"...Gosh, I'm sure glad LBJ took us to Vietnam. ..."<
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http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/vie...hower.html<
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General Dwight D. Eisenhower commanded Allied forces in Western Europe during World War II. Following the war, he served as supreme commander of NATO forces before being elected America's 34th president. He held the nation's highest office from 1953-61, during which time he provided military aid to the French in Indochina, but refused to commit U.S. troops there.<
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http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/vie...tl2.html#a<
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1956<
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French Leave Vietnam<
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U.S. Training South Vietnamese<
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The U.S. Military Assistance Advisor Group (M.A.A.G.) assumes responsibility from the French for training South Vietnamese forces.<
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http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/vie...e/tl2.html<
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1959<
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U.S. Servicemen Killed in Guerrilla Attack<
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Major Dale R. Buis and Master Sergeant Chester M. Ovnand become the first Americans to die in the Vietnam War when guerillas strike at Bienhoa.<
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http://www.state.gov/outofdate/bgn/v/31913.htm<
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In December 1961, at the request of South Vietnamese President Ngo Dinh Diem, President Kennedy sent U.S. military advisers to South Vietnam to help the government there deal with the Viet Cong campaign. In the wake of escalating political turmoil in the south after a 1963 generals' coup against President Diem, the United States increased its military support for South Vietnam. In March 1965, President Johnson sent the first U.S. combat forces to Vietnam. <
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Johnson was dealing with an already existing situation. US military personnel were already serving and dying in the Vietnam Conflict. The strongest similarity to the current situation is neither was declared war by act of Congress. <
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A first hand account of service in Iraq, and Captain Leach makes some very salient points.<
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http://www.bluegrassreport.org/<
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***SPECIAL REPORT*** A Report From Camp Taji, Iraq<
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Last month, during a discussion on BluegrassReport.org following the overheated rhetoric on the Iraq War debate that we heard from our own Rep. Geoff Davis (R) and Rep. Ron Lewis (R), a reader named Ronald Leach posted a couple of very thoughtful comments on the matter. <
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Upon closer look, it turned out that Mr. Leach was actually writing from Iraq and following some quick research I learned that he was Army 1st Lt. Ronald Leach, a 41-year-old physician's assistant who joined the Ohio National Guard in 1983 and worked his way up the chain of command, including being a member of Special Forces and was stationed at Camp Taji in Iraq. Leach is also a single father of three children.<
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After those posts, Captain Leach (he was recently promoted) and I exchanged a number of e-mails about his story, politics, the war, and how he ended up in Camp Taji, right outside of Baghdad, for two tours of duty. It was then that I asked him if he would be willing to share with us his soldier's perspective on how things on the ground were progressing and what daily life was like in Iraq. I promised him I would publish what he wrote in full without any edits. <
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Thankfully, Captain Leach took me up on that offer and I am really pleased to be able to publish not only what he wrote but also share the dozens of photos he e-mailed as well. I look forward to meeting Captain Leach soon. He has an impressive understanding and command of the state and national political environment and someone who certainly has the makings of fine candidate, if he ever chooses to serve his country in that fashion.<
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I will admit that his perspective below will likely challenge the beliefs of everyone on the issues of whether we should have invaded Iraq, how much longer we should stay, whether it was worth the human cost, whether we are making life better for Iraqis, and whether our soldiers were sent into that theater of combat with all the tools and plans they needed. It certainly made me think long and hard about the current debate. I'm sure it will do the same for you.<
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Finally, you can review the photo album I've put together right here. I'll be posting it as a stand-alone feature on the BluegrassReport.org front-page as well.<
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Thank you Captain Leach for all that you've done.<
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Mark asked me to contribute some “on the ground feedback� from the Iraqi theater. Sir, I thank you for the invitation. I am glad to have this opportunity to reflect on soldiers and our operations in Iraq. Specifically I will reflect on the US soldiers’ desire to leave Iraq a better place. I will not use this forum to comment on the rationale, preconceptions, or management of this war. As an active duty US Army officer, I respect my limitations under the Uniform Code of Military Justice, and I am thankful that our military is wholly subordinate to a civilian democratically elected government – all nations should be so blessed.<
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I want to talk about soldiers’ drive to do whatever our nation asks and their compassionate desire to make a difference in Iraq. And I will discuss the repercussions of a rapid withdrawal of US forces, as is increasingly suggested by our representatives. <
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While I am from Kentucky – stationed at Fort Knox, the unit to which I have been attached over the past year is the 550th Area Support Medical Company made up of 100 plus soldiers primarily out of Fort Bragg, NC and Fort Stewart, GA. The 550th ASMC’s primary mission has been to provide excellent medical care to the 1200 soldiers of the 3rd Infantry Division Support Brigade and its supported units. We have provided easy-access 24 hour medical care “sick call� coverage, trauma and mass casualty response and planning, and medical coverage for more than 50,000 miles of vital logistic convoys. The 550th has also provided immunizations and redeployment health assessment for more than 2000 soldiers. Over the past year the 550th has trained hundreds of soldiers in Combat Lifesaver classes, providing a medical response force multiplier for all tactical operations.<
