“Rode Hard and Put Up Wet”
Posted on | July 2, 2008
Former III Corps CSM Neil Ciotola has some hard words for us to hear about the consequences of endless war, which might sound familiar to those of you old enough to remember Vietnam:
KILLEEN, Texas — A three-decade Army veteran called a “steel spine” by the defense secretary says he and most other soldiers would prefer never to deploy and fight again because they are tired, undermanned and under-equipped.
“We, the Army, have been rode hard and put up wet,” said Command Sgt. Maj. Neil L. Ciotola, Fort Hood’s senior noncommissioned officer. “We’re catching ourselves coming and going. … In all honesty, ladies and gentlemen, I and the majority of us in uniform, and those that repeatedly support us are tired.”
Ciotola spoke at the Central Texas-Fort Hood Chapter of the Association of the United States Army where he was given an award for leadership Monday night.
Ciotola, who led III Corps in Iraq from late 2006 to early this year with Lt. Gen. Raymond T. Odierno, was called Multinational Corps’ “steel spine” during its 14 months in Iraq by Defense Secretary Robert Gates in February.
Ciotola said tens of thousands in uniform feel like he does about never wanting to deploy and fight again. Too many have “seen too much of death, sacrifice that cannot be measured on any scale, evil that cannot be comprehended by those who have not looked it in the eye.”
The neocons are breaking our Army, ensuring that it is less able to defend us against real threats, as they chase profit margins in Iraq. America’s cult of militarism demands constant sacrifice of our “volunteer” forces and their families, but how many Americans actually benefit from our conquests and occupations?
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