State Sen. Mark Herring (D-33) traveled last week to Camp Shelby, MS, about 45 minutes south of Hattiesburg, to visit National Guard soldiers from Loudoun and the surrounding area. The combat soldiers were training for a mission in Iraq where they will provide convoy security near Tikrit, the hometown of Iraq's executed former leader, Saddam Hussein.Convoy security in Saddam's home town is a tough job. That's why they're sending Virginians.
- Leesburg Today
It becomes ever more important to support Delegate Poisson's bill in the Assembly to provide free in-state college tuition to the children of many Virginia veterans, when we consider what those veteran are called upon to do for you and I.
Senator Mark Herring, Delegate David Poisson, Democrats both, demonstrating tangible support for our troops.
We can disagree about the war, but we all should agree that our soldiers deserve honor and recognition for their service, and consideration for their children.
(Crossposted, in large part, from Leesburg Tomorrow)
[update]And as a reminder of what our neighbors are being sent into:
From The New York Times
In short, we operate in a bewildering context of determined enemies and questionable allies, one where the balance of forces on the ground remains entirely unclear. (In the course of writing this article, this fact became all too clear: one of us, Staff Sergeant Murphy, an Army Ranger and reconnaissance team leader, was shot in the head during a "time-sensitive target acquisition mission" on Aug. 12; he is expected to survive and is being flown to a military hospital in the United States.) While we have the will and the resources to fight in this context, we are effectively hamstrung because realities on the ground require measures we will always refuse - namely, the widespread use of lethal and brutal force.
These words were written by a group of soldiers from the 82nd Airborne, returning soon from 15 months in Iraq.