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The convoys deserve special comment: Our combat medics, known as “91 Whiskey’s� , are assigned to medical coverage missions for convoys of trucks ferrying crucial support supplies and equipment from depots here in central Iraq to units throughout our area of operation and beyond. They have accompanied several hundred convoy missions within the 3rd Infantry Division’s operational foot print, as well as missions as far west as the Jordanian and Syrian boarders and as far south as Kuwait. These road missions are dangerous: many of our convoys have been hit by IED’s (Improvised Explosive Devises) VBIEDs (Vehicle-Borne IEDs), small arms fire and RPGs (rocket propelled grenades). One of our outstanding soldiers was awarded the Bronze Star with Valor device for his valiant and timely interventions that saved the lives of numerous Iraqi casualties after his convoy had been attacked by one of these VBIEDs. He epitomizes the courage and decisive actions with his compassionate treatment of Iraqi men and women as if they were his own family.<
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The 550th as a whole has demonstrated this indiscriminant compassion. Our clinic has kept its doors and care open to all who come - US soldiers, government contractors, Iraqi Army and civilians who fall sick or injured… We have been proud of our open compassion as ambassadors of good will and health. But the soldiers of the 550th were not satisfied with the confines of this primary mission and responsibility alone. We benefited from the latitude given by our command to seek and perform additional missions of opportunity. This command permission has allowed us the chance to redeploy knowing that we have contributed to the concerted efforts and sacrifices of more than 300,000 OIF veterans to help the Iraqi people surmount decades of war,
utality, and corruption to become the first stable tolerant democracy in the Arab community.<
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Despite the seeming uncertainty of the path to this goal, I think I have seen our American soldiers unconsciously fulfilling the mandate of American Revolution Chaplain (Dr) Vernon John: “Be ashamed to die until you have done something good for mankind�. Ralph Peters touched on this purposeful higher motivation of our soldier in his 24 Fe
uary 2004 article honoring the American soldier, The Best We’ve Got: “They’re part of the most integrated, representative American Institution – our military. And when our people stand and our leaders stand behind them, they can accomplish any job on earth. Defying countless predictions of disaster, our soldiers have accomplished more in Iraq than we had any right to expect. And they did it not because of some
illiant master plan – there was none – but because they took a look at the bloody mess they inherited, rolled up there sleeves, and went to work to fix it. They’re the best we’ve got�<
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The soldiers of the 550th “rolled up their sleeves� and sought every opportunity to participate in the training of Iraqi personnel in medical and life saving skills. They volunteered to provide day-by-day aid station teaching and assistance for an Iraqi National Guard Rifle Battalion, and they taught an intensive four day course of tactical combat casualty care to its medical personnel prior to the this Iraqi unit’s deployment to a risky engagement. Our eager medics joined forces with other training personnel to shape and teach the first formal combat medic classes in the new Iraqi Army. They designed and implemented a trauma skills course test that will likely be the basis of trauma testing in all future Iraqi combat medic training. 550th soldiers opened the clinic doors to provide administrative and ethical and mass casualty response instruction to the first two Iraqi Medical Officer Basic classes. We worked with military police advisors to reach out to our surrounding Iraqi Police stations, providing supplies and first responder instruction to more than 100 Iraqi Police. The training has already been credited with saving an Iraqi policeman’s life. Our company planned and launched the Taji Medical Society, a monthly meeting that
ings Iraqi Army health care personnel and coalition health providers together for a meal and for medical education topics. This forum has forged friendship and trust that have
idged national and cultural differences.<
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We have also reached out to the communities around our base as key medical participants in nearly 50 civil military operations. We have gone door-to-door in dozens of villages to treat medical problems and to better understand local health needs. In other villages, we have set up treatment at central locations and have treated all who have come to us. We have gathered and distributed supplies to nearby clinics and hospitals. We are ordering sets of reference books for clinics that have no medical books on their shelves. We have tried to coordinate medical care for children with exceptional health needs through consultations with specialists in Iraqi hospitals, with willing specialist in our combat support hospitals, or with physicians in the US.<
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We have heard countless tales of the sacrifice from Iraqi colleagues and civilians, coupled with innumerable expressions of gratitude for the hope that the US has
ought to them. And we have seen many sacrifices among our own soldiers: family problems, financial problems, depression and anxiety and nightmares. We have mourned the loss of two of our own to improvised explosive devices while volunteering for security missions.<
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The 44th MEDCOM deputy commander for clinical services, COL Jazarovic, said that we have been chosen by faith and circumstance to make history. We at the 550th have felt that we have contributed, even in these small ways – ways that were way beyond the scope of our assigned mission – to make history by
ing hope and the potential of democracy to this land. As we have worked side-by-side, each of us has felt the privilege of working together towards this goal, proud to have been able to act as goodwill ambassadors on behalf of our great nation. <
