As the Iraqi and Afghan wars continue, the frustration and horror of US GIs on the ground seems to have no bounds. Not only do they have to endure a violent and senseless situation every day, but they have to suffer double and triple for it, even after coming home.

• American and Iraqi forces in Baghdad have been targeted with 251 improvised bombs this month — nearly double the monthly average — as fighting in and around Sadr City intensified.
  Some of the attacks involved deadly armor-piercing bombs that the U.S. military has linked to Iran, said Army Brig. Gen. Mike Milano, deputy commander of the American division in the capital.
  The numbers, provided by the Multi-National Division-Baghdad, include bombs that were detonated or found before they were triggered.
  On average, 42% are discovered before they are detonated.
  The increase in bombings partly reflects a struggle for control of the roads into Sadr City, a Shiite slum of more than 1 million people in eastern Baghdad.
  …
  At least 14 of the 33 American combat deaths in Iraq this month have occurred in Baghdad, according to a database maintained by USA TODAY.
  — Jim Michaels, USA Today, http://www.usatoday.com/news/military, (4/28/08)

Urban warfare warapped in an intense religious insurgency is a horror in which the US has found itself. Stress levels everywhere are always on an extreme-high level.
Sucking on Red Bull and watching the alleyways, US GIs continue to do the job, though, day-after-day for now over five years.
While assholes arrogantly blubber:

• “As you know, you go to war with the army you have, not the army you might want or wish to have at a later time.”
  — Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, responding to a U.S. soldier serving in Iraq who asked him why troops had to dig through scrap metal to armor vehicles, Dec. 8, 2004.

And what if the entire GI breaks down, dumb-ass Don?

• WASHINGTON — The latest and most comprehensive study of veterans of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars has concluded that nearly 1 in every 5 veterans is suffering from depression or stress disorders and that many are not getting adequate care.
  The study shows that mental disorders are more prevalent and lasting than previously known, surfacing belatedly and lingering after troops have been discharged.
  …
  An estimated 300,000 veterans among the nearly 1.7 million who have served in Iraq and Afghanistan are battling depression or post-traumatic stress disorder. More than half of these people, according to the study conducted by the Rand Corp., are slipping through the cracks in the bureaucratic system, going without necessary treatment.
  The Rand study underscores one of the lessons of modern counterinsurgency conflicts: Such wars may kill fewer troops than traditional fighting but can leave deeper psychological scars.
  — Julian E. Barnes, latimes.com/news/science, (4/18/08)

And what kind of shithole awaits returning GIS in the good-old US of A?
One parent got really pissed:

• (CNN) — The U.S. military is promising action to address conditions in a barracks at Fort Bragg, North Carolina, after a soldier’s father posted images on YouTube showing a building that he said “should be condemned.”
  “This is embarrassing. It’s disgusting. It makes me mad as hell,” Ed Frawley said of the building where his son, Sgt. Jeff Frawley, had to live upon his return this month from a 15-month deployment to Afghanistan.
  Frawley said Monday that Army Vice Chief of Staff Gen. Dick Cody called him to say he shares Frawley’s anger and that “there’s no excuse.” Cody said he would not want his own sons or any troops to return to such conditions, Frawley said.
  Frawley’s 10-minute video shows still photos from throughout the building, which appears to be falling apart and filled with mold and rust.
  Paint — which Frawley said is lead-based — is chipping. Ceiling tiles are missing. A broken drain pipe allows sewer gas into the building, while another one has tissues stuffed into it in an apparent effort to stop the gas from coming in.
  — cnn.com/2006/us/04/28/barracks.bragg, (4/28/08)

And now no more girlie mags.
Conservative Republican and “Pro Family” bozo Rep. Paul Broun of Georgia along with 15 like-minded co-sponsors and propped up by the likes of the Alliance Defense Fund and the American Family Association are pushing legislation that would ban sales of adult-themed publications on military bases.
They have the unmitigated gall to call the bill the Military Honor and Decency Act.

A sample of the ole Dufus Dick Cheney chickenhawkshit bluster (a freakin’ mouthful):

• “As a Marine, I am deeply concerned for the welfare of our troops and their mission,” Broun said on April 17. “Allowing the sale of pornography on military bases has harmed military men and women by: escalating the number of violent, sexual crimes; feeding a base addiction; eroding the family as the primary building block of society; and denigrating the moral standing of our troops both here and abroad. Our troops should not see their honor sullied so that the moguls behind magazines like Playboy and Penthouse can profit. The ‘Military Honor and Decency Act’ will right a bureaucratic–and moral–wrong.”
  …
  “Let me get this straight,” The Carpetbagger Report‘s Steve Benen added. “U.S. troops are fighting two wars, neither of which are going well, and the American Family Association’s biggest concern is what kind of magazines the troops can purchase on base?
  “Here’s a radical idea: maybe those who wear the uniform and put their lives on the line for their country should be able to read whatever they want.”
  — Nick Langewis, raw story.com/news/2008/Bill_seeks_to_jack_soldiers_off, (4/26/08)

Hypocrite bastards!