No more letters from Lt. Avery. The death of a penpal hits home.

[Beausoir]

They wrote to him about their families, their pets, their favorite sports, and the "mystery readers" and "estimation jars" in their class at Chanhassen Elementary School.
He wrote them back that he was stationed in Mahmadiya, south of Baghdad. There was a school in the area he patrolled, he said; it had 400 students, no glass in the windows, no bathrooms and no running water. He thanked them for writing him, and wished them a happy Christmas.

On Wednesday, First Lt. Garrison Avery, 23, a Tennessean originally from Lincoln, Neb., and a budding pen pal of Jane Johnson's 27 fourth-graders, was killed, probably by a roadside mine. The school got the news the next day. As many as 10 kids in the class broke down and cried.

http://www.startribune.com/462/story/225632.html

I just don't know how I would feel if my child was in this class. Chalk up another "victory" for Bush.

[Libby2]

1. That is so sad.

May he rest in peace.

[acmavm]

2. 23 and dead for no good reason. Murdered actually, because the reason

he was there was to help hijack the assets on a country, subjugate it's people to either a corrupt Shi'ite theocracy or a even more corrupt American-controlled whatever you want to call it, and protect and defend one delusional idiot's delusions of bravado and of grandeur about himself.

These kids have very good reason to cry. And even more reason to be very very afraid.

[Botany]

3. Blessings and prayers on his soul and for his family & friends

First Lt. Garrison Avery :patriot:

How many more George, how many?

Iraq= a war that was wanted and started as a "response" to
an act of terrorism that that country had nothing to do with
to look for weapons that the leadership of this country knew
were not there.

I just read the whole article and felt like I was going to break down
and sob for people I never knew. What a waste and what an awful
lesson for those kids.

:cry:

This article should be sent to every man and women in Congress.
I just sent it to my Rep., Deb. Pryce (R) Ohio

This is no longer about parties or politics ..... this damn war has to
be stopped.

[kenny blankenship]

4. this is really terrible-the whole thing

forcing a whole classroom of kids to become attached to a man who may very well die violently under (what is to the kids) totally inexplicable (and thus "unfair") circumstances, is a form of child abuse.
A very dark and indelible shadow has been cast over their lives at too young an age--all because some jerk thought it would be "patriotic" no doubt to enlist the kids in supporting the troops.

[HereSince1628]

6. Yeah, most Americans shrug their shoulders about American dead

The dead are just numbers. 4 today, 23 this week, 87 last month, 225? since the start of the war.

You can bet that classroom of kids understands something about the pain that hides behind those statistics. And you are right. That ain't fair.

Why should the kids be burdened when most of the adults don't give a shit?

[Sydnie]

8. Because just maybe, the adults in their life will see things anew

through their child's eyes. Perhaps the kids will teach the adults something this time. Bring it all back around full circle.

Death is part of war. Perhaps through the children, the adults will see how unnecessary it all really is.

[HereSince1628]

9. Maybe.

It would really be something if Americans came to understand in their hearts that war is about death.

But then knowing that would make imperial policy SO difficult that a government would control the news and hide its soldier's deaths from the public.

[Sydnie]

11. they already are - they are afraid of a number on a shirt

they won't let us see pictures of the caskets, they only allow pictures of the dead on local tv newscasts (probably provided by the families, not the government). They alrady hide it from us. They keep it in numbers and low numbers at that.

It becomes a "glorious sacrifice" not a senseless death when they tell it. A noble cause, indeed.

[chastitybeaverhausen]

12. As someone who was in elementary school in the 60's...

I grew up in a family of Democrats where we watched the news on TV each night. I saw war and death and destruction from Vietnam every evening, usually via Walter Cronkite. These kids today are insulated from the realities of war. Fuckhead doesn't allow the dead bodies to be shown. I grew up with a clear understanding that war is not "pretend", it is real and people suffer and die. I don't see it as a bad thing for children to grasp the reality of war. They may face difficult choices in their future and they are entitled to have a clear, tangible picture of what war really is, not some video game fantasy.

[Beausoir]

13. Interesting perspective. I never thought about my own childhood..

I grew up with the Viet Nam body count on the TV over dinner every night.

Very interesting.

[Missy Vixen]

14. Not such a sanitized war

>I grew up with the Viet Nam body count on the TV over dinner every night.<

I did, too. I also had a POW/MIA bracelet (that I begged my parents for.) My guy never came back.

It made an indelible impression on me.

Julie

[Beausoir]

15. Hugs to you, Julie. n/t

[Missy Vixen]

18. A hug for you, too, Beausoir. n/t

[kineneb]

16. me, too

And I will forever remember the horror and pain...the maimed and the bodycounts...the "light at the end of the tunnel" that wasn't...

Those children have learned a terrible but real lesson: war kills. It is not a game, and there are no winners, just losers: the dead and those left behind to mourn.

[SoCalDem]

17. Yep.. The dinner-time-dead was a regular part of the day

and the film of the protests..and the caskets arriving back to the US..

But that was when we still had a media.

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

5. but perhaps it is a good lesson for them

they understand the cost of war, that it isn't just a video game, that people are really killed, and the pain of their death radiates out to friends, family, and all who know them. Americans tend to be insulated from death and even the unpleasant-especially in regards to this war. This was a sad wake up call, but one that make make each one of these children question the validity of war.

[GreenPartyVoter]

10. I agree. Sad as it is perhaps none of the kids in that class will share

fate of their penpal. I hope wherever he is now he is at peace.

[Beausoir]

7. I don't know how to feel about it.

On one hand, I think it is sickening that those little children had this horrible experience forced upon them. They are just babies and they will carry this with them.

On the other hand, I do agree that it may help them in the future to be wary of war.

Perhaps if Bush had actually experienced something like this as a child, his fate as a blood-thristy warmongering coward could have been altered. Think how much better this world would have been.

[Peter Frank]

19. R.I.P. First Lt. Garrison Avery...

It's clear that you served your nation well.

Sorry that your nation's leaders don't share your values