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Memorial Day 2005 notifications.

By The Armorer on May 30, 2005 | | Comments (2) | TrackBacks (1)

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."

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Sneak's wide world 30: Soldier's Memorial Day from Sneakeasy's Joint on May 31, 2005 11:25 AM

300 years isn't very long in the scheme of things on this old planet of ours, but a lot has happened in the United States of America in that short span. In 1775 a revolution was begun that, within a Read More

2 Comments

By AFSister on May 30, 2005 9:07 PM
Thanks for the reminders John. Not all of these deaths will make national news, so we don't always hear about them- esp. the non-combat related deaths. So sad... but then again, that's why we Dance In Memorium- to honor their lives and their service.
 
By Heartless Libertarian on May 31, 2005 9:08 AM
Deaths in training make even less news. There have been two here at Ft Jackson since I got here-the first on the Night Infiltration Course (NIC-where trainees crawl under live machine gun fire) and the second from heat stroke. I've seen the fallout from two other in my brigades during my 9 years in the Army-a truck accident in Yakima, and a M113 broken track rollover at Graf. Being a soldier is dangerous work, even when nobody's shooting at you.