Tuesday, November 23, 2010

2 US soldiers dead in Iraq over the last five days

Sunday, US military announced: "BAGHDAD -- A United States Forces -- Iraq Soldier died of wounds sustained from enemy small arms fire Sunday during advisory operations in Northern Iraq. The name of the deceased is being withheld pending notification of next of kin and release by the Department of Defense. The names of service members are announced through the U.S. Department of Defense official website at http://www.defenselink.mil/releases/. The announcements are made on the Web site no earlier than 24 hours after notification of the service member's primary next of kin. The incident is currently under investigation." Yesterday DoD identified the fallen: "The Department of Defense announced today the death of a soldier who was supporting Operation New Dawn. Sgt. David J. Luff Jr., 29, of Hamilton, Ohio, died Nov. 21 in Tikrit, Iraq, of wounds suffered when insurgents attacked his unit with small arms fire. He was assigned to the 1st Battalion, 27th Infantry Regiment, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 25th Infantry Division, Schofield Barracks, Hawaii. For more information, media should contact the 25th Infantry Division public affairs office at 808-655-6361 or 808-655-6343."


Friday USF announced, "BAGHDAD – A United States Forces – Iraq Soldier died during physical training at Joint Base Balad, Iraq on Friday. The name of the deceased is being withheld pending notification of next of kin and release by the Department of Defense. The names of service members are announced through the U.S. Department of Defense official website at http://www.defenselink.mil/releases/. The announcements are made on the Web site no earlier than 24 hours after notification of the service member’s primary next of kin. The incident is under investigation." Yesterday, DoD identified the fallen: "The Department of Defense announced today the death of a soldier who was supporting Operation New Dawn. Staff Sgt. Loleni W. Gandy, 36, of Pago Pago, American Samoa, died Nov. 19 in Balad, Iraq, in a non-combat related incident. He was assigned to the 103rd Expeditionary Sustainment Command, Des Moines, Iowa. For more information, media should contact the 103rd Expeditionary Sustainment Command public affairs office at 515-867-9858 or 515-285-4692, ext. 3071." That's two deaths. Before DoD made the announcements yesterday, they issued their (PDF format warning) latest count of Americans killed serving in Iraq at 4430 -- when they update it next, the 2 deaths will bring it to 4432.

In other news . . .

Over in Iraq and Afghanistan killing becomes a habit, a way of life, a drug to me and to other soldiers like me who need to feel like we can survive off of it. It is something that I do not just want, but something I really need so I can feel like myself. Killing a man and looking into his eyes, I see his soul draining from his body; I am taking away his life for the harm he has caused me, my family, my country.

Killing is a drug to me and has been ever since the first time I have killed someone. At first, it was weird and felt wrong, but by the time of the third and fourth killing it feels so natural. It feels like I could do this for the rest of my life and it makes me happy.

There are several addictions in war, but this one is mine. This is what I was trained to do and now I cannot get rid of it; it will be with me for the rest of my life and hurts me that I cannot go back to war and kill again, because I would love too. When I stick my blade through his stomach or his ribs or slice his throat it's a feeling that I cannot explain, but feels so good to me, and I become addicted to seeing and acting out this act of hate, and violence against the rag heads that hurt our country. Terrorists will have nowhere to hide because there are hundreds of thousands of soldiers like me who feel like me and want their revenge as well.


That's a portion of an essay a student wrote. It's a brief essay, the Baltimore Sun has it here in full. The essay is well written and anything any student should be proud of and any professor should find a pleasure to read. This essay got more than high marks, it got Charles Whittington banned from campus. The Iraq War veteran attends Community College of Baltimore in Maryland and he's been barred from campus as a result of his essay. Jennifer Rizzo (CNN -- link has text and video) reports, "Concerned about school safety, the college's administration has temporarily removed Whittington from campus, issuing a notice of trespass that does not allow him to enter the campus or attend classes, according to a school spokeswoman." Charles Whittington has several defenses of his essay. In my opinion, he doesn't need any of them. Students aren't targeted or threatened in his essay. His essay is clearly an attempt at confessional writing and, to do that, you highlight a portion of yourself, bring it to the fore. It's not who you are, it is a part of who you are. It's not the overwhelming quality. You would expect that might be confusing to some people; however, we're talking higher education. Or is the faculty at Community College of Baltimore nothing but a bunch of rejects who couldn't grasp the basics of what they've been tasked to encourage the pursuit of?

He doesn't need a defense. His paper's not threatening in the least. Had it alarmed anyone, it should have just caused some concern on the pain Whittington might be living with and might result in a caring professor suggesting that if he needed to speak to someone, that could be arranged. If he needed. If.

What he's going through right now is crippling. I'm not referring to what the paper was partially or in full (or it maybe not at all) based upon. I'm referring to the fact that he's completed an assignment, he's done a strong job of writing and communicating, and the response is this? An effort to destroy him?

Some people need help, some people need therapy and counseling and further education. It's not Charles Whittington, it's alleged educators who are sending a message not only to Whittington but to the entire student body that should never be sent. If academic institutions are going to clamp down and punish people for attempting to plumb their souls, then they don't deserve to be called higher education. They owe Charles Whittington a very strong apology and they owe their student body better educators.

The following community sites updated last night:

And we'll close with A Burn Pit Thanksgiving:


This year our Thanksgiving holiday will not be celebrated with our children, instead we will be spending our Thanksgiving on the road after seeking specialized medical care for illness resulting from exposures to environmental hazardous toxins and chemicals from the Burn Pits at Camp Anaconda Balad, Iraq.
Two years and over 20 medical visits later, both DOD and VA both continue to deny a chemically induced diagnosis. Our only option has been to seek specialized medical care at our own expense from __ and _____ at ____ University Hospital in ____, who have been able to confirm a diagnosis. The expenses associated with Burn Pits include lodging (hotel rooms), food, Tri-care insurance co-pays, medications, travel (airline tickets, gas, car rental), time off of work (without pay status under service members family medical leave act), but most importantly it has costs us our family (time away from our children affecting them emotionally).

I've edited the above in case I'm misunderstanding that the above is meant to be public. The e-mail came in after everyone that checks the e-mails in the public account had stopped checking for the day and I'm the first to see it. In case I'm misunderstanding and it's not meant to be public, I've pulled doctors and hospital. If it was meant to be public -- the e-mail also includes photos -- we'll include it in today's snapshot.






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