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Our precipitous disengagement from this endeavor would represent a victory to a radical minority within Iraq and influences from Iran, Syria and others who desire to force their intolerant extremist views on a peaceful majority who deserve better. A premature withdrawal, now that we have committed to democratization and human rights in Iraq, places our national resolve in question and credibility in jeopardy.<
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We can not accept arbitrary time lines – or worse – a cut and run mentality. We must recommit to accelerated training of Iraqi soldiers, policemen and National Guard. We must commit forces necessary to create the secure environment required for the continued reconstruction of this nation’s
oken infrastructure and must accelerate these efforts under the um
ella of this greater security. The orderly withdrawal of our troops corresponding with the orderly transition of the ground fighting to Iraqi soldiers requires this commitment. I urge for a national will to see this mission through to completion. Anything less – and certainly anything which disengages the United States prematurely – dishonors the sacrifices of our soldiers and is an abandonment of the Iraqi people. Their fate remains in our hands until this emerging democracy’s roots are set deeply enough to successfully withstand the ill intentions, influence, and violence of neighboring states with a vested interest in their failure. <
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Again, I will not offer my opinion on whether our initial invasion and subsequent occupation best served our national interests or the greater war on terror. This debate should have occurred during the months leading up to war, but objections were stifled in the post- September 11th atmosphere that disallowed any opposition with questions of patriotism or accusations of being soft on terrorism. The press, “America’s fourth estate�, may now regret its failure to ask questions. And, more significantly, our elected representatives abdicated their duties: they overwhelmingly failed in their responsibility to the citizenry to provide oversight, reasoned debate and due caution as they gave the Administration a blank check. They were more concerned with political expedience and near term elections than with legitimate debate.<
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This failure can now only add to “lessons learned� as a cautionary note about the fragility and imperfection of any political process, even one as well tested as our own great democracy. The debate’s relevance is to assure appropriate pre-intervention deliberations in the future, but its current value passed the second we launched the invasion of Iraq. <
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We are now here – in Iraq. This fact changes everything. Since our arrival a tyrant has been dethroned, the first free elections have been conducted twice (and soon to be three times), and the first fledgling democracy is taking root in an Arab nation. Regardless of your position on whether we should be here – we are – and we are now responsible for the outcome. Millions of people in Iraq and throughout the region trust the United States as partners in this struggle for their future. Whether you believe that Iraq was a
eeding ground for terror before our occupation - as claimed by the current administration - it will certainly be a
eeding ground for terror if we abandon Iraq to extremist and neighboring threats before Iraq is able to face and to defeat them. Our quitting Iraq at this time would likely result in civil war between rival Islamic factions, a Kurdish separatist state – with likely future conflict with Turkey, and the rise of a radical Islamic theocracy in the image of Iran. We must not forget the results of our failure to commit for the long term in Afghanistan: the establishment of the Taliban, a safe haven for terrorists, nearly 3000 Americans killed on September 11th 2001, the bombing of the USS Cole and the embassy in Nairobi, and the loss of basic human rights for millions of Afghan women.<
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While we have a long way to go in Iraq, I have seen positive progress. This is my second deployment to Iraq. At the end of my previous deployment, April 2004, an Iraqi Army, National Guard, Police and a Democratic Constitution were only concepts, far from reality. As we pushed north into Iraq Fe
uary of this year, I saw Iraqi police and Iraqi Army soldiers operating check points and providing security at key threat areas while putting their lives on the line throughout our convoy route as we skirted around Baghdad. The Iraqi people – men, women, Kurds, Sunni and Shia - have adopted a new constitution and have an interim government more representative of their nation than any in the region. Recent news developments point toward a changing tide as we continue to win the Iraqi hearts. Al Zarqawi’s credibility and influence has plunged secondary to his attacks on soft civilian targets and seemingly indiscriminate willingness to inflict violence on women and children. Additionally, various insurgent groups have expressed willingness to meet and negotiate with the new Iraqi government officials. It is the insurgent’s tenuous support that is non-sustainable – not the American resolve. <
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I and the soldiers of the 550th have had innumerable opportunities to work directly with our Iraqi
others - police, soldiers, medical providers, local governing councils and citizens. Daily they are bearing an ever-increasing responsibility for their own security, governance, and national destiny. The people of Iraq consistently express their sincere thanks for our commitment to the new Iraq and their future. I pray that we do not prove unworthy of their faith and trust.<
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I have included multiple pictures which depict the varied contributions the soldiers of the 550th have made to Operation Iraqi Freedom and our commitment to the future of Iraq. These photos are only a micro-representation of the contributions being made daily by the 150,000 soldiers currently deployed in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom. <
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I sincerely thank you for this venue and an opportunity to extend this verbal salute to the best we’ve got – the American Soldier - and – urge our representatives to resist the urge to once again yield to the prevailing winds. The national will requisite for our success in Iraq will follow their lead.<
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Thank you<
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Captain Ronald Leach<
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Proudly serving with the 550th Area Support Medical Company, Taji Iraq.<
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