Mar. 23, 2003 ~ Close to home
(A small but important request: If you know me and you know Soldier Boy's real name, please do not mention it online. Thank you. And if I should mention it accidentally, by all means let me know, and I'll change it!)
Well, this is bad. My cousin's son is at the front lines, he is from Texas, and he is attached to a maintenance unit. The five American Army prisoners are reportedly from a maintenance unit (meaning they maintain the equipment) and at least three of them are from Texas. I wish I had listened more closely when Cuz gave me the particulars about his son. I try to remember these things, truly. But it wasn't until I'd written, read or typed Soldier's Boys address at least a hundred times that I remembered the specifics. Battalion, regiment, company, platoon. I emailed Cuz a few days ago, and spoke with him by phone, asking him for an address for his son. Wanted to send him a note and a card. He was going to send the information, but not surprisinly, has not yet done so. With all that's going on, such things are not high priority. I can't get through to his home today, nor has he responded to my emails, and frankly, the past couple of weeks I've wondered if my email was working right. People have just not been replying at all... people who are normally very caring and prompt.
My heart sinks every time I hear of casualties. News of fatalities sometimes makes me cry. I look carefully at the names of the fallen soldiers, and pray for their families and friends. I am saddened when I hear of injured civilians or soldiers on the other side, but you will probably understand that "our" losses hit me even harder. It's personal.
I have heard horrible news today, simply sickening. The Iraqi government has shown the five captured prisoners on their TV broadcasts, and worse, have shown bodies they claim to be American marines, who appear to have been killed execution style. Meaning, not killed in combat, but while they were captive. They have shown the bodies, have even rearranged them so the camera could have a better view. Our government has demanded that our TV stations NOT show this footage, and I guess most have complied, but I've heard that one national news station showed the bodies... not the faces, but the bodies. Do they have no thought for the families of these people? And along these lines...
Yesterday I awoke to the sad news that four of our troops had been killed in an attack on their Humvee. Later I learned (and I had to dig to find this out) that they had in fact not been killed, but had been injured. Well, obviously, in the heat of battle, mistakes will be made. And while this was a whopper, at least it turned out that the troops were still alive. But what irritates me is that this had been reported on all the major news websites as "Four Killed," and suddenly the story just disappeared from view. One website had a headline saying "Four injured, not dead." with no further information. My thinking is that if they make such a serious mistake, they owe us -- especially those with family in the military -- an explanation. Just a few lines explaining that the previously reported information had been shown to be inaccurate, and the real story was... with a few details on the condition of the injured. That's all I want. Because I KNOW what it's like to hear that a member of my son's battalion has been killed in action, and I KNOW the pain of waiting those long hours for the fallen soldier's name to be revealed. It's agony.
It's true what they say, what they have always said.
War is hell.
If you need further proof, you should check out Doug's entry, here. But be warned... it might make you cry.
Later...
Cousin's son is okay, and Cuz claims once again that he will email me his son's address. Maybe he will. He had not been listening to the news and hadn't been home all day, so he didn't know why anyone would be concerned. But those taken captive were not from his son's unit. I am still awaiting details about the helicopter crash in Afghanistan, but from what I've heard so far, I don't think my boy was at risk of being involved in that. Which means that somewhere, some other families are crying tonight.
A little while ago we were outside watching for raccoons (rascals killed another hen last night), and I happened to look up at the stars. I wonder... does Soldier Boy ever see those same stars, that same moon, and pretend he's back in Texas? If he squints, or puts his hands beside his eyes (like blinders), he could block out the desert and think of pine trees and ponds, horses and cattle.
But I'm guessing that the desert is kind of hard to forget.
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