Jim Webb's son, Jimmy, is home:
Webb's son, Jimmy, arrived at Camp Lejeune, N.C., with his Marine battalion shortly after dawn, ending a nine-month deployment in Ramadi, one of Iraq's most dangerous cities.
That is great news, and I just wanted to welcome Jimmy and his fellow Marines home. I don't have any more details, such as how long Jimmy is going to be home and whether he will be heading back to Iraq. Personally, I hope that Jimmy will be staying home for a long time to come, but I fear that he will be headed back to Bush's endless quagmire soon enough.
Just to reiterate my feelings on the troops and on the war, I agree with Senator Webb on two counts. First, Webb is correct that "[t]hose who have stepped forward to serve our country in these difficult times deserve our gratitude and our respect." Second, "[w]e also owe them our best efforts to bring a new direction to what I have long said is a misguided and ill-conceived war."
As usual, Jim Webb said it a lot better than I could, so I'll leave it at that. Thank you Senator, and thank you Jimmy!
My brother is a Army doctor. He will be in Iraq for 15 months starting in September. My father is retired army (33 year army aviator) and will be going to Iraq next year as a civilian engineer with the gov contractor he works for.
As pointless and stupid as I think this war is - when duty calls Americans answer that call. There are no politics in war. War simply occurs when politicians fail. Most of our politicians are dismal failures.
Thanks so much, Lowell!
Steve
Yesterday I met a young man and his family. He was freshly returned from 15 months in Ramadi with the 1st Armored Division. It's a military family - dad's still in, but I said to the mother that I hoped her son would be able to spend at least a year at home before any redeployment, and moreover that I hoped he would not be redeployed to Iraq ever, and the fervor of her agreement told me a little bit about the strain upon this dedicated Army family.
This war is so different than any we've had before. So few people actually know someone serving in Iraq. During Vietnam, so many of us served that nearly everyone knew someone there. But today, with all the contractors and the relatively small numbers of troops, a lot of people don't have any stake in this war whatsoever.
I urge any of you who don't know someone deployed to spend some time finding someone over there. These kids need packages from home. Their living conditions are often terrible--bad water, not enough water. You'd be surprised to see how much a container of baby wipes, snacks, books and a kind letter, even from a stranger, mean to these young men and women.
I believe most progressives, in their heart, do support the troops, but I've always thought supporting someone is more an action than a thought. So if you have some time, a few bucks, find someone from your area and send them a package, a letter of encouragement--anything you can spare. I remember getting a package from my mother's church. My squad and I had our fill of fairly dry homemade cookies and fruit cake, Kool Aid. My father had sent along two pints of bourbon, carefully wrapped in four pair of dry socks. In my experience, during a war, your life gets pretty small. A couple of dry cookies, and and a pint of whiskey passed around sure made that one day a lot better than most, and for a short time I really felt connected to home.
One of my closest friends is an Army Captain on his first tour. I met him when I played at Lime Kiln in Lexington Virgina years ago. He was a freshman cadet at VMI and a blues enthusiast. At the time, he couldn't open his mouth without using Sir as a preface to every sentence, and my family soon adopted him as our own.
After the Gulf War, he came home to Kentucky, often staying at our house and taking care of my daughter when I was on the road. I was a single parent and traveling a lot. Jason really stepped up to help me out. He's been a stalwart friend for 20 years and exactly what they mean when they say, Duty, Honor, Country. He's not real happy to be going off to war at age 42, leaving four kid under ten and a wife, but he kept his thoughts on the matter private and stepped up. That's what these kids do. Whatever they might be fighting for, be it oil, empire, you name it--young men and women like Jason are going because they have orders to go.
I keep him and all our troops in my thoughts and pray for the day they can all come home.
Sacrifice. What does that really mean to us as Americans? It is just too easy to avoid even thinking about sacrificing for our country. But I have heard about those that do. I have heard about how we treat our wounded soldiers after they are discharged from the hospital. I have watched documentaries about the wounded that have traumatic brain injury.
Knowing about my Senator's son deploying to the Iraq war and returning home helps to focus on what it means to sacrifice for our country. It helps me to focus on the fact that those that don't return alive have died in my name. It helps me to continue to work to end our occupation of Iraq, and end the sacrifice of other fathers' sons.