This morning I shot photos & video at the funeral of a 21 year old Marine killed in Afghanistan

[Amerigo Vespucci]

I got the call a couple of days ago asking if I'd be available this morning to do this.

Want to see the war? Want to know what war looks like? Go to the funeral of a man or woman killed while fighting that war and look into the eyes of their friends and surviving family members.

This man graduated High School in 2008. Several of his close friends were there to deliver eulogies. Most of them, at one point or another, cried.

One of them, in his final words, said "You're not gone, bro, You've just gone ahead of me. I'll see you soon. Semper Fi."

Then I was the one crying.

I can't post any of the photos here, out of respect for the family, but my pastor is an ex-Marine and the homily was especially moving.

"Good" people and "bad" people die every day...it's been that way since the world began.

But this man...his mom put together a 15-minute slideshow with music of his life, and this man was a GOOD man. This man was LOVED, and he gave love in return...you can see it in the photos, everyone is hugging or laughing like crazy while they hold each other in fake headlocks. He was pretty skilled in martial arts...some of the still photos morphed into video clips and yes, he could leap in the air, spin in a 360 degree circle, and land on his feet with ease.

So what broke my heart as I spend 90-plus minutes "on the job" was that the loss of this good man caused so much pain in so many good people.

As I was taking down my equipment, one of his friends who delivered a eulogy looked up and we smiled at each other. I walked over and shook his hands and looked him straight in the eye and said "I enjoyed what you had to say. Your friend would be very proud of you." He paused for a minute, smiled, nodded, and said "Yes...I know."

This is what war looks like.

I looked at the flag draped over his coffin as I snapped the photos. I realized that this man made the greatest sacrifice, that with honor and nobility he served his country and died for it. He knew that was a possibility when he signed up for service. He put everything on the line for his country and was taken within a heartbeat of reaching legal drinking age.

War is not Barack Obama, war is not CNN or MSNBC or Fox News.

War is not a Bob Dylan song, War is not an Oliver Stone movie, War is not a video game.

War is the people who were in that church, the people who were smiling and crying and holding each other as they viewed still images of a man who, as his friend said, has "gone ahead of them."

War is the tear rolling down the cheek of the mother who carried that soldier in her womb, who held him in a blanket in some hospital and laughed with joy at his first words and first steps and spent countless hours daydreaming about how she'd spoil her grandchildren rotten, no matter how much their mom and dad protested.

There won't be any sons or daughters...this man will live on in the hearts and minds of the people who were there today, the people who couldn't make it, and maybe...just maybe...one or two people who read what I've written here.

Thanks for your time.

Mike, A.K.A. "A.V."

:patriot:

[Drale]

1. I don't know if its unfortunate or not

but it seems that more good people die young than evil people.

[reggie the dog]

2. sad sad story

[howaboutme]

3. Have you ever seen a bankster serve......

anyone but their own greedy clan? They are a club unto their own. We average schmucks are the saps and their primary donors.

These bastards encourage war, they profit from war, but they never participate. The real high volume media never covers them either. They are exempted, special and we are disposable.

War from their perspective is intended to be about the sacrifice for average Americans. The financial elitists who live in NYC upper east side in their carriage houses that cost many millions always benefit.

One outrageous example are the "Housewives of Wall Street"....such as Christy Mack and Susan Karches who unlike 99.9999% of average Americans have access to our tax money through TALF. They have connections that allows them to own our government and the Federal Reserve. They get rich just by waking up in the morning while we pay and sacrifice for them. Bernie Sanders asked Bernanke how does he sign up for TALF? He didn't get an answer.

We need to purge the USA of this elitist mindset and caste, as well as the common denominator that creates this unfair advantage for a few. The French did it.

http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/the-real-housewives-of-wall-street-look-whos-cashing-in-on-the-bailout-20110411

[TuxedoKat]

4. What a sad post

Thanks for sharing it. I'm going to have my two daughters read it, ages 14 and 9.

[Citizen Worker]

5. A.V., I think I heard your message. No doubt the young man whose funeral you agreed to film was a

fine young man, his life cut short by war, a war he did not choose nor was even asked if he agreed to fight. But he's dead as are countless Afghanis and Iraqis, Pakistanis and Somalis and... The age old problem is the war monster.

The war monster periodically awakens with a roar demanding to be fed. We dutifully, under the rubric of patriotism, democracy or liberty, heed the call and shovel loads of human flesh and treasure into the giant maw of the monster hoping to sate its appetite, but the appetite is insatiable so we keep shoveling in the hope that the monster will once again slumber.

I came to the realization long ago that grief and sorrow know no international borders or language. Tears of grief and loss are universal, no words need be spoken. It is all the same, death. The young marine didn't die defending the nation from aggression, he died in the service of capitalism and profits.

On the other side of the world countless Afghan families are remembering the same things as the dead marine's family remembered and they're crying real tears just the same as here.

War is not the answer, quit feeding the beast!