Sunday, March 18, 2007
Coming Home: Seven Families Lay Their Fallen Soldiers to Rest. A Photo Essay - Mother Jones
... Most combat fatalities are neither storied nor spectacular. Spc. Martin Kondor and Spc. Bert Hoyer died while traveling in vehicles that were hit with improvised explosive devices (IED), as the military calls them, or roadside bombs, which is a clearer definition. Kondor acted as a bodyguard for an infantry colonel whose job it was to spread American good will to the Iraqi people. The colonel was fortunate enough to survive. Pfc. Luis Moreno was shot while guarding a gas station. Dominican by birth, he was awarded U.S. citizenship posthumously. Staff Sgt. Scott Rose died when the Black Hawk helicopter he served on went down. The Humvee that Pvt. Bryan Nicholas Spry was driving crossed a bridge that crumbled under the vehicle. Three of his comrades swam to safety, but Spry was unconscious, and his lungs filled with water. Pfc. Bruce Miller, Jr. died from a noncombat gunshot wound; his death is still under investigation.
...
The colleagues of these fallen would have been asked to pack their personal belongings for shipment home. Long before they were killed, the dead would have been advised to discard any paraphernalia they didn’t want people back home to receive. Every soldier carries a private self that even his closest loved ones will never know. And they should not. Shortly after their deaths, the unit armorer assigned their weapons to someone else in the battalion, a new guy. ...
... Most combat fatalities are neither storied nor spectacular. Spc. Martin Kondor and Spc. Bert Hoyer died while traveling in vehicles that were hit with improvised explosive devices (IED), as the military calls them, or roadside bombs, which is a clearer definition. Kondor acted as a bodyguard for an infantry colonel whose job it was to spread American good will to the Iraqi people. The colonel was fortunate enough to survive. Pfc. Luis Moreno was shot while guarding a gas station. Dominican by birth, he was awarded U.S. citizenship posthumously. Staff Sgt. Scott Rose died when the Black Hawk helicopter he served on went down. The Humvee that Pvt. Bryan Nicholas Spry was driving crossed a bridge that crumbled under the vehicle. Three of his comrades swam to safety, but Spry was unconscious, and his lungs filled with water. Pfc. Bruce Miller, Jr. died from a noncombat gunshot wound; his death is still under investigation.
...
The colleagues of these fallen would have been asked to pack their personal belongings for shipment home. Long before they were killed, the dead would have been advised to discard any paraphernalia they didn’t want people back home to receive. Every soldier carries a private self that even his closest loved ones will never know. And they should not. Shortly after their deaths, the unit armorer assigned their weapons to someone else in the battalion, a new guy. ...
Labels: war
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