US father in 'Private Ryan' plea as son is killed in Iraq

[kskiska]

He survived one of America's most infamous military nightmares that became the basis of the film Black Hawk Down. He went on to beat a more personal battle, this time with cancer.

But Aaron Weaver's life finally ended in tragedy last week when the 32-year-old US soldier died in a helicopter - another Black Hawk - shot down by a rocket attack near Falluja by Iraqi resistance fighters.

In a grim reminder of another movie, the Second World War epic, Saving Private Ryan, Weaver's family are now trying to save his two brothers from a similar fate and are asking the military to change the men's deployment away from the frontlines. One brother, Ryan, 30, is a helicopter pilot in Baghdad and the other, Steve, 39, is also a pilot, weeks away from being posted to Afghanistan.

(snip)

'We're not trying to get the other two out of the service. We're just trying to get them from suffering the same fate,' said Mike Weaver, the men's father, who has asked the Pentagon to make the deployment shift.

Army regulations allow for deployments to be changed for emergency reasons, such as bereavement or illness. A military spokesman said the situation would be looked at, but pointed out that the two surviving brothers might not want to be redeployed. Any formal request to change their mission would also have to come from the soldiers themselves.

more…
http://www.guardian.co.uk/Iraq/Story/0,2763,1120541,00.html

[jonoboy]

1. this is just so sad. Someone has to pay !!

[0007]

2. Who would you suggest must pay?

[pansypoo53219]

4. BUSH

and he must pay dearly for the blod he has shed needlessly.

[moof]

5. Start with the head Traitor & then work on down

n/t

[wtmusic]

3. Very sad

and somewhat weird. Almost as if the father just realized that war is a two-way street--that Americans are being killed too.

By pulling his other sons out of a dangerous situation, whose son/daughter is he pulling in?

[SHRED]

6. Excellent

Good points!

[Snazzy]

7. 2 movies

But maybe the Guardian is onto something in an American lowest common denominator way.

Is that the best way to make "real" Iraq, both to the grieving family and the public at large--find movie hooks to describe the conflict?

Blackhawk Down becomes Saving Private Ryan?

I'm disgusted and appalled by that maybe being true. Otherwise I might have some further intelligent commentary to add or at least something witty.

[Guaranteed]

8. I think you're right.

But, if that's what it takes...