Got a call at 3am this morning from my sister telling me that our cousin had been killed in Iraq late Wednesday/yesterday. He was 21 and this was his second tour of duty over there.

I don't care whether you think we should be there or not, just make sure to support anyone you know in the armed forces because they're the reason that we all had the opportunity to go to college.

The last time I saw him was just after Christmas right before he went back... I regret not having told him that he was one of my biggest heroes.

7/28/2006 1:05:53 PM

Quote :

"they're the reason that we all had the opportunity to go to college."

What?

7/28/2006 1:07:27 PM

We live in a free country where education is valued and many of us are given the opportunity to grow up in good communities with public education and have the opportunity to apply to college, get in, attend and sleep in peace each night.

7/28/2006 1:09:27 PM

I'm sorry. That's really sad.

7/28/2006 1:10:47 PM

Well, I guess some of us could have been drafted instead of going to college?

That said, it's very sad that all of the boys are doing a noble thing by serving their county and then going over there to die for what I feel is a useless cause.

7/28/2006 1:11:08 PM

if i ever see poopface again i'll thank him

7/28/2006 1:11:37 PM

^ I don't know him but I hope that he stays safe.

7/28/2006 1:33:47 PM

^he's back from iraq...safe n sound

7/28/2006 1:35:09 PM

good to hear... i hope he doesn't have to go back!

7/28/2006 1:42:30 PM

Why? Then someone else might not have the opportunity to go to college.

7/28/2006 1:49:57 PM

obligatory IT WAS HIS CHOICE TO SIGN UP AND DIE post

7/28/2006 1:50:59 PM

I don't know any soldiers.

7/28/2006 1:51:53 PM

some of you are just heartless and I hope one day maybe you'll understand and know better than to say thing like that

7/28/2006 1:57:43 PM

Sorry for your loss, my prayers are with your family



ET3 Faircloth, USN
NPTU Charleston

7/28/2006 1:58:30 PM

What is there to understand?

7/28/2006 1:59:00 PM

My sister may be deployed by the end of the year. She's coming up here for a weekend in August and it'll be great to spend time with her. I'm hoping she doesn't go to a really dangerous area. She's Army National Guard, Military Police.

7/28/2006 2:02:00 PM

Sorry for your lose

7/28/2006 2:26:56 PM

7/28/2006 2:37:10 PM

2500+ and counting


thanks, Mr. Bush

7/28/2006 2:44:40 PM

Quote :

"That said, it's very sad that all of the boys are doing a noble thing by serving their county and then going over there to die for what I feel is a useless cause."

You may feel like it is a useless cause, and it may very well be. It's not a totally cut-and-dried situation, though I feel like our presence isn't really helping much there.

But that doesn't stop the fact that our country has armed forces in Iraq, and not many days pass that we don't lose some of our people there. Sure, enlisting in the armed forces can be a crapshoot as far as risk to your life, but for a lot of the troops, enlisting has been their path to a fruitful, productive, and well-disciplined life. And they do serve a great purpose in our country and our society.

We do have it good here. We do get to go to college and actively participate in a life that is, for the most part, our choosing. It's a luxury few have around the world.

You don't think that our military helps to guarantee these freedoms? If we had no military, we could easily be taken by other countries not necessarily to be assimilated into a communist empire (as was thought during the cold war years) or to squash us as infidels...but for means of economic advancement. China could very well pose this kind of threat. Scary, huh?

So I'm willing to extend my thanks to our folks in the military. They are real people too. They don't have a whole lot of choice right now in what they're assigned to do; that's from the higher-ups. But they are an important part of our society and trying to do their job as best they can...and unfortunately catching a lot of flak for it.

7/28/2006 2:51:11 PM

Soap Box

7/28/2006 2:55:41 PM

I had dinner with a former soldier last night who'd just been released after 15 months on tour.
He said that things aren't as bad there as you might think, and that the civilians there are really good people. He'd been in the 1st Gulf war as well as Vietnam (needless to say he was an officer now) and he just retired.

He said that there is nothing more majestic than an Arab trying to do well for himself, and nothing more rat-like and evil than an Arab on a quest to cause harm.

But he also said that Iraq is a fantastic country that will be 1st world in the some-what near future, as soon as they get out all the bottled up rage from being in an oppressive regime.

Oh, and sorry for your loss...

7/28/2006 2:58:32 PM

and i have no doubt that your officer buddy gives hefty sums to the Bush camp

7/28/2006 3:03:02 PM

And?

His opinion is less valid than yours? Even though he spent time there with the civilians and you went to a keg party and blazed up and think your opinion is better?

[Edited on July 28, 2006 at 3:04 PM. Reason : ?]

7/28/2006 3:03:57 PM

i just fucking hate Republicans, that's all

7/28/2006 3:07:11 PM

I thanked one on my flight coming back from arizona

7/28/2006 3:09:48 PM

Wow, that's deep man. Really deep.

