We badmouth the police all the time, but anyone says anything even slightly negative about a soldier

I have never badmouthed a member of of law enforcement or any civil service. Please do not lump me in with "everyone". They do just to preserve and protect our freedoms as anyone else.

ISIS is killing children and burying people alive... would ISIS be what it is today if we hadn't gone after Saddam?

ISIS is a splintercell that has been cut off of support from Al Queda. Al Qaeda has publicly stated this. It was born of members that were based out of Syria, Iran and Iraq. I believe that if Saddam was still in power, that they would most likely be worse then they are now, because they Saddam regime would have politically aligned themselves with their cause, based on their Sunni background and hatred of the Kurdish sects in all Islamic Countries.

By most scientific estimates, the civilian casualties of the Iraq war greatly exceeded the numbers of people ever killed by Saddam.

The majority of civilian casualties happened outside of the primary conflict, and were instigated by the US trying to protect peaceful population centers from insurgent groups lead and funded by terrorist organizations. You cannot tell me that you believe that a random sheep farmer with no internet access has the capability of teaching himself how to build a IED or Suicide Vest. Insurgent groups were offering civilians large sums of money to carry "packages" and take pot shots at American troops or Iraqi's that were supporting the rebuilding efforts.

To those serving and served, I thank you for volunteering to that vocation, and for being willing to put your life on the line to defend our freedom. But at the same time, not every tour you actually are assigned is really in that capacity. Most aren't.

Often times our actions aren't to just protect the interests and Freedoms of just ourselves, but to help liberate the innocent from a tyrant as well...

Why should the attacker or myself be attacked for being proud of our service, or even admitting to it. Nothing I said was self serving BS. I've been through PTSD counseling, and had many friends in trauma and recovery centers, and one thing I know is the doubt that can creep into the mind during recovery. What I was attempting to do was to reach out to a healing individual with encouragement, attempt to help motivate him, and offer some good advice on a robotics kit. With how much darkness and criticism that has been spewed in this thread, I thought that some light and hope would be appreciated, and hopefully was by the OP.

Humanity always has it's dark side. Military, Police, Fire Department and Politics included. But only a small minded individual lumps all of the good people in with the bad. Are all Soldiers heros. Absolutely not. But I can tell you from personal experience, that those bad eggs would not be reaching out on a site like this for ways to better themselves either. There is no reason to attack the poster or myself for thanking the poster for his service. I take offense to the term Invasion of Iraq. I sat on the side of the road in Basrah and shared a bag of Skittles with a young girl, 6-7 years old. I shook her fathers hand, and received a hug from her mother. I had a very long conversation with the father. He told me of his Kurdish uncle that was executed in a mass burial pit. The people were happy to be rid of Saddam Hussein. He was a brutal and vicious dictator. Did we go in under the correct pretense, no. Did we attempt to do a good thing, yes. Did we have the appropriate follow through, no. Could we have done things better, of course. Hindsight is hindsight, and things can always be done or said differently.

Didn't realize that I was posting Anon... 2 Comments: 1: Thank you for serving. Just remember that you and other soldiers like yourself (myself included) sacrificed their rights, in order to protect the rights of the people that are taking to this board to incite hate. People like that will never understand all that went into giving them the right to say what they want to say without fear of repercussion. They will never understand the fear of censorship, and while the vocal minority may speak the loudest, take heart in knowing that you've also protected the rights of those who only speak when thoughts need to be expressed for the betterment of their fellow citizens. 2: The Lego Mindstorm Kits are amazing. Fun to play with, compatable with all Lego kits, (which makes for some wacky inventions), and very educational. The drag and drop interface lets you do plenty, but once you link the controller up with bluetooth, and start playing with the actual programming languages, the real potential is unlocked.