Veterans Day 2007: Our Brothers and Sisters On the Job
Nov 10th, 2007 | 6 responses
Here at the Iraq War Today website, there are some great “working” pictures of our brothers and sisters in Iraq and Afghanistan, very different from many ‘news’ pictures we see daily, especially those of soldiers ordered away from their real work and told to ‘stand there’ behind visiting dignitaries, as well as different from those pictures of soldiers acting egregiously with prisoners.
These photos are very different; a montage of the day to day, and the rare and sudden smiles alone are knock-outs… the gravity of the mission ever-present, striking.
That the soldiers all truly look like people we know, love, went to school with…. well, live long enough, or deeply enough and you find that most all of humankind has some resonant spirit to you as [‘family.’
Also, you’ll see throughout this montage, soldiers acting warmly as well as soldierly toward others. Here:
http://www.iraqwarnews.net/labels/photos.html
nota bene:
Re picture above: Imagine this is ‘business casual,” that we all had to go to work with 30 pounds of clothing and artillery on every day. In heat from hell.
This is a picture of U.S. Army Capt. Brian McCall, commander and U.S. Army 1st Lt. Neal Rice, assigned to Alpha Battery, 2nd Battalion, 32nd Field Artillery, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 1st Cavalry Division… greet Iraqi army Maj. Mohamed, commander, assigned to 2nd Company, 256th Iraqi Army Battalion, prior to the start of the business seminar in the Hateen neighborhood of Baghdad, Iraq, Sept. 12, 2007. U.S. Army photo by Spc. Charles Gill
6 Responses to “Veterans Day 2007: Our Brothers and Sisters On the Job”
[...] The Moderate Voice [...]
I woke up this morning with a list in my thoughts:
WWII
The Korean War
The Viet nam War
The Gulf War
The Afghanistan War
The Iraq War
Not counting other squirmishes in places like Somalia and inteventions in other countries, these are the wars of my lifetine, just one life span.
Then I tried to imagine the cemetary that would exist if all the dead were interred in one place.
Then I tried to imagine the multitude of the wounded, phyaically and menatlly.
Then I tried to imagine all the veterans, gathered in one group, who fell by the wayside after having served, the homeless and the destitute.
Sometines being awake is worse than having a nightmare.
No matter what your opinions about the politics of the wars we are now currently engaged in, this weekend is a good time to reflect on & remember the people who are fighting these wars & to offer our support to them & their families. Another ongoing series of blogs that show us what these people live with on a day to day basis & how they are dealing with the deal they were dealt is Michael Yon’s blog. (Google “Michael Yon” & click the first entry to find it.) As he says, he reports the good, the bad, & the ugly. Though I sometimes disagree with his views, I find him to be a reliable source of what is happening on the ground..
To the troops, NGO people, those trying to report the truth to us here at home, & your families, I salute you. And to the politicians, I suggest you pay attention & do what we are paying you to do instead of playing politics as usual.
thanks bob in fla, I’ll put the link to Michael Yon’s blog here for you and others. http://michaelyon-online.com/
Many politicians seems to be in a fugue state; when people are in that condition, they become so consumed with their alter-reality, they cant hear from the consensual world. Frankly, in most matters, I think bloggers are the anti-fugue medicine. Keep the faith.
Domajot, hang in there; you’re accurate, and there is little more to say, but there is always more to do. Everything helps, if not overturn, then balance better. The large can be raised up when the last atom needed is put in place. This is my core understanding. Siempre.
dr.e
Well, as a veteran myself I can’t resist a plug for the IAVA – Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America. If you like their agenda, please support the organization.
thank you Entropy. I like IAVA’s up front emphasis on post-battle injuries; such a ‘buried in the back pages’ subject. Too important for that. And thank you for your service also. Siempre.
dr.e