From The Grapevine : Soldiers talk.
After the announcement by some people in Artesh that they were fed up with the situation, and disgusted with IRGC, here are several soldiers’ reactions :
Soldier : “250,000 of the 350,000 Artesh soldiers are drafted soldiers doing our national service, all below the age of 25. Guess whose side we’re on?”
Air Force Soldier : “I don’t know about that announcement but I can tell you 95% of Artesh Air Force is Green.”
Ex-Soldier : “I left [batallion] 3 months ago. No job & no prospects. I wanted to study at Uni using armed forces contigent. No way. Only if you are a Basiji or IRGC, or best, you are a Basiji whose dad is with IRGC do you get your scholarship at application, get your degree in 1 month, your post-grad in 3, PhD in 6 & go on becoming the president or minister or high-ranked Guards commander. My life is sadly without prospects.”
Soldier : “I’m exiled to some God forbidden place at the border with Azerbaijan. They send us here to rot. Only good thing is that all comrades here share same fate, so [we support each other].”
Soldier : “Brother, who cares [if the announcement is real]? It’s the content that counts & it’s 100% accurate. We’ve had it.”
IRGC Soldier : “Our lion Ali Fazli has been removed. He was the last of pure & loyal high commanders left, who actually served in war. All those remaining are, like Ahmadinejad, never been to war. He’s got a decorative desk job under Taeb. Isn’t it a shame? There are no commanders left who are respected by the body of Sepah, which is still made up of pure & loyal brothers serving their country. With Fazli gone and new commanders in, they risk our uprising soon. By the way : Please tell everyone out there that we weren’t involved in crushing protests.”
(see @homylafayette’s translation/analysis of Artesh message here http://tinyurl.com/y9cfa5e )
