Some Iraq Troops Won’t Be Home for Holidays Despite Obama Pledge

Oh my GOD. Reminds me of the saying I’ve read “If President Obama discovered the cure for cancer you’d complain how many doctors he put out of business”. Ms. Raddatz you just need to be grateful the troop are coming home. Your criticism is not coming from any great concern you have for the troops or their but from a dislike you have of the President.

@ MTATL67 – If you were here at Ft. Hood and dealing with the fact that you were told that all troops will “DEFINITELY be home for the holidays” but yet you found out that the Brigade your spouse was in would be staying until July…you would be upset with the words spoken from our fearless leader. I have never had anything against Obama, but now that it has been said that 1st Brigade 1st CAV Division will stay behind, I want him to “man up” and go on national news, breaking in to every channel just as he did when he announce the withdrawal and say, “You know what, I know I said this, but that has changed and 3,000-4,000 troops will stay behind in Kuwait as reserves!” I would respect him a whole hell of a lot more then him just not saying anything at all! The sad part is, those of us here at Ft. Hood who are part of 1st Brigade or the 1st CAV Division have known since November 7th that our soldiers will stay behind and this is the first time I have seen someone actually come out and say that some are staying! Why in the world has it taken this long when we are all screaming out here for someone to notice and realize that what President Obama spoke that day was not reality at all!
So I thank you Martha Raddatz for your article and for bringing this to light! I hope everyone sees this and gets as upset as we all are here!
But I also have to tell you, you stated that “those who have only served part of their deployments in Iraq by Dec. 31 will likely be the ones who stay behind in Kuwait.” but you have to realize, 2nd Brigade 1st CAV Division got to Iraq in May and came home in November and will have all of their soldiers home in the next week or two, so they only served part of their deployment in Iraq. They didn’t complete a full year as their orders stated. Well, 1st Brigade got to Iraq in July and are now in Kuwait, so what is the difference? None of 2nd Brigade did a year deployment!

@mtatl67, as the wife of one of those remaining in Kuwait, my concern is most definitely for the troops, as well as their families. In October, on the heels of Obama’s “promise,” we were told our soldiers would be home for Christmas. After a few weeks to get used to that idea, we were then told that they would instead be staying another six months. Try breaking that to your children!
So, more precisely, if Obama said he had found a cure for cancer, I would wonder why he was lying yet again.

I just reread my post and noticed that, in editing myself, I missed a word. Second sentence in the first paragraph should read:

MY husband is one of the MANY soldiers who were told would be home, only to be “remissioned” to Kuwait.

My apologies.

@MTATL67, as one of those who will be staying in Kuwait for the foreseeable future, likely until late July, I can assure you that wether it was a Republican or a Democrat who lied to us and got all of our families moving back to home station, initiating plans for the holidays, for their lives and futures, that the lie is painful no matter who it comes from. The distinction made regarding the unit not having served an entire year is political double speak as none of the units here at the end had spent an entire year here with only 3rd BDE 1 CAV having been here the longest and being the closest to that benchmark, but wait, weren’t we supposed to be doing 9 month deployments with 24 months of dwell time in between, I guess that was just another administration lie that missed the news as well. But it’s ok MTATL, you sleep fat and comfy in your little bed all alone and just know that we are here doing what you lack the moral fiber and intestinal fortitude to bear yourself, know that we are here living and dying for your right to be a pompous nit, allowing you the freedom to spout your ignorance. And know this, a recent article in the Stars and Stripes spoke about the cells in GITMO that the prisoners are “subjected” to living in were unacceptable, those of us here are living like cattle and would welcome such accommodations as an upgrade. We live 50 to a tent living out of a duffle bag, we run out of water in the showers regularly, we have constant power outages and sometimes wake up with no heat. So the next time you want to speak on this sort of topic, understand the facts and conditions you are speaking about, come and live it yourself and earn the right you so clearly enjoy. Until then sit down, shut up, and just be thankful for those of us who are willing to give so dearly of our lives and time for your security and safety.

Yes we were told we were coming home and then shortly after that we were quickly reminded that we were on one year orders, then a few short weeks later we were informed, not during a formation or briefing, but through facebook that we would “likely” be staying. We have endured an emotional rollercoaster and our families have had it the worst, con you even imagine telling your children that daddy or mommy are going to be home for Christmas only to have to break the news to them a week or two later that they weren’t coming home after all, do the children understand that Mr. B. Hussein Obama lied, no, they don’t, they don’t care. That knowledge does not make them feel better about it, doesn’t make the hurt go away faster or lessen the pain of their beloved parent being held away for longer than they were told to expect, for longer than the President promised. Shame on you Mr. Obama, your handling of this matter is unconscionable, the pain you have caused thousands of families is unforgivable and while I know you won’t do it, you owe them all a personal apology. I challenge you to go to Ft. Hood and sit down with each of the families you lied to and explain to them and the children why it is that their mommy or daddy won’t be home like you promised they would be. But as you have already proven by the clear divergence between your words and your deeds, you won’t do this because it would be the right thing to do, the honorable thing to do and that just isn’t the kind of person you are.

