There is a REASON why my username in any forum is "Up YOURS Govt" please read what I have to say and you'll see why. I have to let it out!



I was deployed to Camp Fallujah Iraq in the winter of 2004. When my Unit 3/5 (3rd Battalion 5th Marine Division) arrived we were assigned as a re-enforced battalion because of heavy casualties in the North Anbar Province during the hot and deadly years of the war. So there I was, 22 years old, wide eyed, pissed off and scarred shitless...Ready to avenge 911 and fight the "terrorists". I spent two 15 month deployments in that place. 30 months of a life changing experience for any man or woman. My first deployment, I believed what I was doing, and believed in America, and my govt unconditionally.

All in all most of the Iraqi people were decent and not what the media made them out to be. They were not terrorists, they were soldiers. What if China said our govt were hiding weapons of mass destructions and came to bomb our nation, our people, and our land while occupying us as "liberators"? We would take up arms and do the same exact thing.

After months and months of no wmd's found, Saddam being captured already etc...many of us Marines, Soldiers,Sailors, and Airmen knew something just was not right. Like Michael Jackson running a daycare center, it just didn't make any sense...What really started to wake me up was putting my life at risk over the lies, and watching my friends and civilians lose their lives while private contractors like Halliburton, KBR and a Merc outfit known as Blackwater make tons of money off of it. I felt we were just a distraction so those motherfuckers could make money. I still feel that way today.

To say the least, My 2nd "float"/"pump" (Deployment) was harder than my first one because of all the doubt and bitterness that I carried along, while trying to stay alive, and stay effective for my men, and the people above me. Finally November of 2006 came, it was my time to come home and be honorably discharged a month later...

My take on all this is the same as it was when I got home. After all of this and for 6 of these years, THE HARDEST part even harder than fighting some war was coming home to see my country transformed into something different than what it was when I left... A terrible economy, loss of our Constitutional Liberties , A government totally out of touch and out of control, loss of our Country's reputation, and most importantly, loss of our men's lives over what I feel was one big scam.

Here I am nearly 7 years later at the age of 30 and I still feel nothing but regret, doubt, bitterness, and disgust. After losing liberties, the economy, and the feeling of hope and prosperity seeing this country a police state that it has been, assures me that if there was a "war on terrorism" the terrorists won....We who answered our nation's call did not fight for this govt, or for liberty, we fought for ourselves as friends and a family. May all who have died the past 11 years overseas NEVER be forgotten. Semper Fi !!!!!

Cpl DJM 3/5 Lima Co (Regimental Combat Team 8) 0311/0331
Camp Fallujah Iraq - 2004-2006

Up YOURS Govt!  Wrote:

There is a REASON why my username in any forum is "Up YOURS Govt" please read what I have to say and you'll see why. I have to let it out!



I was deployed to Camp Fallujah Iraq in the winter of 2004. When my Unit 3/5 (3rd Battalion 5th Marine Division) arrived we were assigned as a re-enforced battalion because of heavy casualties in the North Anbar Province during the hot and deadly years of the war. So there I was, 22 years old, wide eyed, pissed off and scarred shitless...Ready to avenge 911 and fight the "terrorists". I spent two 15 month deployments in that place. 30 months of a life changing experience for any man or woman. My first deployment, I believed what I was doing, and believed in America, and my govt unconditionally.

All in all most of the Iraqi people were decent and not what the media made them out to be. They were not terrorists, they were soldiers. What if China said our govt were hiding weapons of mass destructions and came to bomb our nation, our people, and our land while occupying us as "liberators"? We would take up arms and do the same exact thing.

After months and months of no wmd's found, Saddam being captured already etc...many of us Marines, Soldiers,Sailors, and Airmen knew something just was not right. Like Michael Jackson running a daycare center, it just didn't make any sense...What really started to wake me up was putting my life at risk over the lies, and watching my friends and civilians lose their lives while private contractors like Halliburton, KBR and a Merc outfit known as Blackwater make tons of money off of it. I felt we were just a distraction so those motherfuckers could make money. I still feel that way today.

To say the least, My 2nd "float"/"pump" (Deployment) was harder than my first one because of all the doubt and bitterness that I carried along, while trying to stay alive, and stay effective for my men, and the people above me. Finally November of 2006 came, it was my time to come home and be honorably discharged a month later...

My take on all this is the same as it was when I got home. After all of this and for 6 of these years, THE HARDEST part even harder than fighting some war was coming home to see my country transformed into something different than what it was when I left... A terrible economy, loss of our Constitutional Liberties , A government totally out of touch and out of control, loss of our Country's reputation, and most importantly, loss of our men's lives over what I feel was one big scam.

Here I am nearly 7 years later at the age of 30 and I still feel nothing but regret, doubt, bitterness, and disgust. After losing liberties, the economy, and the feeling of hope and prosperity seeing this country a police state that it has been, assures me that if there was a "war on terrorism" the terrorists won....We who answered our nation's call did not fight for this govt, or for liberty, we fought for ourselves as friends and a family. May all who have died the past 11 years overseas NEVER be forgotten. Semper Fi !!!!!

Cpl DJM 3/5 Lima Co (Regimental Combat Team 8) 0311/0331
Camp Fallujah Iraq - 2004-2006

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Ramadi and Baghdad, among other places - Strategos