Black Five – Taking the Troops’ Pulse

2007 March 30
by utahrattler

BlackFive has an interesting post up. It’s entitled Troop Reaction to the Democrats. I highly recommend you take a look at the post as well as the comments from soldiers and their families. BlackFive is a former paratrooper with loads of links etc in the military. Michael Yon is another excellent site for dispatches from the front lines by a blogger (former military) who actually stays with military units rather than collecting ’stringer’ reports from the green zone.

I know it seems like beating a dead horse but the Democrats can’t seem to get it through their head that the troops believe we will win and do NOT feel supported by the cut-and-run rhetoric. They don’t seem to buy the shoddy “I support the troops but not their mission” line. It makes sense, they overwhelmingly believe in their mission, so they aren’t going to feel supported by people fighting so hard to defeat that mission.

Read the Black Five post, then take action (see The Battle for April 15th for links etc) and keep tabs on Victory Caucus for more information.

from → Military Support

4 Responses leave one →
  1. 2007 March 30
    rmwarnick permalink

    Did you see the latest Military Times poll? Barely one in three service members approve of the way the president is handling the war; a majority believe it was wrong to go into Iraq in the first place; and a plurality reject the idea of sending additional troops into the war.

  2. 2007 March 30
    utahrattler permalink

    First, check your figures – see the Poll’s Main Site.

    Second: Apples and oranges. That says absolutely zero about victory vs. defeat. They never stated that they wanted to leave and give up. The reaction on BlackFive (along with people I’ve talked to) is also indicative of that.

    Just because the military disagrees with the tactics at the time does NOT mean they favor cut-and-run.

    The same poll also found “high morale” and “73 percent of respondents believe it’s likely the United States will succeed in Iraq” (down 10 points, put still a stong majority). Additionally, the article also states:

    “The results should not be read as representative of the military as a whole; the survey’s respondents are on average older, more experienced, more likely to be officers and more career-oriented than the military population.

    …support for the president and his policies remains stronger in the Military Times Poll than in surveys of the general public: The president’s approval rating is as much as 20 percentage points higher than in the civilian population.

    In follow-up interviews, most poll respondents said they remain solidly behind their commander in chief and his policy in Iraq.

    “I think we’re fortunate as a country to have someone who has the focus and the persistence that he does because it’s so easy to get sidetracked,” said Navy Cmdr. Jeff Bohler. “The ability of the president to persevere in the face of overwhelming criticism is really impressive. It takes someone with a spine and courage.”

    Many attributed the fall in support, both among the public and the military, withto a misguided lack of patience.

    But others blamed the loss in confidence on the media, which many said has failed to report positive news in Iraq. Four of every five respondents said they believe media reports are often inaccurate.

    As in the previous two years, Military Times Poll respondents were reluctant to express opinions, even anonymously, about the commander in chief or his policies. About one in five refused to say whether they approved of the president’s performance on Iraq or overall.”

    The last point is interesting. I know of (conservative) soldiers who don’t vote as they don’t think it is right to pick their COC. Twenty percent is a significant no response rate.

    Finally, as with any change in tactics, there will be some initial skepticism. I was also not so keen about the surge – I thought it would only increase targets for terrorists (more troops with the same amount of work).

    I was wrong, the devil is in the details. The surge, isn’t just more troops – it’s a new set of tactics strategy. Now, US units are working directly within Iraqi units and living/working in the neighborhoods among the populace rather than just sticking to bases and running around in Humvees.

    It appears to be working and knowing the details and seeing them in action has turned me into a supporter. Too bad I didn’t know the details prior to implementation, but it makes sense that those weren’t immediately divulged.
    For more on the poll see: Down on the war and A Look At The Military Times Poll

  3. 2007 March 30
    rmwarnick permalink

    It appears to be working? Do you read the news at all?

  4. 2007 March 30
    utahrattler permalink

    Of course I do. Are IEDs and car bombs still present? Of course and they will be for some time to come. Incidents have declined, however, and Sadr is gone and Mahdi has backed off (for now).

    There’s a lot of work to do and I don’t expect a fix overnight. Like some respondents said, we can have a misguided lack of patience (expecting results ASAP, is good, but we also need to be realistic).

Leave a Reply

You must be logged in to post a comment.