INTERVIEW WITH DEBBIE C

A Mother Speaks Out

With News from Her Son in Iraq
by Debbie C.

I hear from my son only once every couple of months with the last time being on December 27th. As a member of MFSO I find it is important to relate to everyone what my son told me about his Christmas in Iraq.

He related to me several things that were happening to him and others attached to his unit in Iraq. He is an MP presently working somewhere in southern Iraq. While it is not the hot bed of northern Iraq they are still shot at and shelled on an almost daily basis. I found through our conversation this time that for Christmas they were given boxes of what they thought were some cookies or something to brighten their holiday, but when they opened them they only found condiments such as catsup and mustard and a notepad to write on. I know that in Baghdad the guys are getting plenty of media attention so they are probably getting plenty of holiday goodies from the government but what about all of the solders elsewhere?

I also found out through my conversation when we discussed his bank account and I mentioned that his check had decreased by $200 every two weeks that they were told that either combat pay or hazard duty pay (he was not sure which type of pay) was being discontinued as they did not consider them to be in an area where it was necessary. In addition I found that my son was involved in an accident with the jeep he was in and although I don't know who's fault it was they Army is trying to make him pay for the damages to the jeep. Lastly he told me that only 5 people in his whole unit had yet to be on any R&R with him being #3 on the list of those yet to go, however he said he would not get to go as there is to be no more R&R after the first part of January. That means that he will have been in that country without any rest from mid March until they finally agree to send their unit home, but who knows when that will happen.

This is absolutely unbelievable not only is he in harms way and not receiving the proper pay for his duty, he is not permitted any R&R on even provided a box of cookies or anything for Christmas from our government. It seems that for our government the only important soldiers are those that might get some media attention but the others are of no importance to our government even though they are all in harms way and away from home for the holidays. I think we need to let the rest of the nation know just what our government really thinks of our soldiers. I give you permission to circulate this letter to others if you think it might wake people up to how unimportant our soldiers really are to our government, not only have they been put in to a country that does not want us there but they were put there for no apparent reason and the government has taken away everything they could from these men and women who serve without question.

Debbie C.