From the New York Times:
Requiem for the Last American Soldier to Die in Iraq
By Brian Turner
At some point in the future, soldiers will pack up their rucks, equipment will be loaded into huge shipping containers, C-130s will rise wheels-up off the tarmac, and Navy transport ships will cross the high seas to return home once again. At some point — the timing of which I don’t have the slightest guess at — the war in Iraq will end. And I’ve been thinking about this a lot lately — I’ve been thinking about the last American soldier to die in Iraq.
....
Who can say where that last soldier is now, at this very moment? Kettlemen City. Turlock. Wichita. Fredricksburg. Omaha. Duluth. She may be in the truck idling beside us in traffic as we wait for the light to turn green. He may be ordering a slice of key lime pie at Denny’s, sitting at a booth with his friends after bowling all night. What name waits to be etched on a stone not yet erected in America? Somewhere out in the vast stretches of our country, somewhere out in Whitman’s America, out among the wide expanse of grasses, somewhere here among us the last soldier may lie dreaming in bed before the dawn as the sun sets over Iraq.
I often think about this, too. I think about the numbers of wounded and dead, "Coalition" and Iraqi, the numbers driven from their homes, taking their places as mostly unwanted refugees. How many more before the madness comes to an end?
What will the name be? Anthony. Lynette. Fernando. Paula. Joshua. Letitia. Roger… Who will carve it in stone and who will leave flowers there as the years pass by? Who will remember this soldier and what will those memories be? Does he have brothers and sisters? Will his father sink into the grass in the backyard when he is told the news? Will his mother stare into the street with eyes gone hollow and vacant, the cars passing each day with their polished enamel reflecting the sunlight? What will the officer say when he knocks on that door?
Brian Turner has served in Iraq. He has learned from his time spent there.
When will the rest of us ever learn? When will we ever learn?
Mimi, I just heard yesterday that one of the kids I bapized years ago has finally gotten home from Iraq. Give thanks that they do come home. He has signed up for another tour of duty, but he does not have to go back to Iraq--at least that is what they say.
ReplyDeleteMuthah+, we have had three of our young church members return safely. I know of only one who has signed up for another tour, and he has been told that he will, very likely, have to return to Iraq.
ReplyDeleteI hope what they told the young man that you baptized is the reality.
What was the name of the last man, woman or child who died in Saddam Hussein's torture chambers? What was the name of the last man, woman or chlid to die at Auschwitz or Bergen-Belsen? Freedom isn't free....never has been...never will be.
ReplyDeleteBTDT, how would you like to be "free" in Iraq today? I hear it's a lovely place. You should schedule a visit on your next tourist venture.
ReplyDeleteI'm not interested in visiting Iraq...anytime under any circumstances. Apparently you don't believe that the people of Iraq are free from a vicious, murderous tyrant. They actually let girls go to school there now. You may have also noticed that significant gains have been made in recent months re violence....or maybe not. It's probaly more self satisfying to cluck-cluck over Bush the warmonger.
ReplyDeleteBeentheredone that- not so many kids are going to school in Iraq today. Not safe due to sectarian violence.
ReplyDeleteAnd while I can not say anything other than the fact that Saddam was an evil despot and tortured and killed many... it was much safer in general.
Iraq was a very secular country and women had many more rights than in other places in the Middle East.
So I think we just need to think about why we are there and how many dead Americans we need to count and at what financial cost.
My nephew is there on his second tour. I pray for his safety daily.
Great post Grandmere.
BTDT, have you served in Iraq?
ReplyDeleteFran is right. Girls were going to school in Iraq before we invaded. As she says, more girls and boys were going to school during Saddam's time than now. The "girls" were even allowed to attend universities and become teachers, doctors, lawyers, scientists, and engineers.
It's true that Saddam was a cruel despot and did great harm to many, but I ask you how the Iraqis are now better off now? So many dead, so many wounded, millions of refugees within Iraq and gone to other countries, where they're not really wanted, only tolerated.
We're stuck there in a war seemingly without end, costing us hundreds of billions of dollars, and dead and wounded in the thousands, to what purpose?
It doesn't satisfy me at all to cluck-cluck at Bush, but he's responsible for the nightmare. The buck stops with him.
Fran, I will pray for your nephew that he comes to no harm and returns home safely.
Very well said. So appropriate for All Souls...
ReplyDeleteMissy! It's great to hear from you. I hope you and your children are well.
ReplyDeleteI thought the post suitable for All Souls' Day, too.
God bless you and your family, my friend.