Private Beauchamp has written his version of the actions of himself and some of the other Soldiers based out of FOB Falcon in Iraq. I’m not as angry with him now that he’s come forward and identified himself as the writer of the stories that have made their way from one end of the internet to the other. I’m not sure why I’m not. I think because from reading more of his writings it’s apparent to me that he is someone who fancies himself a writer and probably has hopes of selling his stories one day. That may not be a fair or reasonable reaction, but it’s the way I feel.

The people I’m mad about are the ones using Beauchamp’s stories to promote their own agendas. The magazines, reporters and others who will take the stories and use them to to promote their traitorous propaganda that our Soldiers are the bad guys who are perpetrating unimaginable wrongs upon the poor innocent al-Qaeda and Iranian operatives they refer to a ‘freedom fighters’.

Our Soldiers and Marines are not the callous caricatures depicted by Beauchamp. They also aren’t saints that spend their every waking moment performing social services, missionary work, giving out school supplies or happily roaming the streets of Baghdad doing good. They are Warriors performing near impossible tasks. They are trying to work with the local population while dealing with terrorists of various stripes who are doing everything in their power to kill them.

The enemy is not a helpless group of peasants just trying to fight back against the enormous superpower ‘invaders’. The enemy is sophisticated, smart, strong, clever and agile. The enemy has almost limitless resources with financing, supplies and assistance from Iran and Syria. The enemy is living in the same neighborhoods our Soldiers live. A good night’s sleep is a distant memory for our Soldiers.

My son has sent me emails during his time in Iraq and described the living conditions, the battles, the frustrations, the anger and the weariness that I imagine every Soldier feels during long deployments in a foreign land, knowing each day that the people around them are trying to kill them. He’s told me of his feelings of helplessness when friends have been killed. He’s told me about the confusion when bombs start coming in and you aren’t sure where they are coming from. He’s told me about the heavy responsibility he feels knowing that the lives of his men depends to a large extent on the decisions he makes.

The platoon leader of the company’s tank platoon was sending reports to Task Force. He was in mid sentence of a post blast analysis report when the second explosion occurred. “CONTACT, possible secondary IED, we have casualties.” My heart stopped and sank and numbness swept over my body. I immediately broke into a cold sweet. My worst nightmare had come true; I had lost Soldiers under my command. I knew both of the Soldiers well. I often joked with them when I saw them. It was the worst feeling in the world.

Our Soldiers and Marines are human beings doing the best job they can under extremely difficult circumstances compounded by a political atmosphere that more times than not works against them. The circumstances are further complicated by an American public who increasing sees them as monsters rather than our sons and daughters or the kid next door making split second decisions under fire. I wonder how any of us would perform under those circumstances.

I started sending my son links to the blogs that are writing about Beauchamp’s stories when this story about FOB Falcon started making news on the internet. He’s read the stories with interest and we’ve discussed it a good bit over the internet. He’s never given me permission to publish his emails and letters to me before, but after reading what has been written he’s had a change of heart. With his permission, I will be publishing some of his correspondence in the next few days.

You can get the lowdown on the current news about the Beauchamp story at Michelle Malkin’s blog (Thanks for the link, Michelle!). There are a few others that have good information on the story, but it’s late and I can’t get it all pulled together right now. I’ll link some more up in the morning.

More links to blogs discussing the Beauchamp allegations:
Betsy’s Page, Villainous Company has several posts and some great discussion in the comments. The Florida Masochist, Lorie Byrd at Wizbang, Blackfive, Op-For

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