Soldier dies hours after his first child is born

[civildisoBDence]

Damn, just damn. A young man from my hometown was killed in Iraq this week just hours after his son was born in Tennessee.

Josh Reeves was the father; Joshua Jackson Reeves is the son he'll never meet.

Here's the story

The soldier's father, the child's grandfather, wrote a heartfelt letter to President Bush pleading with the Commander in Chief not to leave Iraq until the mission is completed!

I have nothing but respect for the soldier and nothing but sympathy for his grieving father. I certainly take a different lesson from this tragedy than his father; but I'm reminded that our common humanity is so much more important than political differences. Who can blame grandpa for wanting to think his son died for something worthwhile?

This war is anything but worthwhile. For tonight, at least, I'm willing to forget that.

Damn. Just damn.

Newsprism

[slampoet]

1. Unfortunately in the statistics the GOP uses, that counts as "Breaking Even"

[civildisoBDence]

6. Sad but true n/t

[bdamomma]

2. terrible and also terrible for the living who are away from their

children, when will this end?? shameful, and immoral.

[mitchum]

3. The father is pathological in his grief and his refusal to accept that his son died for nothing..

so pathological that he insists that other men's sons continue to die.

[civildisoBDence]

5. May you never walk in his shoes n/t

[mitchum]

7. And just what did I say that was not "understanding"?

I do feel for the man in his awful grief.
Pity that he seems so willing to share those shoes.

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

8. Pathology implies disease.

Disease implies deserving of sympathy.

[mitchum]

10. See post 7

[civildisoBDence]

12. May you never walk in his shoes, either n/t

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

13. May I never get that blood on my hands.

[candymarl]

4. I'm sorry to hear that

Hopefully Mom and Grandpa et. al. can fill in the blanks for him. I understand the need to believe there's a just reason for his death. If that's what his family needs, let 'em have it. Just heartbreaking.

[dbt]

9. SOMEBODY needs to burn in hell for this.

Provided that

A: There IS a hell

B: There IS such a thing as Justice anymore

[THUNDER HANDS]

11. in all reality

I'm sure the father doesn't even know what the "mission" is. None of us do.

Just say we won and bring them home.

[civildisoBDence]

14. Amen. I think the father has been fooled.

The mission has changed over and over again.

If only Bush had learned the Powell Doctrine: start with a clear and practical mission, use overwhelming force, and have an exit strategy. Strike three, DUHbya, you're out.

[mitchum]

16. The poor man has been fooled...just as his late son was fooled...

"Reeves, who originally joined the Army to fly helicopters, was an infantryman assigned to 2nd Battalion, 16th Infantry Regiment, 4th Infantry Brigade Combat Team, 1st Infantry Division"

[civildisoBDence]

17. That's what makes me crazy with anger, Mitchum

I teach kids about his age--his brother is a student at the college where I teach.

Bush and the Bush-hogs depend on young people, poor people, naive people, and ignorant people to die for their damn egos and bank accounts.

The whole idea of preemptive war, and of war for oil, is evil.

[mitchum]

20. It is indeed evil...

and evil is not a term that I throw around lightly.
This is not only preemptive war and war for oil, but also a war engineered to shift the national treasury into private hands. The inevitable result will be the end of the Republic. And they know that. Yes, they are evil.

[Marrah_G]

15. That scares the hell out of me too

I feel so badly for that family. Having something so wonderful forever associated with something so horrible.

My brothers son was born on July 12th. Hopefully he will return from Iraq around Thanksgiving and meet his namesake for the first time. I couldn't imagine my family going through what that family has.

[Imagevision]

18. Would any of you want to have your kid die for a no reason war?

In response to Reeves' death, his father, James Reeves, doesn't want to pull U.S. forces out of Iraq until they finish their mission.

"The lives of our young men will be wasted if we leave before the mission is complete." or, who wants to be the last soldier killed in a war that was ill conceived to begin with.
How many more "Josh Reeves" must be sacrificed?

[civildisoBDence]

19. I can't imagine losing a child like that

Cindy Sheehan certainly earned the right to hound Bush.

Two of my second cousins are Marines. My uncle (their grandfather) begged them not to go, but they feel it's their duty. The USMC makes sure they're not both in theatre at the same time...but that's little comfort for any of us.

Every time another soldier dies, and we're up to 3801 now, it effects at least three generations of that family.

Mission Accomplished, my ass...unless the mission was to let Lil Bush land a plane on a damn aircraft carrier. Too bad he didn't have the guts to do that when he had the chance to do it for real, in Vietnam.