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Sunday, February 06, 2005
The 101st Fighting Keyboarders
Posted by Tim TagarisNormally I don't write about Iraq, despite my strong feelings on the topic. For a few reasons, the past few days have really gotten me steamed about the situation overseas. Then this about sent me over the edge tonight...
Rising Hegemon picked up on a qoute from Jonah Goldberg of the National Review, detailing why Goldberg declares himself ineligible to fight in a war him and other warrior typist have been vociferously promoting for almost two years now.
As for why my sorry a** isn't in the kill zone, lots of people think this is a searingly pertinent question. No answer I could give -- I'm 35 years old, my family couldn't afford the lost income, I have a baby daughter, my a** is, er, sorry, are a few -- ever seem to suffice.
Well Jonah, Atrios found the first thirty-something who gave his life in Iraq and left a child behind--I found five more. I would imagine these families might not have had quite the "nest egg" your family has built up either.
Here's the first. You can also read the letters he wrote to his unborn child whom he never got to meet.
Army Pfc. Jesse Givens, 34, of Fountain, Colo.Givens was killed May 1, 2003, when his tank tumbled into the Euphrates River when a riverbank gave way. He wrote what follows to his sons, Dakota, 5, and Carson, who was born four weeks after Givens' death:
"Dakota -- You are more son than I could ever ask for. I can only hope I was half the dad. You taught me how to care until it hurts, you taught me how to smile again. You taught me that life isn't so serious and sometimes you have to play. You have a big, beautiful heart. Through life you need to keep it open and follow it. [...]
"Bean (his pet name for the unborn Carson) -- I never got to see you but I know in my heart you are beautiful. I will always have with me the feel of the soft nudges on your mom's belly, and the joy I felt when we found out you were on the way.
"I dream of you every night, and I always will. Don't ever think that since I wasn't around that I didn't love you. You were conceived of love and I came to this terrible place for love. Please understand that I had to be gone so that I could take care of my family. I love you, Bean."
Four more in the extended entry, Jonah...
Sad to the depths of his 4-year-old soul, Jack Shanaberger knew what he didn't want to be when he grows up: a father."I don't want to be a daddy because daddies die," the child solemnly told his mother after his father, Staff Sgt. Wentz "Baron" Shanaberger, a military policeman from Fort Pierce, Fla., was killed March 23 in an ambush in Iraq.
Or how about this?
Pfc. Stephen Downing, 30, of Burkesville, Ky., gave up his truck-driving job to join the Army to provide a better life for his children, Taylor, 9, and Stephen, 5."His kids were everything in the world for him," Downing's ex-wife, LeAnn Emmons, told a local newspaper.
A man with a soft spot for all children, Downing -- killed Oct. 28 by a sniper in Ramadi -- told his family he would also be fighting for the children of Iraq. "He told his kids that he wanted Iraqi kids to have the same opportunities (American) kids do," Emmons said.
How about this one, Jonah?
It was his own bottomless love for his wife and two daughters that gave rise to the worst fear for Army Chief Warrant Officer William Brennan, an Army helicopter pilot killed in a crash Oct. 16 on a mission to protect Iraqi civilians fleeing under fire from insurgents."It's not the fear of death that wears me down. It is the feeling of not being there for my three girls," Brennan, 36, of Bethlehem, Conn., wrote in an Easter letter to his sister. Only 2 years old when his own father died, Brennan worried that, if he were killed, his children "would never know me."
Not good enough yet? How about this one?
Army Sgt. Pamela Osbourne, 38Less than a week after Cawvey died, Osbourne was killed by shrapnel from a rocket attack on her camp in Baghdad. A native of Jamaica, Osbourne came to America when she was 14 with two dreams -- to become a U.S. citizen and to serve in the military.
A medical condition could have kept her out of Iraq duty, but Osbourne was determined to serve her country, her husband Rohan Osbourne told a local newspaper in Hollywood, Fla.
While she was deployed, her husband tended to their three children, ages 9 to 19. A supply specialist, Osbourne managed to call home almost every day, between 5 a.m. and 6 a.m.
I am really getting pissed off right now.
Posted at 12:54 AM in International | Technorati
Comments
I declare, under the will of the TBogg,
Whereas, he is a total Chicken-Hawk with no fighting spirit,
Whereas, he engages in total right-wing propaganda filled with lies,
Whereas, he simply is just a total fucking asshole,
Whereas, he is progeny of one Lucianne Goldberg, Queen-Bitch,
Henceforth, the being known as Jonah Goldberg commonly shall be only referred to as "The Thing from Lucianne's Vagina".
Posted by: Assamite ![[TypeKey Profile Page]](http://www.swingstateproject.com/nav-commenters.gif)
at February 6, 2005 04:01 AM | Permalink | Edit Comment | Delete Comment