WP,pg1: Farewell on a Dark Tarmac: Shot warning civilians away from bomb

[DeepModem Mom]

Farewell on a Dark Tarmac
Unit Sends Comrade Home From Baghdad With Salutes and Sobs
By Amit R. Paley
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, October 18, 2006; Page A01


LeeBernard E. Chavis.
Chavis, pictured above, was killed by a sniper while on duty in Baghdad on Saturday, Oct. 14, 2006. (Photo provided by U.S. Air Force)

SATHER AIR BASE, Iraq -- His commanders gave Airman 1st Class LeeBernard E. Chavis the proud emblem of their squadron-- a blue-and-yellow flag known as a guidon -- because they knew he would rather die than lose it.

The 21-year-old (Washington, D.C.) native carried it from the unit's home base in the hills of Georgia to the sands of Kuwait and onto the streets of Baghdad, where, on Saturday, he was killed by a sniper as he tried to keep civilians away from a suspected roadside bomb.

"The colors have dropped," said Maj. Thomas Miner, commander of the 824th Security Forces Squadron, as he waited to escort Chavis's body onto a C-130 Hercules late Sunday. His bottom lip quivered and his eyes turned glassy. "But we've got to pick them back up."

More than 200 personnel from the squadron and other units stood in near-total blackness on a tarmac and saluted the man who became the unit's first combat fatality in Iraq. The guidon was solemnly carried forward, for the first time by someone else. Then a white unmarked truck pulled up and the door swung open.

"Reach for remains!" a voice barked.

The sight of the coffin, draped in a large American flag and carried toward the plane by six pallbearers, slowly distorted the faces of 18 members of Chavis's sub-unit, known as a flight, who stood in two neat rows facing the makeshift charnel....

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/10/17/AR2006101701651.html

[speedoo]

1. I FUCKING HATE BUSH AND HIS EVIL CADRE OF CHICKENHAWKS.

This has to end. Their "mission" will never be completed.

[ninkasi]

2. Another good man, another decent man

who died to fulfill Bush's warped vision of himself as a "War President". Thank you, sir. You died a far better man than the coward who sent you to die. I pray for your friends and family, because they will always have a hole in their hearts for losing you. RIP.

[Supersedeas]

13. two legacies....little justice in what we are witnessing

[kurth]

3. They ought to name a local school or library after this man

instead of some corrupt politician. A fine example of decency, and a senseless loss:

"One asked: Was it worth the life of a 21-year-old about to propose to his girlfriend? Another wondered aloud: Who among us will die next?"

[IndianaGreen]

4. Let's see, nearly 3,000 dead GIs, over 600,000 dead Iraqis

People are grieving out of camera range. Iraq has been destroyed as a society and a nation. Unlike our GIs who get to return home, Iraqis have to stay in the mess we have created in the name of "freedom and democracy."

It wasn't that long ago that the Congress rejected efforts by John Kerry and others to bring about an end to this senseless and criminal conflict. Those that did not support Kerry bear the blame for these deaths!

[baldingrockwarlord2]

5. bad deal either way, actually

The GIs who get to come home are for the most part damaged goods, be it physically mentally or emotionally. Who wins? God bless all our men and women who serve us in the military for they have no choice but to follow orders. Can't blame them, only have mercy and compassion for them when they return.

[saigon68]

6. And yet they keep enlisting in droves like sheep to prove a f macho point

And by proxy aid DRAFT DODGERS cheney and chimpanzee in their evil path to remake the world in the Hateful religious NEOCON image

(shakes head in disbelief)

[acmavm]

7. They keep lowering the standards for enlistment, that's how they

are getting new cannon fodder.

They are not getting the best we've got anymore. They're getting the ones that have nothing else and couldn't make it without laxer standards.

Not good.

[saigon68]

9. Its called picking the low hanging fruit

[lonestarnot]

10. All due to inculcation of a war culture. What are the subtle daily

suggestions that create this culture? I think it deserves a look.

[gratuitous]

12. Yep

And when I read Maj. Miner's comment that the colors have fallen, and they need to pick them up, the first question that pops into my head is, "Why?"

[NOLADEM]

8. I read this as FALWELL on a tarmac

And for the life of me, I could not understand what the hell they meant.

[yellerpup]

11. Me, too.

I was hoping for Falwell to be close enough to be nuked...then I read yet another story of yet another young American hero who died before his time. Stop the war. Bring them home.

[Ex Lion Tamer]

14. Bless the squadron commander for allowing the reporter to observe.

And, by the way, FUCK GEORGE BUSH!!!

[LonelyLRLiberal]

15. We need to waterboard Bush, Cheney & Rumsfeld,

and make them confess to their murders and treason.

[Fierce]

16. "The colors have dropped, but we've got to pick them back up."

Hey, major, it's not a game. It's not a goddamn game.