William Arkin – A Mere Rectal Parasite on a Sewer Rat’s Flea

By Mark R. Taylor on Feb 01, 07

On January 30, 2007, William Arkin wrote a commentary titled “The Troops Also Need to Support the American People”, which appears on the Washington Post’s website.

Arkin ponders the thoughts of our American heroes – our soldiers in battle in Iraq – in an NBC Nightly News story in which soldiers from Ft. Lewis, Washington, now stationed in Iraq, expressed frustration at the American media and the left-wing, anti-American protesters hell-bent on undermining their mission.

Every night for eighteen months, I, along with hundreds of other civilian truckers, put my life on the line to deliver mail, fuel and supplies to our troops. While I cannot speak for each of them, I personally did this because I live what I believe. It is a belief my wife and I know was worth my life.

I would like to state that while I was in Iraq, I had the honor of working side by side with the 497th Transportation Company, Ft. Lewis, Washington. They were our dedicated military escorts for our mail missions after the demobilization of the 1544th Transportation Company, Illinois National Guard. Arkin, you are not fit to wipe the Iraq muck off their combat boots.

In 2003, I made a decision to live what I believe – support the troops and their mission. Too old to join the military, I took a job with KBR as a truck driver/convoy commander in Iraq. I served in that capacity for eighteen months. Arkin uses the term “mercenary” to describe our troops. I am sure he will use it to describe me. One only needs to look up “mercenary” in the dictionary; you know that big book that sits on his shelf, obviously unopened, to find the definition fits neither circumstance. The soldiers volunteered – they do not have to enlist. They can take their talents to the private sector. There are those of us who would have been honored to serve in the military. We took the alternate route and have lived for four years with the ignorance and stupidity in the media that the article conveys. I know firsthand how disturbing and demoralizing it can be to be serving in a war zone while clueless, spineless cowards spout such nonsense unchallenged to the masses. I will not tolerate this for our troops.

To quote Arkin, “So, we pay the soldiers a decent wage, take care of their families, provide them with housing and medical care and vast social support systems and ship obscene amenities into the war zone for them, we support them in every possible way, and their attitude is that we should in addition roll over and play dead, defer to the military and the generals and let them fight their war, and give up our rights and responsibilities to speak up because they are above society?” Excuse me? This is almost too asinine to comment on. Our troops deserve much more than what they are paid and/or “given”. Unlike those who have made a living collecting a welfare check or the illegal aliens choking our government “gimme” programs, these heroic men and women earn everything they receive and more. Seven of these heroes I had the honor of serving with died in Iraq. No matter what we do as Americans, it will never be enough for the skill, honor and courage found in our troops.

Arkin further states “But Iraq is not dirty work.” I doubt that Arkin has done clean up and recovery after a convoy ambush, much less clean up his own office. I challenge him to walk five minutes in the combat boots of a soldier or civilian trucker in Iraq. I doubt he would make it outside the wire.

This piece of human debris is an embarrassment and a coward – a mere rectal parasite in a sewer rat’s flea. He is too ignorant to realize that if it were not for these heroes, he would be in the stockade or dead by now.

In Iraq, I had the opportunity to put my life on the line for what I believe and what I write. I would do it again in a minute. A coward like Arkin hasn’t the courage or honor to do the same.

Reference:
http://blog.washingtonpost.com/earlywarning/2007/01/the_troops_also_need_to_suppor.html

Mark R. Taylor is a former Bradley County, Arkansas, auxiliary deputy sheriff and volunteer firefighter. Currently a long-haul truck driver, he served in Iraq from January 2004 to May 2005 as a civilian convoy commander. He has appeared on The Captains America and other radio programs and his commentary has appeared in Landline Magazine, American Daily, Family Security Matters and Townhall.Com. The Taylors live in South Arkansas. Mark’s websites are http://www.greatmindsthinkright.com and http://www.americantruckersatwar.com

I should feel honored, he responded to me directly.  Of course he grossly misquoted me.
I said that he was telling the troops to shut up and quit whining, whereas he quoted me as saying that to him.
Whatever.  the point of my article was that…

I guess to him shut-up and having the military hierarchy he thinks plays mind control with the troops practice said mind control so the troops won’t talk again or make criticisms of the anti-war left are two different things.

That is, technically, the rules under which the military works. You should know this, having served in the Army. Article 88 of the UCMJ and DOD Directive 1344.10 limit the things that military members can say, officers cannot criticize elected officials and active duty enlisted men cannot express opinions on behalf of the military.

I disagree with the WP author, however, since it is important to listen to the voices of the men serving our country. For example, in the last attempt at a randomized poll of soldiers in Iraq, only 23% supported staying the course.