As an aside, I joined the Marines to take part of the boxing program. There was no high noble cause. I based my decision on the relative peace which existed at the time. Others joined to learn a skill or to have a career. How does a pilot give back the value of the education and training received? They don’t. It’s all part of the compensation package.

Was her sacrifice necessary, will the recapturing of that area have any lasting impact? I have serious doubts about that. It’s a tragedy.

You are welcome to those doubts. However, unless you are an expert on military strategy and have access to all the pertinent data involving this war, your doubts amount to feelings and emotions as opposed to a reasoned opinion. Which battles should we not have fought during the second world war? Of course it is easy to say, all the ones in which we lost but few wars are ever this simple .

“Not to die in Iraq but to be a Marine and to serve her country.�
Yeah, I know that emotion. However, I would have been very p***ed if my commander in cheif would have sent me into such a f***ed up war where there’s no chance to win.

I think this last statement is telling, Gray. You are projecting your emotions onto Ms. Purcell. You did so here in a previous comment:

No, uis, I don’t think that’s what she really wanted. Being a former soldier, I think she was a patriotic person, dedicated to contributing to her country, and I guess she didn’t very much like it in Iraq and she was sometimes afraid. Very probably she would have felt better if she wouldn’t have been ordered into the hellhole Al Anbar, but to another, more secure area. Her sense of duty made her obey orders.
Almost certainly she wanted to return to her family, which she obviously loved very much. There’s no evidence at all that she wanted to die in the age of 20.

I don’t think there’s any evidence at all that she felt the way that you described. Certainly she could be presumed to have felt scared as you described, but the anger at where she was deployed? That’s your feelings, not necessarily hers. She may have been supportive of that mission and felt it was the right place for her to be deployed. She may have felt it was stupid but still deferred the judgment of that to her superiors who might know more about the overall strategy than she did. She may have felt that it sucked that she drew a short straw and wound up in one of the more dangerous areas but that this comes with the territory when you enlist. She may have felt angry as you stated. Any number of possibilities, really, and I think there’s a tendency for each of us to fill in the blanks with our own interpretation.

And to Ron Kovic.

I’d Drink to that.

“I only regret that I have but one life to give for my country.�

Well, we shouldn’t forget the words of another brave soldier, too, who managed to come home:

“War is not the answer. Violence is not the solution. A more peaceful world is possible.”

“I only regret that I have but one life to give for my country.”

Nathan Hale…….AGE 21.

The trick is showing people that soldiers killed in Iraq are not something we have to take for granted, like the ‘collateral damage’ of civilisation.

“You are nitpicking my entire post in an attempt to prove your intellectual superiority.”

Hmm, not exactly. I was nitpicking your post in an attempt to show there’s more to say about the death of Jennifer M. Parcell than about victims of drunk drivers. And, thx, I already know I’m sufficiently intelligent, but there are many others that are superior to me. Besides, I’m a totally screwed up person, IQ isn’t everything.

“I did and have paid for it for the last 36 years.”
Sry, I didn’t know that. Respect!

“Not to die in Iraq but to be a Marine and to serve her country.”
Yeah, I know that emotion. However, I would have been very p***ed if my commander in cheif would have sent me into such a f***ed up war where there’s no chance to win.

No problem! I don’t take myself too seriously.

Wow I didnt realize that of you. Sorry for offending your Most Superior Intellect.

But let me try to respond to your questions.

I was saying the reason we dont personalize every dead soldier is the same reason we dont personalize every Innocent victim killed by Drunk Drivers. How you managed to turn that into an argument for being or not being in Iraq is beyond me. Only your superior intellect knows that one.

Secondly. I do believe she was where she wanted to be and was doing what she wanted to do. No I do not believe that she wanted to be in that precise location that precise day. You are nitpicking my entire post in an attempt to prove your intellectual superiority.

I believe she wanted to be a Marine and being a Marine meant very likely going to IRAQ. I believe she was doing what she wanted to do. In 1970 I volunteered for the Army, knowing full well I could end up in Vietnam. Did I want to go to Vietnam? No. I did and have paid for it for the last 36 years. However I wanted to be in the Army since I was a little boy. So I joined and I did what they said to do.

It was where I wanted to be.

Yes. I think this is what she wanted. Not to die in Iraq but to be a Marine and to serve her country. I believe that. I have too or else why would anyone volunteer for the military?

Ill go back to kindergarten now.

No, uis, I don’t think that’s what she really wanted. Being a former soldier, I think she was a patriotic person, dedicated to contributing to her country, and I guess she didn’t very much like it in Iraq and she was sometimes afraid. Very probably she would have felt better if she wouldn’t have been ordered into the hellhole Al Anbar, but to another, more secure area. Her sense of duty made her obey orders.
Almost certainly she wanted to return to her family, which she obviously loved very much. There’s no evidence at all that she wanted to die in the age of 20.

Now, uis, tell us again what she wanted, but pls tell us where you get your information from, too.

Because the US didn’t send out soldiers on a road with drunk drivers, didn’t order them to abuse alcohol or drugs, and didn’t deploy them in South Central LA. The elected president sent the troops to Iraq. If he would withdraw the troops tomorrow, still people would die because of DUI idiots, or because of alcohol or drug overdoses and shoot outs. But there wouldn’t be troops dying in Iraq anymore.

Grr. Sometimes I feel like I’m the only grown up in this kindergarten.
|-(

I just happen to think that this woman was in favor of doing her duty even if that meant being deployed to IRAQ.

LET me restate what I believe I hear from The Military people I talk to. They are NOT so much IN FAVOR of the war as they are in favor of doing their duty and fighting terrorists and protecting the USA. One would have to be a bit different Id think to support any war for the pure sake of fighting a war.

I’m not sure why you think I disagree with this…to the best of my knowledge I didn’t say or imply that in my post. What I did say was that not all people in the military support the Iraq War. I don’t presume to know what Mrs. Parcell thinks about this.

I was presumptuous in calling Mrs. Smith a bimbo…that was a hasty and not well supported judgement. But it wasn’t the same thing as a generalization. It would have been a generalization if I said “All blonde media figures are bimbos”. A generalization is applied to a group, not a single person

Precisely this broad diversity that I speak too. Most of the people on this board(most could mean 51 percent) I would dare to say would consider her loss a waste of life in an evil war that should never have been fought.

Yet those same people demand that Americans be free to do what it is that makes them happy. Be it Gay, Straight, Drunk, Drugged, or whatever. So following their logic I can only conclude that this woman was doing what she wanted.

So despite what some of you think I firmly believe this woman was doing what she wanted to do. She was where she wanted to be. She was fullfilling her goal of becoming a Marine. She was where she was meant to be. I celebrate her life and her sacrifice.

Im sorry if the Broad Generalization might have struck to close to home. I promise to say in the future despite what SOME instead of despite what YOU if you promise to stop calling Anna Nichole Smith a bimbo.

That’s kind of a broad generalization, don’t you think? There seems to be a fair amount of political diversity on this board, and I wouldn’t be so quick to make assumptions.

About the military as well. I’m sure many, perhaps a majority, support the war in Iraq. But there are also many who don’t, according to the polls of active duty service members. And according to what I’ve heard personally…you aren’t the only one to talk to ex-military people.