'Victory' in Iraq

You and I know that there really isn’t anything to celebrate come Tuesday night when President Obama is expected to claim “victory” in Iraq during his primetime oval office address. A couple of questions come to mind: Will he even mention President Bush? And will he discuss the overwhelming strain on our men and woman serving our country for the last decade, especially the reserves? If he wants to claim victory in Iraq and make it his war, then he owes it to America to be honest about the dire situation in Afghanistan. Under his watch twice as many soldiers died there last year than in any other year since the war began. And the number of casualties will likely increase this year.

To be sure, we are not leaving Iraq. 50,000 troops still in the country is hardly a withdrawal. Operation New Dawn will continue to strain our forces. The price they pay will not only be in the lives lost it will also be in the hard to measure cost in the disruption to families. Case in point, never before in the history of our country have the lives of the men and woman of the armed forces reserves had their lives uprooted by the call of duty. How many children are missing their parents today? How can you make sure your job will be there when you return? And many of them are serving their second and third tours of duty as reservists. That’s too much to ask.

Reserves were barely used during the Vietnam War, and that created a disconnect between civilians at home and the military abroad. Top brass made it clear that was to never happen again. At the outset of this decade, inexperience caused a 35% higher casualty rate among reserves than active duty forces. That number has “improved” of late, if improvement can be used to describe something so terrible.

Before President Obama calls a “coast is clear” in Iraq, he needs to recognize the fight is not over and the strain on men and woman in the armed services has been enormous. Relieving some of our dependence on the reserves should not be too much to ask.

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E.J. Smith - Your Survival Guy

Preparing your investments and family for when disaster strikes.

E.J. Smith is the Founder of YourSurvivalGuy.com, Managing Director at Richard C. Young & Co., Ltd., a Managing Editor of Richardcyoung.com, and Editor-in-Chief of Youngresearch.com. E.J. graduated from Babson College in Wellesley, Massachusetts, with a B.S. in finance and investments. In 1995, E.J. began his investment career at Fidelity Investments in Boston before joining Richard C. Young & Co., Ltd. in 1998. E.J. has trained at Sig Sauer Academy in Epping, NH, where he completed course-work in Practical and Defensive Handgun, Conceal Carry Pistol, Shotguns, Precision Scope Rifle and Kidnapping Prevention. E.J. plays a Yamaha Recording Custom drum set with Zilldjian cymbals. His first drum set was a 5-piece Slingerland with Zilldjians. He grew-up worshiping Neil Peart of the band Rush, and loves the song Tom Sawyer—the name of his family’s boat, a Grady-White Canyon 306. He grew up in Mattapoisett, MA, an idyllic small town on the water near Cape Cod. He spends time in Newport, RI and Bartlett, NH—both as far away from Wall Street as one could mentally get. The Newport office is on a quiet, tree lined street not far from the harbor and the log cabin in Bartlett, NH, the “Live Free or Die” state, sits on the edge of the White Mountain National Forest. He enjoys spending time in Key West and Paris. Please get in touch with E.J. at ejsmith@youngresearch.com. Sign up here to receive all the best content from Richardcyoung.com each week.