ya know, military police stuff, they call it security but it’s the easiest way to die that they can think of. If you get really unlucky you get to go out on patrol and look for the I.E.D.s (improvised explosive devices- homemade bombs left by the roadside and exploded when a convoy or patrol passes by) and the bombs. That’s some really hairy sh.t and it’s killing a lot of guys who don’t know what they’re doing.

I’ve seen dudes get their sh.t blown apart, but man they live, that’s what really sucks. They’re laying there screaming and trying to find their leg or arm, and it’s not there. You got to hold them down and try to stop the bleeding, ya know, keep ‘em alive till the medic get’s to ‘em.

JS- Wow, that sounds rough. Did that happen a lot when you were there? Did you have to deal with that often?

SN- F..k man, way more times then you would believe. So many soldiers are getting blown up it’s not even believable when I tell my friends about it. They just look at me like I’m crazy and tell me it couldn’t have been that bad. F..k that, it was hell on earth! Someone who hasn’t been there just don’t get it! They can’t understand at all.

Ya know it’s bad to say it but some of them I’ve seen would be better off dead. It’s bad to say but it’s the truth. I looked at some of the guys getting evaced and ya just knew they had brain damage or that they were in for major surgery and rehab, they wouldn’t ever be right again. They came to Iraq with two legs and arms, and left all f..ked up, for life, it ain’t gonna get better for them. What a f..king waste it just makes me sick to think about it.

(At this point he broke down and cried. I have had almost every soldier I interviewed cry or break down at some point in the interview. Most of them have shown obvious signs of PTSD and other mental effects of being in Iraq.)

JS- I’ve heard some guys say that before, but not in that kind of graphic detail. I don’t want to dig to deep and offend you, but if you can go into it would you tell me some more about the deaths and injuries you’ve seen? I think people need to hear about this because it’s going on everyday.

SN- No man, I don’t mind, it’s something I should get out in the open. If I get to emotional I’m gonna stop though. I ain’t really over any of it; I wake up screaming at night, so I’ll tell when I’ve had enough.

It happens all the time to really good men and women, and it f..king sucks! The military hospitals are full of wounded soldiers and you never see it on the news. The graveyards are full of our dead soldiers, and they keep digging more graves everyday. F..k that! At least one new grave a day? How the hell can the people stand for it?

(Yelling) HOW THE HELL CAN THEY LET THIS HAPPEN? HOW CAN THEY JUST TAKE IT SO NICELY, AND TURN OUT IN THEIR SUITS WITH THEIR FLAGS AND WATCH US GET BURIED? HOW THE F..K CAN THEY BE SO BLIND AND DUMB? WHERE’S THE F..KING OUTRAGE, HUH?

JS- How many soldiers did you see that got wounded or killed?

SN- (Yelling) TOO FUCKING MANY, WAY TOO MANY!

F..k man, this really hurts, I didn’t think it would be this bad. Never mind what I said about doing this quick. I just changed my mind about that. I need some time to get this off my chest, hell you may be the last one to hear me say this if I die over there. F..k going quick, let’s take some time here if you want to really go into this. You got the time to hear about it?

JS- Yeah, that’s what I’m here for. If it gets to be too much for you we can always stop.

SN- No, let’s just get through it, because if I stop in the middle I won’t want to keep going after that.

Aw sh.t this is awful, f..k I’m going back and I might die or get blown to sh.t. I know I’m gonna see some of my buddies get killed or blown up real bad. Why the f..k do they keep sending us over there to die? What the f..k are we really doing there?

I’ll tell you what— NOT A F..KING THING! A COMPLETE NOTHING, A FAILURE AND A COMPLETE F..KUP! ALL WE KEEP DOING IS RUNNING AROUND FIGHTING AND DYING, NO GLORY, NO HEROES! THERE’S NOT A DAMN THING I COULD EVER BE PROUD OF! F..K THIS SORRY WAR AND F..K EVERYONE WHO KEEPS SUPPORTING IT! WE’RE GETTING KILLED BUT THEY ARE THE ONES CHEERING AND WAVING THE FLAG!

JS- Wow, you’re really mad about that. So you think that the US has not accomplished anything in Iraq? Not a thing?

SN- That’s what I just f..king said! Quit playin’ with me! You heard me, leave it be because I’ve said it as clear as I could. NO! WE AIN’T DONE A F..KING THING THAT WAS SUPPOSED TO BE DONE!

JS- Okay, sorry, I wasn’t trying to make you mad. Let’s get back to the situation with the wounded and the dead if you don’t mind. Bush and the current administration have made an effort to hide the images of the returning coffins. They have also tried to minimize the coverage of the wounded soldiers, which much of the media has also been complicit with, or at least hesitant to cover.

SN- Yeah? Well f..k the media! They keep trying to get all the people to wave the flag and celebrate the big victory we won in Iraq! Man, they never show the real sh.t on TV. Oh, hell no! That might disturb the patriotic American people, God forbid they see some blood or real action that’s going on. We wouldn’t want someone to see a dead soldier on TV, my God they might start thinking we’re getting our asses kicked or that the sh.t is all a bunch of f..king lies.

The f..king media is helping these people keep their heads firmly buried up their asses! What a motherf..king big scam, the f..king media is just showing all this great stuff we’re doing for the Iraqi’s, how much they all love us and want us there. Those people hate us, especially after two years, man do they hate us.

God.mn media is just a joke, how many times have you seen a dead soldier on TV? How many times? Have you ever seen a wounded soldier or the American bodies laying in the street or being evaced? You know I don’t think I’ve seen one dust off on American TV. I don’t watch a lot but I do see it on some of the foreign channels, like B.B.C. I watched B.B.C a lot when I first came home, but I can’t take it anymore.

(Screaming and becoming practically incoherent)- I’ll tell what we’ve really done over there! Die! Get our f..king asses blown the f.ck up and leave body parts all over Iraq!

All we’ve done is die and spill our blood! We are supposed to be helping the Iraqis and rebuild that sh.thole? We are supposed to be rebuilding a war torn country, which by the way we created the system, no, no, not one thing is really going on but us dying!

(At this point he got so upset that I had to stop the interview for about 30 minutes.)

JS- Okay, that was pretty intense, are you ready to keep going?

SN- Yeah, I’m ready to go again, what the f..k. I’m pretty f..king burnt so lets kinda wrap this sh.t up. I got to say some sh.t about all the people that are waving the flag and cheering for the war. Listen up you sorry bastards. This is from a soldier who put his ass on the line, so you better listen to me.

All you dumb f..ks that support the war and wave the flag need to pull your heads out of your asses and smell the bullsh.t your living in! You have had your heads up your asses for so long you can’t tell the difference between your own sh.t and Bush’s sh.t. You can’t smell the government’s bullsh.t even though it’s right in your face.

You know something? They’ll be the first ones to call me a traitor or unpatriotic! Fuck that! I’m an American soldier, I was in a war and I’m going back! Screw them, what did they ever do but watch the war on TV. They come out to the funerals and wave the flag, put those godd.mn f..king “Support Our Troops