I am an independent and I am an Infantryman in the Army.

I read through this forum pretty much everyday when I’m not deployed and everyday I am more and more convinced that most of you are completely out of touch with reality. Lets do a little reality check:

1. Wiretap/civil liberties/Patriot Act, etc. Let the congress have an investigation, let the courts decide if its constitutional or not, move on. I think it’s questionable, but I see why the President ordered it. It would be virtually impossible to go to the court 1000s of times a day. 1000s of times a day, you heard me correctly. And no, the NSA isn’t listening to you talk to your wife about picking up a loaf of bread on the way home. Allowing the Patriot act expiring is just stupid. Do we actually want to win this war? Who do you think will get the blame when the next attack happens on our soil? The NY Times?

2. Bush is a liar, Bush is the devil, etc. He’s doing a pretty good job, not perfect, but it ain’t easy. Over 80% of people like me agree that he’s doing a pretty good job based on the military vote in the last election. I don’t think he’s Abe Lincoln but he isn’t the devil either. Do you think 80% of the people like me are just too stupid to know better, or do we have an informed opinion?

3. Irag, Afghanistan and the GWOT. Been there (both places), things are going great, thank you very much. I love the “we need to get out of Iraq”, “we went to war on a pack of lies”, posts. Last time I checked, “we” aren’t in Iraq or Afghanistan, We (the military) are. Do you hear us bitching? I mean really bitching. Not joe (soldiers) being joe. Joe bitches all the time about chow, being hot, being cold, being tired, being bored, getting shot at, etc. Do you hear us saying this is a waste of our time? Do you hear us refusing to go back? Don’t get me wrong, it sucks to be away from home and all that, but when you (we) sit down and really think about what we are doing and why, its pretty clear we are making a huge difference and it matters a lot.

So what is reality? I’ve killed them, they’ve tried to kill me. I’ve talked to them (terrorists, members of AQ) and they are very focused on their mission and commanders intent. Their mission is to destroy our society, one way or another. Western Europe will be right after us, those poor idiots are really in a state of denial. The enemy are very clear about their mission and very focused on making it happen. I'd say being a suicide anything is pretty focused.

What is reality? That this is a war for National Survival, all the bs “background noise” is political fluff on both sides. "Background noise" is all the talk about what "we" should or should not be doing, all the political bs.

So “we” should grab a ruck and a rifle and see wtf is really happening in the world before commenting on anything in the arena of “background noise.” Of course, if you chose not to grab a rifle and a ruck, I fight for and support your continuing right to make as much “background noise” as you want, but you really don’t know anything more than what you read or hear about second hand instead of seeing or touching or feeling it first hand, so keep that in mind when you state your opinion.