Colby Buzzell's blog about his war experiences on the ground in Iraq is,according to Esquire Magazine:'The most extraordinary writing yet produced by a soldier of the Iraq war ...'
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Shortly after I returned from Iraq, one of my friends in Third Squad told me about a new radio station that was on the airwaves, he told me that he listened to it in his car on the way to his parents house over the weekend and it completely enraged him to hear these people, who had no idea what the fuck they were talking about, say the things that they were saying about Iraq like they knew what was up. I asked him what he meant by that, and he told me that he couldn't explain it, but for me to just go and listen to the show, and that I'd see for myself what he was talking about. So I did.
I had just gotten digital cable internet hooked up in my barracks room (Fuck 56K), and that night I went online and found the stations website and decided to listen in on the show via internet, so I checked listened in for a bit, and then it went into a commercial break, and that's when I heard this commercial:
I was like hell yea! About fucking time somebody out there said hey, Hear it from the troops. So I went onto the optruth.org website, and started checking out what they were about:
-Operation Truth is a non-profit 501c(4), non-partisan veterans' organization that seeks to amplify the soldiers' voice in the American public dialogue.
-The mission of Operation Truth is to connect the American public with the troops who are serving or served in Iraq and Afghanistan and, by articulating an action agenda, empower citizens to tangibly support the troops
-Operation Truth will create a connection between military personnel and the public by giving our troops a voice and amplifying it.
-Operation Truth will be a vigilant watchdog for how our nation treats its veterans, bringing to light any insufficiencies in necessary care and benefits for troops, and lobbying for change.
Reading on Patrol in Iraq
The next day at formation, my friend asked me if I checked out that radio show that he was telling me about, and I told him that I did but only briefly because I lost interest, and then I told him to go online, and check out optruth.org, and to check out the Jessee Ventura message that they have on there. I also told everybody else that I knew in my platoon about optruth. Like every time one of my friends in my platoon stopped by my barracks room for a beer, or to just hang out, I'd pull up the optruth website on the computer and tell them about it. Some of them were skeptical about it first, as I was too, but after I played them the Jessee Ventura message, they quickly reversed themselves and was like, fuck yea!
Me and Elvis
It was the Christmas holidays, and about a couple weeks later I flew back home to spend it with the parents. There's a gym over by where they live that I always go to when ever I'm home. It's the kind of gym where the front parking lot looks like a luxury car lot. (the gym kinda caters to the upper middle class yuppie scum crowd) But I had a one week free workout coupon (The kind they give you when you go in and pretend like you're interested in a membership.) and on this particular visit to the gym, I just got done working out in the weight room, and decided to take it on over do to the cardio area of the Gym.
Mosul
So I stepped onto a Stairmaster machine and put it on level 6 and started walking. There was a television set that was tuned to one of the major news networks in front of the Stairmasters, and they were reporting about an attack that just happened in Mosul, which immediately got my attention and right at the part where they said something about casualties, a guy, late 20's early thirties, a couple Stairmasters to my right interrupted what they were saying and asked, "Hey man, are you watching this?"
Sammarra
At first I didn't know what to say to the guy. I wanted to say, "Yea, I'm watching this you low carb beer drinking piece of shit" but of course I didn't have the balls to say that, so all I said to him instead was, "no."
He then politely asked, "Is it cool if I put it on the game?"
"uhh... yea sure go ahead"
I then watched him change the channel over to the basketball game. I increased the level on the Stairmaster a couple levels.
If you enjoyed reading Colby' s story and would like continue to read more of such stories, plese help us by contributing to Operation Truth. Click here to donate. To arrange an interview with Colby, contact press[at]iava.org.
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