I’m wondering why our troops are such blantant softies now only focussed on themselves? Did you people just enlist for a job, or to accomplish something? Orders continually change in the military and while on active duty, they own you. Get used to it.

Surely you can’t think just because the war is over that the US can pull out 100% of the troops immediately? It has to be transitional.

Having been an Army wife I know the disappointments, but for Pete’s sake people, quit playing the blamie game and be happy they’ll be in Kuwait, and not Iraq. It’s temporary.

Thank you so much for publishing this! My son graduated from basic in July and then went to Iraq with 1-7 out of Ft Hood right away. This is my only child and it has been quite an emotional roller coaster to begin with and I feel like our President made it harder than it needed to be. I am proud of him and proud of the brigade he is with. I know finishing their deployment was never an issue for any of these men – but when your Commander in Chief says they will all be home, you believe it and hopes rise. Felt like political grandstanding took the place of being truthful and honoring the men and women who are staying. I’d like to see him correct his statement and give these soldiers the recognition the recognition they deserve, too. If anything falls apart, they will be first back in….

I wondered when this was finally going to come to light. Let me begin by saying that I totally understand that when you sign up for the military that you sign up to say I will go wherever and whenever you need me. My son did that and I am proud of him for it…but…I am annoyed that his wife received the news that all troops from Ft. Hood were coming home by the holidays and to begin preperartions for his homecoming. His wife and baby girl (born July 4th and daddy shipped out two weeks later..which by the way we were thankful for him being able to just see her birth!) signed a new lease thinking he would be home in the next few months. Then two weeks later found out that he would in fact not be coming home but be remissioned to Kuwait to finish out his deployment. I understand that the this is what he signed up to do but on the other hand it would have been a lot better for Obama to have not said anything like that and not had the correspondence to soldiers families that they would be home KNOWING that this was not going to happen for a small percentage of them. No matter if it is a small percentage it is still a group of soldiers and their families being jerked around with plans and preperations…His wife is now stuck back down in Texas when she could have been in Colorado with her family while he was deployed. Also, the plan of just sitting around in a big tent on a cot with no real purpose for rest of deployment seems a bit less than worthwhile. I am sure there is more to this story and much more in the bigger picture which I would love to hear because then it would make more sense to me for the reasoning of all of this BUT it still does not explain why Obama announced what he did knowing what he knew and that he has not addressed it directly. Yes, just be honest..own up to your words please. The other day when it was announced that this was a day in history all the troops pulling out just made me so mad that it was just NOT accurate reporting. I am so glad that you have given the truth and hope that this spurs Obama to do the right thing and at least speak directly to this issue.

Thank you for finally bringing this to the light so everyone can see that Obama does not tell the the truth instead he gets the hopes up of all the families that have loved ones in Iraq. I know this because my husband is over there right and he is one of the men that are to remain there. When I was told that he was coming home I was so happy and excited and we started looking for a place to live for when he came home. It is a good thing that I never went and got one because later did I know that he would be staying behind. Obama you need to own up to what you did. You gave a lot of hope to all the families and then yanked it away from us. You are wrong and sick in the head to do that to us. You are the reason I hate politics. The next time you say something to world you had better make sure that that information is correct and not false because I now I am at home with hopes that have been crushed and so have my husband’s. I hope that you find the time really soon to go and correct yourself in front of everyone for what you said and did to the families that have loved ones remaining behind. I knew that when I married my husband in July before he left that this would be hard, but I did not think that I would be on an emotional rollercoster ride because Obama lied to us. Thank you for bringing this to light so people can see how much of a lier Obama truly is and all the hope he crushed when he told the families that their loved ones would be coming home.

Well, I’m not complaining because I do know that when you sign up for the Army orders can change, and I knew some would be remissioned to Kuwait. However Obama said ALL the troops, and the media ran with it. So now my wife has got to hear it over and over this Christmas when she doesnt want to think about it. A spouse knows before anyone else when their soldier will be home, but people keep mentioning it to her over and over and its really driving down her morale down for the Holidays. He should have mentioned the troops that will stay behind. And my heart goes out to those family members who were lied to and began planning for a return and then informed that there will not be one. My heart goes out to you and I appreciate your sacrifice.

My husband is also going to be waiting in Kuwait. Not part of the 1st brigade 1st Cav, but part of the 1-94 Cav. 2600 Minnesota troops to be exact. Also, know there are North Dakota troops in Kuwait as well…. That said there are more than just the 3-4000 from 1st Brigade 1st Cav. More like 7-8000 Staying in Kuwait to train?!?! Send them home to train.