7/28/2006 3:09:48 PM

That sucks, sorry for your loss.

SPC Denton, WIARNG
232nd MICO/32nd HSB

7/28/2006 3:13:00 PM

last time i checked nothing that is being done over there is keeping my freedom, that wasnt in danger to begin with

it is a fucking stupid war and we shouldnt be over there

sorry for your loss but he signed up, jsut a shame our president and govt feel the need to waste american lives for fucking pointless wars

7/28/2006 3:20:45 PM

Quote :

"I regret not having told him that he was one of my biggest heroes. "

my question is: what did he do that was heroic? did he help capture Saddam? did he blow up al-Zarqawi?

7/28/2006 3:21:21 PM

Quote :

"But he also said that Iraq is a fantastic country that will be 1st world in the some-what near future, as soon as they get out all the bottled up rage from being in an oppressive regime."

AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHHAHAHAHAHAHAAAAAAAAAAA

7/28/2006 3:23:47 PM

^^ Stop being petty.

It doesn't take a huge world changing act to be a hero to someone.

[Edited on July 28, 2006 at 3:24 PM. Reason : ed]

7/28/2006 3:24:36 PM

^^ that was the red flag that went up leading me to believe he was a ultra Republican

^ twasn't talking to you, homie. i want to hear it from the horse's mouth

[Edited on July 28, 2006 at 3:25 PM. Reason : ,]

7/28/2006 3:25:12 PM

jon, what was your impression after spending time there?

7/28/2006 3:26:03 PM

If you don't think Iraq has potential for greatness, you know nothing about the country. It has a first-rate education system. The problems you see right now are the result of an oppressive regime. The two classes of muslims there have always had issues with one another but they've been forced to get along under penalty of torture and death. Now they're letting out the aggression that has bottled up all that time.


Its like keeping two pit-bulls trained to fight facing each other on chains for a while and then letting them go.

7/28/2006 3:28:16 PM

i read your analogy aloud in my best Dubya voice


then i LOL'ed

7/28/2006 3:31:48 PM

Hey good, you got something out of my post. I on the other hand, get nothing from yours.

7/28/2006 3:33:14 PM

Your view of the situation in Iraq is so cute I just want to tie a bow on it and put it in my pocket.

7/28/2006 3:33:24 PM

Quote :

"last time i checked nothing that is being done over there is keeping my freedom, that wasnt in danger to begin with it is a fucking stupid war and we shouldnt be over there"

7/28/2006 3:33:43 PM

there is a lot of stupid in this thread.

7/28/2006 3:33:45 PM

sounds to me like ncstatetke thinks he can do a better job, lets send him over there to get his ass blown up and bring our true heros home!

7/28/2006 3:36:21 PM

I think, it sucks because he had the opportunity to go gadzooks with a m16a2 and wipe out a village or 2.

7/28/2006 3:37:23 PM

religious wars are cute as shit.

7/28/2006 3:39:02 PM

my ass is staying over here, thanks.

i'm not risking my life for somebody I've never met. i'd take a bullet for any of my hundreds of friends, but I'm not taking one for any Habeebs and especially not for George motherfucking Bush

7/28/2006 3:39:07 PM

I'm not asking you to go over there and serve. I'm just asking why you can't stand the fact that someone's opinion is different than yours. Especially someone with a more informed opinion than CNN cares to show you. I thought it was interesting talking to him because his experiences over there hold more merit than lumping together the entire country as a civil war cesspool like what's done currently.

But had the man been a liberal, like you, would you have been more inclined to think his opinion represented the truth? If so, ask some soldiers as they come back. Find out who's liberal and then cross-reference it.

7/28/2006 3:42:36 PM

alright man i agree that bush is an idiot but any loss of american life is saddening, have some respect for your fellow countrymen who are doing what they believe to be right, because i assure you they are there because they believe that you are entitled to have your opinion however assholeish it may be

7/28/2006 3:42:40 PM

many of my friends and brothers are either serving right now or are back between tours

i know what the hell is going on over there

and I also know that most of them (and their companies) hate Dubya and wish they had never joined in the first place

7/28/2006 3:44:51 PM

Do me a favor and give me a count. Ask your friends and "brothers" that are serving right now, next time you talk to them, of course

And give me an honest count of how many of they answer these questions
1) Do you wish you had never joined the military?
2) Do you think Iraq is in complete civil war right now?

And don't try to push them one way of the other. I'd like to hear the answer.

7/28/2006 3:47:49 PM

how anyone can not at least respect the dead, I can't see.

my condolences with any who have lost someone in this or any war.

Midshipman 2/C Riley, USNR
NROTC NCSU

7/28/2006 3:47:51 PM

Do you respect Hitler, how about Ghengis Kahn, or maybe Stalin?

7/28/2006 3:50:35 PM