Now We're Killing Grandmothers. (Mysterious Death of Army Major)

[RamboLiberal]

http://welcome-to-pottersville.blogspot.com/2006/12/now-were-killing-grandmothers.html

Every now and then I scan the names of the casualties in Iraq (102 this month alone, with seven being killed on just Christmas) on icasualties.org because I feel in some indefinable way that I owe it to them to commit their names to at least brief memory. And every now and then a name will come up that, when combined with a certain age, will arrest my attention.

This time, it was 47 year-old Gloria Davis, a nineteen-year Army major who was killed on December 12th of this year of a gunshot wound. But here's the kicker: She was found dead in a non-combat-related shooting.

Hm.

And visions of Pat Tillman danced through my head.

You can read the St. Louis Dispatch story here but of course you won't get the irony, the commentary that we bloggers are allowed. Small town newspapers steer as clear from gonzo journalism as David Dukes does from Watts.

The fact that a mother and grandmother who'd recorded a DVD of herself reading Sesame Street to her six year-old grandchild would be found shot to death is disturbing enough. But how does one get killed by a bullet only to be "found" later? If it was an accident involving another person, she wouldn't have been "found." It would've been reported and, we can only assume, the details of the avoidable accident (and all gun-related accidents are avoidable) would've been swiftly and accurately relayed to the grieving family.

http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/news/stories.nsf/stlouiscitycounty/story/818F2ACA674E997286257247000D25DC?OpenDocument

<snip>

But her last phone call came two days before she was found dead of a gunshot wound, Thomas said.

The Department of Defense has labeled Davis' death Dec. 12 a "non-combat related incident" and has said her death is under investigation.

Thomas, of Lorton, Va., said her family has been given few details.

Davis, an 18-year U.S. Army veteran, was deployed to Iraq in September. A Defense Department release said she was assigned to the Defense Security Assistance Agency in Washington.

When Thomas last spoke with her mother, "she was just as happy as she could be," she said. "She loved the Army."

[frogcycle]

1. I review several such lists regularly

and notice such "mysterious" deaths every now and then. Of course crime happens, and with 140,000 people in stressful situations, it is not surprising that every now and then some 20-something grunt offs another. This one caught my eye too, though. There is obviously a story, and it may never come out.

FWIW, I assemble info from a couple of different sites into one of my own. Like you, I feel compelled to pay some attention to these people who are being killed on our behalf.

feel free to take a look - I update pretty frequently. Its up to 107 now for December, likely to exceed October and become the third worst month yet.

Another observation, and some pure speculation on my part: there seem to be more multiple-death IED incidents the past couple of months. Ones where 3, 4 or 5 occupants are all killed in one incident. I just wonder if the bad guys are building bigger, better bombs lately. Big enough to make the armor moot.

It seems to me our guys should never venture out except in APC. Treat it like the war zone it really is.

My tribute site

[razors edge]

2. FUBAR n/t