We all have our reasons for how we vote.I'm voting because of my son.

[underpants]

Oct 8, 2006


Editor, Times-Dispatch: We all have our reasons for how we vote. I'm voting because of my son.

My son and his platoon led the initial charge across the Kuwaiti border. They were at times as much as 30 kilometers ahead of the tank column. The armor on his Humvee consisted of a sandbag in the floorboard.

While we celebrated St. Patrick's Day with green beer, my son tore through the suffocating desert down to one bottle of water and one MRE a day.

We reveled as shock and awe lit up Baghdad, while on its outskirts a few days later my son ran out of ammo during a deadly ambush on a must-hold highway junction.

All but one general towed the Republican Party line as witnesses swore under God before Congress we had enough soldiers and they had everything they would ever need. Explain that to my son's best friend who took a bullet in his back while deperately administering CPR to his dying first sergeant after they both gave up their kevlar vests to privates since there weren't enough to go around.

My son's training helped keep him alive, that and the fact the Iraqis initially lacked marksmanship and his guardian angel stood firmly on his shoulder when an IED exploded a mere foot from his vehicle. Unfortunately, the opposition of late is very different, having greatly improved their accuracy.

From the beginning there were never enough boots on the ground to do the job right. The Iraq war has been a $300-billion fiasco and it's time for new approaches in Washington. Because of my son I hope Jim Webb, the father of another son serving in Iraq, is elected to the U.S. Senate. Donna Shell. richmond.

http://www.timesdispatch.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=RTD%2FMGArticle%2FRTD_BasicArticle&%09s=1045855935005&c=MGArticle&cid=1149191016704&path=%21editorials%21letters

[bigscott]

1. God Bless

Donna Shell and her son - and all the other sons and daughters fighting for *'s lie

[izzie]

2. Yes we do have our reasons. Sometimes it is not the truth

I think we forget that on this side. People vote for what they think not always for the good of the country or for truth. It is seen in their eyes.