I just read a very good article in the P-B under "War on Terror," March 23, describing the ever-improving conditions at the U.S. airbase in Kandahar, Afghanistan.
It seems daily life at the airbase is now complete with movies, e-mail, DVD players, candy bars, sodas and showers. It really saddened me to read all the petty complaints of our service personnel. What do they think this is? A picnic in the desert? This is war.
I take umbrage and offense at these young, spoiled ingrates who feel they cannot fight a war without all the comforts of home. I served four years in the U.S. Navy a quarter of a century ago. Showers aboard ship? Yes, we had them -- if one could call them that. Unfortunately, the water heaters did not always work.
My father lost several toes to frostbite in Korea. My uncle lost one eye to shrapnel during World War II. My great-uncle fought in the trenches of France in 1918, and my great-great-grandfather was shot off his horse in the Illinois Cavalry during the Civil War.
I think it's great these military personnel are over there doing a good job, but I believe the concept of sacrifice has been abandoned. I'm not at all against these modern warriors enjoying some modern comforts, but they are being paid to do what they do.
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Jeff L. Austin
Dodge Center
