Reply #11: "I am not going back" [View All]

That's what a soldier sitting next to me on an airplane said last month.

I had not said a word to him the whole flight because I wanted him to be able to rest. But when we were just 15 minutes from landing, he began talking to me.

I didn't say much except that I was just happy he had made it home safe. He said his group lost someone every day. I think he was focused on two things: the ones that won't be coming home and the ones that would be taking his group's place. He said his group was on the way to a training session so that the replacements wouldn't have it as hard as his group did.

He said he would fight and die for his country but that he wanted to fight and die for a reason. He said that the only reason we were in Iraq was to make Bush's pals rich.

So sad.