Sad to see Ryan have to go back to a place he never wanted to return to. But for what it is worth, and I am likely in a minority opinion here, I do NOT think his and other troops efforts and sacrifices in Iraq are done in vain.
Even though he may think the entire war futile and worthless, I give his efforts more credit than I think even he does. You helped change the trajectory of a nation, and for that I am proud of you and the rest of the troops who went over there. It's nowhere near being over, and many events and developments have yet to occur, but the trendlines at the current time are not leading into the abyss. That is a good thing for all of us, and Iraqis. So take heart, not all of us out here are against what you guys are trying to do in Iraq, I find it a far more noble work than most of us will ever achieve.
[quote=joey v;54701]Did you intend for both of those to be jabs at Bush or just the second one? It's hard to tell whether you're blaming Bush or the intelligence agencies for the lack of a "logical reason"[/quote]
I'll let you decide.
A girl posted on his facebook that he ships out on April 15. I think she's just a fan, though, so I don't know if that's accurate. Either way, he seems like a really cool guy. The fact that anyone can go into something like war, on their own free will (and by that I mean signing up for the military in the first place), is so commendable. It's totally unselfish and brave.
I just hope he comes back safely and to a lot of open arms. As we saw in a previous episode, these guys and girls often come home with a LOT of internal conflict. It just sucks that they do something so unselfishly and then come home to a lack of respect and support.
[QUOTE=BamaBelle;55488]A girl posted on his facebook that he ships out on April 15. I think she's just a fan, though, so I don't know if that's accurate. [/QUOTE]
This question will be raised and answered during the reunion show.
There's only a few stryker units in Iraq, and only one from PA (according to wikipedia. Their page on stryers has a complete list of past and current stryker units in Iraq).
It says that the 56th Stryker Unit from Pennsylvania has been in Iraq since February. Since Ryan said that was his new unit on this week's episode, that means he's probably been in Iraq since February.
I wrote that the question of his deployment will be addressed on the reunion show. I was there... You will have to watch or read about it later.
He is not yet in Iraq. His unit is in the final days of training. The fan post of an April 15th deployment is reasonably accurate.
Pages