The closest the Iraq war has come yet to affecting me directly.

[NightTrain]

Excerpted from today's Journal Inquirer (Manchester, CT):

Robert William Hoyt, 21, beloved son, brother, grandson, nephew, friend, warrior, combat veteran, and hero, died Saturday, December 11, when an improvised explosive device detonated near his HMMWV while conducting convoy operations. Hoyt was assigned to the Army's National Guard's C Company, 1st Battalion 102nd Infantry, Bristol, Connecticut.

Robert Hoyt was born in Manchester. He grew up in Mansfield, was a 2001 graduate of E.O. Smith High School, and enlisted enlisted in the Connecticut National Guard in 2002.

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I, too, grew up in Mansfield and attended E.O. Smith. Though I never knew young Mr. Hoyt or his family, it still broke my heart to read that obit. This is the closest yet that the Iraq war has come to affecting me directly.

Tomorrow night, I'll be hosting my college radio show, THE SOUL EXPRESS, on WHUS, the radio station at UConn. It's my annual holiday special. I plan to dedicate it to the memory of Robert William Hoyt.

How many more will it take, Mr. Bush, before your bloodlust is satisfied? :cry:

[Liberty Belle]

1. I know how you feel.

The very first death in this war was a young man who had graduated from my children's high school. I never knew him or the family, but couldn't help feeling one of those "there but for the grace of God go I" moments as I saw his grieving family on the news.

[Liberty Belle]

2. I know how you feel.

The very first death in this war was a young man who had graduated from my children's high school. I never knew him or the family, but couldn't help feeling one of those "there but for the grace of God go I" moments as I saw his grieving family on the news.

[riverwalker]

3. brother, brother

there's too many of you dying
brother, brother, brother
far too many mothers crying


(Marvin Gaye, paraphrased due to my memory)