With so much doom & gloom being reported by the mass media, it's nice to talk to guys who have been there. Most report we're doing a kick ass job. Many report the Iraqis want us there. A few piss & moan about the conditions (did they ever spend the night in Germanys coldest winter on record?) or the hard work but that's the service.
This guy called today & had a heartwarming story to tell.
This guy called today & had a heartwarming story to tell.
BEGIN TRANSCRIPT
RUSH: All right, Greg in Virginia Beach. Welcome, sir. Nice to have you on the EIB Network.
CALLER: Rush, mega dittos. I cannot believe I'm talking to you after many, many, many years of listening to you.
RUSH: Thank you. I'm glad you got through, sir.
CALLER: Hey, I just wanted to let you know, by the way, I am from the all volunteer military, just got back from Iraq, United States Navy, and just wanted to let you know --
RUSH: What's it like? Can I ask? I have to ask you. When did you get back?
CALLER: I just literally got back like two weeks ago.
RUSH: What was it like? Tell me how it happened? You flew from where to where? When you got off the airplane at the airport, what was it like to get back here?
CALLER: It was... Well, couple points. It was incredible, one. I thoroughly enjoyed my experience over there. Unfortunately, we were able to -- we actually have assess to, you know, satellite TV in the chow halls and things like that over there, and so --
RUSH: Yes.
CALLER: -- we see what's being reported back here, and it just disgusts us. A lot of the true things that are going on over there aren't reported, and that's part of the reason for my call. We get a lot of Drive-By politicians that come out to Iraq for a couple of days, come back here and report what they think they see in two days as opposed to, you know, all the troops that are over there for six months, 12 months.
RUSH: How long were you there?
CALLER: I was there boots on the ground just over ten months.
RUSH: Hold on just here, Greg. I'm not trying to embarrass you.
CALLER: Sure.
RUSH: I want to point something out to the audience. A full 99% of the people of this country will never do what you just did. This is not a criticism. I'm just establishing here a fact.
CALLER: Right.
RUSH: Those 99%, when they think about it, think, "What if I had to go? What if I had to go to a war," and what do they think of it, IEDs going off every day, massive death, US soldiers killing and getting killed. So when they picture it, I'm sure that when they thought that they had to go, that they would be petrified, just petrified. And I would also wager that many of them, while they could not wait to get out of there and to get back and touching down on US soil would be one of the sweetest and most memorable home comings ever, and to hear you describe it, sound like you just got back from Keokuk.
CALLER: (Laughing.)
RUSH: It was no big deal, but you don't even want to talk about it. You went; you did your ten months. You volunteered as you said as all of you have and you got back and it was like you went to the grocery store on a shopping spree for ten months, no big deal to you. But I'm telling you, most Americans, you know, they have pictures of the World War II movies and here come the returning veterans and everybody is in town to greet them and their wives and their girlfriends, they are hugging them and there are tears and so forth. You just, hey, it's just the way life is for you, you just got back, and I'm just amazed by that. That's why I think you people are a different breed.
CALLER: Absolutely, and it's not like we hear that's being reported, "Oh, these are all uneducated people that are being brainwashed to go over there." That is totally not the truth. You know, the majority over there, I would say, at least have an associate's or even college degrees. There's many of us over there that, you know, chose to go and I know you gotta break coming up but I just wanted thank you and let your 20-plus million listeners out there know I was enrolled in the Adopt-A-Soldier Program, and a gentleman, if you don't mind me saying his name --
RUSH: No.
CALLER: Randy Remenap and his wife adopted me. Well, they asked me, said, "Hey, what can we do for you over there? We'd like to do something for you and your unit," and I said, "Hey, we're fine over here, but if you can send over, you know, maybe some spare clothes that you have, maybe a couple boxes, and I'll distribute them out to the Iraqis," because I actually lived with the Iraqis, Rush, and helped train them. So, they said, "Hey, no problem! We'll send some over." I was expecting two or three boxes. Well, they got together with a couple of high schools out in Michigan where they're from; the next thing you know I'm receiving in the mail over there up to 60 to 80 boxes (voice breaks). Sorry, it's emotional for me, but they ended up sending over literally over close to a thousand pieces of clothing that I ended up giving to the Iraqis.
RUSH: Greg? By no means are we through discussing this and I do have the aforementioned commercial break. Can you hang on for a couple minutes?
CALLER: Sure.
RUSH: All right. We'll be back. This is amazing. Never hear about this stuff, never, ever do you hear about this.
BREAK TRANSCRIPT
RUSH: We happily rejoin Greg in Virginia Beach, Virginia, just back from Iraq two weeks ago. The story you tell us is just amazing. You were adopted by a couple listeners in this program and the Adopt-A-Soldier Program, so you got website access and all that sort of stuff. You were able to stay in touch even outside the chow hall because you could use the Internet, right?
CALLER: Absolutely. We had Internet access where I was at and I was able to.
RUSH: Where were you?
CALLER: I was in several different areas, Baghdad, Fallujah, Ramadi.
RUSH: Okay, so you were in hotbeds.
CALLER: Absolutely, the hotbeds, as Al Anbar Province.
RUSH: So say the names of the two people who (quote, unquote) adopted you again, slowly, so I can understand them.
CALLER: Sure. It was Randy and Judy Remenap. I believe I'm pronouncing. Like I said, we only communicated via e-mail. R-e-m-e-n-a-p.
RUSH: Yes, Remenap is fine. That's how I, as a trained broadcaster, would pronounce it. Maybe Remenap. Where do they live? Not the street address, but what state do they live in?
CALLER: They live up in Michigan.
