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| I don't understand. I can't feel my legs. I remember being in the convoy outside Tikrit. I remember the explosion. Why am I thinking about football? I remember playing in High School last year and how proud we all were winning the division title. Is that gas I smell? I wonder what Sally is doing right now. We've been on the move too much to get many letters. She said she would wait. I hear the weapon fire all around. Everything seems so dark. It seems like I'm under the truck. I bet Mom is worrying all over Dad since he's been sick. I hope he's feeling better now. My little brother Tommy wants to go in the Marines. Big explosions now. Seems like they're coming from everywhere. I can see a little now through the smoke. That looks like Sgt. Ellisor lying there. Oh My God! It's only what's left of him. I should get word to Tommy to stay in school. I see the enemy running this way. Where are all of our guys? I can't move my legs. Sally I miss you!! What is that guy throwing. Oh No! It's a grenade! I can't reach it! I can't move! Is this... |
| Getting To Know The Horrors Of War |
| More Will Follow Below |
| ..... |
| bye-bye |
| She stirred frightfully in her sleep. Sitting on the bedside she was overcome with a deep sense of loss. As the realization slowly overcame her she becan to weep. It was a wrenching anguish cried from her depths as part of her soul severed itself and floated away. Her true love was gone.... |
| "It is well that war is so terrible, lest we grow too fond of it." ~ Robert E. Lee As long as evil is present on this world, there will be war from time to time. No greater responsibility has been given to each individual than to ensure we are in the right when it occurs. Is it always true the aggressor is wrong? That's too simplistic. War, like matters of the heart, is often complicated and the powers that be will make the choices that determine what path we will follow. The point of this page is not to dispute any government action but rather to educate "The Jones's" if you will. Each of us must understand the horror that war brings personally. It is more than a daily tally of death on the evening news. It is more than a consensus report on how the public feels. It is families forever altered. It is potential never reached. It is a boy without a father, a girl without a mother. It is generational as the tragedy leaves lifetimes of scars. So as awareness dawns the question should always be, "Is it worth it?" My advise would be to ask the ones that will be sent. If the majority of them are willing to die for the action or principle in question, it is then an inevitability. But let us all remember the death of the soldier, the impact on his family, and the years of impact to follow. Let us all remember the evils we may need to fight are the evils of the glorification of war and the concealment of its brutality. Let us be sure of its worth. C. David Sanders |
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| I stood before a man today who never saw his son. It wasn't his son who left but him, to die for glory. His spot was vacant in the church pew at home and an empty chair was set for him when his father died...and again for his mother. His daughter was married and walked down the aisle with a man who was not her father. His son caught the biggest fish ever and ran home to show it to his mother and the empty chair that rocked quietly in the breeze on the porch. A young bride, once radiant with smiles, nurtured a painful vacancy in her heart. Grandchildren stared amazed at pictures of the man they call grandfather, who should be here. Time rolls relentlessly forward and virtually everyone who would have touched his life would have been altered to some degree and are thus altered alternately because of the lack of him. His absence is impact! His absence is but one of millions. How many lives were saved because of his sacrifice. We may never know but we do know one thing. His not being here left a hole in our lives. |