cross-posting the anger
Jun. 26th, 2009 09:20 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
loquaciousNothing like impotent frustration to start off your day.
I get a lot of emails from my mother, and for once it's not her that has me in a fitful rage. She forwarded an email from my cousin who is currently stationed in Iraq. He's in a really difficult and far away area and apparently he and his unit don't get enough to eat.
My cousin is a medic for the army, he's been treating both US and Iraqi personnel and for the last few weeks every email we get from him starts and ends with him saying he and his unit don't have enough to eat. I, personally, find this to be completely unacceptable. I'm sure it's not like this everywhere, but the fact that it's like this anywhere is beyond not okay.
And the worst part is, I can't figure out what to do about it. I can send him food, and my parents and family back home have been doing that about once a week since he left, but he's one guy out of more than a dozen there who are in the same situation. A situation that rationally I wouldn't think he would need to be in. Not to mention the fact that he specifically wrote to tell us that he can't get mail very often because it's a six hour trek to get it through treacherous territory.
I'm writing to my congresswoman, and trying to spread the word as best I can, because I can't think of any other way to get help to these guys who very obviously need help. About half of my family has served or is serving in the military in one branch or another, and it's an institution I deeply respect. Which is why it breaks my heart to hear that they can't even keep their troops fed. We have the most well funded military on the planet and our troops on the ground are writing home that they eat "whatever we can get our hands on".
Goddamn it, I wish I had some idea about what to do about this. I hate crying at work.
I get a lot of emails from my mother, and for once it's not her that has me in a fitful rage. She forwarded an email from my cousin who is currently stationed in Iraq. He's in a really difficult and far away area and apparently he and his unit don't get enough to eat.
My cousin is a medic for the army, he's been treating both US and Iraqi personnel and for the last few weeks every email we get from him starts and ends with him saying he and his unit don't have enough to eat. I, personally, find this to be completely unacceptable. I'm sure it's not like this everywhere, but the fact that it's like this anywhere is beyond not okay.
And the worst part is, I can't figure out what to do about it. I can send him food, and my parents and family back home have been doing that about once a week since he left, but he's one guy out of more than a dozen there who are in the same situation. A situation that rationally I wouldn't think he would need to be in. Not to mention the fact that he specifically wrote to tell us that he can't get mail very often because it's a six hour trek to get it through treacherous territory.
I'm writing to my congresswoman, and trying to spread the word as best I can, because I can't think of any other way to get help to these guys who very obviously need help. About half of my family has served or is serving in the military in one branch or another, and it's an institution I deeply respect. Which is why it breaks my heart to hear that they can't even keep their troops fed. We have the most well funded military on the planet and our troops on the ground are writing home that they eat "whatever we can get our hands on".
Goddamn it, I wish I had some idea about what to do about this. I hate crying at work.
