The War-Chasing Ghosts by Paul Rieckhoff

I'm reading a book called Chasing Ghosts by the Executive Director of the Iraq Afghanistan Veterans of America,Paul Rieckhoff, and I'm not an impartial bystander. Paul hired me to book him onto radio shows to talk about his book, which is coming out in paperback in May.

His publisher sent me a box of review copies, which I'm sending out to some talk show hosts and acquaintances of mine. I cracked open the book and have been having a hard time putting it down. It's very good reading. It feels like an action/adventure movie--only this is the real thing and I know the narrator. I guess I'm going to be a little "star-struck" when I meet Paul in person. If he were a nephew or son of mine I'd be "kvelling," or talking very proudly, about him. He's one of those boys who must have been a great student because he went to a fancy little Ivy League school. He grew up as a strong, patriotic kid, and he signed up to join the National Guard after he graduated from his university. He joined up because of a sense of duty and adventure and as a great parallel life to the one that he lived working at a well known NYC brokerage firm. He was one of those graduates of the haughty 90s who could leave school and make more their first year in the work force than their parents made 25 to 30 years in the workforce. In other words, he joined the military not because he had no other options, but because he had (and still does have) a sense of duty.

Paul describes the guys, "his boys," who he has to take care of and lead as one of the first troops to set up shop in Baghdad. He talks about giving orders for snipers to take their best shots at the bad guys, and the images of those bad guys slumping behind their SUVs or into the shadows after being hit. He talks about a renewed sense of purpose helping to provide safety and security for an Iraqi school because the kids are so beautiful and really smart---not to mention how they worshiped these big American guys, in combat uniform and heavy gear.
....
I can go on.
Bottom line-read the book and understand how a young officer worked with the Army he had in Iraq and think about the soldiers who are there now. Read Paul's book and gain insight into how things were NOT thought out and boldly planned for before the first missiles were fired and the first Air Force planes made their deadly strikes. See how intelligent, well informed grad students/weekend warriors knew that they were putting themselves in harms way without proper training, and read how Paul did what he could to help prepare his boys, despite being chewed out by superiors who felt he was making them look bad by taking the initiative. See how our leaders have let us down by just presenting the false facade of a war and a mission--and compare that to the reality of real lives and limbs being at risk; real blood and tears that have been shed by ALL parties involved.

I'm not done with Paul's book. I don't know his conclusions. I do know that Paul's post-combat story continues. He and his comrades are trying to work to make sure the' Army that we have,' (to paraphrase former defense sec Rumsfeld)have better options when they come home. The ripple effects of this war are staggering. To find out more do check out www.iava.org

I grew up playing with GI Joe dolls with the boys on my street (Brooklyn, and Suffolk County, NY) during the Vietnam Era. I believed what a lot of kids believed, that warriors were like Tom Brokaw's "Greatest Generation." Some came back messed in the head, some came back in wheelchairs--but, I too watched as the national cemetery in Farmingdale had to be expanded, and enlarged, time and time again, and observed the stark increase of tombstones in the mid to late 1970s. I saw the war movies and believed in Americans fighting just wars--wars we could all support, and fighting to stop wars that the country grew tired of. 13 years in a losing effort in Vietnam seems like an awful waste to me. I don't want there to be 13 years in a losing effort in Iraq. I want more homework, intelligent-intelligence to be done. I want more thinking about the scenarios of working with the different cultures, religious factions, munitions, sociological brainwashing to happen before we put boots down in a place--anyplace, for any socio-economic reason.

I want debate to be based on ALL the facts, not just some of the facts. And, I want those facts to be truth based.

Is that too much to ask for?

So, how's it going by you?

I've got a friend who started a very wonderful blog called Chickaboomer.com.
Marty is very funny. She talks about all the stuff that I like to laugh at. All that tabloid trash. Check it out. This blog is a place to rest weary minds and eyes. It's desert after a day of watching Fox talking about the Anna Nicole Smith story as if it were the only story out there.


I've been working setting up radio interviews for a much more serious group. I encourage you to check out the website for the Iraq Afghanistan Veterans of America. This group is made up of active military men and women who are still serving, and are likely to be called to serve again. As you may imagine the Walter Reed Army Medical Center story has been keeping me very busy.

I don't understand why some folks don't want to interview the IAVA. They confuse questioning authority with treason. Nobody said that to the Nazis who claimed they could do nothing to prevent the slaughter of millions of Romas, Jews, Christian dissidants, Russians and those who dared to say, "I disagree." In fact, those who just went along with it all found themselves on the wrong end of a noose! Yet, some are implying that vets in America have to put up, suck it in, and shut up. We've got a citizen based military. You take an oath to obey orders, and uphold the Constitution. We don't live in a fascist nation. We're allowed to question orders, and provide opinions. Heck, even Supreme Court Justices write dissenting opinions. So, I don't understand why the self-proclaimed "fair and balanced network" is so intersted in avoiding IAVA and would rather provide tabloid trash to its valued audience.

And, just because another news organization broke the news that you dared not look at (the Washington Post) doesn't mean its not news. In fact even the most loyal audiences would gawk at the news, which is as disgusting as gawking at a casket that contains the rotted remains of what was once a flamboyant blond American woman.

At some point we're going to have to face the not so fancy music of how ugly we treat each other when it comes to money. Don't blame it on bureaucrats. The bureaucrat works within an organization to push things through it. Bad ones need to be exposed. And, for Pete's sake! If there aren't enough of them we all suffer the consequences of not having our hard earned tax dollars put to better use, or just the plain old use that they were budgeted for.

So, that's how it's going for me. I've got a lot of pent up thoughts since my last post. I'd enjoy hearing your thoughts