This is from Kim duToit's blog. I reproduce it here in full, so as to disseminate it as widely as possible:
Yesterday, some French troll came in and started whining about soldiers and militarism (until The Mrs. banned his a**).Soon afterwards, I received this email, forwarded by a Reader. The letter has to do with the two GIs killed in Afghanistan this past weekend.
I wish I was writing to you with better news regarding 3/116th Infantry combat tour in Afghanistan. Yesterday we lost two of our best soldiers, SGT. Craig Cherry, and SPC Bobby Beasely. They and an interpreter were killed when a command detonated explosive device blew up underneath their Hummer.
SGT. Cherry was an outstanding soldier, and a true patriot. He turned down his retirement, and pushed aside a medical evaluation that would have made him non deployable. Why? One reason is that he made a commitment to SPC Beasely's wife that he would keep him safe on this tour, and he couldn't leave his fellow soldiers. SGT Cherry was recently married and leaves behind a brand new baby girl.These are the people who are putting themselves at risk for us and others every day; somehow, though, our vaunted media think that Scott Peterson & Kobe Bryant are more important. Biased or not, thenetworks' priorities are definitely screwed up.SPC Beasely was an outstanding country gentlemen. He was extremely committed to the unit, his anti armor platoon, and to his fellow soldiers. He went out of his way to make every one around him feel good with some good-natured humor, and lending a hand with about every project that was out there. He was the ultimate representation of what you'd expect an American soldier to be.
Freedom and the right to vote are what these two proud soldiers died for. They were on their way back from a mission that helped secure voter registration sites. In this country registering to vote means taking your life in your hands. I believe that in the United States some of us take for granted our freedoms and rights. Honor their memory, register to vote, and never forget the sacrifices of the Americans in Afghanistan and Iraq. Our right to vote, freedom of speech, and to keep and bear arms, are the cornerstone of our great country.
SFC [name redacted by Kim]
HHC 3/116th Inf.Truer words were never spoken, and I'm sure I can speak for all my Readers in offering sympathy to these fine soldiers' families.
Embodied in that simple, short letter is everything you need to know about being a soldier. I don't expect peaceniks or French surrenderniks [redundancy alert] to understand any of it -- but I sure as hell do, and all my Readers do too.
Incidentally, the SFC added a postcript:
We'll take the fight back. We've increased our night ops. so that I can find em out there planting s**t in the roads.
My kinda soldier. And as a bonus, I was sent his pic (note the manly M-14 rifle):
Those of you who are religious, please remember in your prayers tonight those names: Craig Cherry and Bobby Beasely. And while you're there, you might want to do the same for all the kids in the 3/116th.
Thank you.
Back to my so-called life...
