Memorial Day 2005 notifications.

I got asked in an email why did I just repost last year's post? Wasn't that old news?

I did it to remind people of what each of those notifications results in, in one form or another. That news is, sadly, still fresh, and happens day after day. Yet it is only one strata of bedrock upon which the future is built. 'Tis up to us, the living, to decide whether it will be saprolite, *rotted rock,* or a limestone of sufficient hardness to use as a building material.

Notifications? Like this - these are the notifications that arrived today.

DoD Identifies Army Casualty The Department of Defense announced today the death of a soldier who was supporting Operation Iraqi Freedom.

Spc. Phillip N. Sayles, 26, of Jacksonville, Ark., died May 28 in Mosul, Iraq, when an improvised explosive device detonated near his security position. Sayles was assigned to the Army's 1st Battalion, 24th Infantry Regiment, 1st Brigade, 25th Infantry Division, Fort Lewis, Wash.

For further information related to this release, contact Army Public Affairs at (703) 692-2000.

Not all deaths are the result of combat action. They hurt *just* as much.

DoD Identifies Army Casualty The Department of Defense announced today the death of a soldier who was supporting Operation Iraqi Freedom.

Lt. Col. Albert E. Smart, 41, of San Antonio, Texas, died May 28 in Doha, Qatar, of a non-combat related illness. Smart was assigned to the U.S. Army Reserve's 321st Civil Affairs Brigade, San Antonio, Texas.

For further information related to this release, contact Army Public Affairs at (703) 692-2000.

Each one started a chain of events similar in one way or another to what you read here. They vary in only details. This is where the rubber meets the road when you read Jefferson's observation about "The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants. It is its natural manure."