RUSH: They live up in Michigan, and you were communicating with them and they asked you if there was anything you needed and you said the Iraqis could use some clothes and hand me downs, and they organized with high schools donation drives and donated, did I hear this right, 60 to 80 boxes of clothes for Iraqis that they sent to you?
CALLER: Absolutely. It was just unbelievable. In fact, everybody in my unit, when I was getting these boxes, they didn't know what was going on because they just thought they were personal things my wife or someone were sending to me, and I told them, you know, the story about you and the Adopt-A-Soldier Program, and they were really moved by it, and, you know, it was just incredible, and apparently Randy's got some children that are older that teach at a high school, so they arranged everything, and kudos needs to go out to these high school kids that weren't thinking of themselves, you know, the Rush babies of the generation, and were thinking of the Iraqi kids and people over there.
RUSH: It is just great. I can't tell you. I'm swelling up with pride. I got chills going up and down my spine listening to this.
CALLER: Dittos to you, Rush, for allowing us to be able to do this, you know, and I wanted to let you know because this is one time that, you know, trying to make you look good and let the people know that if it wasn't for this program, we wouldn't have been able to have access to this and then to be able to touch the Iraqi people --
RUSH: Well, look, thank you. You're very kind, but as is often the case, people call and thank me and give me credit for things. I didn't do this. These two people up in Michigan did this, but they are the kind of people in this audience, and they have the kind of kids, children, teachers in high school that would organize and do something like this, and nobody knows about it until you call and talk about it. They are not seeking, they didn't do it for any fame or credit or whatever. You just wonder how much of this kind of thing is going on. This is just a picture of the country that you just don't hear about.
CALLER: It's going on a lot over there, Rush, and unfortunately, like I said, you get a lot of these -- taking a word from you -- Drive-By politicians, they come over for a couple days, literally, because what I did I can't really say over in the Navy, but I was able to see schedules and things like that and you have these politicians that come over for a couple days and then they're going back to the States and they think that they're getting a full picture of what's going on over there as opposed to us who are out on the streets day in and day out living amongst the Iraqi people, and I'll send you, as I told your screener, I'll send some photos and let you see the pictures of these kids and their faces and how happy they are to get and receive these clothes.
RUSH: What kind of clothes, like blue jeans and things like that?
CALLER: Yeah, everything from just blue jeans and T-shirts to actually -- and these were for adult men and women as well, they sent over nice dresses, nice, you know, golf shirts, and a lot of the clothes, some were just, you know, hand-me-downs, but some were brand-new clothes that people had gone out and bought.
RUSH: You know, this is the kind of stuff that's supposed to be happening with the oil-for-food program.
CALLER: Yeah, absolutely.
RUSH: But it didn't. Well, that's just great. Man, I am so happy you got through here to tell the story. This is amazing.
CALLER: Yeah. One quick point to you, Rush. Like you said I lived with the Iraqis, and they are very appreciative of what we're doing and they said to me, because I lived with them, they said, to me, they said, "Hey, I hope that you and the Americans are not going to get up and leave," because they were truly disappointed, you know, actually when we left in '91 and I know we had a different mission then, but they truly want to be trained by us. They're coming along, and they actually really didn't start their training 'til about a year ago because it took us a couple years to secure the country. So, you know, they've only been training for about a year now, but they are coming along so well, it's just unbelievable -- and, you know, I have great faith in the Iraqi people over there.
RUSH: Did you say you were Army?
CALLER: Navy.
RUSH: Navy. You're in the Navy. All right. Well, that's the heartwarming story of the day.
CALLER: Well, thank you, for being able to let us have access to that site and to make this all happen.
RUSH: Well, you're more than welcome. But I'm telling you, those people in Michigan actually did that. We made the program available, but they actually did it. God bless 'em -- and you, too. I'm still struck by how casual a thing it was for you to get home. Is this your first ten months, your first tour over there?
CALLER: My first time, and I'm ready to go back over there again. Of course, my wife would probably say different, but she's been very, very supportive and my kids as well.
RUSH: How old are you?
CALLER: I am 40.
RUSH: Forty. Forty years old and went over there ten months ago.
CALLER: Yep, and I appreciate my country. I'm proud to be an American, and that's why I did it, and every single other military person over there loves this country.
RUSH: You know, when I did a troop visit to Afghanistan, I found the same thing. I didn't find any resentment. I found just the exact opposite: pride, commitment, and all that, but you know something? I could understand your feeling appreciative, and it's very warming. You tell me: Do the people over there, the guys, the troops, the men and women in uniform, do they understand the depth of appreciation felt for them by most Americans?
CALLER: We do. We absolutely do. We know, and a lot of us all the time would sit over there and say we don't believe the polls over there, too, that sit and say that only, you know, 30% believe in President Bush and what he's doing, because we just don't believe those polls. You know, the vast, vast majority of the military is very aware of how much support that we are getting back here in America, and we're proud to do it -- and that's why you see people signing back up, even after their tours are done, to go back over again.
RUSH: How did you do during a tropical storm going through there last night?
CALLER: I was watching on the news here all the flooding. I'm actually from Arizona, out in KFYI land, is where I'm from.
RUSH: Oh, but you're in Virginia Beach now?
CALLER: I'm in Virginia Beach, kind of going through my process of demobilizing out.
RUSH: I see.
CALLER: I'm actually a Reservist.
RUSH: Okay. KFYI, we own. KFYI owns Phoenix.
CALLER: Absolutely.
RUSH: There's a reason why. Look, Gregg, thanks so much for the phone call.
CALLER: Thank you, Rush, I appreciate it.
RUSH: More than you know, we appreciate it, God bless you, sir, and your adoptive parents up there in Michigan.
CALLER: Thank you. Have a great day.
RUSH: You do the same.
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