Friday, March 26, 2010

Why?


Oregon buried the 122nd soldier killed in war yesterday.

United States Army Private First Class

Erin L. McLyman

Age: 26
Died: March 13, 2010 in Balad, Iraq
Hometown: Eugene, Oregon

Unit: 296th Brigade Support Battalion, 3rd Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 2nd Infantry Division, Joint Base Lewis-McChord, Washington


It is heartbreaking to see this young life cut short. Her military base was attacked in Iraq, and she was killed. State flags flew at half mast in her honor yesterday. I did not know her or her family, but I still have this wave of sadness hit me. I can feel the sting of the loss and deep sorrow they must feel. The Governor makes a point of attending every military funeral, and he remarked that when he started doing this in 2003, he never thought he'd still be attending military funerals in 2010.


Erin McLyman's Father, saying goodbye

5 comments:

D.K. Raed said...

A real tragedy. So sad. The world is much poorer for the loss of these brave young souls.

Bush tried to make these wars not have much impact on americans at home (figuring hey if avg people don't have to deal with the consequences, they will overlook the forever aspect of war against an "ism"). So, we didn't have to pay higher taxes and since the military is all volunteer, most people weren't personally affected. But now that the war dead is mounting up, every community is feeling the loss.

May Erin's family find some solace and may we all find some peace soon.

nonnie9999 said...

over at the big orange, there's a series called igtnt (i got the news today). it lists all the soldiers killed, usually along with pictures. unfortunately, there is usually a daily post. the pictures show smiling young faces so filled with promise. it's so heartbreaking. i can't even begin to imagine what the parents are going through. it will never end for them.

lisahgolden said...

it's so sad. I cannot believe that we continue with this.

Christopher said...

Obama campaigned to redeploy 100% of US combat troops out of Iraq by August 2010.

Obama continues to say this is the plan and nothing will stop it from happening.

I hope he's correct because one thing is certain: expanding the US empire into Islamic shitholes like Afghanistan, Pakistan and Uzbekistan requires military might and it is a hell of a lot easier to redeploy troops from a staging area in nearby Iraq than from Camp Lejeune.

Mauigirl said...

So sad. She seemed as if she was so full of life, and happy, from the picture.